Ah, I love the Kindle
I just read two amazing and completely creepy short stories that are only available on the Kindle- ah, they were so good. The first was The Babysitter’s Code by Laura Lippman, and I’m going to need more of her stuff. This story was so short, but so evocative, and the ending so up in the air my head is buzzing. The other was UR, a story that Stephen King wrote specifically for the Kindle, about a man who receives a pink Kindle that can access books written in alternate realities. So creepy, and wonderfully thought provoking- in all the realities the main character accessed, Hemingway wrote Farewell to Arms, regardless of which other novels he wrote or didn’t; likewise James Cain always wrote Mildred Pierce. In one reality, Poe lived longer and wrote novels.
So of course, it’s got me thinking, whose books would I look for with a pink UR Kindle? This is somewhat timely, as just before I read these stories I read some snippets of Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, and was thinking that I wish she’d lived longer so we’d have more of her gorgeous words. So I’d look up Virginia Woolf in a reality where she lived longer, and see what her writing was like in a reality where she didn’t suffer from mental illness. Maybe she wouldn’t have written anything in that reality. Maybe her books wouldn’t have been as good. I’d look to see if good ol’ Scott Fitzgerald wrote in a reality where he never met Zelda. What Dorothy Parker wrote in a world where Robert Benchley left his wife and married her. What Hemingway wrote in a reality without the Spanish Civil War. Heck- I’d want to see what Stephen King would write in a reality where he wasn’t an practicing alcoholic for most of his early writing career.
Edited to add: And what if Salinger never went all isolationist? Think of the other Glass family books he could have written!
I’m sure there are more, but babies are awake. So what would you want to look up? Share, share!
ooo…so thought provoking! authors are so tied up in their personal lives, so it’s almost impossible to fathom what they would have written if they were different (even though knowing a pink kindle exists makes me want one…) for instance, i adore chaim potok, but if he hadn’t struggled so much to reconcile his judaism with modern life, what would he possibly have written about? fascinating…
i’m gonna send this to my aunt and ask her 🙂
Trust me Brandy, you wouldn’t actually want this pink Kindle- there were all kinds of other creepy badness that went with it. But I’d love to see your aunt’s answers!
Larry wants a kindle but I haven’t really gotten into it yet. I’ve kind of had to give up reading for now bz my eyes are being really funky. I just found out that somehow I got nerve damage in my right eye. The doctor said it could have been a virus, etc. Kind of scary. I love to read but can only do it in small increments right now. I’m glad you’re enjoying your kindle. Maybe if Larry’s really nice he can get one for Christmas! LOL!