Friday, August 12, 2016

Serial Reader



Have you heard of Serial Reader?

Okay, so first of all, Serial Reader is not paying me to say any of this stuff. I am telling you about it because I love it so much.

Serial Reader is a free app for iPhone and Android (strike that - Android's in the works, still! - edited 8/22/16) that brings you 10-20 minute snippets of classic books direct to your phone each day. If you, like me, find your experience with the classics, erm, a little lighter than you would like, this app makes it really easy to tackle the classics without giving up your other reading or getting bogged down.

(I have to take a pause here to say that the books I'm calling "classics" are basically British, European, and American writing that's now in the public domain. I don't know the app developer's exact process for inputting additional books, but you can make suggestions for titles to be added to the app. Okay, back to it.)

I first read about it on Book Riot and decided that it was worth a try, if only to find out what it was. I didn't think I would stick with it. After I went through that phase of catching up on classics during summers home from college, I have been MUCH more about NEW books than old books.

But it's been about a month and I am completely loving it. I look forward to getting my issue of Wuthering Heights each morning and I purchased the deluxe edition of the app ($2.99) so that I could read ahead and unlock other features of the paid app, which include creating a list for future reading and syncing your reading across devices.

Each issue is a manageable length while giving enough of the story that I don't feel lost each time I pick it back up. For me, it really helps make my morning phone time a little more productive. I generally spend 20-30 minutes each morning on my phone as I'm waking up and getting ready: checking Facebook, looking at Timehop, seeing what's happening on Twitter. Directing 10-20 minutes of that time towards reading classic literature is way more rewarding than aimlessly surfing the internet.

Even though I FULLY support the right of people and myself to read whatever we want without judgment, I do admit that it makes me feel smart to be reading classics that I never got around to.

So, if you're looking to insert more classics into your repertoire, Serial Reader makes it really easy. Go forth and download!