Although I never figured myself as reading eBooks, this has actually come to pass. Although Amazon.com’s Kindle is tempting, I’m quite happy to use my phone (AT&T Tilt with eReader software) to read books these days. So far I’ve read a novella and novel by Lois McMaster Bujold (which I’d purchased through Fictionwise.com, eReader’s parent company, now owned by Barnes & Noble), Jane Eyre, The Cricket on the Hearth, and The Jungle Book. Apart from a dictionary and thesaurus (which I bought from eReader.com) and the two aforementioned Bujold tales, I haven’t bought any other eBooks. But I now have quite a library on my phone thanks to a number of legal (believe it or not) sources.

My sources, let me show you them!

• Project Gutenberg – Perhaps the greatest electronic library online there is. Thousands of out-of-print books have been hand-typed (or scanned and edited) by volunteers and are now available as text, html, and other versions. I’ve added a number of classic authors to my collection, and the non-purchased books I mentioned above are all from Gutenberg.
• eReader & Fictionwise – Both of these companies have free eBooks to try out. Some are classics, but some are more contemporary. I’ve downloaded a selection of these, but haven’t read any yet. The difference between the two stories is a matter of format. eReader.com only sells eReader-format books. Fictionwise sells a variety of formats, including eReader and pdf. They overlap for the most part (as might be expected).
• Baen Free Library – I was surprised (and delighted) when I discovered that science fiction publisher Baen Books had several eBooks available for free, trying to encourage people to try now, get hooked, and buy later. I’ll probably be one of those types of people. 🙂 Although they don’t offer the eReader format (whose software I like best out of the two programs I’ve tried, heh) they offer .rtf which I will discuss later. Anyhoo, I’ve got one of the Mercedes Lackey books started on my phone.
• Scribd.com – As a new convert to Twitter, one of the things I love best about it is finding out about new stuff from links that people post. Wil Wheaton (who’s fun to follow on Twitter) posted a link to a novel available on Scribd.com and I’ve downloaded it and a few others. Like Baen, Random House is trying the drug lord method of book selling – offer free samples, then charge when they’re hooked. You can read the books at the Scribd.com site once you’ve made an account, or you can download a .pdf (if the author/publisher allows) of the book to read later. I’ve downloaded a number of .pdfs for checking out later. I may wind up putting them on my Netbook (for which I’ve downloaded FBreader).

If you’re looking for free eBooks, hopefully something in the list above will help you in your search.

Unfortunately, in the eBook world, there isn’t a standard (yet). MP3s have pretty much become the de facto standard in electronic music, but it’s still a desperate shoot-em-up in eBook formats. I’m hoping that ePub might be the answer (and that the eReader software eventually supports it).

I use the eReader format because I happen to like the eReader software on my phone. One feature is a dictionary look-up (which is why I paid for a dictionary) while you’re reading. It has come in handy so far. It remembers where you left off, even if you switch books. It displays illustrations if there are any, which is handy too. Plus, I have the purchased books which sort of lock me into eReader as a software. The eReader format is based upon the Palm Markup Language (pml) just like the open source Plucker format is. But it’s not the same, and eReader cannot open Plucker files and Plucker programs cannot open eReader files. So bummer there.

I had tried Vade Mecum on my Tilt. This is an open source software for reading plucker files. But it doesn’t seem to still be in development and it’s just not as user friendly as eReader is. I read all of Jane Eyre with it, but I switched to only using eReader while reading Cricket on the Hearth. So how can I read Project Gutenberg & Baen Library books using eReader? Ah, if there’s a need, someone’s probably written a program or extension for it… Let’s visit our good & dear friend OpenOffice.org.

I use OO.o exclusively on all my home computers (rather than MSOffice). It’s easy to use and FREE. And version 3.0 (which is on my Winders machines) can read those pesky docx (and related) files that MSOffice2007 creates. OO.o also has extensions available to it (similar to what Firefox & Thunderbird have). One extension it has is called odt2pml. It converts odt (open document, text) to pml (Palm Markup Language). So those text Project Gutenberg files and rich text files from Baen can be converted to pml. And eReader has a free program called DropBook which can convert pml to the eReader format. Sure, it’s a few leaps, but I’m a geek and don’t mind the hurdles. Well, actually, I’d prefer if eReader would read nonproprietary formats – especially the up-and-coming ePub format. But until it does or I find a better alternative which does, I’ll use odt2pml.

