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30 Days of Kindle Meme: Day Three
Sep. 3rd, 2012 09:21 pm It seems kind of petty but I like reading on my Kindle better than on the iPad Kindle app. One of the things I love about the Kindle is that it's easier to travel around the house doing chores, such as laundry, and continue reading. I try to keep the iPad away from a lot of stuff, so not as fun. On the other hand, the iPad lights up.
Day 03 - Best free book on your Kindle. What sources do you get them from?
First, let's talk about sources. The free stuff on Amazon is good - they have a variety of top-100 lists sorted into paid and free, and the stuff that was published before 1928. Project Gutenberg has also been fun, although a lot of it is available on Amazon for ease of download. I also have a bunch of stuff from Baen CDs that I'll have to reload when I get a new Kindle. Some stuff I just find in random places, or am tipped off about by friends.
I love all the free series aimed at teens/children (many of them produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate), to the point where some of them I continued reading even when I was having to track down vintage hardcovers for them. They, however, are a question for another day.
Leaving aside all the stuff that I had read in dead tree form long before it came to the Kindle (and yes, I still have some of my printed versions of stuff on the Kindle because I am book-obsessive like that), I would have to pick LM Montgomery's The Golden Road. Of course, as those who followed the 30 days of books meme know, I'm a huge fan of Anne Shirley, and while the rest of Montgomery's writing hasn't always thrilled me, these ones really pulled me in. Anne is actually mentioned a few times, but she is not the focus. Instead, this book has the Story Girl, who has some very Anne-ish qualities, but is her own character. I just love how the words flow together in the book, even if there is definitely some stuff that gets reworked into different works by Montgomery.
One of my highlights:
"But it is getting cold and Cecily is coughing. Let us go in."
"You haven't told my fortune," protested Cecily disappointedly.
The Story Girl looked very tenderly at Cecily—at the smooth little brown head, at the soft, shining eyes, at the cheeks that were often over-rosy after slight exertion, at the little sunburned hands that were always busy doing faithful work or quiet kindnesses. A very strange look came over the Story Girl's face; her eyes grew sad and far-reaching, as if of a verity they pierced beyond the mists of hidden years. "I couldn't tell any fortune half good enough for you, dearest," she said, slipping her arm round Cecily. "You deserve everything good and lovely. But you know I've only been in fun—of course I don't know anything about what's going to happen to us."
"Perhaps you know more than you think for," said Sara Ray, who seemed much pleased with her fortune and anxious to believe it, despite the husband who wouldn't go to church.
"But I'd like to be told my fortune, even in fun," persisted Cecily.
"Everybody you meet will love you as long as you live." said the Story Girl. "There that's the very nicest fortune I can tell you, and it will come true whether the others do or not, and now we must go in." We went, Cecily still a little disappointed.
In later years I often wondered why the Story Girl refused to tell her fortune that night. Did some strange gleam of foreknowledge fall for a moment across her mirth-making? Did she realize in a flash of prescience that there was no earthly future for our sweet Cecily? Not for her were to be the lengthening shadows or the fading garland. The end was to come while the rainbow still sparkled on her wine of life, ere a single petal had fallen from her rose of joy. Long life was before all the others who trysted that night in the old homestead orchard; but Cecily's maiden feet were never to leave the golden road.
DV
( The Rest of the Meme )
Day 03 - Best free book on your Kindle. What sources do you get them from?
First, let's talk about sources. The free stuff on Amazon is good - they have a variety of top-100 lists sorted into paid and free, and the stuff that was published before 1928. Project Gutenberg has also been fun, although a lot of it is available on Amazon for ease of download. I also have a bunch of stuff from Baen CDs that I'll have to reload when I get a new Kindle. Some stuff I just find in random places, or am tipped off about by friends.
I love all the free series aimed at teens/children (many of them produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate), to the point where some of them I continued reading even when I was having to track down vintage hardcovers for them. They, however, are a question for another day.
Leaving aside all the stuff that I had read in dead tree form long before it came to the Kindle (and yes, I still have some of my printed versions of stuff on the Kindle because I am book-obsessive like that), I would have to pick LM Montgomery's The Golden Road. Of course, as those who followed the 30 days of books meme know, I'm a huge fan of Anne Shirley, and while the rest of Montgomery's writing hasn't always thrilled me, these ones really pulled me in. Anne is actually mentioned a few times, but she is not the focus. Instead, this book has the Story Girl, who has some very Anne-ish qualities, but is her own character. I just love how the words flow together in the book, even if there is definitely some stuff that gets reworked into different works by Montgomery.
One of my highlights:
"But it is getting cold and Cecily is coughing. Let us go in."
"You haven't told my fortune," protested Cecily disappointedly.
The Story Girl looked very tenderly at Cecily—at the smooth little brown head, at the soft, shining eyes, at the cheeks that were often over-rosy after slight exertion, at the little sunburned hands that were always busy doing faithful work or quiet kindnesses. A very strange look came over the Story Girl's face; her eyes grew sad and far-reaching, as if of a verity they pierced beyond the mists of hidden years. "I couldn't tell any fortune half good enough for you, dearest," she said, slipping her arm round Cecily. "You deserve everything good and lovely. But you know I've only been in fun—of course I don't know anything about what's going to happen to us."
"Perhaps you know more than you think for," said Sara Ray, who seemed much pleased with her fortune and anxious to believe it, despite the husband who wouldn't go to church.
"But I'd like to be told my fortune, even in fun," persisted Cecily.
"Everybody you meet will love you as long as you live." said the Story Girl. "There that's the very nicest fortune I can tell you, and it will come true whether the others do or not, and now we must go in." We went, Cecily still a little disappointed.
In later years I often wondered why the Story Girl refused to tell her fortune that night. Did some strange gleam of foreknowledge fall for a moment across her mirth-making? Did she realize in a flash of prescience that there was no earthly future for our sweet Cecily? Not for her were to be the lengthening shadows or the fading garland. The end was to come while the rainbow still sparkled on her wine of life, ere a single petal had fallen from her rose of joy. Long life was before all the others who trysted that night in the old homestead orchard; but Cecily's maiden feet were never to leave the golden road.
DV
( The Rest of the Meme )
