I know a lot of dopers jumped into the world of e-books, so I’m curious what’s on yours.
Here are mine:
Super Freakonomics-Stephen Levitt and Stephen Dubner (I enjoyed the first one.)
Full Dark, No Stars-Stephen King (I’ve gotten through the first story out of sheer willpower)
Otherwise Known As Sheila the Great-Judy Blume (My sister had all of her books and I would steal away into the bathroom and read them out of dirty shame that I was reading a girl’s book.)
A Short History of Nearly Everything-Bill Bryson (I’ve given the author a second chance after A Walk in the Woods which left me soundly disappointed.)
The Descent-Jeff Long (A friend recommended it to me after watching The Descent movie)
Heart-Shaped Box-Joe Hill (Another recommendation)
The God Delusion-Richard Dawkins (Preaching to the choir-pun noted-but I haven’t read it yet.)
(In the Kindle3, arrow up to the top with the box shaped key in the lower right, then select going right or left to Most Recent First)
The last batch of books I bought were WebSubscription packages from the Baen Free Library.
W200902 February 2009 WebScription
From the Sea to the Stars
Ring of Fire II
Manxome Foe
Worlds
Man-Kzin Wars XII
Prescription for Chaos
The Books of the Wars
Citadel
My Kindle is brand new, and the only book I’ve bought so far is Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese, which was very good.
I’ve loaded all of Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan books on there just for fun, even though I’ve already read them all and I have paper copies of them. They came free on a CD that was stuck in the back of her newest book.
I got my Kindle in September, and so far have downloaded all of 10 items – only 9 of which were books, because one was an issue of Newsweek (I was curious to see how a magazine would look/work). The most recent 7 books, with the newest at the top of list, are:
[ul][li]Side Jobs by Jim Butcher (yay, Dresden Files!)[/li][li]What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell (some interesting stuff, but some chapters that I’ve pretty much skipped)[/li][li]Bonding with Your Dog by Victoria Schade (meh)[/li][li]Watchers by Dean Koontz (an old favorite that I know I will re-read)[/li][li]Deader Still and Dead Matter by Anton Strout (he’s no Jim Butcher, and Simon Canderous is no Harry Dresden, but the series is entertaining enough)[/li][*]Wizard and Glass by Stephen King (I will finish the Dark Tower series someday!)[/ul]I’m still reading Side Jobs and What The Dog Saw, and am also reading a paperback that isn’t available for Kindle. My next book is another paperback: it is available for Kindle, but a friend had an extra copy. I created a private wish list just for Kindle books that I want to get: there are currently 19 titles that I plan to download eventually. Hmm, I got a very nice Amazon gift card for Christmas…maybe I will download all of those books sooner rather than later.
Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Dan Okrent - what I’m reading now, a little disappointing so far. The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson - HIGHLY recommended, a rollicking good Viking yarn. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - guess I’m on historical fiction kick. Also highly recommended. The Lost City of Z by David Grann - quest for a lost city in the Amazon. Fairly well written and quite well researched. Work Song by Ivan Doig - a good novel, not quite as good as its sort-of prequel, Whistling Season. The Widower’s Tale by Julia Glass - meh. Enjoyed it when reading it, fading from memory now. City of Thieves: A Novel by David Benioff - loosely based on the author’s grandfather’s experiences in Leningrad during the Seige. Worth the read.
This is of course not counting about a dozen samples I’ve downloaded in the last three months, or my magazine subscriptions (New Yorker and The Atlantic).
At last count I had 137 books on my Kindle DX. Since it was a birthday present last year, I’ve been averaging 13.7 books per month loaded onto the lovely little thing. Luckily, about half of those were free.
I just got my kindle for Christmas and I have 10 books on there (plus Scrabble and a bunch of knitting patterns). The last seven:
The Narcissism Epidemic, Jean Twenge
Religious Literacy, Stephen Prothero
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, David Hume free!
The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins free!
Walden, H.D. Thoreau free!
Middlemarch, George Eliot free!
The Life of Buddha and Its Lessons, Henry Steel Olcott free!
I’ve Wishlisted about 30 others, but I want to pace myself with the ones you have to pay for.
The Rules of Life, Richard Templar The Defendant, G. K. Chesterton Stupid Christmas, Leland Gregory The Perfect Woman, James Andrus Emma, Jane Austen My Life and Loves, volume 2, Frank Harris Writing Fiction For Dummies Med Ship, Murray Leinster
All freebies from various sources, except the Frank Harris which cost $0.99.
