"Best" place to buy ebooks?

[binaryhermit]

Originally Posted by tourneur

Only downside for me, for translated works they will usually use an old, public domain translation. Some foreign literature classics may have newer, more modern translations available which I sometimes prefer.

Generally more modern translations of classics would still be under copyright (the copyright would be owned by whoever translated it) and couldn't be released as an ebook without permission of whoever that is.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by tourneur

A terrific initiative indeed. Only downside for me, for translated works they will usually use an old, public domain translation. Some foreign literature classics may have newer, more modern translations available which I sometimes prefer.

I agree; I think buying modern translations is money well spent, the more so the longer or more difficult the text.

[JSWolf]

Is there a modern readable version of Finnegans Wake?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Is there a modern readable version of Finnegans Wake?

Nothing by James Joyce is meant to be readable.

[barryem]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I would not suggest a Kindle as it is easier to go from a Project Gutenberg HTML to epub using Calibre or Sgil. I would suggest a Reader that can natively handle ePub. If in the US, the OP would be best with the Kobo Aura Walmart edition. It's similar in price to the Kindle basic, but has a higher resolution screen (1024x768).

Gutenberg offers books in mobi format as well as epub.

Barry

[ekbell]

Originally Posted by issybird

I agree; I think buying modern translations is money well spent, the more so the longer or more difficult the text.

And if you are willing to subscribe to Book Gorilla (or Book Bub) and set your preferences appropriately, you'll find that occasionally modern translations even go on sale.

Someday I'll actually read the Edith Grossman translation of Don Quixote that I bought on sale a couple of years ago.

[BookCat]

Originally Posted by barryem

Gutenberg offers books in mobi format as well as epub.

Barry

Because I like using custom fonts, I always download the epub and convert to azw3.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by ekbell

Someday I'll actually read the Edith Grossman translation of Don Quixote that I bought on sale a couple of years ago.

I'm planning it for next year. Knock on wood.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by barryem

Gutenberg offers books in mobi format as well as epub.

Barry

But only if you are willing to read poorly constructed eBook made be some script.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by gandoe

Does anyone have recommendations for the epub store that provides:
- high quality epubs
- verified translations or new releases of publications out of copyright?
- download capabilities
- format choice
- other factors that you have found to be significant?

I don't know if Feedbooks.com, ManyBooks.net or eBooks.com have been mentioned, but these are three I can use to download books directly to my Tolino. Bookland.com is another, but they don't have many English books. Booksamillion.com has ePubs, but I can't download directly to my Tolino. (Can't remember exactly why, but it would require ADE on you computer.) Smashwords.com has only non-DRM ePubs, but I don't what the quality is like — I don't think there are many big authors there.

That's a few.

[ekbell]

If you live in a life+50 country fadedpage.com has some good stuff.

Actually, since they do give the original publishing date for all their books and normally have the author's date of death in their author blurbs the site can be used with caution by people living where the copyright laws are different.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Is there a modern readable version of Finnegans Wake?

It was just translated into English!

[Apache]

It's all Greek to me.
Apache

[gandoe]

Thank you to all for the helpful insights!

=====

Originally Posted by jhowell

You should be asking which publishers you can trust rather than which book sellers.

jhowell:
Yes, you are absolutely right. Thanks for helping to clarify the right question (always the first and most critical task)

=====

Originally Posted by hobnail

For classics there's also https://www.delphiclassics.com/

You did say "buy" but for free there's also http://www.gutenberg.org/

hobnail:
Thanks for the Delphi link; hadn't seen them before!

I've got a number of Gutenberg published versions; while obviously true to the original, the formatting can get a bit rough at times.

=====

Originally Posted by fjtorres

One notable case can be found at, ahem, BAEN, where they carry a series of (very) early SF titles, cleaned up and edited by Ron Miller. One of the bundles, of Jules Verne classics, features all-new translation...

Not commonly done though, but you can find quite a few free, labor of love editions right here at Mobileread.

fjtorres:
Thank you for the informed responses in your multiple posts; caveat emptor indeed!

I've added BAEN to my shortlist of epub sources (MobileReads is already on that list). And also just purchased all of Miller's releases of Jules Verne, and Mark Twain - wow, that's awesome!

=====

To all who suggested MobileReads as an excellent source (fjtorres, PeterT, BookCat, Apache); excellent suggestion!


And to BookCat and JSWolf regarding the purchase of a dedicated e-ink ereader; this is exactly what has prompted my increased focus on ebooks. I have somewhat haphazardly collected ebooks from Gutenberg, StandardBooks, Amazon, and a variety of other places, consolidated into my standardized epub Calibre library, and sync'd with CC onto my Android tablet. However, since pulling the trigger on a high resolution, large screen, digitizer-enabled reader (Onyx Note), I wanted to dedicate some time to re-building my library (shifting from print to digital).

Once again, thanks to all for the help!
Ed

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

It was just translated into English!

And it's still unreadable. I just read a short passage and still awful.