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Yeah, I love them as well. I love the covers, the introductions, and the part in the end entitled "Comments and Questions" which offer thought-provoking questions for discussion and provide a bit of commentary taken from various sources. And it was $93.88 out of my pocket (my memory failed me! :p).Quote:
Originally Posted by Antiquarian
B&N is now offering a library set including 200 B&N Classics for ~$750-$800 (I think).
I downloaded quite a few books today for my Amazon Kindle. I got them all for free, but I'll post them anyway.
"Surplus: Spinoza, Lacan" by A. Kiarina Kordela
"The Cambridge Companion to Walter Benjamin" (various)
"Portnoy's Complaint" by Philip Roth
"How Proust Can Change Your Life" by Alain De Botton
"Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond
"Gilles Deleuze: An Apprenticehip in Philosophy" by Michael Hardt
Murakami- Kafka on the Shore (translation)
Banville - The Sea
Shakespeare - The MErchant of Venice
--- Julius Caesar
Hi EricP,so you have a Kindle? I just read all about those - an ad came into my email from Amazon the other day.Quote:
Originally Posted by EricP
They sound really cool; the concept is great and so little and lightweight; no more lugging big books around with you.
Unfortunately, I can't afford one presently, but it is a thought for the future. How do you go about getting free downloads for these?
*********
Well, I just went on a buying binge on books.
Dover had another sale and since I was satisified with what I received a few months back,
I decided to fill up my cart with some of the sale books and make up enough to total over 50 dollar,
so I could get the free shipping. Now I have the package to look forward to opening.
I bought a lot; here is the list:
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Agnes Gray by Anne Bronte
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Anne Radcliff (?)
Four Great Russian Plays (various authors)
Chrome Yellow by Aldous Huxley
And Occurance at Owl Greek Bridge and Other Stories by Ambrose Bierce
Great Short Stories by American Women
In addition - some art/design type books
Ready to Use Celtic Designs
Great Characters from Shakespeare - Paper Dolls
Mikado - Paper Dolls
Gibson Girl - Paper Dolls
I love costume design and these well designed paper dolls are really fun!
Someday, who knows, I may share them with my granddaughter.
I am especially excited about the Shakespeare ones.
From Amazon I bought a book of a famous childrens/adults fairlytale illustrator - Kay Neilson.
I think the book is called
The Fairytale Illustrations by Kay Neilson
His paintings and drawings are marvelous; very decorative. I love that sort of thing.
I especially like his illustrations for"The Arabian Nights". You can find his work online.
I also bought a few DVD's onsale this week. I can't wait to get that order as well.
I didn't have to pay as much since I had a cashback bonus of $25. It was fun spending it! I guess all told I spend about $75.,
but I think I got quite a lot for my money.
Today I picked up two books: "Oil!" by Upton Sinclair, and "Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr" by Nancy Isenberg (which I am currently reading).
Antiquarian, I thought I did pretty well, although I just missed out on some I really wanted, about 3 weeks ago - another clearance sale. They had some Henry James, I longed to buy and they were really cheap; and there were some others that interested me then, too...oh well...I missed the boat on those. The good ones must have gotten snatched up quickly. The cover art on some of the ones I recieved last time from Dover, were very nice. I was satisified with my order and will be this time, I am sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by Antiquarian
I can also download "Heart of Darkness" from my library site free. I can put it directly into my little MP3 player - my Creative Nano Stone. It is so tiny I can cart it anywhere with me easily. It will be fun to read the text and listen to the novel on audiofile. Presently, I downloaded "The Winter's Tale" on the player and should be listening to that right now.Quote:
I bought Heart of Darkness recently, too, but I had a Barnes and Noble gift certificate and I used it for one of their classic editions. Also got Dracula and a volume of Kafka with that certificate. I love the Barnes and Noble Classic series. The books hold up well, aren't expensive, and have beautiful cover art. The three I got are actually hardcovers and I think they were only $7.95 each.
