My First Kindle Book!
If you follow me on Twitter or read the Twitter updates on the right hand side of this blog you know that I got a Kindle ebook reader for Christmas and it was just delivered. The Kindle allows you to download book samples to help you decide whether to buy a book. As soon as I got my Kindle I downloaded eight books and read the samples.
Steve Martin's new book – Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life – about his stand up comedy career has been on my to-read list for a while so after I read and really enjoyed the sample I bought the Kindle version of the book.
Kindle also allows you to highlight sections of the book just as if you were reading the paper version of the book but the Kindle can be attached to the computer and you can download your highlighted sections
The first sentence in Steve Martin's book is –
"I DID STAND-UP COMEDY for eighteen years. Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four were spent in wild success."
One of the most impressive things about Martin and his career is how long and how hard he had to work with very little success. He also says –
"I was not naturally talented—I didn’t sing, dance, or act—though working around that minor detail made me inventive."
and
"my growing professionalism, founded on thousands of shows, created a subliminal sense of authority that made the audience feel they weren’t being had."
How many people are willing to work on something for 14 years? I have a new found respect for Martin and what he has achieved. He created a new unique kind of comedy. When he gave up stand-up comedy cold turkey he went on to achieve significant success as an actor, a writer and a musician. He just released a CD of banjo music -The Crow New Songs for the 5-String Banjo which looks very good.
Born Standing Up is an example of what a good writer Martin is. It is entertaining and compelling. I really enjoyed this book. Steve Martin is inspiring!!
And I really enjoyed reading on the Kindle. I LOVE my Kindle!
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