Charlatan: America’s Most Dangerous Huckster by Pope Brock - currently reading, recommended by my sister. A fun read (goat testicles!) The Devil’s Candy by Julie Salamon - The last book I read, about the making of Bonfire of the Vanities. A good book in the “Hollywood behind the scenes” genre, which I got into through… Final Cut by Steven Bach. Really great book about the making of the iconic flop Heaven’s Gate. While reading about something else on Wikipedia, I stumbled onto this movie, and the historical events behind it, which lead me to the book. Now I’m hooked both on books about moviemaking (Indecent Exposure, which isn’t available for Kindle, is next on my list), and Steven Bach (I’ve already downloaded a sample of another of his books). The End of Wall Street by Roger Lowenstein. He wrote my favorite book, When Genius Failed, so I read all of his books. This one wasn’t the best, but did give me a few new insights into the financial crisis. Diary of a Very Bad Year by Keith Gessen. Another take on the financial crisis. The Blood Doctor by Barbara Vine. This one came from from the SDMB, at least indirectly. Someone mentioned the famously bad poet William McGonagall in passing in a post. I hadn’t heard of him, so I wiki’d him, and learned that he’d written a poem about the Tay Bridge disaster. This lead me to the disaster itself, and the fact that Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell) had written a book that includes the disaster. Since I’ve enjoyed her other books, I put it on the Kindle. Living Rich by Spending Smart by Gregory Karp. The last of my series that I used to prepare my budget for the new year.
I currently have 18 unread books on my Kindle. I love it primarily for the ease of getting a new book into my hands the instant I learn about it. Although I haven’t found every single book I want to read, I’m constantly being surprised by what is available.
I just got mine fro Chirstmas and the primary book I am reading is The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America by Douglas Brinkley
I have also downloaded: The Rough Riders by Theodore Roosevelt The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde by Ralph Louis Stephenson The Red Badge of COurage Stephen Crane The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Very quickly got immersed in Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy on the recommendation of a co-worker, and am currently about halfway finished with the last one.
H.P. Lovecraft: The Ultimate Collection
Haven’t yet explored all the eldritch wonders of this one, but I’ve read many of them already, and just love having them all together in one place (I also have one of the “ultimate” collections of Poe).
The Fall: Book Two of the Strain Trilogy by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
New, modern take on the vampire mythos from a famous horror director and a (nearly?) famous novelist. A return to form of the vampire as horror, not romance.
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Saw the movie (the original Swedish); had to read it. Having read it, I had to see the movie again! (It’s very good, and close to the spirit of the novel. Waiting impatiently for the blu-ray of Let Me In for comparison)
The Lost Ones: Book Three of the Veil by Christopher Golden
Conclusion of a fantasy trilogy involving mythological characters in an alternate reality. All three books were very quick reads.
I’m not counting the dictionary on this one because I didn’t buy it myself, but it’s the third work listed.
In descending order:
Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gillman Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach
I listed eight instead of seven because “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story, rather than a book.
I heart my Kindle and I’m including audiobooks and normal books on this list:
Currently reading:
*Catching Fire *(Hunger Games #2) Suzanne Collins Medicus by Ruth Downie (audiobook)
Downloaded to read next is Hunger Games #3, Mockinjay (hooked me fast these did)
*Great Expectations *(free) Charles Dickens The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins The Prestige (audiobook) by Christopher Priest Three Bags Full (audiobook) by Leonnie Swan Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross
Just got it for Christmas. Exploring as many free book sites as possible. Mostly I’m enjoying reading stuff that is utterly unknown to me. But, I did start to download a few classics that are Public Domain ( Project Güttenberg, etc. )
Dracula
Little Women
Pride and Prejudice
The Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements
Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Don’t Blink by James Patterson
A Different Kind of Death by Thomas Robertson
Einstein’s Shutter by Vincent Yanez
Will arrange to get my new New Yorker subscription sent to it if possible. I was highly resistant to the idea of an ebook reader. Mostly out of a rabid love of holding a paper book in my hands. But I read too quickly. I frequently travel with 2 books if not more, and the idea of carrying around dozens was mighty appealing. My dearly beloved wasn’t sure I’d cotton to it but she took a shot and we’re both glad she did.
