menedob Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 I feel flustered looking for the best editions of classics for my kids to read on the kindle. Most reviews are great, but then there will be some critical comments like "typos" or "not original text" but I have no way of knowing for sure unless I read through myself after purchasing. Most are free or $0.99. Has anyone navigated this already and have advice. I REALLY don't want them reading a classic that isn't the unabridged original text. Thanks for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 I go to Project Gutenberg. They're free, unabridged, and put together by volunteers. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 Most of them, IME, are real. And most of the typos seem to come from the fact that they used OCR scans to get the text in and they miss some errors in the formatting. I've never ended up with one that wasn't the original text, but I've mostly downloaded things that aren't especially obscure. I agree about using Project Gutenberg if you're at all concerned. That stuff is solid. And they do have ereader versions. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 (edited) I'd say some of the original text problems are Classics that are translations -- if the person reviewing does not realize it was a translation -- there can be some pretty big differences between different translations. We are reading Heidi and switched books midway through (One was a library book, then I decided to finish on my own) and the translation we switched to reads differently than hte original book -- and particularly does NOT translate the name of the goats so if I didn't know that there were different translations, I could easily think it was a different books. I -loved- Swiss Family Robinson as a kid. But my husband's father had an edition from either his (FIL's) childhood or my husband's that is completely unreadable to me. I am convinced it is a translation issue. Too bad I do not remember what translation I read as a kid! Edited May 18, 2017 by vonfirmath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 Usually, free ones, especially if from Project Gutenberg, will be fine. I have purchased some classics on occasion, especially Shakespeare plays, because the formatting is just bad on the freebies. Sometimes Amazon reviews get messed up and a review will be for a totally different edition (or even, sometimes, item) so if it's free and it turns out the complaints are justified, you can always get a different version and you aren't out any money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 The problem with some of those isn't that they're intentional fakes (though you might end up with an abridged version that isn't labeled as such) but rather that the formatting is horrible. They aren't always carefully proofread after the book is scanned, so you can get some pretty wonky text. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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