Week Nine, Assignment #22

#22. eBooks and Audio eBooks

The World EBook Fair site was operational for one month, July 4, 2007-August 4, 2007. I found it on May 23, 2007 and explored it during the month of its availability. (I was blogging in another place at that time and remarked on it in that blog.) I had just discovered Playaway audiobooks and had written a grant proposal that had landed quite a large collection of audiobooks for my library, so I had little interest at that time in finding ebooks I'd have to read on my computer when I much preferred to go out walking while listening to my new audiobook collection. After all, it was midsummer and I wanted to be outside. Also, at that time, I had no interest in an e-book collection that I'd have to read on my computer, because as it is I spend not only most of my working day on a computer sut also most of my free time in the evening with a laptop computer on my lap while I type away at various Web sites I administer. I wish now that I'd shown more interest in downloading these books, because my library now has a Kindle and I'm wondering if I would have been able to read them on it. The Kindle is a wonderful way to read e-books because the weight of it doesn't put your legs to sleep (like my laptop computer does).

I explored the Gutenberg Project to find what e-books are available there. I downloaded the English version of Gaston Leroux's The Mystery of the Yellow Room, primarily because my husband is currently reading both the English and the French versions of the book and I was curious whether he could have been just as happy with the free e-book as with the print version in his hands. The download is a "text version" and I have to say that I personally don't care for the bleakness of it, written in small font in unrelenting paragraph after paragraph to be scrolled through, ad infinitum.

By the way, if someone wants the French version of that book as a free download, both the text and the audiobook are available free here. Literatureaudio.com has more than 600 free audiobooks in French.

The Web site DailyLit also has some free and some really inexpensive books that may be of interest.

The British Library Online Gallery, Turning the Pages((TM) system has some free e-books. I attempted to view the original Alice by Lewis Carroll, but the Shockwave Player installation did not go through on my computer and rather than re-try (and possibly mess up something on my computer), I clicked to cancel it. Then I noticed on the site that there's a Turning the Pages (TM) version 2 for Vista and I went to it. It also works if you have SilverLight downloaded on your computer. There I found The Original Adventures of Alice Underground and clicked for it. It took about a minute for the download, and it's really impressive-looking when it finally comes on the screen. You can read Lewis Carroll's original handwriting or you can read the text in regular computer font (in a variety of sizes) in a window that opens. It took me a little time to find how to turn the pages. You click on the edge of the page and then drag your mouse in a "page flipping" direction. You'll see the page flip over to reveal the next page. You also can click "Listen" and have it read to you. Re-click "Listen" when you want it to stop. This is a beautiful resource, and I intend to go back and look at other books available there.

I also liked Best Places to Get Free Books - The Ultimate Guide. There are so many sites listed there that it will take some time to explore them. Note that they are not all e-books. (That doesn't make the sites any less interesting to explore!)