Ebooks and iPad and PDFs: Some Freebies

by John Holbo on December 21, 2011

Following up my previous post, here are some free PDFs. Enjoy (or not). I’ve tried to optimize these for the iPad. I would be interested to hear about any problems/unsatisfactorinesses, perhaps due to the fact that you are using a Kindle or whatever. [click to continue…]

E-Books and iPads and PDFs: Some Thoughts

by John Holbo on December 21, 2011

I’d like the survey the CT commentariat about their ebook reading habits, and toss out a few ideas. I’ve made the shift this year. I now read more new books on my iPad than on paper. I also read a lot of comics on the iPad, mostly courtesy of the Comixology app. But let’s start with plain old mostly word productions. [click to continue…]

Reading Coates Reading Eliot

by Tedra Osell on December 21, 2011

If you’re not following Ta-Nehisi Coates as he reads Eliot’s <i>Middlemarch</i>, you’re really missing out. It’s one of my favorite novels, so I’m having great fun reading someone who is really smart read something I’m familiar with for the first time. I love reading Coates, and in this case especially so. He’s no callow undergrad and he writes better than anyone I can think of, which means reading him is not merely the familiar pleasure of observing students’ first encounter with a familiar novel. His frame of reference is totally intellectual but not “academic” in the conventional sense: rigorous but really fresh. His go-to for beautiful language is hip hop, which I like just fine but am not particularly familiar with, so I’m getting new insights into Eliot along with a little mini-education in rap music, plus occasional comparisons to his research into the Civil War (which has anyone posted here about that yet? Because damn). Just so much fun.

<a href=”http://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2011/11/greedy-of-clutch/248559/”>’Greedy of Clutch'</a>

<a href=”http://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2011/11/shirley-chisholm-cont/248557/”>Shirley Chisolm, Cont.</a>

<a href=”http://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2011/11/the-notorious-george-eliot/248774/”>The Notorious George Eliot</a>

<a href=”http://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2011/11/george-eliots-spellcraft/248803/”>George Eliot’s Spellcraft</a>

<a href=”http://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2011/11/george-eliots-conversates/248990/”>George Eliot Conversates</a>

<a href=”http://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2011/11/all-the-light-i-can-command/249083/”>’All the Light I Can Command'</a>

<a href=”http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/12/into-the-canon-middlemarch/250137/”>Into the Canon: Middlemarch</a>

<a href=”http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/12/into-the-canon/250279/”>Into the Canon</a>

(Those are all the posts I could find. <i>The Atlantic</i> needs an easier way of searching their blogging archives.)