MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Gutenberg books: Kobo doesn't remember position

franklekens · 02-22-2019, 03:05 AM

I've complained about Gutenberg books here before. Then, the problem was the formatting.

I don't seem to have any trouble with that anymore. But I now have a few Gutenberg epubs for which two Kobo readers (a Forma and an Aura One) refuse to remember my reading position. So each time I open the book, I am sent back to the front page. Or to the cover, actually.

This one is a case in point:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15466

I didn't really edit these manually. The only thing I did was have Calibre look for a cover to add to this epub. I do this as a matter of course now, since it is the simplest remedy for another problem with the Gutenberg epub formatting, explained in this thread:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=279948

Basically, just having Calibre add a cover to the file seems to solve the problem of the file's text having practically no margins.

But I get the impression that this cover added by Calibre creates the problem of Kobo not remembering my reading position. Because I just tried it out: the same file with added cover will display fine, but always open on the first page.
The Gutenberg file without added cover will remember my reading position -- except I'll never read it because the text runs all the way up to the margin of the screen and sometimes even beyond it with half a letter or so.

Sigh. I guess there's no easy way around this then? Except extensive manual fiddling with the epub (which I don't have the time or the inclination to do)?

(I'm not asking because of this particular book per se. But Gutenberg has so many texts that are not easily available elsewhere, or not for free.)

02-22-2019, 03:05 AM	#1
franklekens Addict Posts: 398 Karma: 3421956 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: various Kobo's, Onyx Note2, Pocketbook 360, Kindle Keyboard	Gutenberg books: Kobo doesn't remember position I've complained about Gutenberg books here before. Then, the problem was the formatting. I don't seem to have any trouble with that anymore. But I now have a few Gutenberg epubs for which two Kobo readers (a Forma and an Aura One) refuse to remember my reading position. So each time I open the book, I am sent back to the front page. Or to the cover, actually. This one is a case in point: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15466 I didn't really edit these manually. The only thing I did was have Calibre look for a cover to add to this epub. I do this as a matter of course now, since it is the simplest remedy for another problem with the Gutenberg epub formatting, explained in this thread: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=279948 Basically, just having Calibre add a cover to the file seems to solve the problem of the file's text having practically no margins. But I get the impression that this cover added by Calibre creates the problem of Kobo not remembering my reading position. Because I just tried it out: the same file with added cover will display fine, but always open on the first page. The Gutenberg file without added cover will remember my reading position -- except I'll never read it because the text runs all the way up to the margin of the screen and sometimes even beyond it with half a letter or so. Sigh. I guess there's no easy way around this then? Except extensive manual fiddling with the epub (which I don't have the time or the inclination to do)? (I'm not asking because of this particular book per se. But Gutenberg has so many texts that are not easily available elsewhere, or not for free.)