Saving the world, one free ebook at a time, with Forgotten Books

Recently I became aware of an exciting new project that I think has the potential to be of great value to the reading world, Forgotten Books.  They have thousands of titles you will find no where else.  Just to check their claims I did a search on their data base on short stories of the Philippines, one of my central interests, and there are works there not available anywhere else.  

In order to make sure my readers know of this web page, I asked Forgotten Books to do a guest post explaining their service. 

Saving the world, one free ebook at a time, with Forgotten Books - A Guest Post

 

I’d like to answer a couple of questions with this guest post. Firstly, why old books are worth saving and secondly, how our site www.forgottenbooks.org can help you find and enjoy those books.

 

One of the greatest tragedies in publishing is that, with a few exceptions, the life of a book run is very short. Unless you are Charles Dickens or Jane Austen most authors’ work will be published once, maybe make a second run if they are lucky and will be out of print within their own lifetime. Each book represents the dedication of perhaps years of the author’s life, and taken together the books published since Johannes Gutenberg first started up his press represent a significant fraction of humanity’s knowledge.

 

At Forgotten Books our aim is to preserve and make these treasures of the past available to everyone. Despite the self-aggrandising title we don’t think we’re saving the world, but we do make available some books that would otherwise be lost to anyone who can’t fly to visit a specific library. Some of these books have a very small audience, but keep alive skills that would otherwise be lost, for example we have quite a few works on blacksmithing and various types of needlework. Others don’t really need our help (I mentioned Dickens and Austen before) but are included for completeness and because their popularity helps support the lesser known works. My personal favourite books though are in the fiction and folklore sections. These represent the stories of our past, and especially the folktales would once have been common currency through their local culture, although much of that has since been lost. There is so much more out there than Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella! There are folktales from Ireland, the Philippines and Japan for example which follow different story conventions and aesthetics to the Grimm classics. More than just the beautiful stories (and this applies to fiction in general, not just folktales) the way they are written tells us much about the society of the time.

 

So what can Forgotten Books do for you? Well for a start there are over 484000 books stored in its library, so there’s a good chance you can find something you’re interested in. These are on every topic conceivable from science or religion through to genealogy. Each of them has been scanned from the original text and processed to remove marks, check for missing pages and so on to improve ease of reading. Each word has also been checked by OCR software and indexed. This means you can search for a book by its contents (you can also search by title and author), so if you search for “whale” you can find both Moby Dick and a biography of Margaret of France, Duchess of Savoy (although as I’ve not read the second book I don’t know her connection to cetaceans). This index of words is also used in Word Data, a bibliographical analysis tool. This can tell you the most common words pairs in written English (“United States”) and many other fascinating functions, such as the ability to compare the use of words over time and show their first use in text.

 

80 % of each book is readable for free, and full access is available for an extremely cheap subscription (depending on the option chosen it can work out as less than US$0.05 or about £0.03 per book). If you register for a free account you can also receive the free ebook of the day, which is a randomly chosen book available in full every 24 hours.

 

Do you have any favourite books you can find at Forgotten Books? Do you have any questions about it that you’d like to ask? I’ll hang around the comments section to this post after it goes live and see if I can help.

 

Forgotten Books is a small, family run company that was set up in 2007 by Alasdair Forsythe. It is currently directed by Oliver Forsythe from the UK. Glynn Forsythe runs communications for Forgotten Books from his home in Australia.

Glynn Forsythe

End of guest post

Mel u

"Cambodia" by Alan Patrick Traynor - A wonderful poem in observation of The Anjali House Writing Project - Siem Reap, Cambodia

Recently I had the great honor of publishing 20 poems and short stories by children from Siem Reap Cambodia.  I was very moved by these works.  I shared the stories and poems with my good friend Alan Patrick Traynor, author of Seven Days of Ashes, an amazing collection of Holocaust poems.  As we chatted about the works of Anjali House Project works I asked Alan if he could honor the project with a specially commissioned poem.  Alan is one of Ireland's leading poets.  Here is an extract from my post on his book

  Traynor's collection is a hymn to the victims of the Holocaust that costs the lives of around six million Jews and one half a million Gypsies. He powerfully mourns lost lives.  These poems scream, they transcend trivial rationality. They are not hand ringing TV documentaries. They force us to see the killer and the victim in ourselves.  They are about huge cultural losses, poems never written, diseases never cured, paintings never realized.  Behind a smiling cleric   you can see a Mayan priest.  The holocaust is not over.  Just open your eyes, Traynor will help you do that.   

There are seven poems in this very intense collection.  All focus on the Holocaust.   I read each poem several times and in different places.  

