Revisiting the Classics with a Kindle

Owning a Kindle has made it easier for me to revisit some of the so-called “classic books.” And, this time, I am actually reading them all the way through to the end.

For more than 30 years, I have collected and stuffed my bookcases with hardback and paperback copies of many old and ancient books. These have ranged from Aesop’s Fables and Aristotle’s Poetics to Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, Shakespeare’s plays and poems, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, to name just a few.

The volumes have looked very good and very scholarly up on my shelves. Sometimes they have even provided handy sources of quotes for some of my writing. But I have not actually read most of the books, at least not completely. Most of them I bought and promptly shelved with every intention to read them someday, later, maybe, when I had the time.

My wife gave me a Kindle as an anniversary present recently. When I discovered (1) that Kindle editions of many of the “classics” are available for free and (2) that a Kindle will hold more than 3,000 books, I made three decisions.

First, I downloaded a few of the $0.00 public domain classics and read them. The first ones I finished included John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress and Aristotle’s Poetics, books I had long ago started in hardback but never completed. Somehow, they just seemed easier to stick with on the Kindle screen.

Then, I downloaded another dozen or so free classics. And I pulled the corresponding hardbacks and paperbacks from my book shelves. I gave away some of the books and sold a few of them to a used book store.

Now, suddenly, there are a few open spaces on my once-crammed bookshelves – spaces for some photographs, plants and curios, as well as esteemed books.

Owning too many things, I believe, can drain away valuable psychic energy. This includes owning too many physical books that spend most of their time gathering dust and cobwebs in my office.

Of course, many of the books I treasure do not have Kindle editions. So those I will keep, read and continue to display in hardback or paperback editions.

But I intend to replace most of the classics I own with free or inexpensive Kindle editions and gravitate toward buying Kindle editions of new books, when possible.

My Kindle could hold nearly ten times as many books as I currently own. But it is not the size of the digital library or physical library that matters.

What matters is that I actually read the books I possess.

I really can’t explain why I now enjoy reading some of the world’s oldest books on some of the world’s newest digital reading technology.

I just do.

Now excuse me. I hear my free copy of The Divine Comedy calling.

-- Si Dunn