Reading

[sarge_in]

wasn't there someone militarily hapless and hilarious called Sad Sack?

I never read that one. Was it good?

 

[ajay124]

Amazon.com: desmond bagley: Kindle Store

You can begin with Running Blind/Freedom Trap. I envy you

 

[moktan]

I never read that one. Was it good?

beetle would bungle more but sad sack was ...well...sadder....everyone seemed to pick on him...

 

[ajay124]

Good contemporary authors

J.M.Coetzee

JM Coetzee | Books | guardian.co.uk

J. M. Coetzee - New York Times

Flipkart.com: Life And Times Of Michael K: Book: J. M. Coetzee

Flipkart.com: Slow Man: Book: J. M. Coetzee

Flipkart.com: Master Of Petersburg: Book: J. M. Coetzee

 

[sarge_in]

Amazon.com: desmond bagley: Kindle Store

You can begin with Running Blind/Freedom Trap. I envy you

I am guessing you are seeing a different store or something, as even this link only has paperbacks, no kindle versions. In fact on the product page, there is a link to "request the author to make kindle version available". No big deal.. Thanks anyways!

 

[ajay124]

sarge_in

I don't have a Kindle so I am not sure how it works. But I opened the Amazon US site. I selected the Kindle store option and typed Desmond Bagley in the search box. The titles which pop up appear to be Kindle E Books.

This is what appears on the site.

Running Blind / The Freedom Trap by Desmond Bagley (Kindle Edition - Nov 1, 2009) - Kindle eBook
Buy: $10.39
Auto-delivered wirelessly

 

[sarge_in]

That is soo weird. That is definitely a kindle version, but surely not available in the US store that I am seeing. I tried the UK store, and that has a few of them but I can't download them due to differencing licensing I guess. No worries...paperback it is!

 

[ajay124]

That is soo weird. That is definitely a kindle version, but surely not available in the US store that I am seeing. I tried the UK store, and that has a few of them but I can't download them due to differencing licensing I guess. No worries...paperback it is!

sarge_in

Does that mean that you can download these E Books from Amazon US if you are based in India, but you can't do it if you are based in the US? Definitely weird.

What is your experience of reading on a Kindle and reading a paperback or a hard bound book?

 

[sarge_in]

sarge_in

Does that mean that you can download these E Books from Amazon US if you are based in India, but you can't do it if you are based in the US? Definitely weird.

What is your experience of reading on a Kindle and reading a paperback or a hard bound book?

It seems licensing is by country and needs to match the country in Kindle settings. So the books you are seeing may be licensed in India but not in US (even though you are seeing the US store) and therefore may be downloadable in India but not US. FWIW, Running Blind / The Freedom Trap is not available even in UK, so looks like it is licensed only in India.

Kindle experience - While paperback still has its charm and the convenience of flipping through pages, Kindle provides the ease of carrying, use and mobility that gives it a huge advantage. Biggest ones for me is I can grab a chapter or two when I am at lunch or waiting at a doctor or standing in long lines at a store on my iphone kindle app (and I do pretty often), which then syncs wirelessly to the physical kindle I use at home. And of course much easier to carry on trips than lugging hardcovers around. Not to mention I can have as many books on me as in my account with several in the reading process simultaneously.

As for the actual reading itself, the physical kindle is veryy close to paper and not at all straining. If anything, it is easier to handle when lying down than an actual book. The iphone app is also quite nice once you have setup the page color and font and size to your liking. Bottom line - given a choice, I will always get a kindle version for ease and mobility of reading.

 

[ajay124]

I have not gone into the intricacies of using my iPad as a book reader. I would appreciate information and advise from anyone who is using it as a book reader.

 

[frnd08]

It seems licensing is by country and needs to match the country in Kindle settings. So the books you are seeing may be licensed in India but not in US (even though you are seeing the US store) and therefore may be downloadable in India but not US. FWIW, Running Blind / The Freedom Trap is not available even in UK, so looks like it is licensed only in India.

Kindle experience - While paperback still has its charm and the convenience of flipping through pages, Kindle provides the ease of carrying, use and mobility that gives it a huge advantage. Biggest ones for me is I can grab a chapter or two when I am at lunch or waiting at a doctor or standing in long lines at a store on my iphone kindle app (and I do pretty often), which then syncs wirelessly to the physical kindle I use at home. And of course much easier to carry on trips than lugging hardcovers around. Not to mention I can have as many books on me as in my account with several in the reading process simultaneously.

As for the actual reading itself, the physical kindle is veryy close to paper and not at all straining. If anything, it is easier to handle when lying down than an actual book. The iphone app is also quite nice once you have setup the page color and font and size to your liking. Bottom line - given a choice, I will always get a kindle version for ease and mobility of reading.

i actually prefer my kindle to actual books. okay maybe not, but the reading experience is almost as good and in some cases better than books with small fonts etc.

LCDs are terrbile as ebook readers. to what extent is only fathomable when one uses a kindle.

 

[sarge_in]

I have not gone into the intricacies of using my iPad as a book reader. I would appreciate information and advise from anyone who is using it as a book reader.

Give it a shot - the app itself is free, and there are several free (or cheap) books out there to try out for experience.

Btw, there are also several free / cheap apps that provide access to literally thousand of books in the free domain.