In many ways, books for me are as much about the places I was when I read them as they are about the stories within them. My old green chair from my bedroom (which rocked & squeaked – it was terrific) was home to a crucial reread of The Chronicles of Narnia. (It was the first time I read my own hardback copy of the series versus paperbacks or library hardbacks, and it was a time when I was a late teen instead of just “a kid.”) Doctor Who’s Missing Adventure Dancing the Code will always remind me of B-WISER camp. And The White Mountains trilogy (or Tripods trilogy to the rest of the universe) was an “under the covers after lights out” series where I read the entire book in one night. (I don’t remember if I did that for all three books, but I’m pretty sure I did it for The White Mountains. It was a reread, IIRC.)

I just recently (as in finished Saturday night) revisited the world of the White Mountains and the Tripods. This came about because of another trilogy. I was at the local bookstore a couple weekends ago looking at young adult and children’s books. I already had Kate DiCamillo’s Tales of Despereaux and Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane in my pile. The bookstore owner approved of my selection (admitting she loved Tulane even more than Despereaux) and suggested several other YA and children’s authors. The one she had the most praise for and that intrigued me the most was Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies trilogy.

At first I thought “Oh! Logan’s Run for today’s teens!” when I read the blurb. But then I got to thinking, what with it being a trilogy, it was more akin to The White Mountains for today’s youngin’s. And as I read through the first book, I thought, “Hmmm, I should reread The White Mountains trilogy when I get done.” So when I finished Uglies, I did that. Besides, I wouldn’t get to a bookstore until the weekend to buy Pretties and Specials to finish Westerfeld’s trilogy.

I had several realizations while rereading John Christopher’s trilogy. First, it sure is a “boys’ own” novel. I had never noticed that when I read them originally. But the number of memorable females in the series are, um, two. And one of them catches like a girl. Heh. The other thing, which surprised me completely, was that I remembered many set pieces and plot details from The White Mountains and The City of Gold and Lead. But when I was reading the third book, The Pool of Fire, I remembered NOTHING. I know I’ve read it numerous times, but whereas I could think “Oh, this is the scene when…” in the first two books, I’d only ever remember stuff after it occurred in book 3. I even have trouble remembering the title of book 3. Go figure.

I enjoyed rereading the books, but they often had very abrupt transitions – especially when going from one book to the other. I know there have been attempts at making the books into movies and TV (I’ve not seen the UK series that covered books 1 & 2, but I understand Disney keeps promising to make it – they’ve had the rights since ’97), but I wonder how such a boy’s own book would work with today’s audiences. When reading up on the series on Wikipedia (link above) I found out that the author (who’s real name was Samuel Youd) replied regarding the lack of female characters “at the time of writing the series, it was generally accepted that girls would read books with boy main characters, but not vice versa” (the quote is from Wikipedia not necessarily word-for-word from Youd/Christopher). I wonder if that was true then and/or if it’s true now.

Still, one thing that the Uglies trilogy has is female characters. The lead is female, but it’s not a girly book (like, say, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants – good book too, BTW). I’m about 1/4 into the second book, Pretties, and I’m finding it as captivating as The White Mountains was when I was a kid. But I’m a bit more sensible (and I have a job) so I’m not staying up all night reading it. Indeed, I should probably get to bed so I can read some before I conk out. The kitties are already asleep on my lap. They hate having to get up so that I can go to bed.

OK, so I couldn’t resist this meme…

I have been inhaling books of late. Since I rediscovered Lois McMaster Bujold for the first time (I’ll explain later) I have been eating up her books. Since the 2nd of September, in fact, I have finished one book every five days. (Yes, I do keep a record of what I read, why do you ask?) Alas, I now have only 2 more books to read in her Miles Vorkosigan saga (not including the pre-pre-prequel, Falling Free, which I’m sure I’ll buy soonish and read). If you like science fiction and haven’t checked out Lois’ books, I suggest you try Shards of Honor or, if it goes too slow for you, The Warrior’s Apprentice. These will definitely books which I will reread. My favorite is always the one I’ve just finished. (That would be Komarr today.) I’ve also started one of her fantasy novels, Paladin of Souls. It’s my purse book, so it takes a bit longer to read than my bedtime books. (I have suffered a lot of insomnia of late thanks to Lois – many’s the time I’ll be reading well past midnight.)

