Peg Kerr's Journal

I'm in love. I'm in love! I have discovered and downloaded the free Dolphin browser for my Color Nook.

NOW I HAVE TABBED BROWSING ON MY NOOK! And navigation is vastly superior: I've programmed in 'Gestures,' or various squiggles drawn on the screen I've chosen myself, for a variety of functions: to open a tab, to pull up website, to open bookmarks, etc.

Now if only they would solve the (lack of) select/copy/paste functionality on the Nook. WHY don't they have it? It's absurd!

all seven Harry Potter ebooks.

Can now track down any quote in seconds flat.

THIS MAKES ME SO HAPPY.

One thing I have REALLY been enjoying about my Nook is that I've learned how to download fanfics to a Word file, convert them to .epub files (using this very handy dandy free site) and put them on my Nook. I love reading long works, and now I'm not tied to my computer to read them anymore, nor do I have to print them off.

I switch between Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings for the most part. This week I'm all about Lord of the Rings, specifically Éomer (why Éomer? I have no idea) and I've been discovering new fics by checking out the Middle Earth Fanfiction Awards finalists (MEFA). Here are some I've added lately:

Untold Tales of the Mark: The Banishment of Éomer by Katzilla. Dark and angsty. And LONG, around 340,000 words.

Otherwise, the fanfic authors I've particularly enjoyed doing Éomer stories are Lady Bluejay and Lialathuveril. Here a couple ones that are great fun:

The Abduction of Éomer, King of Rohan by Lialathuveril (a fun, somewhat screwball comedy. Think "'It Happened One Night' While Rowing Down the Anduin")

On the Wings of the Storm by Lialathuveril. An interesting premise: what if the year before the Ring War, Princess Lothiriel of Dol Amroth is sent to Rohan by her father to seek shelter from the war brewing in Mordor (and runs afoul of Wormtongue).

Of Falcons and Mûmakil by Lialathuveril

Bound By Duty by Lady Bluejay

I Can Only Manage One by Lady Bluejay.

Also good: The Sell-Sword and the Prince, by Lady Bluejay, about Lothiriel's father, Imrahil of Dol Amroth, and his encounter when he was young with Aragorn (known to him as Thorongil). The story starts as a high adventure with a daring raid on Umbar pirates and ends as a light-hearted romance between Imrahil and his future wife.

Tuesday, August 16 would have been Georgette Heyer’s 109th birthday. In honor of this most beloved author, who many call the Queen of Regency Romance, online e-book retailers (such as Sourcebooks, Barnes & Noble or Amazon) are discounting EVERY SINGLE one of the eBooks currently available to $1.99 for one week, getting Heyer’s Birthday Party started a day early on August 15!

That’s 46 books by Georgette Heyer, plus the fabulous reader companion, Georgette Heyer’s Regency World by Jennifer Kloester, available for $1.99 from August 15-August 21.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MS. HEYER!
eBooks Available for $1.99
August 15-August 21, 2011
Heyer’s Birthday: August 16, 2011

Edited to add: Personally, I've snabbled up Sylvester, or the Wicked Uncle, Frederica (this is one that, inexplicably, is not available on the Nook, so I got it at Sourcebooks), Arabella, Venetia, The Grand Sophy (great fun, although be warned, there's a startlingly anti-Semetic scene in the middle of the book), The Foundling, The Nonesuch, Friday's Child, Cotillion and The Corinthian. I also picked up Georgette Heyer's Regency World. The Unknown Ajax is another one I would have bought if it had been available on the Nook. I didn't check Sourcebooks for that one). One of my very favorites is A Civil Contract, but that doesn't seem to be available as an ebook at all. I'll keep watching for it.

You might also look at the ones that Jo Walton (user name=papersky site=livejournal.com> recommends here. Her top list is quite close to my own.

My top picks I'd say are Frederica (screamingly funny), Sylvester, or the Wicked Uncle (how can I resist the heroine, who is a novelist?), The Grand Sophy (also screamingly funny, with that caveat I mentioned earlier), Cotillion (Jo's right, the ending REALLY takes you by surprise, Venetia and A Civil Contract.

The book I hate the most is The Reluctant Widow. Lordy, but I wanted to bitch-slap the heroine. One of the most unlikeable central characters I've ever encountered. Why on earth did the hero want such a shrew? Run, run the other way!

From yuki_onna:

Fairyland is now available for free download until the evening of Monday, May 2nd.

Follow the signpost.

There's a little game to get the download--I hope you like it. This is the original text, without illustrations. Please do not pirate it or upload it where it shouldn't be, which is more or less anywhere. Do feel free to tell anyone you like about the window.

Thank you all, everyone who came this far. The best is yet to come.

Unforeseen advantage: I can read when riding in the car when it's dark, due to backlit screen.

Unforeseen disadvantage: Although I love reading in the bathtub, it's probably not a good idea to read it there. Dropping a book in the water that costs $8 is a bit different than dropping in a color Nook.