I've never read any Kafka.:(
I read "Frankenstein" now, I think 2 times and listened to half (so far) on the audiofile; Kenneth Branagh is narrating but I had to settle for tapes. I haven't read "Dracula" yet, but someday will do so. I recently bought "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" - that should be interesting and it's very short. I read tons of Arthur Connon Doyle's mystery stories and loved them. I also delved into his "The White Company" tales. They were quite interesting.
The books you bought at B&N sound really nice and hardcovers are truly nicer to own; but I can settle for paperbacks for now at such a cheap price. I love going to browse at B&N and of course, I always do find something interesting to buy; I hardly ever come home empty-handed. I love their classic books, too...and their artbooks...and their bargain books, etc. I love going there and staying for hours. I always get a Starbucks, of course.;) Yum!
Antiquarian, wasn't it you who recommended it to me awhile back? I would definitely enjoy another Charlotte Bronte book. I loved "Jane Eyre".Quote:
I hope you enjoy Villette. I really did. I think you will since you like Jane Eyre.
I think I saw a movie based on "Agnes Gray", but I may be thinking of something else. I think I know someone who read it and said it was good. That should round out my Bronte sister's reading, don't you think?
A week or so ago I saw a movie based on Ambrose Bierce and his short stories - it featured 3 or 4 of the best ones from the Civil War. I liked them all and thought they were quite different, very psychological and almost ghostlike. On the featurette, they talked about this particular one; in the film it was featured. They said that it had also been adapted into a famous episode of "The Twilight Zone". That really intrigued me. I especially would like to read Bierce's ghost stories. I think they would be fascinating. There should be some in this collection. In the film Campbell Scott (he plays the author) read some segments and that was enough to convince me to try reading his short stories. I found the writing fluid and deep.Quote:
I love "An Occurrance at Owl Creek Bridge," but I read it online recently. I don't have a hard copy.
Same here, Antiquarian; however, you have the thick hair for the look and I don't. I used to love to put my hair up, when I was younger (when I had more of it;) ). I guess I thought I did look like a Gibson Girl. :lol: You also have that picturesque height on your side and a slim figure. From now on I am going to think of you as a Gibson Girl!Quote:
I love the Gibson Girl look. :) When I was little, I wanted to look like that. LOL
Anti, it will be awhile before I get to those new books. I still have the other ones I bought a few months back, to tackle and I read super slow. But eventually, I hope to read all that I bought.:)Quote:
Enjoy! :) And let us know what you're reading and how you like it.
It will be great fun opening the new box full of books. Now where to put them....that is another story....eek!
Antiquarian, you have surely heard of Peter's Principle? (Work expands to fill the time available?) Well, it works for books too - no matter how much space you have, it gets filled up with books and you wonder how you managed before. :D I keep intending to downsize - but where would I put all the books? (Don't anyone dare say 'Oxfam'!)Quote:
Originally Posted by Antiquarian
I love my Kindle and would highly recommend it to anyone considering purchasing one. I've found several websites that offer free ebooks. Because the Kindle only recognizes .azw and .txt files, I sometimes have to convert the files to .txt before loading them onto my Kindle. Here are the websites I most often use:Quote:
Originally Posted by Janine
http://www.truly-free.org
Most of the books are already .txt files, which is convenient. This site also offers many copyrighted, post-WWII books that are not available on most other sites.
http://manybooks.net/
This site has a great selection and all books are available compatible formats, so no conversions are necessary!
http://allfreedownloadlinks.com
All books here are .pdf files, so converting them is a must. The selection for philosophy books, however, is definitely worth the extra trouble! The site has many recent books from university presses.
There are plenty of other websites as well. Just search around and you'll find them! :D
The Mandarins - Simone de Beauvoir
The Coming of Age - Simone de Beauvoir
After Dark - Haruki Murakami
I just picked up,
Bloom's The Best Poems of the English Language: from Chaucer through Frost
Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes, translated by Edith Grossman
Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson
The Canterbury Tales Chaucer in the original language (though edited typescript to remove the thorns and such from the alphabet).
