The respite has passed because....

I got a Kindle. While I've always been opposed to this digital reader, now that I have it my library is going to grow exponentially. But before I gush about my new piece of technology, let me chat a bit about how much I enjoyed Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This book was a much needed rest from the heavy nature of the items I have been reading, or at least that is the approach I took to this novel. Twain certainly was making many a comment about African Americans in general and slaves in particular as well as how they were treated. He accomplished conveying his ideologies through with the voice of Huck and I believe that for the time that this novel was published, Twain certainly had some controversial views. All that being said, I took this novel for the adventure that it was and really enjoyed the relationship between Huck and Jim and how that bond grew and flourished as the novel progressed.

I really cannot focus on that novel right now however, as I am so into browsing the Amazon library for new books to download onto my Kindle, most of which, by the way are FREE, that's right FREE.... or if they do cost something it's nominal, I've actually only found one title that I wanted that was more than $0.95 and it was a specific translation of a specific text.

So, since about an hour ago I've put Penguin Island by Anatole France, The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper, The Divine Comedy by Dante (not the translation I wanted so perhaps I'll leave that for later), Emma, by Jane Austen, Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters, Waverley by Sir Walter Scott, and Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert onto my Kindle. And how much did I spend? Well if you must know, all of $0.99, including delivery to my e-reading device. I am astonished. I'm telling you, I was diametrically opposed to even the idea of an e-reader, but I am now hooked, and I've only had the thing for about four hours. I've browsed a few of these titles, reading a page here and a page there so will report back on the "readability" of this special screen after this first read, but the convenience of the thing is what is getting me. And the affordability. If I had had to purchase just these books, in paper form, I know I would have paid as much as $80.00 total plus shipping, so the Kindle has nearly already paid for itself.

I must note, I did not pay for this item, it was a gift from my loving and amazing husband, who told me two weeks ago that he was working of a "virtual" gift for me. He has a tendency of doing things like telling me a gift is arriving weeks in advance just so that he can watch me squirm with anticipation. Well, this was a most pleasant surprise.

So the next title is... Penguin Island, by Anatole France. I've no idea what this book is about, but from what I can find on Amazon, it is a satirical novel first published in 1908 and uses the history of penguins to critique human nature, specifically the human nature of the French political system. Perhaps aligning with Brave New World as a social commentary, perhaps not... we shall see.