Questions and Answers

The gift giving holiday season  drew  to a close several weeks ago with Epiphany,  January 6th, the day that according to legend the Magi arrived to give the Christ child their gifts. Two of the regal visitors brought somewhat useless gifts, frankincense and myrrh, and one gift, that small chest of gold, must have come in handy for his young, homeless parents. But come to think of it, all three gifts were far more useful than the 12 lords a-leaping that end that dreadful “Twelve Days of Christmas” dirge!

Although this year’s holiday “must-have” electronic devices proved to be diverse, from this “I-thing” to that “I-thing,” one of the best-selling, non-I-things, was amazon.com’s Kindle e-reader.

The Kindle I have was handed down to me when an I-Pad entered our household. (The days of hand-me-down itchy sweaters or too short corduroy  pants are long gone!)

It takes a bit of getting used to reading a book on the Kindle and I am just now reading my second book on it.  What I’ve discovered is that it is not so much the device that prevents me from wanting to read a book on it, it is just getting into the habit of picking up the device rather  than picking up a book when you’re in the mood to read.  Once you pick up the Kindle and begin reading, there’s no problem.

The cost of buying a book to instantly download on your Kindle is considerably less than buying the actual book, though the cost has steadily increased since amazon.com first launched the Kindle and it was a pleasant surprise when I discovered a few months ago that GertrudeandAlice books had joined the Kindle library.

Currently on amazon.com there are 26 books by or about GertrudeandAlice ranging in price from $.00 to $16.49.  In some cases there are multiple editions of the same book at different prices.

One of the amazing things about acquiring books via Kindle is that there are some that cost nothing.  These are usually, but not always, books that are in the public domain. The following free Gertrude Stein downloads are available for the Kindle:

• Three Lives, Stein’s first book published in 1909

• Tender Buttons first published in 1914

• and Matisse Picasso and Gertrude Stein self-published by GertrudeandAlice in 1931.

Another early work Geography and Plays (1922) is available for $.99.

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933) costs $9.69 while the most expensive download  is A Natural History of Pragmatism: The Fact of Feeling from Jonathan Edwards to Gertrude Stein (2007) by Joan Richardson which is a bargain at $16.49 considering that the hardcover edition sells for $118!

Monique Truong’s novel about GertrudeandAlice and their Vietnamese chef, The Book of Salt (2003), may be read on the Kindle for $9.54 and one book, Lonelyhearts Pawn Shop (2006) by Susan Smith Nash must have made the list because in the book’s blurb it is described as “Tender Buttons for the 21st century.”

For GertrudeandAlice, finding publishers and an audience for Gertrude’s early books was a challenge. I think that both of them would be thrilled to see that now these books may be acquired within seconds and even though they too are not generating any income, just like their early publishing efforts, they can reach both new and old fans alike.

Alice once commented that Gertrude liked books that would easily fit into the pockets of her jackets or vests since she could then take them with her anywhere and could read them whenever she wanted.  The Kindle, even the smaller version, may be a bit large for Gertrude’s pockets, but then again, had Alice given her a Kindle during the holidays, I’m sure Alice would have also made sure that the pockets on future vests and jackets would accommodate it – Alice was that kind of  Kindle partner!

Tagged A Natural History of Pragmatism, Geography and Plays, Gertrude Stein, Kindle, Lonelyhearts Pawn Shop, Matisse Picasso and Gertrude Stein, Tender Buttons, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, The Book of Salt, Three Lives