 

[GeorgeO]

Moktan

Surely you remember Sudden was bu Oliver Strange! I loved and read all of the books in that series as a young kid-Law O'the Lariat was one of my favourites

i never read much Mclean..but i was raised up on a steady diet of Louis L'Amour ...especially The Sackett series...there were others too like Zane Grey, JT Edson's Sudden, if i recall correctly...but Louis L'Amour was what fired our boyish fantasies...

 

[GeorgeO]

Sorry Moktam didnt read the earlier posts-I saw the correction.

Other favourite reading as a school boy was Ted Mark-hilarious stuff! I also remember Neville Shute-Trustee from a Toolroom, among others.

 

[EllenMillers]

Reading helps to discover your mind and thoughts also it helps to improve our knowledge and I used to read all the time and its my hobby as well and I do enjoying of reading.

 

[ajay124]

I still remember issuing the first James Hadley Chase from the Municipal Library in Simla. I was a little cautious because JHC was supposed to be 'grown up' and I was only 11 years old. From the moment I started reading I was hooked. I finished the book in a couple of sittings and after that there was no looking back.

Around the same time I also discovered Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner, PG Wodehouse. I was lucky that I had three libraries to forage. The Municipal library, the School library, and the Western Command library, which I patronised through buddies whose parents were in the army.

I had a very active network for exchanging books and comics. I never bought a comic, although I read plenty of them. But at the grand old age of 8, I had proclaimed to my parents, relatives and well wishers, that all presents and gifts would be only accepted in the form of books. Until class 5 the way to my heart was by presenting me with an Enid Blyton. And subsequently by presenting me with an Alistair Maclean.

As you grow older your childhood retreats, and it becomes increasingly difficult to wander back in time. So many incidents that I still remember from my life till the age of 12-13, are connected to books and music!

 

[ajay124]

Google pays homage to the Labyrinth.

Jorge Luis Borges' Google doodle celebrates the master of magical realism | Books | guardian.co.uk

If the entire fiction of the twentieth century had to be pared down to ten books, then would it be these ten?

Ficciones/Jorge Luis Borges
The Trial/Franz Kafka
The Man Without Qualities/Robert Musil
The Book Of Disquiet/Fernando Pessoa
Remembrance Of Things Past/Marcel Proust
Ulysses/James Joyce
Lolita/Vladimir Nabokov
The Stranger/Albert Camus
One Hundred Years Of Solitude/Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Seige/Ismail Kadare


* Only two of these books were originally written in English. Ulysses and Lolita. Proust had an encyclopedic memory, therefore his "Remembrances" take up nine volumes!
* Robert Musil and Marcel Proust are ongoing projects, which I read on and off, without ever reaching the end. I have read the books by Borges and Pessoa several times, and found them extraordinary and revelatory every time.
* A list of ten has it's limitation. Therefore many other books I admire are missing
* Feel free to add your personal 'ten'. Bestsellers. Serious Fiction. Non Fiction. Drama. Poetry. Philosophy.

 

[ajay124]

The Book Of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa is very special. One of the most significant books of the twentieth century. Every book one comes across, every homily, every bit of advise from teachers and elders, celebrates only one thing. SUCCESS! Success in your chosen profession. Success in the amount of money you make. Success among your peers and in society. Success with members of the opposite sex.

SUCCESS! Our ego's swelling up like giant balloons. Rising up into the transfixed air. Dazzling the world. Filling the pages of national dailies and history books. Oozing out of television screens.

The Book Of Disquiet celebrates Failure. Loneliness. Disconnect. "Disquiet" -The inability to find contentment, solace or meaning in our everyday life. The never ending search for another world. A world which is yet to be born. A world which may never be born.

The Believer - A Cold in the Soul: Reading The Book Of Disquiet in Apartment 62

The Book of Disquiet (Penguin Modern Classics): Amazon.co.uk: Fernando Pessoa, Richard Zenith: Books

 

[sarge_in]

Nice memories indeed! I felt quite lucky as well to have a school library that was quite well-stocked. Even better was that the librarian ma'am we had let me (and a very select few others) take books beyond our weekly quota (or summer vacation quota). She used to keep aside the books I was looking for and gave them to me mid-week (which was a big deal back then). I always remember her fondly to have helped me as much as she could to kindle the interest - god bless her! Opportunities for exchange were few as not too many people were into buying books, and they were expensive for us back then. Took some effort to find every last Hardy Boys and Alistain Maclean, but that also meant the books were even more worth it because of that.

Also had one uncle who always used to present me books rather than toys and games on birthdays. I always used to look forward to his books, and guess what I still have most of the ones he gave me while the games other people gave are long forgotten..

Treasured memories indeed..

 

[sarge_in]

A couple nice reference books for young readers:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0756637589
This is just what a kid's dictionary should be like! Very nice premium paper, layout and pictures to make it interesting for young minds who would be easily put off by a 'regular' dictionary. Yet quite exhaustive for that level. Has phonetics key on EVERY page for pronunciation help, and alphabet markers on every page edge to navigate quickly.

Amazon.com: DK First Encyclopedia (9780789485809): Mary Ling: Books
First encyclopedia by the same publisher, with similar appeal with good layout and nice pictures.