Nook – Free Fridays

Not being a Nook owner, I was unaware of this delightful little treat that’s offered up every Friday; Yes, a FREE eBOOK, the entire book, not just a preview.

Also, different Barnes and Noble locations occasionally offer a ‘local selection’ that’s different from the Corporate Offering.  So, you could actually download two free ebooks on a Friday.

Ahh, it’s nice to have a Nook…

This link takes you to the Nook Blog that talks about the Free Fridays (it is not a download site) http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Unbound-nook-and-BN-eReader-Blog/Free-Fridays/bc-p/506638?nobounce

The Awakening

Author Kate Chopin, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Chopin and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Awakening_(novel)

Publisher Project Gutenberg, http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

Free eBook

First, I had to look up two words; befurbelowed (dressed finely, in frills and such), and accouchement (confinement during childbirth).  I managed through the rest of the dozen or so, that were new to me. 

Second, I had to put it down for a few days because Edna was about to do something that I really hated (if she did it…)  And, that’s fabulous!

I do a lot of reading and it’s delicious to come across something that completely engages me.  At the time I hadn’t realized it, but needing to put it down for a few days let me know I was fully entwined with the story.  The glimpses of privileged life in New Orleans in 1899 were captivating to me.  Simply reading how the Lady of the House managed the Staff, her Social Obligations, and how structured life was, enraptured me. 

Reading the Awakening was new for me, I’d not read it in school so I had no bias.  I’d read it for an event at our local Museum of Fine Arts, they are hosting an exhibit and lecture that refer to both The Awakening and The Age Of Innocence.

If The Age Of Innocence is anything similar to Kate Chopin’s work, it’ll be a quiet weekend for me.  Tea, treats and a book, thank you very much!

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The article is an opinion of the Author’s

Dracula!

Yes, the very One – Bram Stoker’s!

I’m not good with scary things, they keep me up at night, give me nightmares and bad daydreams.  I see things, always have.  When I was young I thought apparitions were real, as I grew older I learned it was my brain connecting the ‘dots’ incorrectly.  Still, I avoid scary stuff and depend on my family and friends to screen books for me.  They said this should be OK.  I couldn’t get past the carriage ride to Dracula’s Castle.  I put it down for a week.

It’s nice not to live in 1897, nice to not be scared by a horror writer because times have changed – what was scary then, is not so scary now.  After getting past the carriage ride, the rest was familiar territory.  Cereal boxes and cartoons prepared me for Dracula.  HBO prepared me for blood drinking Vampires and action - they could be heros, and not so scary.  Yes, it’s definitely nice to be living now.

But, Wow!  That Mr. Stoker is a good writer.  The pace is steady, the lulls are swift, the action has dire consequences, the minor characters add greatly to the tension of the story, the Hero’s are real men. 

There are no superheros here with X-Ray vision, time travel, or quantum leaps.  These are just ordinary men with human courage, grit and guts.  They overcame an unspeakable horror with knowledge and trust and the willingness to face their most deadly foe. 

Bram Stoker writes it real.

I’m on to Frankenstein…

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This article is an opinion of the Author’s.

© alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com, October 2009, to Date. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content 

This article is an opinion of the Author’s.

© alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com, October 2009, to Date. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content

Brewster’s Millions

Author, George Barr McCutcheon
Publisher, Gutenberg, Free eBook

I really enjoyed this book. I liked how Brewster’s friends stood by him, struggled for his better interest and stayed after.

After what?

After Brewster lost, spent, frittered away his Grandfather’s inheritance. He blew through it in exactly one year; the whole wad of cash.

He’d been on the road to financial freedom, to wealth, to the “upper crust” life that old money opened a door to. He even had a girl who came with a desirable last name (she went on to someone more “stable” than spend-like-a-fool Brewster.)

Yeah, he made a huge fool of himself, and anyone standing too close got painted with that same brush – the fool’s brush. He wasn’t a popular guy after that, but he learned who really cared about him, and that’s worth more than all the money in the world.

What a nice message for these Holiday times!

Enjoy!

Link to Author information;

Link to ePublisher;

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 This article is an opinion of the Author’s.

 © alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com, October 2009, to Date. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Aunt Jane’s Nieces Out West

Author L. Frank Baum

ePublisher Gutenberg

Free eBook

This year was the 50th Anniversary for the Wizard of OZ.  Having read the series as a child, I thought it would be nice to expand my reading history beyond OZ.  It was nice, just a bit junior…

1914, Mr. Baum wrote about these three Nieces as far west of New York as possible; California!  Yep, I was expecting stage coaches and got movie sets instead.  That was lots of fun – the movie industry was just starting and it seemed as wild as I’d thought the wild west was going to be. 

I also appreciated how Mr. Baum wrote the young Ladies, strong, determined and independent.  They respected their family, were polite, treated others with respect and managed to graciously carve their own path in life.  Again, not what I was expecting.  I had thought at the turn of the 20th century, women, especially young ladies, were still very much “protected”, “guided” and ”sheltered”, yet these were not written that way. 

I would have certainly enjoyed this series as a child and I am sorry to have only found them now.  None the less, I’ve loaded several onto my eReader for my own nieces to read, giggle over and quiz me on what life was like back then.   (They ask, I’m not offended – I lie to them a lot about that kind of thing…) 

Link to Author information; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Frank_Baum#Bibliography  

Link to Gutenberg; http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

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This article is an opinion of the Author’s.

© alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com, October 2009, to Date. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

The Dash For Khartoum

The Dash For Khartoum, G.A. Henty

Author, G.A. Henty 

Publisher, Gutenberg, Free eBook 

1892.  Written to entertain young boys and educate them at the same time.  It tells the true story of the failed attempt to rescue General Gordon, besieged at Khartoum, through the fictional adventures of the two Clinton Boys. 

There is a lot of repetition within each chapter.  I wasn’t sure if this was to pad the text to achieve the correct word count for publication, or payment, or if it was to show the value of factual, accurate reporting.  For example, something interesting would happen in the story, the characters would discuss it among themselves, report it to an authority of some sort, then that authority would discuss it.  Word padding?  Or, a lesson on accuracy?  

Goodness knows just how wrong things can go if you don’t pass data along correctly, which is the beginning event of this book.  Two baby boys get confused and suddenly no one knows which boy belongs to which family, so the rich family takes both boys.  The boys grow up as brothers, get separated, both end up in the army marching to Khartoum to rescue Gordon.  They get separated again, one gets kidnapped into slavery, the other goes to rescue him.  

That’s the plot line, but the far more interesting stuff, the same stuff that little boys may enjoy, is the background; warfare, weapons, camels, dog carts, pyramids, barter trade, Arab Tribes, Arab Social structure, slavery.  It seemed so well researched, so factual that despite the repetition, it held my attention and imagination.  

G.A. Henty wrote many books along this line, fictional characters blended into factual accounts.  I’m going to download his Wild West one next, or India, or the Civil War one, or… 

Link to Author Information, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._A._Henty

Link to Publisher, Gutenberg, http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

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This article is an opinion of the Author’s. 

© alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com, October 2009, to Date. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Cyrano de Bergerac

Credit-Wikipedia.com

Author, Edmond Rostand

Publisher, Gutenberg, Free eBook

“Do you really read this stuff?”

I do. 

It’s amazing, it’s different, it’s a glimpse into our past; both social and verbal.  I let my imagination wander through these classics, looking for little peeks into what life was like back then.  Many people say they would rather live in the past than now, but not me.  I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t like the past. 

Take Roxanne for example, she had little control of her life.  The powerful Du Guiche wanted her for his wife, she lied to a Monk and had herself married to Christian instead.  So, Du Guiche ordered her husband (of thirty seconds) into war where he died.  Roxanne then spends fifteen years isolated from the world, as a widow in a Convent – her only respectable choice left.  

Would it be better to be a man, say, perhaps Christian?  Let’s see; He was born noble but not high enough so Du Guiche outranked him and sent him to his death.  Nope.  And, he probably didn’t even want to be in the army but he didn’t have a choice, his birth order dictated his future.   

Well, what about Cyrano?  He made his own choices!  Yes, he was an independent man, said what he pleased and died because of it.  That’s the period when words did kill so, not a good choice either.

No, I’m pretty enamored of the here and now.  I wouldn’t want to end up like Roxanne, living in the past, having had no choice in the matter.   

