Free books (nook) - Barnes & Noble Classics Free Fridays for the Holidays [US-only]

[Catlady]

Thanks for the info; it's much appreciated.

[twobits]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

You also get 3 free (and for some reason, DRM-free) B&N Classics when you sign up an account at their website.

• Dracula
• Little Women
• Pride & Prejudice

You can sign up for an account and download and install the nook application without entering a credit card. To allow for that, they can't apply their drm I guess.

[ATDrake]

To start off the month of December, B&N's freebie pick is an appropriate one.

Happy families are all alike, and never invade Russia in winter. Although this is kind of a downer for Xmas reading and maybe the holiday they have in mind for this week's selection is Festivus.

Anyway, the first B&N Classics holiday promo title of December is Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

It's an old public domain translation, so the language may be a bit clunky, but this one has a nice introduction that goes into the themes of the book, and you can always skip straight to the endnotes explaining the background and customs of the novel to complement whatever modern version you may be reading.

Since this thread has gotten so long, I've edited the first post for the benefit of anyone who's clicking for the first time, so they hopefully don't get disappointed when they find that Grimm's Fairy Tales is no longer free.

[elemenoP]

Love the free B&N Classics! But I'm wondering if anyone can comment on the translation? Would it be better to read a newer translation?

eP

[ATDrake]

The translation is a little wordy and circumlocutive. That kind of Victorian style where people do long sentences with subclauses separated by "wanton cruelty to the common comma", as Terry Pratchett quips about Carrot's writing.

Here's a sample with some paragraphs of varying lengths so you can get the effect (and you don't end up thinking it's *all* a giant Wall O'Text like in the second):

And at this recollection, Stepan Arkadyevitch, as is so often the case, was not so much annoyed at the fact itself as at the way in which he had met his wife’s words.

There happened to him at that instant what does happen to people when they are unexpectedly caught in something very disgraceful. He did not succeed in adapting his face to the position in which he was placed towards his wife by the discovery of his fault. Instead of being hurt, denying, defending himself, begging forgiveness, instead of remaining indifferent even—anything would have been better than what he did do—his face utterly involuntarily (reflex spinal action, reflected Stepan Arkadyevitch, who was fond of physiology)—utterly involuntarily assumed its habitual, good-humored, and therefore idiotic smile.

This idiotic smile he could not forgive himself. Catching sight of that smile, Dolly shuddered as though at physical pain, broke out with her characteristic heat into a flood of cruel words, and rushed out of the room. Since then she had refused to see her husband.

“It’s that idiotic smile that’s to blame for it all,” thought Stepan Arkadyevitch.

“But what’s to be done? What’s to be done?” he said to himself in despair, and found no answer

If that seems too clunky for you, probably a modern translation would be better to read, and just use the footnotes and bonus essays from the B&N version.

I think I've seen one or two recent translations recommended over in the Recs forum, but that may have been for Tolstoy's other work War and Peace.

ETA: According to the cover, the translator is Constance Garnett, who apparently was a major figure in the introduction of Russian literature works to the English-speaking public back then.

The Wikipedia article has a section on her translations which includes some criticism of various issues, so you could probably use that to help decide.

[elemenoP]

Thank you, ATDrake. Looks like the more modern translation (which is an Oprah book!) costs $13.99. Yikes.

I went ahead and downloaded the B&N version. My reader is going to be very well-read, even if I'm not. lol.

eP

[ATDrake]

Well, the new title for the 10th of December is Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.

A bit disappointingly, this is basically a triple repeat, having been free during the "All-American Classics" promo, as part of the "Banned Books" theme week during the summer promo, and still being free via NookStudy.

But it's still a nice edition with a lengthy analysis of Hester Prynne's situation and some useful reading notes.

Oh, and it turns out Grimm's Fairy Tales is still at $0.00, if anyone's missed it, though I've no idea how much longer that will last. Anna Karenina is back to full price.

[bookratt]

another freebie bites the dust! thanks!

[hattrick]

Anyone looking for the Peaver translation of Anna Karenina at a cheaper price:

http://www.amazon.com/Anna-Karenina-...dp/B002RI9KLS/
($9.99)

I couldn't find it at B&N, though.

Also, I don't seem to be able to locate the Maude translation in an ebook format.

[ATDrake]

As predicted, the new title for the 17th December is Selected Stories of O. Henry, by O. Henry, of course.

I love being right about these things. With only 1 week left in the promo, I guess they're saving the Dickens for Xmas Eve.

O. Henry is a repeat freebie from the "All-American Classics" promo for the 4th of July, but wasn't featured during the summer-long B&N promo, so it's a nice re-offer for anyone coming late to the party.

Grimm's Fairy Tales is still free, though the "official" store version of The Scarlet Letter has gone back up. But you can still get a free copy of that via the NookStudy College Kick-Starter Kit, link in the first post.

Also for classics fans, Sourcebooks is celebrating Jane Austen's birthday with free illustrated editions of all of her books, plus 10 additional Austen-derived spinoff sequel novels (apparently they specialize in publishing such), which B&N are participating in. Due to problems on Austen's actual birthday yesterday, they've extended the promo one additional day through the 17th, see the Celebrate Jane Austen's Birthday with Free Books thread right here on MR for details.

For those who miss that promo, we've some very nice illustrated editions of our own right here in the MR library, free for everyone at every time.

[ATDrake]

I don't know if this is a glitch or not, or they just decided to freebie-ize the Friday offering early (I was sure they'd be offering Dickens for Xmas Eve), but the B&N Classics version of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels is now at $0.00. This is a repeat from the summer promo, but a nice edition with commentary by a Columbia University professor.

Grimm's Fairy Tales and Selected Stories from O. Henry are still free.

Oh, and this is apparently my super-profitably-lucky 888th post. Yay! Or perhaps $$$!

[koland]

It's a special one-day promotion in honor of the upcoming movie.

[ATDrake]

Yeah, I finally caught their blog post about it. Seems strange to make it a 1-day only freebie, considering that the film comes out this weekend. Surely they could get a lot more mileage by keeping it going until the release. Unless they hope that they'll have a sales boost from curious movie-goers afterwards.

Ah well, I'm not in B&N's e-books marketing department and their reasoning tends to look about as clear as mud sometimes.

Mind you, if I were doing marketing for them, I'd have some people design a Nook hand-held carrying case with straps that doubled as a backpack that their stuffed mascot bear could wear.

Then strategically position those Nook-bearing Barnsies throughout the stores and at the checkouts and in prominent pictures on the website in order to upsell gift-giving customers into buying what amounts to an extra $50+ worth of needless accessory on the sheer cuteness of it all.

Maybe an extra $100 worth of Nook Colour, too if the Barnsies are carrying that and are presented as a 2-in-1 toy for the kiddies.

[ATDrake]

As anticipated, the final Free Fridays Holiday Bonus is Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

This is not the B&N Classics version, but a "Barnes & Noble Edition" different from the A Christmas Carol, The Chimes & The Cricket on the Hearth collection which was part of the summer B&N Classics promo.

However, it's still got (brief) endnotes and an introduction by Grace Moore, who teaches at the University of Melbourne in Australia and writes non-fiction about Victorian times, and it includes several additional of Dickens' Christmas short stories which are not in the other volume.

So it's a nice bonus version to have in your e-book library. Thanks, B&N!

Happy holidays, everyone, and remember the reason for the season! (Axial tilt.)