I was a voracious reader when I was a kid. I was often reading books in advance of my age group. I often shunned TV or other entertainment for reading. But then I discovered TV shows that worked for me (The Tomorrow People being the first). So as I moved into my teen years, I wasn’t reading as much as I had been. I was still buying lots of books, but just not getting them read. I still have Troll Book Club books which I’ve not read (though those are dwindling now as I finally get to reading them). I bought those when I was in elementary school! I joined the Science Fiction Book Club when I was a teenager and bought many books, few of which I ever read (again, until lately). As the number of books which I read dropped, so did my speed for reading.

When I started college, however, Virgin came out with The New Adventures of Doctor Who (NAs). I was able to recapture some of the fervor which I’d had as a child while reading the NAs. I remember waiting months at a time for books to arrive from the UK (ah, 1-800-TREKKER, you were my savior) and then I’d have a glut of 4 or 5 books to read, which I’d inhale. However, the NAs were about the only books I was reading, other than textbooks for college.

When Virgin lost their license, I tried reading the BBC published books, but I just didn’t care for them as much. Indeed, I stopped buying them after awhile and there are still several in my collection which I’ve yet to read. Apart from the Harry Potter series, Discworld series, and Murder, She Wrote series (hey, I *like* Murder, She Wrote), I still wasn’t reading a whole lot. However, I was still buying books.

In 2001, just before summer began, I made a pact with myself. I swore that I wouldn’t buy a new book until I’d read 10 that I already owned. A local bookstore going out of business over Memorial Day weekend, however, put me behind by 30 books. Still, from June 4, 2001, I’ve been recording the name (and date) of each book I’ve finished reading. January of 2006, I made a few goals for myself including read for 30 minutes every day. Although I haven’t kept up with all of those goals, I think the 30 minutes read thing has become something of a habit.

Building my library has certainly helped with that reading goal. Sitting here in my comfy chair and reading while listening to music is lovely. Especially when one of the kitties comes to visit. (My lap, alas, is currently bereft of kitty.) Indeed, I’ve been able to, since 2006, read more than 50 books in a year. I’ve already crossed the 50 book mark this year and will, if I keep up my current rate, be in the 70s.

So, you may be wondering how I could rediscover Lois McMaster Bujold for the first time? When I was in high school (a junior, I believe) my creative writing teacher held a workshop for aspiring writers. She brought in a published author, Lois McMaster Bujold, to lead the workshop. I remember being impressed with the workshop, though I hate to say it – I’ve forgotten pretty much everything she said. Still, a few months later, the Science Fiction Book Club had a book containing her first two novels for sale. I bought it, of course. And as with far too many books I bought in those days, it sat around unread.

This summer I was making good progress through my already owned books. Soon after I finished H Beam Piper’s two Fuzzy books, I picked up “Test of Honor” – the two book compilation (Shards and Warriors). While reading Shards of Honor I was thinking “this is a nice standard science fiction novel.” I was disappointed to discover that the second book wouldn’t follow up on Cordelia and Aral (the leads in the first book) but rather their son Miles. But I read The Warrior’s Apprentice anyhoo. And damn, but I loved it. Miles Vorkosigan, son of Cordelia Naismith and Lord (Count) Aral Vorkosigan is a wonderful character and I’ve been enjoying reading about his exploits. Lois has a wonderful sense of humor which winds throughout her books. And her characters are very enjoyable (whether Miles is there or not). So I’ve been eating up her books ever since. And it feels much like it used to when I was a kid and I read continuously.

I love reading. 🙂

You know that big storm that’s all over the north central and east US?  I’m in the pink band of that, getting lots of freezing rain dumped on me (well, not me, but my house & yard are).  The bad is that ice is icky and road conditions are shite.  The good is that we wound up having no school today.  I’d really like for the freezing rain to switch to snow – snow is much easier to walk on (well, the amounts we get in Ohio) than strict ice.  If we have school tomorrow, I’ll have to decide which is less hazardous – walking or driving.  Ever since I broke my arm slipping on the ice in ’00, I’ve been paranoid when there’s ice around.

Still, I’ve been having a great day off.  I received in the mail yesterday my latest eBay purchase – the Dorothy Edwards novel, The Witches and the Grinnygog.  Nickelodeon aired the British miniseries of that book when I was a kid and I loved it.  Still do, in fact.  I got the bug in my head to find the original book, which is currently out of print.  My cursory glance showed prices of $75+ for the book.  Eep!  But there was a sale on eBay for a more reasonably priced book (£4.99).  I bid and won the book – woot! 

Although I started reading the book yesterday (and last night during a bout of insomnia), I read most of it today to finish it just a short while ago.  The book was just as delightful as the miniseries was. There were quite a few characters combined for the miniseries (there are 6 lead children in the book, 4 in the miniseries) but the story, for the most part, was faithfully adapted to the series.  Much of the dialog by the witches was the same in both.  I have a mind to watch the miniseries this evening yet.  Heh. 

