Amazon is now offering Prime Reading to those of us who have capitulated to a Prime membership. It’s quite the collection of free reading material. This is a different beast than their Kindle Unlimited program (an additional subscription that buys access to many, many more books). While I wouldn’t recommend getting Prime specifically for this service, it’s certainly worth glancing at if you already have a subscription.
The two most notable reads I’ve come across are Steven King’s “Guns” and Jon Ronson’s “The Elephant in the Room”. Both are longform essays (25 and 48 pages respectively) by major authors, and while this isn’t a form in which I’d previously encountered King’s writing, I am pleasantly surprised by how good he is at it. “Guns” is an informed and reasonable attack on the state of our public discourse on the things, not the things themselves. King owns a few of them, and his nuanced position (we need more and better regulation, but widespread bans and buybacks generally don’t work) is sure to piss off people on both sides. He is blunt and direct, employing an extremely personal mode of address and judicious profanity. Not only is this piece thought-provoking and very well done, it’s as fun to read as any screed that involves the death of a roomful of six-year-olds can claim to be.
Ronson’s piece is a timely bit of work on Donald Trump’s courting of and influence by the Alt-Right movement, specifically dealing with the Republican nominee’s connection to Alex Jones of InfoWars and others like him. While the immediacy and importance of the topic at hand will likely diminish in a few months, (and let’s not spend too much time thinking about the alternative) “”The Elephant in the Room” is a well-written and thoughtful bit of journalism, well worth the read regardless of our national timeline if you are a fan of Ronson’s work. And as for our national timeline, Prime Reading and Amazon’s Digital Singles are one more aspect of digital publishing that might be of value to writers and readers. It’s a distinctly different animal than traditional longform publication, and only time will tell whether or not it’s a force for good.
Recommendation: Check these two out and scan the offerings for anything else of worth. Let me know what you find, and let me know what you think about Prime Reading and its ilk.
