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August was a good month for DRM-free reading. I both read (and reviewed) books from three different sources: Amazon, Humble Bundle and Yesterday’s Classics. The highlights:

AmazonDRM-Free

The final instalment of Hugh Howey’s Silo Saga was out, and I reviewed it opening week.

I liked it, for the most part. But I tend to like earlier series books better. By the time you get to the end, it feels a little too mechanical to me, with the author plotting like mad to tie up the loose ends and spending a bit less time on the subtler scenes that make the earlier books so compelling for me. “Dust” had its magical moments, and Howey is a good writer … but “Wool” was better!

Humble Bundle DRM-Free

I bought the last Humble Bundle primarily for one book, but have so far read two others instead! This month’s read was “Just a Geek” by Wil Wheaton, aka Star Trek’s Wesley Crusher.

As I said in my review, I came away disappointed. Wheaton glosses over some of the personal stuff that would have made the book more interesting to me, such as his courtship with his wife (in one paragraph he’s single and in the next he’s married) and the work he did to fill out the acting gigs. And he crosses the line between ‘funnily self-deprecating’ and ‘reeking of bitterness and desperation’ a few too many times for me.

I like Wheaton as an actor, but I don’t think I like him as an author very much and I probably won’t read any further books by him.

Yesterday’s ClassicsDRM-Free

I reviewed this public domain republisher last week and read several books from its massive 200+ title e-book collection.

My impressions were generally favorable. There are some tweaks they could do to make this package a little more polished, but I found the quality of the books to be decent, and I think if you’re looking for this sort of thing (classics for kids) you won’t do much better elsewhere.

A busy reading month! I wonder what will come my way in September?

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