THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, or KINDLE MOI (#2)

Moi adventures in/with Kindle! So, the hubby got a Kindle, too, and has been fast and furiously loading free books into his account. Cheapskate.

Anyway, taking on his frugal lead, I also started surfing through Kindle's free books. This is after I finished my first read on Kindle (see notes below on A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE GREAT RECESSION) so that I got a feel of what that reading experience is like. Well, I can be as cheap as the hubby but I found myself being quite parsimonious with loading on books. For instances, I passed on the poems of Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. Now, kids, load on those poets -- do as I say, not as I do! Anyway, my initial selectivity (which has naught to do with quality), moithinks, may have to do with having to get used to this reading-screen format that makes me lean towards reading a certain type of fare (when I can articulate said fare, I will do so -- stay tuned ye 9.5 billion Peeps all abated breath over my manufactured e-life).

Anyway, here's my initial books on Kindle; most are free though it's perhaps ironic that the books I've paid money for so far have to do with the Great Recession. Also, looking at this initial list now, I see the tendency toward stories of the old West (I don't know why I have that predilection but, there it is...). So make of such what you will:

On Moi Kindle:
POEMS OF WILLIAM BLAKE

THE ODYSSEY by Homer

ILIAD by Homer

LETTERS OF A WOMAN HOMESTEADER by Elinore Pruitt Stewart

THE BIOGRAPHY OF A PRAIRIE GIRL by Eleanor Gates

THE QUEST OF THE SIMPLE LIFE, memoir by William J. Dawson

THE GREATEST GENERATION CREATED BY THE GREAT DEPRESSION by Cap'n Dee

JOURNEY IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION, memoir by John Lifflander

NO PLACE ELSE, memoir by Floyd Wesley Brosman

PERSONAL LEGACIES: SURVIVING THE GREAT DEPRESSIONS by Robin A. Edgar with illustrator Jessi Godoy and photographer Jennifer Crickenberger

A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE GREAT RECESSION by Arthur Delaney with Foreword by Arianna Huffington -- first book read on Kindle. And it shows the dark side of e-publishing. This book was generated from Delaney's prior columns on The Huffington Post, and it shows. There was little attempt to make the collection more weighty for purpose of book publishing. A purely commercial venture with no incremental value-added by being a book. I found it insulting, actually, as a writer moiself....to see how e-posts (e.g. blog posts) should be converted to what should be a higher content threshold of a book, do feel free, ahem, to check out my own effort HERE.

THE ENGLISH ORPHANS, novel by Mary Jane Holmes

HOMESTEAD ON THE HILLSIDE, novel by Mary Jane Holmes

BLOG IT OUT, BITCH, humor by Nina Perez (it's domestic humor -- how could I resist?)

PATCHWORK A STORY OF THE PLAIN PEOPLE, fiction by Anna Balmer Myers

O PIONEERS, novel by Willa Cather

MY ANTONIA, novel by Willa Cather

LITTLE MEN, novel by Louisa May Alcott

JO'S BOY, novel by Louisa May Alcott

So, after going through about 4,000 offers of freebie books, I only come up with 19 books? Granted, I don't feel the need to re-read many of these "classics," Plato, or Christian romances. But, dear Readers, 'twas still quite a slog to go through so many book covers with big boobs or butt cheeks, vampire memoirs, bodice-rippers, etc. Which is to say, I think perusing Kindle's Free Book content is just a way to gauge the ongoing decline of Western Civilization....

Last but not least, I need to blog-file the last three poetry-related titles I've read this year (in preparation for my next big post on all the poetry titles I read in 2011!). To wit:

PRESENTS FOR CHRISTMAS, poemized holiday greeting card (Cy Gist Press Holiday Card 2012, limited edition 100) by Mark Lamoreaux (a fabulous way to relish the Holidays! Thanks Mark!)

AN ATLAS OF LOST CAUSES, poetry by Marjorie Stein

* ERRANCITIES, poems by Quincy Troupe

That asterisk by ERRANCITIES, of course, means that a review copy is available for Galatea Resurrects)! More info on that HERE.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!