"The Science of Getting Rich" - by Wallace Wattles

US/UK Kindle Classic

This book is a departure for this blog, but it is an example from a very popular genre.  And if I had read this and applied it earlier in life, maybe I would not be trying to make money from blogging!  (Although I am following the "do what you love and the money will follow" precept.)

The Science of Getting Rich  is an early example (1910 ) of the self-help yourself to riches genre.  (US Edition)  (£0.77 UK Edition)  This book on positive thinking by Wallace Wattles has never been out of print.  Recent studies show that a positive attitude does help you live longer, so maybe there is more to this philosophy than building a bank account.

The man who owns all he wants for the living of all the life he is capable of living is rich; and no man who has not plenty of money can have all he wants. Life has advanced so far, and become so complex, that even the most ordinary man or woman requires a great amount of wealth in order to live in a manner that even approaches completeness.

OK, I am convinced!  I want to be rich.  How do I get rich?

I have said that men get rich by doing things in a Certain Way; and in order to do so, men must become able to think in a certain way. 

A man’s way of doing things is the direct result of the way he thinks about things. 

To do things in a way you want to do them, you will have to acquire the ability to think the way you want to think; this is the first step toward getting rich.

Now you may not think this is the sort of reading you do, but these books are very popular; perhaps now more than ever.  One sure way to get rich is not pay full price for something that is just repackaged and available elsewhere at a discount!  Get the original here for a fraction of the price.

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For a nominal fee of 99 cents/pence, you can subscribe to this blog and have it automatically download on your Kindle. This gives you the convenience of being able to download the books directly to your Kindle, instead of downloading them to your computer and then transferring them to your Kindle. It also helps support my blog.

UK readers may go to this Amazon link to subscribe.  (Slightly more than half my readers are from the UK)

US readers may go to this Amazon link

Thank to all my readers, whether you subscribe on your Kindle or whether you read it online.  I love to get good reviews!  Who wouldn't?  Should you care to leave a review, follow these links for UK readers or US readers.

The Europeans - by Henry James

Free US/UK Kindle Classic

Henry Jame, the American author, wrote The Europeans, in 1878.  It is a comedy of manners, contrasting Europeans and Americans. (US Edition)  (UK Edition)

Eugenia got up; she still held in her hand the drawing her brother had given her. It was a bold, expressive sketch of a group of miserable people on the deck of a steamer, clinging together and clutching at each other, while the vessel lurched downward, at a terrific angle, into the hollow of a wave. It was extremely clever, and full of a sort of tragi-comical power. Eugenia dropped her eyes upon it and made a sad grimace. "How can you draw such odious scenes?" she asked. "I should like to throw it into the fire!"

Nice siblings!

"Are you very sure they are rich?" asked Felix, lightly. 

His sister slowly turned in her place, looking at him. "Heavenly powers!" she murmured. "You have a way of bringing out things!"

"It will certainly be much pleasanter if they are rich," Felix declared.

"Do you suppose if I had not known they were rich I would ever have come?"

Well, they are honest with each other.  It will be fun to see how honest they are with their American cousins.

Henry James is one of the most respected of American authors.  This novella length work is a good place to start.

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For a nominal fee of 99 cents/pence, you can subscribe to this blog and have it automatically download on your Kindle. This gives you the convenience of being able to download the books directly to your Kindle, instead of downloading them to your computer and then transferring them to your Kindle. It also helps support my blog.

UK readers may go to this Amazon link to subscribe.  (Slightly more than half my readers are from the UK)

US readers may go to this Amazon link

Thank to all my readers, whether you subscribe on your Kindle or whether you read it online.  I love to get good reviews!  Who wouldn't?  Should you care to leave a review, follow these links for UK readers or US readers.

The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life - by Francis Parkman's

Free US/UK Kindle Classic

Travel literature is one of my favorite genres.  We have just lost, with the death of Paul Fussell this week, a champion of travel writing.  So I am featuring an extremely good example of the genre by the American historian Francis Parkman.  Before he was a historian, Parkman was just one of many traveling West. 

