Monday Ebooks: Inaugural Edition
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Monday Ebooks! We hope to make this a regular feature of AustenBlog. Regular readers have probably figured out that the Editrix is quite enthusiastic about ebooks and electronic texts of all kinds. We know that many readers can’t imagine ever using such texts in the same way they do paperbooks (or pbooks), but we hope to at least give our Gentle Readers some information about ebooks and answer any questions you may have. This week, we have asked Laura McDonald, proprietress of Girlebooks, a site dedicated to free ebooks by women authors, to review her Kindle, an ebook reader device developed and sold by Amazon.com. –Ed.
Mags has asked if I could write a up a few words about the Kindle for you folks. Just to give some background on my experience with the Kindle, I’m going to start with a few words on my experience reading ebooks pre-Kindle.
I think most people would say they are more technologically literate than their parents. That’s definitely not my case. Both of my parents are tech-FREAKS. I make a habit of inheriting their old cast-off computers and other gadgets. They also love to buy other people tech gifts, which was the case when they gave me a Palm pilot several years ago. The idea of a digital address book seemed like a cool idea, but it was certainly not something I would have shelled out the money for myself. I thanked them for the gift, half-heartedly loaded up my Palm pilot with some addresses, and then forgot about it.
A few months later while while doing a semester abroad in Brazil, I had just read the last book I had stuffed into my suitcase. Local books were not only expensive but also written in Portuguese. Imagine, the nerve! My mom mentioned that she quite enjoyed reading ebooks on her Palm, and why didn’t I try it out? Around that time I discovered a site called Project Gutenberg that offered (and still offers) thousands of free e-texts of public domain works. I was immediately in heaven with an endless library of words, in my native language, and free! Lovely Project Gutenberg, while an amazing resource, has two drawbacks. One, their e-texts are horribly formatted; and two, the layout of the site is quite…dry. If you don’t know what you are looking for, it isn’t exactly a site you browse for reading material. These two drawbacks were the main reason why I started my Girlebooks site–with professionally formatted ebooks and a very (hopefully) browseable ebook catalog.
After years of reading on my Palm, my parents recently presented me with a Kindle. Again, considering the price, it was not something I would have sprung for myself. While I had my prejudices at first, the Kindle–like the Palm before it–has turned out to be indispensable. The screen is so easy on the eyes I can hardly bring myself to read on my Palm anymore. Another point for the Kindle is the sheer amount of ebooks available on Amazon’s Kindle store. While I’m a little put off by their decision to “close” their store to other ebook formats, only offering ebooks for their own ebook reader, I’m sure this will change with time.
One really cool feature I’ve been making use of lately is sending myself a sample of books directly from Amazon’s online catalog. I see a book I’m curious about, and with one click I send it straight to my Kindle. It’s usually about a chapter’s worth of sample material with a dangerously convenient “buy and keep reading” link at the end of the sample. I’ve found this sampling method very useful. For example, I recently sent myself a sample of a highly rated Pride and Prejudice spin-off which shall remain nameless. I was entertained by the first few pages until I came upon–*gasp*–A DOUBLE NEGATIVE. Jane Austen never used double negatives! Then I started seeing grammatical errors all over the place and quickly decided that I would have a terrible time trying to read this book. Conversely, I have also sent samples to my Kindle somewhat randomly and ended up pressing the dangerous “buy and keep reading” link because I simply couldn’t put it down.
So there you go. Considering how far we’ve come–from reading badly formatted public domain texts on a Palm pilot to nicely formatted bestsellers on a beautiful eInk screen–I’d say there’s much more improvement to come. I’d like to see Amazon offer ebooks in various formats for different ebook readers. I’d also like to see the selection of ebooks expand, on Amazon and also on other ebook sites. Even with Amazon’s large ebook catalog, I still have a large wish list of books that aren’t available as ebooks yet. But for now I’m happy to keep reading Jane Austen and other gems I dig up for my Girlebooks site while I wait more ebooks to become available.
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Yay! for ebook-reading devices! I’ve presented myself with a Sony eReader (it handles pdfs better and the Kindle is not European-friendly) and love it.
Yes, another shame about the Kindle is its non-US friendliness. Do you read mostly PDFs on the Sony Reader? All of these different ebook file formats drive me crazy. Digital music which eventually coalesced into mp3s–perhaps the same with happen with ebooks?
Sorry–too early in the morning. That last sentence was meant to be, “Digital music eventually coalesced into mp3s–perhaps the same will happen with ebooks?”
I can’t recommend the Kindle enthusiastically enough. As a college English instructor, I love having the complete works of Austen, Shakespeare, Twain, Poe, et al with me all the time. It’s remarkably user-friendly and worth the cost.
I dunno… I accidentally dropped my copy of Mansfield Park outside, where my dog read it. He decided to keep the cover, intro, and notes. Luckily I only wanted the middle anyway.
Had it been a Kindle, I would have barbecued him. Real books save cute puppies from flaming deaths!
Another as-yet-unmentioned advantage of the Kindle (and I imagine any other ebook) is discretion: no one really knows WHICH of the stored books you are reading… Think about it. I, personally, don’t need my friends and relations to know how very often I re-read Jane!
Catherine, that’s very true! My husband has a very bad habit of seeing what I’m reading and then grilling me for either re-reading something too much or saying it’s too “girly”, etc. With the Kindle, I just say I’m reading Moby Dick and he’s satisfied.
Laura, I think I’ll wait before purchasing a Kindle or ebook reader until the price is more user friendly.You see, I am a klutz. I am on my third digital camera in one year, having a tendency to drop things. Don’t ask me how many ipods I’ve gone through in two years (4). So can you imagine how uptight I’d feel with a $300-400 ebook reader? Having said that, I salivate when I go to your girlebook site and see what you have to offer. So, SONY, Kindle, all you ebook makers out there, lower the cost, will ya?
I’m there with ya, Vic. Have you ever washed your ipod? Apparently the thing will go through the wash fine unless you turn it on before it thoroughly dries out, then you fry it. Maybe they can make a rubberized or waterproof ebook reader for people who drop things (or wash them). Or disposable ones like they make disposable cameras now.
Hi Laura!
Sorry for the late reply, but, yes, I do read regular “font-sized” pdfs (zoomed in one degree) on the Sony eReader and it works just fine. It also reads txt and rtf (word) files AND there are lots of (copyright)free books (mostly classics) to be had on the net. They are just one look at gutenberg.org or a general google search away.
I can’t recommend it highly enough.
And because I love my sangria-red eBaby, I also say that it looks way classier than the Kindle.
Oh, and only now I took the time to really take a look at Gerlebooks site. IT’S BEAUTIFUL!!!!