I've had my Kindle 3 for almost a month now, and I can't remember reading so much. I've also been listening to podcasts on it. I never realized until now how much time I was spending doing stuff for work. Now that I'm no longer a charge nurse, I'm not having to finish employee schedules, or write/reply to email, work on new projects, and all of the myriad of... well to be honest, bullshit... that I used to work on. It has led to an improved sense of balance in my life, now that my days off are truly my own (and not used to schedule meetings during dayshift). I've been able to spend a lot of quality time not only reading a wide variety of fiction, but I've also been reading more non-fiction. I've also been able to listen to podcasts on my Kindle, so I don't have to pack my iPod.
It was a complete eye-opener for me how many books are being offered by Amazon that are free of charge. There are discussion boards on Amazon, as well as a variety of blogs and websites, that track free books. Many of these books are for free for a short time (sometimes just hours). I've been "purchasing" an average of 2-4 free books per week. Sometimes, you get what you pay for, and I end up giving up on a free book after a few chapters, but this is something I do for full-priced novels.
Bright of the Sky (Book 1 of The Entire and the Rose) by Kay Kenyon: Science Fiction/Fantasy. From the book's Amazon site:
Starred Review. At the start of this riveting launch of a new far-future SF series from Kenyon (Tropic of Creation), a disastrous mishap during interstellar space travel catapults pilot Titus Quinn with his wife, Johanna Arlis, and nine-year-old daughter, Sydney, into a parallel universe called the Entire. Titus makes it back to this dimension, his hair turned white, his memory gone, his family presumed dead and his reputation ruined with the corporation that employed him. The corporation (in search of radical space travel methods) sends Titus (in search of Johanna and Sydney) back through the space-time warp. There, he gradually, painfully regains knowledge of its rulers, the cruel, alien Tarig; its subordinate, Chinese-inspired humanoid population, the Chalin; and his daughter's enslavement. Titus's transformative odyssey to reclaim Sydney reveals a Tarig plan whose ramifications will be felt far beyond his immediate family. Kenyon's deft prose, high-stakes suspense and skilled, thorough world building will have readers anxious for the next installment.
It's definitely not my usual reading fare, but it was a good page-turner for me. The first installment is still free as of this writing, but I guess I'll have to plunk down for the next two books.
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