Its name is Enabler.

[mrissa]

I now own a Kindle. It arrived today (late Christmas present from timprov).

(Note to porphyrin: it is blue.)

My philosophy of this thing is that I do not want to use it to replace physical books I would actually buy. So what I'm reading on it right now is...my own book. (One of my old manuscripts, I mean.) If I'm critiquing a manuscript for those of you for whom I do that, it'll probably be on my Kindle rather than in a 3-ring binder. Ideally this will mean faster crits.

I'm also interested in the sorts of free things that are open source, so if any of you have recommendations for specific works or sites for getting free old books in Kindle format, please do say. Again, I will continue to do my book buying in physical form for stuff that's available in physical form. What I want on my Kindle is Project Gutenberg type stuff, although Baen's Free Library stuff is also a good category of thing to have. Oh, and the last category is stuff that's only available in e-book format. All good recs to have.

Comments

[cathshaffer.livejournal.com]

I'm curious why you don't want to substitute ebooks for any of your physical book buying? Not trying to talk you out of it, just curious.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

First, I don't trust the thing. They've taken people's books away from their accounts before; they can do it again. And yes, I could learn to break the DRM and back stuff up on my own computer, but really, how often am I going to do that? Backing up my own fiction is quite enough without having to back up everybody else's also. The thing could break, too--it doesn't require anybody to be nefarious for me to suddenly lose a book I'm in the middle of, and all the other books with it.

Also I like books. They make me happy.

But the other thing is, I have heard enough complaints about compensation on Kindle and other ebooks that I'm feeling like I should hold off until the kinks are worked out of that and I feel more confident that buying an ebook isn't going to screw the author. This is why things that are exclusively available in ebook are an exception: the author's contract is entirely focused on ebook sales rather than having that as a secondary clause, so they really truly ought not to be getting screwed in their own estimation.

[shana.livejournal.com]

I've been buying ebooks from Baen for ten years; in addition to paper versions. No DRM, download whatever formats you like. So I am rereading Cryoburn on my Kindle right now while my brother has the hardcover copy. It did choke when I tried to email more than 64 books to my Kindle the first day, but I was able to get all my favorites on in a couple of days.

All of Bujold, the Liaden series, Roberta Gellis' historical novels, all the E. Phillips Oppenheim and Arnold Henry Savage Landor that Project Gutenberg had... plus another 300 or so assorted books, and I still have well over two gigabytes of space for more stuff.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

If you have the time and eneryg, please tell me about Roberta Gellis and E. Phillips Oppenheim and Arnold Henry Savage Landor.

[shana.livejournal.com]

Roberta Gellis is my favorite author of historical romance; I definitely feel like those are not modern people but she makes their choices understandable. I have them all in print, but they are sadly out of print except for eformat. Four are available from Webscriptions, eight or nine from Cerridwen Press, and others will be forthcoming from Sourcebooks. Your library may have some of her more recent historical mysteries; _Lucretia Borgia and the Mother of Poisons_ is a stand alone; _A Mortal Bane_ is the first of a series.

E. Phillips Oppenheim was a writer of thrillers and popular fiction; his books are definitely of their time as far as unconscious bigotry but his better ones are quite entertaining. I suggest _Peter Ruff and the Double Four_ or _The Great Impersonation_ as starting points.

On the way back from the first Farthing Party, Cally Soukup told me about Arnold Henry Savage Landor, whom she was proofreading for Distributed Proofreaders. To quote: "That guy was nuts!" He was an artist and explorer, and definitely a character. She was specifically talking about his South America book, which I haven't yet read.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Good to know!