Going away for a month and a bit to Italy (I probably won't be able to post here for then) and these are the only books I am bringing. a bit scary actually, only 4 volumes. Oh well, I guess I'll have the so called best poems memorized, and Dickinson down solid, as well as a better rounding in Cervantes and Chaucer.
I've read an earlier translation, but I got all these books used (and they look almost new, probably only one read through each) so I didn't have much choice, and this looked like the best one the small bookstore had (and it had an introduction by Bloom, so I figured he must have considered it a decent translation). Glad to know it actually is an excellent translation, as I will probably be reading it more than once, and literally be tearing the pages apart with notes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Antiquarian
I have not picked up any virgin texts for some months now, since I left off with a non-fiction reading group @ Yahoo, which was then doing The Third Chimpanzee, which I have been ambivalent about finishing. I know Jared Diamond is the latest PBS mooncalf, but he is just not as exciting when dealing with evolutionary science as I once found Desmond Morris to be.
Not that I can really put my finger on why. Literary comparisons I can do fairly well, not so much popular science-- but the store was having a 3 for 1 deal at the time, and I picked up Kundra (sigh) and Brave New World, which I hated, in so far as I dare hate over rated classics, and despite a compelling Christopher Hitchens apologia for Huxley, I sold my copy, used, somewhat rapidly, and only half-read.
Maybe true satire died off with Swift's senility.
I have been slowing down with my personal library. One of the few times I purchased something fairly hot off of an NYT review, was Alice Hoffman's Blue Diary--which was everything NYT said it was-- and yet, is it something I'll ever read again?
Rereading is my true test of how fanatical I am about an author. Cloud Atlas meets that test. David Mitchell simply blew me away, I mean blew. His fiction was the most difficult exercise my poor mind ever encountered, and as a weary, embittered intermediately successful author, (in terms of byline exposure in print) when I closed that book, I was ready to snarl and throw my edition against the wall out of sheer livid envy.
I had conceived of a similiar post-modern chapter game years ago, and now?
That is the cost of procrastination (sigh).
Ulysses - James Joyce
A Journey to the Centre (i am Canadian for me its 'Centre' LOL) of the Earth - Jules Verne
I'm taking a whole bunch of my mom's old books from Lebanon home with me - cast your eyes on these beauties :D
The Great Gatsby
The Aeneid
The Confessions of St. Augustine
The Old Man and the Sea
Brave New World
The ABC Murders
The Turn of the Screw and Other Stories
Animal Farm
Waiting for Godot
Christian Liberty
Notes on Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
The Oresteian Trilogy
The Epic of Gilgamesh
The Last Days of Socrates
The Theban Plays
Utopia
The Holy Bible, NIV version. It surprised me how different it were from other version but it interesting to think about various translation as sometime translation say more about what people want than about what they need.
For an after-exams treat I bought myself Being Elizabeth Bennet By Emma Campbell Webster. It's a cross between a book and a game: you have to make decisions and answer questions, and the choices you make determine which page you go to next. You add up points for intellegence, fortune etc, and are aiming to 'marry well and for love'. It's really good fun and totally engrossing, and is written in a Jane Austeny style with a modern humour. I would certainly reccommend it to any Austen fans!
Bought The Complete Mr. Moto Film Phile--A Casebook by Howard M. Berlin so I could read up on the films. Am currently reading Last Laugh Mr. Moto (the fifth of six novels) by James P. Marquand and hope to get the eight Peter Lorre movies on DVD in the very near future and have a marathon viewing. I like Charlie Chan in small doses but I enjoy the energy of a Mr. Moto who does not hesitate to use deadly force when necessary. TCM ran Thank You Mr. Moto (the second one recently and reawakened my interest in the character. Note book/movie character are very different in presentation.
