Our BetterMost Community > Creative Writer's Corner
The E-Book Files
MaineWriter:
Okay! Here's a chance to win a free Kindle and you, too, can join the ereader revolution.
http://www.authorisland.com/index.php?Itemid=510&id=6&option=com_content&task=blogsection
Go to the middle of the page. You need to answer a bunch of questions but apparently all the answers are on the various authors websites. I just went and found the answers to two questions (to get you all started)...
2. Irish Thoroughbred by Nora Roberts
44. Ben
Finding the answers to those questions took less than a minute so you should be able to answer all of them in under an hour. What a great prize!
Good luck, everyone!
Leslie
MaineWriter:
I just finished another Josh Lanyon book, "I Spy Something Bloody." I think this might be my favorite of all the ones I have read so far. Very evocative and he really sets the mood.
More info and purchase details here:
http://www.loose-id.com/detail.aspx?ID=728
Leslie
louisev:
I will second Leslie's vote on 'I Spy Something Bloody.' It is a marvelous tale of both intrigue and romance.
MaineWriter:
From the Conde Nast Traveler:
July 31, 2008
The Amazon Kindle: The Best Travel Gadget Since the Neck Pillow
by Tom Loftus
I have to admit that praising an e-Book reader in the middle of iPhone Summer seems so 2005, but I'm starting to lust after my wife's Amazon Kindle. She's in the publishing business and someone at her company--bless him or her--decided that money (and trees) could be saved by loading manuscripts onto the Amazon Kindle. Adios clutter.
On a lark I took a look at the screen. Whoa! The words read so clear. I would later learn that the print came courtesy of E Ink, electronic paper that...well never mind. Look it up. Guaranteed many of you will be reading from some form of E Ink or similar technology in the very near future.
I spent more time with the Kindle. I actually curled up with it, playing with font sizes, creating bookmarks, running word searches, and using the built-in dictionary. I did the kind of stuff I couldn't do with a dead tree.
But here's the thing that makes the Amazon Kindle the most important piece of travel technology since the inflatable neck pillow. Say you're on the road and you suddenly realize that you must have--must have!--Oprah's new book. All you need to do is turn on the Kindle and connect to the store. (The connection is through Sprint's EV-DO network. It's free.) You'll have to pay for the book, but it will be cheaper than the dead-tree version. Or, if you wish, you can download sample chapters for free.
There are some drawbacks to the Kindle's portability. Right now, the wireless download is limited to the U.S. So if you're heading outside the U.S., it makes sense to just pack your Kindle with reading material beforehand. Amazon says that the Kindle can store 200 books. One more drawback: You probably wouldn't want to take this $350+ device to the beach. You don't want sand to get in the works, and besides, placing a Kindle on your head to block out the sun is both ineffectual and rather silly. Stick with dead trees for that.
http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/blogs/80days/2008/07/the-amazon-kind.html
MaineWriter:
from the Atlantic, by James Fallows:
I'll try not to become a nerd-bore on this topic too, but: Kindle
23 Jul 2008 05:44 pm
Had resisted buying one because I knew that the spiffy wireless-delivery service wouldn't work outside the US, and anyway I didn't have time for yet another gadget.
I eventually spent enough time to learn (duh!) that I could use it wherever I was in the world, with or without wireless delivery. You just download the e-book files to your computer, over the plain old internet, and then transfer them to Kindle with USB cable. So as part of the provisioning run on this quick trip to the U.S. I ordered one and received it yesterday.
First impressions are all of the "beating expectations" variety. Screen nicer to read than I expected. Navigation takes about one minute to learn. Instant-gratification feature more satisfying than expected. You think: I'd like to read that book! A minute later, it's literally in your hands. On my last provisioning run, I wanted to get Joseph O'Neill's celebrated and then-new novel Netherland. But it wasn't in any of the book stores that I passed by, and I didn't have time for "legacy" Amazon shipments. Now I have it, for about $10 versus about $25.
Unexpected and potentially important practical aspect: I'm always getting very long book or article manuscripts to read, usually in .DOC or .PDF files. I don't want to use the paper to print them out, so generally I have to be at a computer to deal with. But I can email them as attachments to a Kindle.com address; then for 10 cents a document, they're resent to my own Kindle in a form I can read and annotate when not at a computer. Have already used this system to queue up a couple of book-length manuscripts I'm supposed to read while on the road in the next week or so.
We'll see how this wears -- in particular how this replicates the intangible satisfactions of reading an actual book. I like holding and reading real books. We'll see how likable these virtual books are on longer exposure.
Main drawback I foresee right now: my wife being distinctly unamused if on our next trip together or next evening at home I end up starting at yet another digital device. This may have to remain a private vice.
http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/ill_try_not_to_become_a_geekbo.php
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