North and South- by Elizaeth Cleghorn Gaskell

Free US/UK Kindle Classic

"North and South" is an 1855 novel by English author Elizaeth Cleghorn Gaskell (US Edition)  (UK Edition) .  In case any of my American readers think this is about the Civil War; please note the pre-Civil War date.  This popular book is actually about Northern and Southern England.

Then Edith came back, glowing with pleasure, half-shyly, half-proudly leading in her tall handsome Captain. His brother shook hands with him, and Mrs. Shaw welcomed him in her gentle kindly way, which had always something plaintive in it, arising from the long habit of considering herself a victim to an uncongenial marriage. Now that, the General being gone, she had every good of life, with as few drawbacks as possible, she had been rather perplexed to find an anxiety, if not a sorrow. She had, however, of late settled upon her own health as a source of apprehension; she had a nervous little cough whenever she thought about it; and some complaisant doctor ordered her just what she desired,— a winter in Italy.

How nice!  Quite Austen like . . . not comparing novels, but we are familiar with this lady's nerves.

So not surprised to read this Amazon reader review:

" This has been a favourite book of mine since I first read it nearly 20 years ago. It has parallels with Pride and Predjudice and many of Dickens' novels. The main theme is a passionate love story involving two very strong people from different worlds. It is set against a backdrop of the Industrial Revolution. Margaret Hale has led a very quiet and sheltered life in the rural south of England when circumstances force her to move to a rather grim northern city. The story of how she gets to know some of the people, in particular John Thornton one of the mill owners, and begins to understand their way of life is a compelling one."

Now to a bit of the personal  . .

I am behind on my blog and will catch up soon. (I am 7 behind)  It was quite nice that someone tweeted me about this.  I have been blogging for a couple of years and have had no feedback in over a year, so it became sort of like writing in a vacuum, which I do not like. It is nice to be missed!

I had a number of jobs going at once that are now ended and there have been a series of storms and calamities in the States.  These did not personally affect me, but I always "deploy" online to help people set up FaceBook pages to reunite with their lost animals.  For example, this week I am working on a FaceBook page set up to help after the Moore, Oklahoma tornado.  Full time I work on a page called Lost Dogs of Texas which is just about the very personal disaster that occurs if you lose your dog.  It is part of a growing network Lost Dogs of America.

Back soon with a special new classic!

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. (It is one of the top 100 blogs on Amazon.)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

Here is a video of my mother, at 97, a new convert to the Kindle!

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. You may e-mail me at marilyn@marilynlitt.com

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge - by Ambrose Bierce

Free US/UK Kindle Classic

I don't want to say too much about this quirky short story by Ambrose Bierce, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." (US Edition)  (UK Edition)  It was written in 1890 and has become, perhaps, his best known work.

Here is an Amazon Reader Review:  

His writing has a way-a style and is captivating, clever and original. Like all good works, they don't age with time. I would highly recommend his work.  Bierce himself was an interesting man-a journalist by trade who managed to obtain recognition latterly for his work and ended up 'disappearing' in New Mexico, I believe. [Mexico the country, not the State, New Mexico - ed.] A strange ending to a man who engineered many strange endings in his numerous short stories.

It is very much a story you do not want to read about before you read it!  It has always been popular, regularly assigned in school, and a subject for discussion.  It won't take you long to read but you will be mulling it over for longer than it took to read . . . Let's just say this is a story about an American Civil War soldier and leave it at that.  

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.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

For a nominal fee of 99 cents/pence, you can subscribe to this blog and have it automatically download on your Kindle. (It is one of the top 100 blogs on Amazon.)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

Here is a video of my mother, at 97, a new convert to the Kindle!

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. You may e-mail me at marilyn@marilynlitt.com

The Little Minister - by Scottish author James Barrie

Free US/UK Kindle Classic

The Little Minister is an 1891 novel by Scottish author James Barrie.  (US Edition)  (UK Edition)  He is primarily known now for writing Peter Pan, but The Little Minister is a much loved book.

Long ago, in the days when our caged blackbirds never saw a king's soldier without whistling impudently, "Come ower the water to Charlie," a minister of Thrums was to be married, but something happened, and he remained a bachelor. Then, when he was old, he passed in our square the lady who was to have been his wife, and her hair was white, but she, too, was still unmarried. The meeting had only one witness, a weaver, and he said solemnly afterwards, "They didna speak, but they just gave one another a look, and I saw the love-light in their een."

Maybe I should have held this book until Valentine's Day.  These are not the star-crossed lovers in the book, but the course of true love does not run smoothly here.  You will also note this book is not for the dialogphobic.

At six Gavin hit another boy hard for belonging to the Established Church, and at seven he could not lose himself in the Shorter Catechism. His mother expounded the Scriptures to him till he was eight, when he began to expound them to her. By this time he was studying the practical work of the pulpit as enthusiastically as ever medical student cut off a leg. From a front pew in the gallery Gavin watched the minister's every movement, noting that the first thing to do on ascending the pulpit is to cover your face with your hands, as if the exalted position affected you like a strong light, and the second to move the big Bible slightly, to show that the kirk officer, not having had a university education, could not be expected to know the very spot on which it ought to lie.

And there I will leave it, but let's just say a Gypsy will cross his path and complicate his future.

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.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

For a nominal fee of 99 cents/pence, you can subscribe to this blog and have it automatically download on your Kindle. (It is one of the top 100 blogs on Amazon.)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

Here is a video of my mother, at 97, a new convert to the Kindle!

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. You may e-mail me at marilyn@marilynlitt.com