Book Log 2010 #13: Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson

I don't expect to jump into the e-reader market any time soon - I like actual books too much, and I'm too cheap to buy a Kindle or an iPad - but did find myself in need of an e-reader when I was commuting in via the Orange Line during the Hockey East tournament. This led me to downloading Stanza, a free e-reader for various platforms, iPhone included. And because I'm too cheap to actually buy books, I downloaded this title from Project Gutemberg. I was somewhat familiar with the story and knew it would lend itself to commuting reading based on it being more of a collection of short stories than a typical novel.

I did find some of the stories interesting, but the one overwhelming feeling I had during the course of the book is that George Willard was smart to get out of town when he did, because staying in Winesburg apparently makes you crazy. That or the water is tainted. Those are the only explanations I could come up with for having such a concentration of eccentrics and characters in one midwestern town. The book never quite came together for me, either. It was just a string of events that just kind of ended when George left.

The reading experience on the iPhone wasn't as bad as I expected, but the small display size required frequent page flips, which got old quickly. No complaints about the way the iPhone displayed text, and Stanza was very easy to use. I've not read another book on the phone, but it's nice to know the option is there if it's needed.