The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

Please post any additional information and materials on either the author or the book/stories which you think will be helpful and interesting to our reading.

Please post spoiler warnings where appropriate.

For those looking for an electronic version of the stories, two of them are on Project Gutenberg:
Mrs Manstey's View is in The Early Short Fiction of E. Wharton Vol. 1
and The Quicksand is in The Descent of Man and other stories.

As for Roman Fever, Wikipedia says it's in the short-story collection The World Over which isn't on Gutenberg; but the story on its own is very cheap on the Amazon Kindle Store here. The link is to Amazon's UK store - I can't seem to find the story on the USA Kindle store, but I'm sure it must be there somewhere.

Hope that's helpful.

Here's a free online version of Roman Fever:

http://classiclit.about.com/library/b...

The Quicksand is also on Librivox (a free mobile app with free audiobooks) under The Descent of Man and Other Stories.

For Epub users all three stories are available in this MR version of the Complete Works: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/show... (warning: everything in this edition is in italics).

There seems to be no Kindle version, but there must be a choice of simple tools to convert Epub to Mobi or AZW3.

Edith Wharton was a woman of many facets. Besides writing, she was very much interested in architecture and design. In fact, she designed one of her homes, The Mount. The Mount still exists today and is in Lenox, Massachusetts. It is in the beautiful setting of the Berkshire Mountains and has a Classic Italian garden. There is also a cemetery on the premises which contains all her beloved dogs.

Tours are given during the warmer months along with lectures, high teas, and ghost walks. Her study or sitting room, connectes to her bedroom, and is full of her books. Definitely worth seeing if ever in the area.

Just want to second the suggestion that you visit The Mount. The landscape design is fantastic. Also take in the garden in Washington, D.C. at Dumbarton Oaks.

Deborah wrote: "Edith Wharton was a woman of many facets. Besides writing, she was very much interested in architecture and design. In fact, she designed one of her homes, The Mount. The Mount still exists today a..."

I followed this up and found this short film about Wharton and specifically The Mount.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=efN4qjo...

She was more or less a contemporary of Vita Sackville West, who was also a great exponent of garden design. I don't know what they thought of each other, although I believe Wharton was rather dismissive of the "Bloomsbury Set".

Pip wrote: "Deborah wrote: "Edith Wharton was a woman of many facets. Besides writing, she was very much interested in architecture and design. In fact, she designed one of her homes, The Mount. The Mount stil..."

She was a close friend of Henry James. I wonder if they shared a similar viewpoint on the Bloomsbury group.

After reading the comments on eBook sources by Emma and Pip, I decided that it would be useful to have an eBook containing only these three short stories. I've extracted the two stories from Project Gutenberg, polished the online copy of Roman Fever, and combined these into a single eBook. I've created a copy in both ePub and Kindle formats.

Since all three stories appear to be in the public domain in the United States and most other countries, I've uploaded my eBook so others can access it.

Here is the link: https://app.box.com/s/vp6uqi6zl2r9x6n...

Clicking on the large Download button will download a zip file to your computer containing both eBook formats. If you just want a specific format, click the word "Download" on the same line as the format you want.

I tried to be careful while making the eBook, so I hope there are no mistakes. The results should match the sources listed by Emma and Pip, but since the process was complicated, there is a small possibility that a mistake has crept in.

If you have any problem, please contact me or leave a comment here.

Harvey

What a lovely, lovely thing to do! Thank you so much, Harvey!

My pleasure, Pip! Please let me know if you have any problem reading the file(s) on your device.

Harvey

Is azw3 for Kindle?

Yes azw3 is a Kindle format that generally produces a better eBook than the older mobi. As near as I can tell, at least on my desktop Mac computer, the azw3 and ePub formatted books look identical.

I created the ePub first and then used the Calibre open source program to convert the ePub into azw3. I tailored the azw3 file format to suit the Kindle Paperwhite, but it should look very similar no matter what Kindle device you use. It should also look fine on the Kindle App for iPad or Android. I'll probably read the eBook on my Kindle Voyage or Paperwhite.

I just added an additional format for the three Edith Wharton stories eBook. I've added a mobi formatted file.

I was surprised to discover that "Send to Kindle" does not support Kindle's azw3 format even though most books you buy on Amazon are in this format. If you side-load the file directly from your computer to your kindle device then it doesn't matter whether you use the azw3 format or the mobi format. But if you want to use the "Send to Kindle" application to get the kindle file into the amazon cloud so you can download it to any Kindle device or app, then you'll need to use the mobi format.

Hope this helps,

Thanks again. I'll retry with the .mobi format. As you say, odd about the azw3 file not sending to Kindle, but it does solve a problem I've had repeatedly lately. I've got Calibre, though haven't used it that much yet. It looks as though it could be extremely useful, but I still need to work out its ins and outs.

Works a treat! You're a star.

Great! Thanks for letting me know that you could read the ebook successfully.

Harvey wrote: "After reading the comments on eBook sources by Emma and Pip, I decided that it would be useful to have an eBook containing only these three short stories. I've extracted the two stories from Proje..."

Harvey that is so kind.

Deborah: Thanks for your kind words. I hope the eBook I made will be helpful to you and others. I've just started to read the ebook on my Kindle.

Harvey wrote: "Deborah: Thanks for your kind words. I hope the eBook I made will be helpful to you and others. I've just started to read the ebook on my Kindle."

Harvey, I'm old fashioned. I prefer a book. I know many here use ebooks, and I know they will find your hard work very useful. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

Thanks so much, Harvey. What an excellent idea. I've just downloaded your ebook for my Kindle. (Like Deborah, I prefer to read a 'real' book, but ebooks can be a godsend when print books aren't easy to get hold of.)

Thanks Emma! You're right that an ebook can come in handy when a physical book is hard to find. Ebooks have some hidden advantages, one of which is their flexibility. It's really not that hard to create an ebook with the free or inexpensive tools available. Once you and Pip pointed out the location of the digital sources it took me about an hour to extract the three stories and then combine them into a few different formats.

If you choose to use "Send to Kindle" to upload the book to the Kindle cloud, then the mobi format is needed. If you side-load the book to your Kindle by connecting your Kindle to your computer, the the azw3 format looks a little better because the is more space between paragraphs.

Thank you, Barbs! I hope some people find it useful.

Just picked up my copy from the library. I've always loved Edith Wharton so I'm looking forward to the readings.

Harvey wrote: "After reading the comments on eBook sources by Emma and Pip, I decided that it would be useful to have an eBook containing only these three short stories. I've extracted the two stories from Proje..."

Thanks so much for doing that! My library didn't have a good selection and I didn't think I would be able to get all three stories, but your file downloaded easily into Overdrive for me.

Jenn: I'm glad the ebook was helpful to you and downloaded easily into Overdrive. It's nice to be able to make a custom eBook that just contains the stories you want.