16 Free Books For Download

I have noticed many readers are looking for free ebooks. Majority of the free ebooks are public domain, which means those books are wonderful classic literature. However, as the eminent Mark Twain said, “A classic is a book which people praise and don’t read.”

Harlequin is having a 60 anniversary. To celebrate, 16 books are available for download, and it is free. Genres available are suspense and paranormal, passion, home and family, romance, and historical. However, I think all can be pigeonholed to the genre of romance. I do not read romance, but I will try one of the suspense and paranormal novels. In addition, majority of the book covers are the typical amorous representation of the ideal male specimen, in particular “Once A Cowboy” by Linda Warren is enticing.

The books are available in four formats: .pdf, ePub, eReader, and MS Reader. Download the ebooks at Harlequin Celebrates.

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Robert Frost

I remember writing an analytical paper in high school (a very long time ago) about the eminent bard Robert Frost. My paper analyzed one of his most acclaimed poems, The Road Not Taken. Many would assert it is an unequivocal poem, but even Robert Frost remarked that it was a tricky poem, which I read repeatedly and always seem to discover a new angle to interpret. My devotion to the great American poet has not changed; I still admire and read Robert Frost's poems.

Friday, I was fortunate to come across while window-shopping, a signed copy of "You Come Too", displayed in a frame. A surge of excitement disseminated, it became the paramount of my day. I was no longer window-shopping; a bargain was struck, and I came home with a frame display of Robert Frost and a signed copy of his book mounted within the frame. (photograph of the upper left corner)

I am currently enthralled with Frost’s poem, Flower-Gathering.

Flower-Gathering

I left you in the morning,

And in the morning glow,

You walked a way beside me

To make me sad to go.

Do you know me in the gloaming,

Gaunt and dusty gray with roaming?

Are you dumb because you know me not,

Or dumb because you know?

All for me And not a question

For the faded flowers gay 

That could take me from beside you

For the ages of a day?

They are yours, and be the measure

Of their worth for you to treasure,

The measure of the little while

That I've been long away. 

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Another Book About Books: 501 Must-Read Books

Yet again another book that compiles noteworthy books of different genres into a handy reference guide for avid readers that want to find an engrossing read without doing a lot of research.  Do not have many bookish friends to recommend a book, do not have time to join a book club, do not have patience to go through a plethora of reviews, well books about books in particular 501 Must-Read Books maybe the perfect solution to the book finding blues. 
Two reasons to buy this book. One, it is a good source to discover worthy books to read. Two, it is in the bargain section.

The substance, 501 Must-Read Books is categorized by the following genres: Children's Fiction, Classical Fiction, History, Memoirs, Modern Fiction, Science Fiction, Thrillers, and Travel. Each enumerated book is accompanied with background of the book, brief synopsis, detail information about the author, and list of other published material by the author.

Must-Read Science Fiction Section

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Noel Adams
Hothouse by Brian Aldiss
Brainwave by Poul Anderson
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Crystal World by J.G. Ballard
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
Who Goes There by John W. Campbell
The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares
Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Erewhon by Samuel Butler
Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino
2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
A Strange Manuscript Found in Cooper Cylinder by James De Mille
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
To Your Scattered Bodies Go  by Philip Jose Farmer
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Dune by Frank Herbert
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Two Planets by Kurd Lasswitz
Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
Shikasta by Doris Lessing
Stepford Wives by Ira Levin
Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Dwellers in the Mirage by Abraham Merritt
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller
Ringworld by Larry Niven
Time Traders by Andre Norton
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe
The Inverted World by Christopher Priest
The Green Child by Herbert Read
The Laxian Key by Robert Sheckley
City bye Clifford D. Simak
Donovan's Brain by Curt Siodmak
Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague De Camp
Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon
More than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
Slan by A.E. Van Vogt
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade by Kurt Vonnegut 
The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
Islandia by Austin Tappan Wright
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
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Regional Ghost Story Books

Ghosts of St. Augustine
by Dave Lapham

Florida's Ghostly Legends and Haunted Folklore Volume 2
by Greg Jenkins

During a vacation, people proceed to gift shops often to buy gifts for those friends and family that were not able to make the trip and to take home a remembrance of a time of relaxation and exploration. When I go to the gift shops, I look for books, which will extract me from my mundane life into blissful memories. I was fortunate to discover some regional ghost story books in St. Augustine, FL. These books will be a great addition to my other regional ghost story book collection.

Last night in Key Largo there was a thunderstorm, and I just could not sleep, so I decided to read a few stories from both books. "Florida’s Ghostly Legends and Haunted Folklore" Volume 2, has a more detail description of the ghostly historical locations than "Ghost of St. Augustine" although the latter is entirely dedicated to St. Augustine.

Dexter, an inmate of the Old Jail in St. Augustine haunts the prison looking forlorn for all his nefarious activities. Legends say that tour visitors sometimes sense cold spots or a pungent smell of anonymous insanitary prisoners of bygone days. When I took the animated tour of the Old Jail, I sensed nothing. I have yet to experience anything paranormal; however, it does not discourage me from enjoying eerie tales. A tale from "Ghosts of St. Augustine", Flagler College the former Hotel Ponce de Leon is haunted by the philanthropist that founded most of St. Augustine, Henry Flagler. A student once had the luck to meet his acquaintance after being called upon through rubbing a tile delineating Flagler’s countenance. Viewing Flagler College from a trolley tour bus, I saw college students gamboling on the front lawn caked in shaving cream. Oh, how I wish my undergraduate days were like that.

Take care my small audience, from under a coconut tree.

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Historical St. Augustine Desktop Wallpaper

Currently, I am on vacation. I enjoy traveling to historical destinations; yesterday, I visited the oldest European settlement in North America, St. Augustine, FL. It is a fallacy that Jamestown, VA is the oldest European settlement as well as the glorious fight of Col. George A. Custer also known as Custer's Last Stand or the latter (I prefer) The Battle of Little Bighorn.


Photograph of part of Castillo da San Marcos National Monument (Fort)

Photograph of three palm trees on the grounds of Castillo da San Marcos.

Click on image obtain larger image 2560 X 1600.

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The Suicide Collectors

The Suicide Collectors
by David Oppegaard

In 1995, Stephen King’s television two-part movie The Langoliers (published in Four Past Midnight) aired on ABC. Since viewing The Langoliers, I became captivated by apocalyptic novels. I would assume most people would feel a sense of bereft being the only or among the few people left in the world. However, when I was a teenager, I daydreamed about what I would do if the Earth population dwindled. I would read and enjoy the downtempo silence, but of course sooner or later the silence would be a monotonous surging of frustration.

The Suicide Collector by David Appeared is an apocalyptic novel. The world’s diminishing population is due to multitude of suicide. Narrated through Norman the main character, travels to Seattle after hearing that there is a new flourishing community with a cure for the despair. Along his journey with neighbor Pops, they encounter a variety of people demonstrating an array of coping strategies such as a gangs, feral children, and a cult. Throughout the story Oppegaard keeps the reader interested through giving titbits of information about the mysterious dark cloaked suicide collector, who peculiarly knows when someone has given in to the despair. The million-dollar question, what has caused the despair also coaxes the reader on to the next page. Even though I enjoyed reading majority of Oppegaard’s first novel, the conclusion felt short and cheated. In fiction, sometimes there should be more.

So, I will be looking for another apocalyptic novel that can quench my thirst for a catastrophe with a few good characters. It should be stated Oppegaard’s characters were likeable and believable through his use of riveting flashbacks.

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My Haiku

I have not written a haiku since my days of undergraduate studies, but after reading "Breathers, A Zombie Lament", I had a sudden urge to write one, of course inspired by life.

"Dilation Of Wan"

lonely dark abyss

shroud in constricting shadows

endless nothingness

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