Recently I’ve been reading some books on an app called Serial Reader. Serial Reader is a free app, which I found out about on thingy thing. It has a number of books on it (mainly classics) which are sent to the app in small bite sized chunks (of about 10 minutes worth of reading time) with one chunk being sent per day.
It’s really designed for people who don’t have time to read (who I don’t understand) but I find it’s good for when I’m waiting for a little time and don’t want to get involved in a whole book.
So far I’ve only been reading the shorter pieces, which I feel is more ideal, but you can read longer things, it just takes longer.
There is a Serial Reader premium, which allows you to read ahead and highlight, among other things.
So far I’ve read two books, and started two others, so I thought I’d review these. I also started Sun Tzu’s Art of War which I doubt I’ll finish but is on the Rory List
The Monkey’s Paw– W.W. Jacobs
Most people know the barebones of The Monkey’s Paw, at least anyone who has watched a few of The Simpson’s Halloween episodes. The basic premise is that there is a monkey’s paw which gives the owner three wishes. However it is somewhat of a curse because of the way the stories came true.
It was pretty spooky, but had a little too much superfluous information which made the beginning drag, and the actual wishing bit was more brief than I expected. A quite entertaining little read.
If you would rather read it on your kindle it’s only 49p
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button– F Scott Fitzgerald
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the story of a man who ages backwards, he is born as an old man, and dies as a baby.
My own knowledge of the story comes mainly from the film, the film lasts over two hours, so I knew they really must have stretched the plot to make a short story into such a long film. I think I expected a bit more similarity though.
It was an enjoyable read, and I think it did well as a short story (which I often find are lacking in something). I didn’t really feel much for Benjamin, but I think what was more interesting was how others reacted to him.
You can read this one on kindle for free (as part of Tales of the Jazz Age)