"Seven Days of Ashes" is the title work in the collection.   It is told from inside the ovens, from the top of a Central American pyramid six hundred years ago, from a Cambodian work camp, from a luxury resort for leaders of the European Union pondering austerity measures and scanning pics of 1000 Euro an hour hookers on their mobiles, maybe the Irish WW Two era leaders who looked up Hitler as a friend should leave the room while this is read, maybe C. K. Chesterton will explain "I just liked the uniforms".   Day 1 is murder, it was just an order.  This makes me think why do murderous ideologues love order, not just orders.  I want you to read these lines:

"I am the skeleton mother, 

A voice that reads the grave,

The borrowed sharpened flint,

We are the beautiful, the horrific beauty 

And we are dead".

This poem is already so compressed it is near possible and it would be a travesty to paraphrase it.  There is no answers for the questions this poem brings forth.

Sue Guiney's Introductory Post  -Project Director - contains important links 

My Overview of the Project

My Q and A with Dana Hui Lim author of Mother and the Tiger- A Memoir of the Killing Fields. - essential background information -also contains a link to my review of her superb book

"CAMBODIA"

By Alan Patrick Traynor

 

Glory

When I caught you
I was afraid
So I quickly killed you

Like a wild animal
The iron arm
Struck

 

It came

An unusual word
Valgus
Vainglory day

Fierce is the sky
That ends a child
Fierce the harpoon's look dismayed

Glory 

When you died
The grass was black
But we are not the same

One leg holds me up



by Alan Patrick Traynor
        ©August 15th 
               2013

Biography:

Alan Patrick Traynor is a Poet from Dublin Ireland.  He is the author of SEVEN DAYS OF ASHES, a poetry book written on the spirit of the Holocaust.

It has been said that his poetry is the mystical galvanic paint that sets the fields of Provence on fire.  It shocks the eyes and the soul at once!

Alan has been featured in Literary Journals worldwide, and is greatly respected amongst his peers.  "Edit not my soul” and "Edit not blood" are two of his own phrases that describe him best.

 

The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850)

I have been meaning to read The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 to 1864, Salem, Massachusetts, USA for at least fifty years.  If you have not yet had the sublime pleasure of reading the consensus second or maybe third best American 19th century novel, behind Moby Dick and in contention with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for second place (please feel to weigh in on this) you should read it as soon as you can.

My preconceptions of The Scarlett Letter were wrong.  I somehow thought it would be a a moralistic condemnation of a woman who committed adultery, a novel you read because it is on the list of greatest novels or because you are into American literary history.  I ended up really loving it.  I will not relay any of the plot, a lot of people, myself not included, have seen a movie version though now I would like to see the new version.  I will just try to say what I liked about it.

I was hooked from the great opening section where Hester Prine is found guilty of adultery, she had a child out of wedlock in 17th century Puritan New England.  She is sentenced to term in prison and to wear a Scarlett A on her blouse the rest of her life.  I loved the mysterious stranger who emerges from the forest accompanied by an Indian to speak in defense of Hester.  I found Hawthorne's treatment of Indians very interesting.  I am undecided if it should be considered a benign form of Orientalizing. The prose of Hawthorne is a great pleasure to read.  

I greatly admired the character of Hester Prine.  She basically turned her Scarlett letter into a badge of honor for her refusal to accept the condemnation of society.  She could have easily just left town.  I liked Hawthorne's description of her appearance.  I think the casting of Demi Moore as Hester would be enthusiastically endorsed by Hawthorne.

I was totally fascinated by Heather's daughter, Pearl.  She is the forerunner of 1000s of mysterious children in countless literary works and movies.  

Hawthorne is a master at physical descriptions and he does a superb job of bringing the lead male characters to life.  The novel has a very biblical feel.  There is a lot of religious imagery in the book, much based on The Book of Revelations.  

I really liked that Hawthorne took us many years into the future of Heather and Pearl.  

The Scarlett Letter can stand with the greatest of all novels.  I hope to read his The House of Seven Gables this year.  

Mel u

How Paris Became Paris - The Invention of the Modern City by Joan DeJean (forthcoming March, 2014)

Joan DeJean, author of nine highly regarded books on French history and culture, in How Paris Became Paris - The Invention of the Modern City has produced a work that anyone interested in the rise of the modern European city, French history, and especially Paris will greatly benefit from.  It gave me a much better feel for Paris as it emerged from the Middle Ages and became a center for all that makes life worth living, art, love, food, music, literature and great architecture and brilliant city planning.  As a side benefit, it is also a totally interesting account of the history of Parisian Tourism.  From this book you can see how a medieval town with narrow roads with no bridges across the Seine became a role model for countless cities from Washington DC to Brasilia.

