The Raven - by Edgar Allen Poe

Free US/UK Kindle Classic

This is the time of year we turn to contemplative spooky literature and what better warm up than Edgar Allen Poe's epic poem of tortured lost love, The Raven? (US Edition)  (UK Edition)

The American author had an unhappy life.  He was orphaned early, later disinherited by the family who took him in, and had mixed success in making a living as a writer.  The Raven was very popular, but he had sold the rights for $9.00.  The poem is probably inspired by the early death of his young wife.  Poe didn't live a long life himself.  Per Wikipedia: " On October 7, 1849, at age 40, Poe died in Baltimore; the cause of his death is unknown and has been variously attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents."  Whew . . . 

His grave is a rendezvous for the romantic, the despondent and students from the nearby University of Maryland.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -

Only this, and nothing more.'

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow

From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -

For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore -

Nameless here for evermore.

May all your ghosts rest easy this Halloween!

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. 

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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

The Fortune of the Rougons - by Emile Zola

Free US/UK Kindle Classic

I wanted to write about Emile Zola's novel, The Paradise, because I am really enjoying the TV adaptation.  But I was shocked, shocked to discover no free copies on Kindle!  There is a feature on Amazon which readers can use to alert Amazon to a Kindle edition that violates copyright.  It should not apply to the public domain books that I review.  However, I notice that many of the books I reviewed over a year ago are no longer available.  I suspect that publishers of inexpensive editions report the "free" editions, knowing that they can knock out the competition.  As Amazon makes no money on the free editions and even loses a small amount on the download, there is no incentive to hurry up and vet these free editions which are incorrectly reported as violating copyright. So, no Zola . . .  (US Edition)  (UK Edition) 

So we will go with the next best thing, which is the French writer Zola's 1871 novel, The Fortune of the Rougons.  It is the first in a series of twenty, but stands on its own!

Once again, I will depend heavily on the intrepid Amazon reviewers.

"In his introduction to the 20th and final novel (DOCTOR PASCAL), Zola specified the order he intended the series to be read, and it differs greatly from the order in which the books were written. So, now that you're on the first of twenty, make a note of the LOGICAL order of the books, and you will enjoy them much more:

1). THE FORTUNE OF THE ROUGONS); 2) HIS EXCELLENCY or CLORINDA [and so on up to twenty, but we will stop with two.]

And in case you were wondering, if this were a single novel, it would be 6,680 pages long. C'est pas possible!"

This series of novels is a very rewarding reading experience, the type of endeavor like reading Proust that will stay with you your entire life.

Let's take a look:

First there is a long introduction to a cemetery and then we meet a young man carrying a gun. 

The young man was still gazing anxiously in that direction when, suddenly, one of the town clocks slowly and solemnly struck seven. He counted the strokes, and then jumped down, apparently surprised and relieved.

He seated himself on the tombstone, like one who is prepared to wait some considerable time. And for about half an hour he remained motionless and deep in thought, apparently quite unconscious of the cold, while his eyes gazed fixedly at a mass of shadow. He had placed himself in a dark corner, but the beams of the rising moon had gradually reached him, and at last his head was in the full light.

Please let me know when you finish the series.

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

Journal of William Brazear - edited by Margaret Brazear

Free US/UK Kindle Classic

Unusual for this blog, I am featuring a newly published book.  It is a WWI memoir,  "Journal of William Brazear,"  edited by Margaret Brazear.  (US Edition)  (UK Edition) This is the edited diary of a British soldier.   The diary begins in 1895 and is unusual in that the soldier was a prisoner of war. 

William grew up in London and was in an orphanage and then apprenticed. 

At the age of fourteen, I was sent from the home to take a position apprenticed at a cycle works.   .  .  .  Well, this job nearly broke my heart.   I started there on the 9th May 1899 and managed to stay there until July 1st 1900.   During that period my regular routine was filing brazings in the morning, after doing the housework, and running with young ladies, learning them to ride in the afternoons.   The result was that I was handsore from the rasp, footsore from running, and heartsore from the whole thing.   Of course I was a bound apprentice and could not leave easy, so I made up my mind to run away from there.

You can imagine the service would be more attractive and Brazear was regular Army for awhile and in the reserves at the time the war began.

Now I was comfortable and thought I was safe.   But wait and see.   There was a church about 100 yards in front of my position.   The bells were ringing, and the people were walking towards the church just as if nothing was happening.   Suddenly a shell, either from us or from the Germans, struck the bottom corner of the church and the whole thing collapsed.   Naturally it would when the foundation had gone.   After seeing this, I knew that I was not so safe as I previously thought.

Later he is captured:

We entrained at Lauvain Station.   Although we expected to have to walk all the way into Germany, it appears that by now they had organised a system.   While we were waiting on the platform, I stood against some packages.   I had also organised a system, so with my jack knife I opened one of the cases and I was not disappointed for I found dog biscuits.   I filled my pockets and my pals emptied the box.   They were very acceptable at this time.  

War is hell.

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