Tip #13: Kindle Blogs: Reading Blogs on your Kindle

Kindle Blogs.... if you haven't tried reading blogs on your kindle, give it a go! I've been discovering a few blogs that are fun to read. With a 14 day free trial, you can't go wrong really. It's a bit like sitting in the waiting room at the dentist, flicking through the old magazines. You find bits you like and skip the bits you don't. Most are priced at 0.99 a month. Some are at 1.99 - but, the bloggers don't control the prices! Amazon controls it, and I've seen quite a few bloggers asking to set their price lower, only to get a canned response by Amazon that they price what they think readers will pay. Not fair to the writers really. From what I can tell, most tend to drop to the 99 cent price eventually.

[Aside: I stopped offering this blog for kindle because over winter, I just didn't feel like writing much so it wasn't fair to subscribers. I might start again IF THIS SNOW EVER STOPS.]

Currently there are several thousand blogs available for download to Kindle, with every topic under the sun being available. The few I've read so far seem to look good on the Kindle, in terms of formatting Pix are black and white, of course, but you can usually scroll down to click & enlarge them. New posts are automatically downloaded the next time you turn on your wireless connection.

The downside of downloading blogs to Kindle is that when bloggers link to Kindle books, it doesn't take you to the Kindle store (so you can't buy & download directly). Instead it takes you to Amazon on the web. Don't blame the bloggers though as some reviewers do... that's something that needs to be addressed by Amazon. (Feel free to call and nag them about it!)

My recent reads are below. I've tried a couple and deleted them. Not because they were bad, so much as they weren't something I'd read often enough to keep them around. Currently on my Kindle...


Modern Pioneer A journal of learning to live self sufficiently


Bible Verse of the Day: So, I've been thinking about going back to church lately. I've been procrastinating for a few years. Haven't really found a church I feel comfy in, so I am easing myself in. Lots of research and some gentle bible reading. So gentle in fact, a verse a day kind of suits me right now, gives me something to mull over.

Amazon Daily: permanently free so why not? Random stuff by random people.

Kindle Nation Daily: The inside scoop on all things Kindle - what it says

I Love My Kindle: Kindle musings, tips and trick and the latest Kindle news

And and myself of course! eReader1 is also available on Kindle


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Current Kindle Freebies

My latest freebie downloads... grab 'em while you can!

More Blood, More Sweat and Another Cup of Tea by Tom Reynolds... a blog-in-book-form, the random stories of a London EMT. Sometimes depressing, sometimes funny, sometimes frustrating - this is one of those books with short extracts that you can pick up and read anytime.

The Apothecary's Daughter - one for the historical fiction/ romance reader/ anglophiles. I haven't started it yet, it's in my TBR pile. That pile's up to about 85 books now, so I am not sure when that will be! But it has decent reviews so I might give it a whirl.




FANG: A MAXIMUM RIDE NOVEL - Free preview: Book One
Okay, okay this is just a preview. I know. Enough people have been getting their knickers in a twist over Patterson's free book previews for this & for Witch & Wizard, that I don't need to join them. It's a teaser for the release of Fang, book 6 in the Maximum Ride series next month.
Followers of Max probably won't like it (yes, Patterson narrates as a teenage girl, but my teenage kids love it so who am I - a mid to late 30's nerd - to comment?)
Fun reading, nothing more, nothing less.
[Full edition of Fang will be released March 15. Low raters.... deal with it!]

Unclutter Your Life in One Week by Erin R Doland

My latest ongoing reading/ long term project stems from picking up a Kindle freebie: Unclutter Your Life in One Week by Erin R Doland. This winter has been long and hard. Coming straight after a wet and dreary summer, it's safe to say we have the Winter Blues here in Western Pennsylvania, and finding motivation for such awful tasks as uncluttering the hallway closet doesn't come easy.

Doland's step-by-step program to unlcuttering your life in a week seemed a bit too good to be true. And it is really; some of the steps she says you can do before work or in an afternoon really take days or weeks on their own. One of *the* biggies - clearing out the boxes of sentimental junk collected over 30 years - she says to do before you even start on step one. HA! I thought she was going to tell me how to cull all of that! But that's fine. Really. Because what it did do was get my arse moving. Chapter 1 down and I was ready to get going.

Doland said I could re-organize my closet on Monday morning before work. Well in all honesty, a full Sunday afternoon was more realistic (and my closet is tiny), followed by 3 more Sundays doing the kids' closets, and 4 trips to the charity shop. But not only did it give me the motivation to do it, it also let me do it guilt-free. Those pants that I have never worn and frankly never will? Off to charity! That $300 skirt new with tags but bought in a sale 3 years ago? Off to consignment. Guilt free clearing out is what it's about, and for tight wad frugal person such as myself, that's #1! :-)

What I noticed almost immediately - aside from guilt free closet emptying - was how great it felt to have things organized again! My kids get ready quicker in the morning. My daughter has acres of space now that she's parted with a jungle of stuffed animals! Our old photos came out of boxes, into photo frames and onto newly cleared shelves! Step 1 Closets over and on to Doland's Monday afternoon: My desk at work.

I'm reading each section as I have the time to fit it into my life. I've given myself until May to finish reading the book and uncluttering the whole house, at which point I plan to be outside enjoying Summer! I know I'll be skipping sections of the book, such as chapters on how to run meetings at work or give presentations. Having skimmed them, I don't feel they are applicable to everyone, nor are they that great.

In the meantime, we are loving our new tidy wardrobes, organized bookcases and reduced shelf of cookery books. I'm loving the new cubby my husband built for the bathroom towels. No longer am I scowling at everyone for the messy shoes everywhere. Maybe I'll get through the rest of winter with some sanity left!

Knowing Darkness: Artists Inspired by Stephen King

Knowing Darkness: Artists Inspired by Stephen King is one mammoth book that's made it onto my DTB wish list! I wish (I wish!) I'd seen this before Christmas, and it could have made it into the number 1 slot on my Christmas list, but alas, I have to hope there are some new ones left by my birthday! A limited edition of only 1500, and only 3 showing in stock this morning, I won't hold my breath. [The deluxe limited edition is sadly sold out and on email alert only]

As I take the plunge and whittle my DT bookshelf to Must Keeps only, I'd surely have room for this one! Knowing Darkness is a whopping 13 pounds of 500 illustrations and art inspired by the works of Stephen King, all the way from the days of Carrie to the present day, including essays, in depth interviews and texts put together by George Beahm. Includes an intro by the great Frank Darabont.

Oh, if only!

Hunger Games 3: Mockingjay announcement!

Fans of The Hunger Games are getting excited again as the cover artwork and name of the final book in the trilogy were revealed yesterday! Mockingjay - our heroine's unwitting symbol of resistance and rebellion - will be released on August 24th!

Personally I'm going to be madly clicking "I’d like to read this book on Kindle" between now and then - on the off chance that the publishers will grace the eReaders of the world with an ebook! Given that Catching Fire (part 2) still doesn't have an e-version, I'm not taking too many risks. I have my pre-order in so I can get reading just as soon as my mail carrier gets it here!