The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life is Parkman's popular 1849 account of his trip. (US Edition)  (UK Edition)  

He writes in an entertaining style:

Whisky by the way circulates more freely in Westport than is altogether safe in a place where every man carries a loaded pistol in his pocket.

Parkman's description of his travelling companions perhaps foreshadows later problems.

The captain pointed out, with much complacency, the different articles of their outfit. "You see," said he, "that we are all old travelers. I am convinced that no party ever went upon the prairie better provided."

Such as time spent riding in circles.

We rode for an hour or two when a familiar cluster of buildings appeared on a little hill. "Hallo!" shouted the Kickapoo trader from over his fence. "Where are you going?" A few rather emphatic exclamations might have been heard among us, when we found that we had gone miles out of our way, and were not advanced an inch toward the Rocky Mountains.

Much of the book recounts his observations and dealings with Indians, who clearly fascinated him - although he observes them from his "superior" perch.

. . . we came suddenly upon the great Pawnee trail, leading from their villages on the Platte to their war and hunting grounds to the southward. Here every summer pass the motley concourse; thousands of savages, men, women, and children, horses and mules, laden with their weapons and implements, and an innumerable multitude of unruly wolfish dogs, who have not acquired the civilized accomplishment of barking, but howl like their wild cousins of the prairie.

Even the dogs were different back then!  That is why we read . . .

For a nominal fee of 99 cents/pence, you can subscribe to this blog and have it automatically download on your Kindle. This gives you the convenience of being able to download the books directly to your Kindle, instead of downloading them to your computer and then transferring them to your Kindle. It also helps support my blog.

UK readers may go to this Amazon link to subscribe.  (Slightly more than half my readers are from the UK)

US readers may go to this Amazon link

Thank to all my readers, whether you subscribe on your Kindle or whether you read it online.  I love to get good reviews!  Who wouldn't?  Should you care to leave a review, follow these links for UK readers or US readers.

           

The Happy Prince and Other Tales - by Oscar Wilde

Free US/UK Kindle Classic

The Happy Prince and Other Tales is a collection of children's stories by the Irish author Oscar Wilde, published in 1888.  They are for children, but are so well-written as to be of interest to adults and of course some of you may wish to revisit a book from your youth. (US Edition)  (UK Edition)

One Amazon reader review commands:

"If you have never read these stories before, then you must NOW. I discovered them in my late teens (I'm nearly 70 now) and now, long after my paperback copy has fallen apart, to have them on my fantastic Kindle means I can enjoy them at 'the touch of a switch'! They make me laugh and cry in equal amounts. Enjoy!!!"

Let's take a look . ..

“Why can’t you be like the Happy Prince?” asked a sensible mother of her little boy who was crying for the moon.  “The Happy Prince never dreams of crying for anything.”

Some of you may know a child to read that out loud too!

Then the Swallow flew back to the Happy Prince, and told him what he had done.  “It is curious,” he remarked, “but I feel quite warm now, although it is so cold.” 

“That is because you have done a good action,” said the Prince.  And the little Swallow began to think, and then he fell asleep.  Thinking always made him sleepy. 

When day broke he flew down to the river and had a bath.  “What a remarkable phenomenon,” said the Professor of Ornithology as he was passing over the bridge.  “A swallow in winter!”  And he wrote a long letter about it to the local newspaper.  Every one quoted it, it was full of so many words that they could not understand.

Another Amazon reader reviewer writes they do not have Disneyesque happy endings - in other words these are traditional tales - and they are "some of the best children's stories ever written."

Decide for yourself!

This blog is a guide to the best free and inexpensive classic literature for the US & UK Kindle. If you enjoy my suggestions, please tell your friends who read to give my blog a try. 

Join me on Twitter, FaceBook, or Pinterest.

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For a nominal fee of 99 cents/pence, you can subscribe to this blog and have it automatically download on your Kindle. This gives you the convenience of being able to download the books directly to your Kindle, instead of downloading them to your computer and then transferring them to your Kindle. It also helps support my blog.

UK readers may go to this Amazon link to subscribe.  (Slightly more than half my readers are from the UK)

US readers may go to this Amazon link

Thank to all my readers, whether you subscribe on your Kindle or whether you read it online.  I love to get good reviews!  Who wouldn't?  Should you care to leave a review, follow these links for UK readers or US readers.