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Link to the Publisher; http://www.gutenberg.us/

Link to Wikipedia for Cyrano de Bergerac (interesting to read if you have a minute); http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrano_de_Bergerac_(play)

Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms

By Sir Isaac Newton

Free eBook, Gutenberg.

Ahh, finally a good sleeper, 2 or 3 pages of this and your eyes start to get heavy, the lids droop and you’ll be snuggling under the covers.  By morning you’ll be rested and wondering all sorts of things you weren’t supposed to wonder about. 

Stuff that our Society though best not to teach because it was confusing, so you and I got fed “imaginary history” like, Helen’s face launched a thousand ships. 

As it turns out, it wasn’t her face, it was her birthright; land-money-power.  Whoever had Helen, had control.  By the way, she was kidnapped a number of times, three if I remember correctly – but I did fall asleep so that can’t really be trusted.

Trudging your way through this incredibly dry, dusty and arid book you will also come across those Greek and Roman Gods and discover that they were real.  Not real gods, but real Kings and Queens.  Queens, who by the way had power, money and other riches that they passed to their Daughters – yep, inheritance followed the female line.  But, that’s a bit “confusing” to teach so stick with the Father to Son examples…

Remember Jason and the Argonauts?  Real, but none of that fable nonsense, it was a Diplomatic voyage.

How about a lake with a pyramid in the center?  Lake Moeris, fantastic!

Amazon fighting Women?  Not a few odd females, but an entire Society out of Libya.

People living 300 years, 400 years?  Wrong.  We get to thank those misguided historians who stretched fact to fit convenience.

And, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon?  They sound so normal when Isaac Newton describes them.

Yep, the delivery will make you sleep, or wonder if you accidently downloaded it twice onto your eReader – there is that much repetition.  However, those gems of data, those little diamonds that filter up after sleeping are dazzling enough to have your mind wandering off at the oddest of times.  Just don’t correct your children’s school texts, or let your knowledge seep into their essays, they’ll come home with red “X’s” through their work.

Link to Free eBook ePublisher; http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

Link for Author Information; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton

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This article is an opinion of the Author’s. 

© alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com, October 2009, to Date. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

A Love Story From the Rice Fields of China

Author; Sui Sin Far

Publisher; Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library.

Free eBook.

Enjoy the sweetness of young love and the courage of loyalty, wrapped in ordinary life and everyday people.

The story will take a few minutes to read but it may linger for some time and cause you to wonder how the ordinary can be extraordinary. 

Photographer, Vladimir Menkov; http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Vmenkov

Link to the Photograph; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hengshitan-roadside-pond-and-rice-field-9945.jpg#filelinks

Link to the Publisher; http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks/

Information about the Author; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Maude_Eaton

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Updated November 22, 2009 to add Photographer’s Link. 

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The above article is an opinion of the Author’s

© alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com, October 2009, to Date. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

 

A Happy Boy

Free eBook from Project Gutenberg, http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

Author, Bjornstjerne Bjornson, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B8rnstjerne_Bj%C3%B8rnson

If I was going to give an eReader to a preTeen, I’d load this short story on.  It’s quick (about 100 pages on a 6 inch screen), and has a good, honest moral which they’ll ignore.

“Ugh,” you roll your eyes, “then it will be boring and dull, dull, dull.”

No, it’s not, it’s delightful.

Bjornson takes us from the birth of the “Happy Boy” to his adulthood, along the way the reader gets to enjoy Norway, farming, rural life, school days in the 1860′s (one room) and of course; competition for the girl of his heart. 

Word craft, word smith, prose writer, however you want to describe the craft, Bjornson is gifted (even after translation).  In a few words he captures the character, or describes the scene, then takes us into the story.  The characters are real, they are not exaggerated for effect nor do they embody all good, nor all bad, they are balanced.   He writes a “glimpse” into the thoughts of six schoolboys on the day of their final exams and truly captures their spirits.  It is one of the many gems in this short story which I hope will leave you as impressed as I was.  

I loaded this Author because he was referred to in another novel that I’d read.  I was further interested when I learned that Bjornson was a Laureate of the Noble Prize in Literature (He was Awarded in 1903).  I was worried that a book written in 1870, in another language, then translated, and read in 2009, would be a difficult read, which is why I started with a short story.  With the exception of a few words, the story is simple and straight forward.

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The article is an opinion of the Authors.  

© alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com, October 2009, to Date. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.