These things I have read

Since moving to Toronto, one of the big changes I've had to become accustomed to is commuting. When I lived in the Kay-Dub, this wasn't something with which I had to deal. I lived just down the street from where I worked. It was all of a 7 minute drive (or 15 minute bike ride in nice weather).

Now, I have a 35 minute commute through the use of public transportation. This guarantees me 70 minutes of time each weekday to read. It's awesome.

Which, in a long and winding way, brings me to the topic of this post: me likey the Kobo.

Hundreds of books that fit easily in my coat pocket. Here are the books that I have read so far:

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
The book was one of the free, preloaded titles on the Kobo that is part of Project Gutenberg. It's a story of how a man wakes up one morning to find that he's turned into an insect. However, he's still the same size as when he was a human and still has his same mind. It's quite sad that he's able to understand the conversations going on around him, as his parents and sister deal with the fact that their son and brother is now a giant insect, but he is no longer able to communicate with them or even interact with his environment as a human would do.

The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells
Another preloaded title, part of Project Gutenberg, The Island of Doctor Moreau is a tale about a British scientist who finds himself shipwrecked and on a faraway island in the Pacific where Dr. Moreau, another British scientist has set up a tropic laboratory in order to conduct tests of vivisection - surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism in order to view the living internal structure. On the island, Moreau is using vivisection to splice human traits into the bodies of animals. It's a very creepy story.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
My first eBook purchase, I was intrigued by the story because it was told from the perspective of a dog. Occasionally, I am a sucker for dog stories, like this one and Marley and Me. However, like The Metamorphosis, the main character had the mind of a human but not a human body. The book focuses on Enzo, a dog born on a farm with unclear lineage. He recounts his life growing up with his owner, Denny, his wife, Eve and their daughter, Zoe. The story is filled with a mix of hilarious and somber moments. Stein does a tremendous job and is able to ground the story from the perspective of a dog.