Today I bought these three: Being and Nothingness by Sartre(the copy I once lent to a friend was never returned to me),The Myth of Sisyphus(I never owned this) by Camus,and finally,finally,I found a copy of The Castle by Kafka. It's been a good day.:D
That should keep you quiet for a while! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by andave_ya
Fire Bringer ~ David Clement-Davies
The Quest ~ Wilbur Smith
A Room With A View ~ E.M. Forster
The Three Musketeers ~ Alxandre Dumas
German Stories and Tales
Dark Muse, I can only speak for one of those books; I simply loved "A Room With a View". I liked all of the Forster novels I have read. I think I read "A Room With a View" twice (it is short;), and very enjoyable.)Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark Muse
That last book you bought sounds interesting to me. Are they short stories?
Yes I loved A Passage to India, so I cannot wait to read more of Forster's work
The German tales are short stories from a varity of different authors.
:eek2: Put a hold on everything you're doing right now,and read that book! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Antiquarian
I've read pretty much everything by Kafka,and The Castle ranks with the very best of his works in my opinion,sometimes it's even slightly better than The Trial.
What Maisie Knew + The Spoils of Poynton by Henry James
Haha, and that's on top of the 20plus books I've already got waiting unread! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by kasie
Dina's Book - Herbjorg Wassmo
It was on sale for a dollar, and I liked the cover. It's also been on my to read list for several years.
Cent ans de solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Carmen Prosper Mérimée.
Cent ans de solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
I bought it because I was looking for another novel of his, Love in the time of cholera, and I didn't find it, i find this one instead and when I read the introduction, I was immediately seduced, I am enjoying it.
The Mandarins - Simone de Beauvoir
i loved All Men Are Mortal so i thought i'd give this one a try.
Quote:
Originally Posted by naomi moon
What is his writing like? I've been toying with reading some of his work for a while but for some reason never do. Would you reccommend him?
Sin in the Second City, Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the battle for America's Soul - Karen Abbott
I was in Target rolling by the books when this one jumped out at me, it's the true story of a brothel in Chicago at the turn of the last century.
I was at Barnes and Noble, waiting for my sister so we could have a cup of coffee and I was browsing and I picked up The Stranger by Albert Camus. I just finished The Tree of Man by Peter White and I'm due to go on a trip in a couple days so I didn't want to start a book I would finish on the trip and therefore, have to pack an extra book so I thought this one would be perfect, I can finish it in 2 nights then begin a new book right before I leave, thus negating the reason for packing a second book...see? I'm always thinking. ;)
Last "book"? Lately I've been adding to my library so fast that I can't begin to keep up. Most recently I've added:
Blake: A Biography- Peter Ackroyd
J.M.W. Turner- Peter Ackroyd
The Book of Psalms- Robert Alter tr.
The Selected Poems of Tu Fu- David Hinton tr.
The Classic Theater: Vol. I: 6 Italian Plays- ed. Eric Bentley
Collected Poems- Wendell Berry
Selected Poems- Arthur Hugh Clough
Salambo- Gustave Flaubert
East Window: The Asian Translations- W.S. Merwin tr.
One Hundred Poems from the Japanese- Kenneth Rexroth tr.
One Hundred Poems from the Chinese- Kenneth Rexroth tr.
Narrow Road to the Interior- Matsuo Basho, Sam Hamill tr.
and along with these I've added several art books:
Historic India- L. Schullberg
The First Cities- D. Hambin
Rembrandt: The Richard Harris Collection- catalog of works in an exhibition
La Basilica di San Marco- Diego Valeri
The Northmen- Thomas Francek
Early Islam- Desmond Stewart
Great Paintings from the Barnes Foundation- various authors/Philadelphia Museum of Art
Gods, Guardians and Lovers: Temple Sculptures from North India A.D. 700-1200- ed. V. Desai
The Golden Age of English Manuscript Painting 1200-1500- Marks and Morgan
Masterpieces of Illumination- Walther and Wolf
Obviously, I'm very ill. Seriously afflicted with Bibliophilia.:sick: