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

[rezendi.livejournal.com]

They come in blue?

I recommend feedbooks.com (http://feedbooks.com/). (Not least 'cause two (http://www.feedbooks.com/userbook/2976) of my own (http://www.feedbooks.com/userbook/14338) books are available there for free.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

timprov also gave me a cover for it. The cover is blue.

Also I am referring to a family joke. But it really is blue.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Also: awesome!

[zellandyne.livejournal.com]

Potentially useful software is Calibre, for sorting and tracking books. Also for changing formats, assuming there's no DRM on the file you wish to change. For example, I found some free books in epub form that I converted to read on my Kindle.

[shana.livejournal.com]

I got my Kindle last week. Most of what I have on it is from Project Gutenberg and Baen. Baen will email stuff to your Kindle, and many PG books are available in Kindle format; just download them while the Kindle is in USB drive mode.

Munseys is also a good source of ebooks in multiple formats. There's a large overlap with PG, though.

Archive.org has lots of books, but most are PDFs.

I find that PDFs come out in teeny type, though, so only those that were either in small page size or large type are readable.

[timprov.livejournal.com]

I've found that some PDFs work much better if I switch to landscape mode.

[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.

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

You may already own all of these, but Gutenberg has ALL the Lang XColorX Fairy Books. Plus an index. And scores and scores of old fairy tale collections with interesting themes, like Fairy Tales of the Allied Nations. And things I vaguely knew existed but couldn't readily find or afford, like the short stories of Louisa May Alcott.

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

That is a good tip, and one that has me smacking my forehead in "SO OBVIOUS" mode. Thanks.

[pnkrokhockeymom.livejournal.com]

I know nothing from Kindles, but M has it now on his ipad. He put a bunch of the free stuff from the Kindle store on his-a ton of things we already own in book format-just so he could carry them around with him and have them all of the time just in case. For all of those times he doesn't want to carry the Complete Works of William Shakespeare around with him in hard cover, but might find himself in a line and want to toss back a few sonnets. This has worked well for him; he reread a ton of Sherlock Holmes and two plays on the flights from Costa Rica.

Also, it has not significantly reduced our purchases of actual books. We like our books.

[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.

[ckd]

ManyBooks is the first place I look for Project Gutenberg type stuff; they've done a great job of format conversion for just about every ereader software or hardware setup.

[guppiecat]

Others have recommended Gutenberg for books and Calibre for conversion and transfer, so I don't delve into those.

I will, however, point out that Australia has friendlier copyright rules where public domain is concerned, and their version of Project Gutenberg is a good source for those series books that might be missing from the US version of the site.

You know, just in case you got a hankering to read the Anne of Green Gables series as an adult.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Have already downloaded several things there.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Awesome. That's really the sort of rec I meant: "Hey, did you think about this title being available?" Although some of the sites listed by other people have been good too.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

That's exactly the sort of thing I mean, yes: having Jules Verne on hand to reread when I'm traveling or at the grocery store.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Heh. Anne of Green Gables and all seven sequels are on my physical shelf. But it might not be bad to have them on my Kindle also.

[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.

[reveritas.livejournal.com]

I read all of those on my phone (the fairy books). SO freaking awesome.

[reveritas.livejournal.com]

And all the Emilys and Blue Castle (or whatever it's called) and my favorite ... Pat of Silver Bush and the sequel? :D

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

But of course.

I am less a Pat fan than you are. I adore The Blue Castle and all the Emilies but the last one, though.

(Seriously, that was such an unworthy ending. Teddy! And Dean Priest! Unworthiness abounds.)

[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.

[carbonel]

Yes, the Emily books disappointed terribly. And I found the Pat books just too, too twee.

[carbonel]

For Gutenberg recommendations, Daddy-Long-Legs and the sequel, Dear Enemy, are both available in Kindle format.

[sraun]

Did you get the latest generation Kindle? If so, I'd love to see it sometime. Any chance you'll make it to the Minn-StF Pool Party in not quite two weeks?