New, anxious, member!

[gentlehens]

Good morning!
After many months of cogitation, I have decided to buy a Kindle. I have been an avid reader since elementary school and now sort of a new idea junkie. My Kindle is on order, so I'm searching for ways to optimize it and not pay all those $$$ for Amazon books. That search has lead me to your website.
I've never been much on forums, but I KNOW that you guys can help me in optimizing the use of the new toy.
I live out in the country and have resorted to book resellers for books to read. I have never bought a brand new book.
Hope I didn't scare you off.
Fondly,
Gentlehens (I have chickens for home consumed egg production).

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by gentlehens

Good morning!
After many months of cogitation, I have decided to buy a Kindle. I have been an avid reader since elementary school and now sort of a new idea junkie. My Kindle is on order, so I'm searching for ways to optimize it and not pay all those $$$ for Amazon books. That search has lead me to your website.
I've never been much on forums, but I KNOW that you guys can help me in optimizing the use of the new toy.
I live out in the country and have resorted to book resellers for books to read. I have never bought a brand new book.
Hope I didn't scare you off.
Fondly,
Gentlehens (I have chickens for home consumed egg production).

Good for you, Gentlehens. Welcome to MobileRead. We have free e-books here (look above under "e-books tab), you will want the mobipocket format.

You can also go to www.feedbooks.com for beautifully formatted books for you Kindle.

Both these sites have cataloge you can download to your Kindle, then order directly from your Kindle. However, I prefer to browse on the laptop for books.......saves the battery.

Look around stay awhile, ask questions.....

[lilac_jive]

I'd be anxious too if I were you You're going to love your Kindle!

[Patricia]

Welcome to the forum, Gentlehens.
Our wiki has a page on free ebooks:
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Free_eBooks
And on ebook lending libraries (remember: you don't necessarily have to live close to an ebook library):
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/EBook_Lending_Libraries
(There's also a link to the front page of the wiki at the very top of this page.)
Your Kindle can read mobipocket format straight off, so you won't need to do any conversion.

You can also get free ebooks in mobipocket format from Manybooks:
http://manybooks.net/
and Munsey's:
http://www.munseys.com/site/home

The files you download will either have a .prc or .mobi file extension.

If you like, you could download mobipocket reader, then you could immediately download and read the books on your computer, while waiting for your Kindle to arrive. Here's a link from our wiki about mobipocket format:
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Mobipocket_Reader

Eventually, as you grow more confident, you can learn how to convert books from other formats. It's not difficult. When you're ready to have a go, then search the forums for advice, or post a query.

[Patricia]

And I'd love to have some hens in my garden, but the foxes play in it quite often at night, so I daren't keep any.

[Elsi]

Hello gentlehens. Weatherford is probably a bit like Sanger -- far enough away from the big town to be out in the country, but close enough to get to decent shopping if you're so inclined.

I do have to confess that I've bought lots of new books. My family has learned to live with my book obsession. I also spend a decent amount of money at the used book stores. (Half-Price Books is all around the Metroplex and there's a *great* used book store on the square in Denton.) Many of the people who have purchased book readers say that they've just about stopped buying paper books. For me, it's still about 50-50. I also get books through my book swapping group, so any paper books that I buy wind up getting read by several people.

I definitely adore my Kindle and hope you'll enjoy yours. There are lots of free and inexpensive books available for it. Here at MobileRead we have the best of the classics, with more being added every day. If you like Science Fiction or Fantasy, be sure to check out the Baen Free Library and then their WebScriptions site for very reasonably priced electronic books. There's a forum here where you can find info on free books that are offered from time to time. Right now, Harlequin is offering 16 free romance novels. None of them are in a format read directly by the Kindle, but you can easily convert from the MS Reader (.lit) format to MobiPocket using the Calibre software written by Kovid Goyal. There's an entire forum dedicated to Calibre and lots of skilled users who can answer any questions you might have.

What it all boils down to is that owning an eBook reader is going to open up some new opportunities for you. I've discovered some authors I'd never have tried if it weren't for promotional eBooks. And, this community at MobileRead is filled with friendly and helpful people.

