Jane Austen novels offered for new e-book reader
Our Gentle Readers may have seen the announcement about the new Sony e-book reader. We investigated which of Jane Austen’s novels might be available for the device and discovered not only the novels but several titles of Austen paraliterature as well.
We like e-books, and have the “Big Six” on our PDA at all times. One of our book groups is currently re-reading Mansfield Park in preparation for the JASNA AGM. We mostly have been reading it on the PDA, which we prefer to carry rather than our Chapman edition, fearing it might get ruined in transit. We are currently debating whether to bring the Chapman to Tucson (the e-book IS searchable, but the hard copy has all kinds of interesting collateral material that might come in handy for the quiz will provide the reader with additional insight into the novel. And just today we showed our co-workers the first sentence of Pride and Prejudice as part of a discussion about comma usage. 
(When you work with word nerds, that sort of conversation is perfectly normal.) However, we most likely will wait for the price to come down on this device (by about half) or for something less expensive and, one hopes, using a universal format rather than something proprietary to one device.
September 28th, 2006 at 11:47 am
I was flipping through the classic literature section to see what they had…when did “He’s All That” and “Thug-A-Licious” become classics? I know that they are well read and deeply loved, but I wish I got the memo on that one!