Cozying Up With The Classics

Before I got my Kindle, I was a little ambivalent about the concept. Sure, I loved reading, and I even already had a Kindle app on my phone. But wouldn’t that easy always-on method of acquiring new titles — with the accompanying hit to the pocketbook — be a problem?

Luckily, it hasn’t turned out that way. I can’t say I’ve been entirely impulse-buy free, but I’ve found some alternative ways to scratch that reading itch. Free ways! And so I’m going to share them with you.

I. Your local library. My big problem with the library has always been overdue books. It’s a weakness, I know. But now, you can borrow books for the Kindle for free (with your library membership), and they just disappear off your device after two weeks with no fines!

Unfortunately, this also means you can’t renew, but… pssst!… if you turn off the Internet connection on your Kindle, the book will stay put until the device is synced again. This is how I managed to read the whole Game of Thrones series without paying a cent.

Sure, you sometimes have to be patient — there are waiting lists for popular books — but I can usually find something to read that interests me that’s available now, while I put a hold on the title I’m excited about. I’ll just be all the more excited when I get the email alert saying it’s my turn.

(P.S. If you’re like me and live in a small town whose library doesn’t offer Overdrive, you can often join a neighboring town’s library for a minimal fee.)

II. Free public domain classics. Many older books are in the public domain now (meaning the copyright has expired), so you can often get electronic versions for free. So, now’s the time to read Anna Karenina like you always wanted.

Before you turn up your nose at the classics let me say that, yes, many of them are stodgy and difficult to read, but others.. well, you understand why they became classics. They take you on a journey to other times and cultures that you’d never be able to experience any other way. Plus, many are spellbinding page-turners. Also, after you read them, you can walk around feeling smug, especially when one of those “How many of these books have you read?” memes starts on Facebook.

Following, some of the most interesting and engaging books I’ve read for free on my Kindle.

1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie. I actually just finished this one the other night. It’s Dame Christie’s first novel that features Hercule Poirot, which makes it a classic. Plus it’s full of mysterious characters with hidden agendas and, like the narrator, you’ll be kept guessing until the very end.

2. The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. If you didn’t read these in high school — and even if you did — they’re well-deserving of attention for the dialogue, the Mighty Mississippi, and the free-range parenting of another era.

3. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Who can match the sharp observational powers of Sherlock Holmes, who is constantly coming up with surprising — and accurate — deductions about the people around him.

 
 

4. Emma, Price & Prejudice, Mansfield Park (and more) by Jane Austen.  Oh, Mr. Darcy… need I say more? These are the original romance novels — but with intelligence and wit, featuring a peek into a culture in which women couldn’t inherit property, therefore ensuring that their main concern was making a suitable marriage. So many modern story lines (the movie Clueless was based on Emma) refer to these classics — you should get familiar with the originals.

I’ll stop here — for now — and let you enjoy these delightful and entertaining tales. There’s a reason people have been reading them for so many years.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve enjoyed these or discovered other gems for free (or cheap)!