by Smitty
Since the election is over, and the toothpaste is out of the frying pan and into the metaphorical blender concerning my non-approach to vacationing, I need some help.
I’ve purchased a Kindle 3G to support the deployment to A-stan, and I want to load it to the gills with Good Stuff.
In particular, I’d like to know if there is a preferred Shakespeare collection with all the Bard’s works AND really good dictionary/annotation support.
Looking through the bazillions of Shakespeare entries at the Kindle store, it was unclear what was worth purchasing. Hence the bleg.
Any other “don’t leave home without it” recommendations graciously accepted.
I do not know whether it is available on Kindle, but I most heartily recommend “Systems of Survival,” by the late Jane Jacobs. No, she has no recipes for scorpion stew. Rather, she has a theory, not to be confused with hypothesis, which brings order out of half a life time of apparently unrelated observations. It was, for me, one of those books easily reco0gnized as absolutely brilliant, because she said what I’d been thinking for years, but she said it much better.
I don’t know whether it’s available in digital format, but The Riverside Shakespeare is the gold standard for an annotated Shakespeare collection.
Dunno if it’s available on kindle, but I’ve got the Globe Annotated Shakespeare. Complete collection, beautiful illustrations. And annotated. Though I cut my teeth on the Folgers editions. Helped me as ajunior high student learn wtf shakey was talkin’ bout.
The Folger editions (and additions) are phenomenal. I have paperback–one is discouragefrom writing upon the Kindle’s pages–but if they have been ported get’em. It includes facing page definitions, history snippets and brief mythological history. After eight plays, everyone at work and home is tired of hearing the Bard version of me. Though my memo prose has much improved.