A Study in Scarlet - by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

A Study in Scarlet is the first book in the Canon.  Perhaps I should explain the Canon - it is the complete body of work by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the master detective, Sherlock Holmes.  The first publication was in 1887. ($0.99 US Edition)  (£0.77 UK Edition)  

Many people come to Sherlock Holmes through The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, but then search out this novel which is the first in the series.   You will meet Sherlock Holmes and watch him meet Dr. Watson.

Here is a familiar scene to all of us who have read and re-read these books.  Dr. Watson is having a drink . . .

I was standing at the Criterion Bar, when some one tapped me on the shoulder, and turning round I recognized young Stamford, who had been a dresser under me at Barts.

Stamford sets in motion one of the greatest friendships in literary history and then departs the novel:

“Holmes is a little too scientific for my tastes – it approaches to cold-bloodedness. I could imagine his giving a friend a little pinch of the latest vegetable alkaloid [poison!], not out of malevolence, you understand, but simply out of a spirit of inquiry in order to have an accurate idea of the effects. To do him justice, I think that he would take it himself with the same readiness. He appears to have a passion for definite and exact knowledge.”

This novella length work is somewhat controversial for its portrayal of Mormonism, which is an integral part of the plot.  As with many classic works, take this account of Mormonism as a reflection of attitudes of the times, rather than an accurate historical account of the religion. 

I envy those of you who are entering the Criterion bar for the first time!  And if you have been here before, order up a drink enjoy what comes next . . .

This blog is a guide to the best free and inexpensive classic literature for the US & UK Kindle. If you enjoy my suggestions, please tell your friends who read to give my blog a try. 

Join me on Twitter, FaceBook, or Pinterest.

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For a nominal fee of 99 cents/pence, you can subscribe to this blog and have it automatically download on your Kindle. This gives you the convenience of being able to download the books directly to your Kindle, instead of downloading them to your computer and then transferring them to your Kindle. It also helps support my blog.

UK readers, go to this Amazon link to subscribe.  (Slightly more than half my readers are from the UK)

US readers, go to this Amazon link

Thank to all my readers, whether you subscribe on your Kindle or whether you read it online.  I love to get good reviews!  Who wouldn't?  Should you care to leave a review, follow these links for UK readers or US readers.

The Doctor's Wife - by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Free US/UK Kindle Classic

The Doctor's Wife is an 1864 novel by the once popular (isn't that sad?) Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

(US Edition)  (UK Edition)  

He was very good; and, above all, he was very good-looking. No one had ever disputed this fact: George Gilbert was eminently good-looking. No one had ever gone so far as to call him handsome; no one had ever presumed to designate him plain. He had those homely, healthy good looks which the novelist or poet in search of a hero would recoil from with actual horror, and which the practical mind involuntarily associates with tenant-farming in a small way, or the sale of butcher's meat.

And a little further on there is an attempt to pair him with a wealthy young woman . . .

But George was by no means a coxcomb, and didn't particularly admire Miss Burdock, whose eyelashes were a good deal paler than her hair, and whose eyebrows were only visible in a strong light. The surgeon was young, and the world was all before him . . .

Let's see where he takes us!  I do not think his wife will be a conventional young woman.

This blog is a guide to the best free and inexpensive classic literature for the US & UK Kindle. If you enjoy my suggestions, please tell your friends who read to give my blog a try. 

Join me on Twitter, FaceBook, or Pinterest.

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For a nominal fee of 99 cents/pence, you can subscribe to this blog and have it automatically download on your Kindle. This gives you the convenience of being able to download the books directly to your Kindle, instead of downloading them to your computer and then transferring them to your Kindle. It also helps support my blog.

UK readers, go to this Amazon link to subscribe.  (Slightly more than half my readers are from the UK)

US readers, go to this Amazon link

Thank to all my readers, whether you subscribe on your Kindle or whether you read it online.  I love to get good reviews!  Who wouldn't?  Should you care to leave a review, follow these links for UK readers or US readers.