The fascinating opening chapters talks about early tourist guide books to Paris and how they altered over time.  One of the biggest problems face in the development of Paris was the Seine River which divided the city and made intercity commerce difficult.  DeJean goes into wonderful detail in her account of how a construction of the first real traffic bridge across theSeine changed Paris.     

Most people see Paris as first becoming a great city in the early 19th century.  DeJean lets us see that there were carefully done plans for the development of the city in the early 17th century.  These plans included grand roads, beautiful large parks, operas, art galleries and palaces.  

Paris was the first European city to tear down the fortified walls of the city.  This signaled that Paris was a city of the country of France, not one afraid of the outside world.  It was the first European city to have paved roads and sidewalks.  By 1700 Paris was well on the way to being a city all the educated world would admire and hope to visit.  In time no young Englishman's education was complete without time in Paris.  Paris began to develop city services like trash pick up long before many other cities.  DeJean explains how Paris became known as the city of love, why it attracted young sexual adventures like James Boswell, how it became known for fabulous food.  

Anyone interested in French literature will enjoy thinking about their favorite authors walking the streets of Paris, hanging out in the bars and cafes, as the read this book.  DeJean makes a lot of interesting literary and visual arts references I enjoyed.  

Joan DeJean is the author of nine books on French literature, history, and culture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. She is Trustee Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where she has taught for eighteen years. She divides her time between Philadelphia and Paris.

In the interest of full disclosure, I was given a review copy of this book. 

Words and Peace hosts a weekly meme in which you can include a link to any France related books or topics you posted on in the week. It is an excellent source of reading ideas, I have been following it for a long time.

http://wordsandpeace.com/

The Glatstein Chronicles by Jacob Glatstein (1934 as a serial, 1940 as a book) The Yale Yiddish Library

The Glatstein Chronicles by Jacob Glatstein (edited and introduced by Ruth Wisse) consists of two very autobiographical novels combined by Ruth Wisse and Yale University Press into one book.  

The work was occasioned by Glatstein  (Poland, 1896 to 1971) return to Warsaw to visit his dying mother.  He intended the work to be a trilogy.  Part One is devoted to his sea voyage from his home in New York City to Europe.  Part Two covers his experiences in Europe, ending shortly after his morher's funeral. .  Part Three, which was never written, his trip back to America.  

These works are only in the weakest sense novels, they are really travel books with lots of political and social observations.   The most interesting of the two books was the one on the boat.  Glatstein seems a great magnet for people who want to talk.  He hears the stories of many other Jews, relaying their life in the New World, explaining why they are going back to Europe (which most passengers see as a bad idea for anybody Jewish with Hitler in power in Germany) and talking about what being Jewish means to them.  There is no plot.  Basically it is just Glatstein reselling the stories and his observations about life aboard ship.  The story I liked best was the man who talked at length about his life in Columbia and Columbian women who he described as very beautiful but treacherous if crossed.  Glatstein is acutely intelligent and observant and the voyage over was fascinatingly realized.  Part Two deals with his arrival in Europe, his views on how Europe is changing as the Nazis gain more power.  

For sure this book is must reading for anyone into Yiddish culture.  Wisse's introduction is very edifying.

Jacob Glatstein arrived in America in 1914 and went on to publish twelve volumes of poetry, seven collections of essays and literary criticism, a wartime novel for teenagers, and the autobiographical novellas translated as The Glatstein Chronicles. Ruth Wisse is the Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University. The late Norbert Guterman completed the first English translation of Book Two ofThe Glatstein Chronicles in 1962. Maier Deshell translated Book One. He is former editor of the Jewish Publication Society and translated (with Margaret Birstein) Yehoshua Perle’s Everyday Jews: Scenes from a Vanished Life, also for the New Yiddish Library. From Yale University 

My thanks to Yale University Press for the gift of this book and many others.

Mel u

Outwitting History- Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books by Aaron Lansky (2005, 328 pages)

 

Two months ago ago Yale University Press, followed shortly by Wayne State University Press, sent me a wonderful treasure trove of the considered best by experts translations of Yiddish literature into English.  As I began to explore the history behind these books I soon realized that they come from a culture deeply into the reading life.  The book and the scholar were revered.  

Yiddish literature, Aaron Kansky devotes a perfect chapter in his book to a brief history of Yiddish literature from which I greatly profited, begun around 1864 when Sholem Abramovitch began publishing in Yiddish, a language he regarded as "crude" compared to Hebrew, and ended in 1939 with Germany's invasion of Poland.  Millions of readers devoted to the reading life were killed in the holocaust.  Many also immigrated to America bringing as many books as they could with them.  A thriving Yiddish language publishing industry began in New York City to serve the reading needs of the vast Yiddish community.  At one time New York City was among the places in the world where Yiddish was most spoken.  Many Yiddish books were also preserved in Russia.  The Nazis burned as many as they could find, along with the authors.  

