The Vast Garden

There's no better time to be a book-reader (if one isn't averse to reading on a screen). Thousands of free books can be downloaded to one's phone, tablet, or computer. Others, including many recent best-sellers, are available for $5 or less.

A small sampling of free iBooks

Apple's iBooks app, which can be downloaded free, is my favorite reading environment because of its indexing, highlighting, and bookmarking features, not to mention its look and feel.

Right now I'm catching up on Shakespeare; your humble observer was culturally deprived in his youth and never made the time to read beyond the Great Plays taught in high school and college.

Free Kindle Classics

Amazon's Kindle--the latest is the Kindle Fire--is the preferred e-reading device for millions of consumers. If one already has a tablet, however, it's unnecessary to lay out the shekels for a Kindle.

The Kindle App can easily be downloaded through iTunes for iPads and iPhones and through GooglePlay for Android devices.

Even if the reader hasn't joined the mobile revolution, it's possible to partake of the ever-expanding cornucopia of compendia. Project Gutenberg has "over 42,000 free ebooks" available for download to PC, Mac, or Kindle.

BTW, did the Bard himself foresee ebooks? "As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words." [Two Gentlemen of Verona]