Apparently the french publishing industry want to force people to buy real books and want to punish those who to use ebook readers and read ebooks.  First by only allowing a very short selection of books in French to be available in ebook formats.  Second by setting the prices of ebooks to be very expensive so people are less tempted to buy them.

By behaving so foolishly they also punish the rest of Francophony since many countries import books from France like Québec where I live.  So that means that the ebook in French rarity and outrageous prices are in effect in those countries as well, it’s definitively the case here in Québec.

I’ve been thinking about getting a ebook reader, a Kobo Glo.  I’m a big book lover, too much for my own sake indeed.  I have an account on Goodreads and after entering all my books I’m close to 800 books.  Those books take tons of precious space at my place, my apartment is filled with bookcases and extra shelves, so much there is not much place for anything else.  So yeah, replacing slowly my books by digital versions is quite tempting.  Most of my books, especially the novels, are in French.

But like I said previously, considering the current condition of ebooks in France, replacing those books would be totally crazy and would cost me a fortune.

So I’ve been thinking, what about boycotting the french publishing industry?  My English is good enough to read non-novel books, I should invest now in english novels since that is mostly what I read, authors from the U.S.A. and the U.K. anyway.  So that means that translators who translate from English to French, and the publishing houses that publish those books in French, won’t make any money from me.

Too bad!!!

I got a really good news this month, I finally was given an apartment in a HLM.  HLMs exist in France and in Québec here in Canada, I don’t know about the rest of Canada though.  It’s housing at moderated rents.  The rent will include the electricity, the heat and hot water, and the rent will be just 25% of the check I get.  Also they will take care of the repairs if there is anything wrong.  Disabled people have rights there too which means I can ask them to modify some stuff to satisfy my needs.

The building where I will be is entirely an HLM.  The building though had various issues in the past, so they tore it down and built it up again, which means everything in the building is brand new with the latest stuff like electronic electric system.  In order to revitalize the area (because there is another HLM building next and other residences at moderated rents close), they apparently relocalized a big part of the past residents some place else and put new people there.  I’m among those new people.  We’re quite a few moving there around the same time.

My new place will be a 3 rooms apartment with a balcony.  There is an elevator there so I won’t need to use the stairs anymore.  They also have washers and dryers we can use there, so I won’t have to transport my cloths to my mother’s place to wash them anymore.  I plan to try to have a garden using containers on my balcony.  Since I will have more counter space in the kitchen I hope to be able to buy a Countertop Dishwasher.  I will be higher so I will have more intimacy.  Right now I’m on the ground floor and anyone in the area can see me, same for the balcony that I never use.

I’ve found photos on the internet about the renovation projects and I’m really excited to move there, some photos were very similar to those shown to me by the OMHM agent.  I’ve not seen the apartment yet though.  I should move around january 1st 2013.

I gave them all the papers necessary yesterday and now all that is left is for me to sign the lease.

I’m so happy!!!