So, despite the nasty, icky weather, I’ve been having a nice day.  Considering I’ve got 5 billion meetings tomorrow (an exaggeration) I’m rather hoping we get another day off tomorrow.  But I’m not counting on it.  If we get it, it’ll be a pleasant surprise. 

(Heh heh – “Herne” is a very appropriate song to be playing right now.)

Two years ago, I had tried to set myself some goals for 2006. Although there are some goals which I haven’t done a good job with (exercising 20 minutes a day on my exercise bike), I definitely accomplished one in 2007 which has aided another longterm goal of mine. This summer, I finally got my floor-to-ceiling bookshelves put up. And that has certainly made the goal “read 30 minutes a day” a much more fun thing to do.

For the past several years, I’ve tried to read at least 50 books during a year. 2006 was the first year (since I’ve been keeping track) which I managed it with 54 books. Despite my slow start in 2007 (only reading 2 in January), I trounced my former “record” with 59 books read. I had hit 50 while still in November. 🙂 Once again, I’ll put the disclaimer in that I read all sizes & shapes of books. From college “textbooks” (How to Think About Weird Things) to children’s stories (Mars Needs Moms) – a book is a book in my book. 🙂 Audio books count too, but I only had 2 of those in 2007. (Big Finish plays, OTOH, are not “books” in my book. So they don’t get counted.)

So, on to some of my discoveries from the 59 books read in 2007:

Two “new” authors for me this year were Steve Hockensmith and Christopher Moore. Thanks to several “Buy 2 get 1 Free!” sales at bookstores over Spring Break, I wound up trying several authors, including these two. And I decided I need to check out more books by them.

Hockensmith is a relatively new author with two books out and one coming in February. Holmes on the Range is the first book, where it introduces us to Big Red and Old Red, a couple of “cowboys” who wind up in the center of mysteries. But thankfully, Old Red is a BIG fan of Sherlock Holmes (his younger brother Big Red reads them to him – several times) and is able to apply Holmes’ techniques out in the “Old West.” I also picked up On the Wrong Track later on in the year and enjoyed it as well. A nice mix of Western, Humor, and Mystery.

Moore, OTOH, has been around awhile, but I only discovered him last year during Spring Break. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal was probably the funniest book I’d read in years. It was “laugh out loud” and “slap the bed” funny. Several times I scared Lucy such that she’d jump off the bed and run & hide. As soon as I finished it, I loaned it to my folks and they enjoyed it as well. Since then, I’ve tried two other Moore books. Coyote Blue was enjoyable, but I think I’d’ve been more impressed with it if I’d read it before Lamb. A Dirty Job, however, was very dark and funny in the right ways. With Moore, you can figure he’s going to turn things on their heads, and as you can guess by the subtitle of Lamb, gods get to do handstands too.

In the (auto)biographical realm (which I don’t usually buy – this year was an exception), I discovered Frank McCourt. Angela’s Ashes was one of the most heart wrenching books I’ve ever read – but poverty through the eyes of young Frank McCourt was also often funny. As soon as I’d finished Ashes, I needed to read what happened next, so I bought ‘Tis and Teacher Man. In a way, I’m glad that I didn’t read Teacher Man before I started teaching. 😉 (OK, so it would have been impossible as it was written in 2005 and I started teaching in 1993.) I may have to consider checking out other autobiographies and biographies out there.

2007 was the year that JK Rowling finished the Harry Potter book series. I had seen the 5th movie shortly before the book came out. Then I read book 6 in two days to get ready for book 7. And then I read that in a further 2 days. I really enjoyed the book and how it tied up the whole series. I need to do another marathon read from book 1 on to book 7 – but maybe in the summer. 😉

I discovered in 2007 that David Sedaris doesn’t rock my boat (although Me Talk Pretty One Day wasn’t awful – I’ve just read other humorists that I enjoy more). Bill Bryson, OTOH, still entertains me (this year with In a Sunburned Country).

I could probably go on about more of the books I’ve read, but I’m getting antsy to play a bit more World of Warcrack before bedtime. And the good news about 2008 and books is that I’ve already got 6 under my belt. This is thanks to The Spiderwick Chronicles. I spent the last 5 nights reading the five books of the series. Quite fun books with beautiful illustrations. Tonight I’ll either start on Making Money by Terry Pratchett or First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde.