The Trove

Great reads and other finds for the literary-minded
Compiled by Pat D’Amico

Those requiring clarification after reading Denis Johnson’s riveting and ambitious, if sometimes mystifying, Tree of Smoke, might benefit from Philip Connors’ in-depth examination of the National Book Award winner. Denis Johnson’s Higher Power appears in the Winter 2008 Issue of The Virginia Quarterly. Besides being a rare inside look at the reclusive writer’s life, it’s a great primer for Johnson’s body of work. Connors makes a convincing argument for Tree of Smoke as prequel: “Tree of Smoke is many things — Johnson’s magnum opus, a pastiche of Vietnam novels and movies and nonfiction accounts, a philosophical exploration of military intelligence, an atmospheric thriller in the mode of Graham Greene or John Le Carré — but perhaps most interestingly it is the prequel we didn’t know existed to Johnson’s entire body of work. No fewer than eight of its characters have appeared in Johnson’s other novels ... .”

Almost as far back as the first days of the Internet, websites have been hosting free etexts of literary masterpieces. Want to read Herodotus, Shakespeare, Dickens or Twain? Brew yourself a pot of coffee, slip into your favorite loungewear, and the classics are just a click away. Those sites are like little treasures to book lovers everywhere. However, nothing comparable exists for contemporary literature. Copyright laws prohibit that. US copyright laws, that is. According to the legal statement posted on truly-free.org, a website with mirrors in Panama and Malaysia, “The administration of truly-free.org hereby repudiates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which, being specific only to the United States of America, its satellites, vassal states, and colonies, is inapplicable to these servers. Any communication citing this legislation will be disregarded by these sites’ administrator(s), their hosting provider(s), and their upstream hosting provider(s). Any communication or complaint of a litigious nature originating in the following countries or regions will similarly be disregarded by the aforementioned: U.S.A.; U.K.; Canada; Australasia; E.E.C.; future satellites, protectorates, vassal states, and colonies of the U.S.A.” The site does not promote flagrant downloading for resale of the etexts they provide. The Burgomeister’s instructions for use state you may download a total of five etexts every two weeks, but only with the understanding that those files be deleted from your computer and you don’t sell them. I’m sure this will cause a truckload of controversy among writers and commercial ebook sites, but I have to admit it’s a respectful, if idealogical, website that is a throwback to the early intent of the Internet ... when sharing and trusting predated viruses and spam. More and more authors are placing their work for free online. After the 50th printing in paper, gifting readers with free ebook versions is a kindness that makes sense to me. Whatever your opinion, there’s not much difference between this site and going to library. Or is there?

Founded in 2000 by Gavin J. Grant and Kelly Link, Small Beer Press is another site that’s experimenting with offering free book downloads. John Kessel’s highly praised, The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories is their newest addition. Locus calls it one of the year’s best, and Entertainment Weekly wrote, “These stories offer a sustained exploration of the ways gender dynamics can both empower and enslave us. Kessel’s wit sparkles throughout, peaking with the most uproariously weird phone-sex conversation you’ll ever read (‘The Red Phone’).”

Narrative Magazine was founded “with the single mission to bring great literature into the digital age, and to provide it for free. Stories, poetry, essays, novel excerpts, articles, and interviews are available — without subscription — to readers everywhere. With an audience of 30,000 readers, Narrative Magazine has brought together online readers with the best literary minds in the world to reverse the downward trend in reading.” For a simple registration, and with any Adobe Reader version 6.0 or later, you can regularly read free works from the likes of Ann Beattie, Ron Carlson, E. L. Doctorow, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Olen Butler, Scott Spencer, Padgett Powell, Tobias Wolff and many more. Sign in, read the latest issue, then go straight to their archives. Start with Ron Hansen’s The Wreck of the Deutschland, an excerpt from his latest book, Exiles: A Novel, which is featured in our Books of Summer preview. (Should you experience difficulty opening .pdf files in the archive, try changing browsers.)

If you’re looking to secure a new book the old fashioned way (by purchasing it), check out Abebooks, which long ago evolved into much more than a seller of used books. Looking for the best price online for a book? Looking for free shipping? Looking for large print books? Go here. It’s a great resource that provides fine service.

—Pat D’Amico is a regular Readerville contributor. She is presently reading Nine Nights by Bernardo Carvalho.

Comments

[Karen Templer]

I'm floored by that truly-free site — surprised not to have heard of it before in the way of some swirl of outrage. Does anyone know how long it's been up?

[Pat_D]

I expected to read a bevy of outraged comments after that posted link. Either people have been away from their computers this Mother's Day weekend, or they're quietly pleased by such a resource.

When I first happened upon it, I clicked through the site with much ambivalence. Then I started reading things like the site owner's mission statement, and more importantly, the site's posted stats. For example: most of his users earn less than $30,000.00/year, there's a significant global audience, and a large group signify a less than college education. The owner writes:

Thousands of readers in developing countries rely on the Burgomeister's Books for their free literature. By helping me you will be helping them.

The cynics may scoff at that, but it's highly plausible. I tried to find a date when it opened, but haven't succeeded in doing so, yet.

[Pat_D]

In case anyone missed this, which is posted on his site, I thought I'd repeat it:

As from any brick-and-mortar library, you should now go home and read the books. Return (delete) them when you have finished, and come back later to borrow more.

The system is no different here at the Burgomeister's, which runs strictly on the lending-library model. Every loan is monitored, and all your data is stored and acted upon in due time. You are, in effect, issued your own digital 'library card', although you do not see it.

[lynn c]

It may say it serves a noble purpose, but it's theft! Don't you think?

[Karen Templer]

I guess it depends whose definition you use. But it's a good demonstration of the futility of a lot of laws (intellectual property laws in particular) in the age of the Internet.