Outwitting History  is a totally wonderful book, especially for book lovers.  (Loving books and reading are, of course very interconnected, but they are not the same thing.) As the story open in 1980 in the New York City area, Lanksy is a college student who wants very badly to learn Yiddish and read deeply in the literature of the language.  He enrolls in a class in Yiddish but only he and one other student are really passionate in their desire to learn the language.  Many see Yiddish as a "low class language" of unassimilated slightly embarrassing recent Eastern European immigrants.  Lansky  and a friend arrange private Yiddish lessons and Ruth Wisse, leading American scholar in the field, becomes his mentor.  He and his friends hear about a large collection of Yiddish books that are in a dumpster and they rescue them just before a heavy rain would destroy the books..  Soon he begins to be contacted by, he placed an advertisement in the newspaper seeking donations of Yiddish books, many who want to give him their books.  Most are elderly and want their books to have a "good home".  When he goes to visit they tell him the stories of what the books mean to them.  Their own children, often very successful, are not interested in a Yiddish  culture, seeing it as something for their grandparents.  He begins to acquire so many books, there are an estimated 35,000 Yiddish titles, he needs a warehouse.  He founds the The Yiddish Book Center and forms a board.  He becomes skilled as a public speaker and fund raiser.  it was fascinating to see the many people who wanted to help.

Much of the book is taken up with Lansky's encounters with book donors. He goes to Russia to gather books.   On all pick ups, he would be offered lots of food and listen to people's life stories.  Most were so happy their precious books will have a loving home.

There are stories of rescues of priceless collections left behind after people die.  He begins to develop a nationwide network of people helping him collect books.  He acquires a huge warehouse for the collection.  As he goes on he deepens his appreciation of Yiddish literature and culture.  The books are a bridge to a culture that would otherwise be lost. 

Lansky tells us a lot about the growth of The Yiddish Book Center (now located at Amherst University and in its 33rd year) and how his life has been impacted by his passion for books.

Out Witting History is a feel good work all book lovers will relish.  It is in part an autobiography, a cultural mini-premier in Yiddish history with a lot of great personalities.  Lansky makes the collection of these books a lot of fun to read about.

Mel u

"Ode to a Girl With Hand on Barbed Wire" by Jill Widner

The Thresholds Short Story Forum on Facebook is an excellent place to learn more about contemporary short story writers.  Not long ago Jill Widner was kind enough to respond illuminatingly to a post I made there on Carson McCullers.  Everyday for four days now I have read her story, "Girl With Hand On Barbed Wire".  Every time I read it, I increase my understanding and admiration for the skill of Widner.  My main purpose in this post is to make sure my readers know of this story (I will provide a link where it can be read online).  

This story very much exemplifies Frank O'Coonor's assertion that short stories are marvelous vehicles for giving voice to forgotten, marginalized people, isolates.  As the story opens, Letty, a state of Nebraska child protective services is on her way to investigate a child of migrant farm workers who has been placed in a foster home. Letty's job is to make sure she is being properly cared for. You can sense Letty has a deep feeling for children but she does not relish having to do interviews with sherrifs and such.  I love Widner's beautiful very poignant description of Letty's first sight of the girl:

"Her bare feet scuffed at the powdery dust beneath the bottom strand of the barbed wire fence. Her shirtwaist dress was unbuttoned at the collar.  The design was flowers.  Dark-centered, round-petaled flowers. And though the collar was white, and the sleeves were trimmed in white, the front of the dress was smeared with grime, as if she’d been inching her way beneath the front porch or lying face down on the back of a horse."

Letty can find no  concrete evidence of abuse but she senses something is wrong.  She gradually gets to know the girl but the girl is very reticent to talk and seems afraid of her foster mother. 

The story ends on a note which combines pain, loneliness and hope beautifully.  As you read the story we sense great pain and a deep underlying frustration.  

You can read this story here

http://shenandoahliterary.org/621/ode-to-girl-with-hand-on-barbed-wire/

I think any lover of the short story, perhaps especially devotees of Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty and Carson McCullers will great appreciate this story.  I will be reading more of Widner's work in 2014.

The prose style is marvelous and there are below the surface mysteries to ponder

Jill Widner...

Jill Widner’s fiction has appeared in The Good Men Project, American Short Fiction (web exclusives), where she was the March 2011 featured author; and Short Fiction (University of Plymouth Press, UK).  She is the recipient of a 2012 fellowship at the Hawthornden Retreat for Writers.  She was shortlisted for both the 2011 and 2012 David T. K. Wong Fellowship at the University of East Anglia and is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.  Widner is a fiction reader for Narrative Magazine.