(If you feel the need for some face-to-face help, I live in Sanger, just north of Denton. I'd be glad to meet you in Ft. Worth, Grapevine, or even Weatherford on some Saturday or Sunday afternoon. And -- we're planning a Meet-Up of the Texas folks in April; to be held in the DFW Metroplex. More info as the plans firm up.)

[MickeyC]

Hi gentlehens and welcome to the Forum. Be sure and let us know how you like your Kindle once it arrives

[slayda]

Originally Posted by Patricia

And I'd love to have some hens in my garden, but the foxes play in it quite often at night, so I daren't keep any.

You could make yourself a fox fur collar for your coat. Or with enough you could make an entire fox coat.

[Patricia]

Actually I don't mind the foxes, though they are quite noisy at times. (I'm beginning to think that most of the British foxes have abandoned the coutryside for an easier existence in town gardens.) But it wouldn't be fair to keep hens. I'd just hate to clean up the remains after the foxes got them.

And if I went to the university wearing real fur then the students would probably take direct action.

Do you have foxes in Texas, Gentlehens? Or is it just mountain lions that your hens need protection from?

[gentlehens]

Yes, we do have foxes in Texas, but the main predators we worry about are coyotes and hawks. Our chickens have an enclosed pen, but we let them out in the daytime to browse on horse manure, bugs, etc. This makes the yolks very yellow.
Mountain lions are rare in this area, but occasionaly we will see bobcats or panthers.

[gentlehens]

Originally Posted by Elsi

Hello gentlehens. Weatherford is probably a bit like Sanger -- far enough away from the big town to be out in the country, but close enough to get to decent shopping if you're so inclined.

I do have to confess that I've bought lots of new books. My family has learned to live with my book obsession. I also spend a decent amount of money at the used book stores. (Half-Price Books is all around the Metroplex and there's a *great* used book store on the square in Denton.) Many of the people who have purchased book readers say that they've just about stopped buying paper books. For me, it's still about 50-50. I also get books through my book swapping group, so any paper books that I buy wind up getting read by several people.

I definitely adore my Kindle and hope you'll enjoy yours. There are lots of free and inexpensive books available for it. Here at MobileRead we have the best of the classics, with more being added every day. If you like Science Fiction or Fantasy, be sure to check out the Baen Free Library and then their WebScriptions site for very reasonably priced electronic books. There's a forum here where you can find info on free books that are offered from time to time. Right now, Harlequin is offering 16 free romance novels. None of them are in a format read directly by the Kindle, but you can easily convert from the MS Reader (.lit) format to MobiPocket using the Calibre software written by Kovid Goyal. There's an entire forum dedicated to Calibre and lots of skilled users who can answer any questions you might have.

What it all boils down to is that owning an eBook reader is going to open up some new opportunities for you. I've discovered some authors I'd never have tried if it weren't for promotional eBooks. And, this community at MobileRead is filled with friendly and helpful people.

(If you feel the need for some face-to-face help, I live in Sanger, just north of Denton. I'd be glad to meet you in Ft. Worth, Grapevine, or even Weatherford on some Saturday or Sunday afternoon. And -- we're planning a Meet-Up of the Texas folks in April; to be held in the DFW Metroplex. More info as the plans firm up.)

For swapping books, you can't beat Swaptree.com/. Check it out.
Gentlehens

[slayda]

Originally Posted by Patricia

Actually I don't mind the foxes, though they are quite noisy at times. (I'm beginning to think that most of the British foxes have abandoned the coutryside for an easier existence in town gardens.) But it wouldn't be fair to keep hens. I'd just hate to clean up the remains after the foxes got them.

And if I went to the university wearing real fur then the students would probably take direct action.

Do you have foxes in Texas, Gentlehens? Or is it just mountain lions that your hens need protection from?

But if you kept hens, you could tell the students that the poor fox looking for a hen dinner was attacked by your vicious hens and unfortunately killed. You just didn't want to waste a perfectly good fox skin.

[dreams]

Hi, gentlehens and welcome to mobileread

(sure is a lot of Texans around this place

I'm in California and starting to get worried that "Chicago" and Texas members will grow, spread, and gobble me up)

You will find a lot of help and enthusiasm around here for your new Kindle. There are some very knowledgeable members with Kindles who are willing to chime in and help... just ask.