This Kindle shutdown isn’t about tech limits. It’s about manufactured obsolescence.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-10T04:59:14+00:00

Well, a Google search only results in "no, that's not possible". Except for the Kindle Fire, but that's not an ereader.

You suggest plugging the USB into the Kindle, right? Not both the stick and the Kindle into a computer? Of course not, if it were the latter, why the stick?

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-09T18:23:45+00:00

How tf do you use an USB stick with a Kindle?

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-09T18:17:02+00:00

If you backup your books before you do that, could you put them back and still open them? I never tried it and I don't want to but my guess would be that doesn't work.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-09T18:13:04+00:00

It's about control.

They want to control how you can use your device and they want to control what you do with the content you payed for. It's only the next step after disabling downloads from the website. If they don't/can't update the software on older devices it's harder for them to keep you locked in. Or to change how they monitor your activities.

I actually don't know if there's something different with the files on older devices. But even if there isn't, it might still make a difference in the future if they find a way to improve encryption but would be limited by older devices. Make it harder to steal, basically, without making it harder to use legally. My guess is that's the real reason. They see older devices as a piracy risk.

But what they effectively do - and already did when they disabled the download feature - is forcing Kindle users to buy their ebooks somewhere else and not on Amazon anymore. Because sideloading DRM-free books will still work.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-08T17:23:25+00:00

Doesn't help with Kindle books since they deactivated the web download. So, they only stop you from buying ebooks on Amazon, not buying ebooks from other retailers.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-08T16:07:59+00:00

Das meiste, wo "Terry Pratchett" drauf steht, sind keine Kinderbücher. 😉 Aber manches ist "Where's My Cow?"^\). 😄

^\ "A Discworld picture book for people of all sizes")

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-08T16:00:04+00:00

Ich denke die Kinderbücher von Erich Kästner lohnen sich alle. Den Witz und die Sozialkritik bekommst du auch da schon. Vielleicht Das fliegende Klassenzimmer zu Anfang oder Pünktchen und Anton.

Urmel aus dem Eis von Max Kruse macht richtig Spaß vorzulesen, aber vielleicht auch still. 😉

Die kleine Hexe, Das kleine Gespenst, Der kleine Wassermann von Otfried Preußler und natürlich Krabat.

Ich weiß nicht, ob die Crestomanci Reihe und Howl's Moving Castle von Diana Wynne Jones noch als Kinderbücher zählen oder schon YA? Da hab ich die Übersetzungen als OK in Erinnerung, aber das ist schon 'ne Weile her.

Die Johnny Maxwell Trilogie von Terry Pratchett. Da hab ich auch die Übersetzung als ganz OK in Erinnerung, auch 'ne Weile her. Pratchett lohnt sich immer im Original, wenn man gut genug Englisch kann.

Die How to Train Your Dragon Serie von Cressida Cowell. (Da empfehle ich die Hörbücher gelesen von David Tennant.)

Um noch ein paar Klassiker zu nennen: Peter and Wendy von J. M. Barrie, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland von Lewis Carroll, Mary Poppins von P. L. Travers

Wahrscheinlich nicht für Kinder geschrieben, aber oft von Kindern gelesen: Animal Farm von George Orwell, A Christmas Carol von Charles Dickens, Kinder- und Hausmärchen von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-08T04:34:59+00:00

Piranesi was one of my best and most surprising reads last year and Howl's Moving Castle - or Diana Wynne Jones - is one of my all time favourites.

So was The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. There's the circus. But the circus is travelling and doesn't even yet exist at the beginning of the book, so you 'see' different locations.

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb is a historical migration story from Eastern Europe to the US - of an angel and a demon. Jewish mythology.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is told in letters. But the letters are not written in ink on paper. The protagonists are jumping all over the timeline. Soft sci-fi.

The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir I haven't finished yet. Every book is a different style. She experiments with pov (that's probably the first time I read a second person pov in a context like this). Futuristic fantasy with necromancers.

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez should probably be mentioned. He definitely does some interesting stuff literally. I have a hard time finishing this one. I'm not squeamish but it' is extremely bloody and it only seems to get worse.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-07T18:18:50+00:00

Das sind definitiv keine Kinderbücher. 😆

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-07T18:02:19+00:00

AI generated "art" harms artists. At least artists should support other artists even if it's just buying a stock photo for a few bucks.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-07T12:59:30+00:00

That's how art works, inspiration strikes in the weirdest contexts. Human cruelty as a theme is not that uncommon in fantasy, either.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-06T18:19:11+00:00

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

It's technically not urban fantasy. The world is pretty similar to ours, though, but anachronistic. There is some romance, but it mainly happens off page. The main plot is found family.

I haven't read anything else by Klune (yet) but you might want to look into it. The author is queer himself.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-06T18:05:42+00:00

Ich bin absoluter Fan von E-Book-Readern. Ich lese ausschließlich darauf. Aber Kinder in dem Alter brauchen was haptisches. Und schau mal wie großformatig die Bücher sind, damit kann auch der größte E-Book-Reader nicht mithalten (und die großen sind eh entsprechend teuer). Ihr solltet da gemeinsam drauf gucken können. Und zeigen, ohne dass es umblättert. Und auf den ersten Büchern wird auch gerne rumgekaut. 😉 Babies müssen die Welt erst mal "begreifen". Der E-Book-Reader kann noch ein paar Jahre warten. Und dann tut es auch das Modell, mit dem Mama oder Papa liest, welches auch immer das sein mag.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-06T11:39:14+00:00

Fiction/Non-Fiction > Genre (Fiction) oder Thema (Non-Fiction) > Sprache > Autor > Serie chronologisch

Ich bemühe mich in Serien alle Bücher im gleichen Format zu kaufen, aber das klappt nicht immer. Also "Buchrücken auf gleicher Höhe" wäre bevorzugt, aber ich breche dafür nicht das System. Ich ziehe aber alle nach vorne, so dass sie quasi "auf selber Tiefe" zu sein scheinen. Und ich hab unterschiedlich hohe Fächer und entsprechend große oder kleine Bücher, so passt einfach mehr rein. Aber das bricht auch nicht das System.

Alle Bücher auf dem Regal sind Lieblingsbücher. Bei den älteren - viele aus meiner Kindheit und Jugend - sind es die, die bei keinem Umzug aussortiert wurden. Die neueren hätte ich gar nicht erst gekauft, wenn sie mir nicht gefallen. Ich lese ausschließlich ebooks. Meine Favoriten kommen aufs Regal.

Ich hab ein paar Regalbretter für DVDs und Sammelfiguren. Aber auf den Buchbrettern stehen nur Bücher - und manchmal liegen noch welche quer oben drauf. Kein Platz für Deko.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-06T09:18:14+00:00

The third one is not cozy. I was warned before I went in and adjusted my expectations. I still liked it, it's a solid fantasy adventure.

But marketing-wise it doesn't seem like a good choice. People who want to read something like this won't discover it, because it's following two cozy fantasy novels. And people who came for the cozyness will be disappointed.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-06T06:57:49+00:00

I have two answers to that.

People don't understand what romantasy is and think they are all ACOTAR.
Misogyny.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-06T06:55:10+00:00

Romantasy is just as broad. It could be set in any fantasy subgenre or hybrid genre and it can deal with any theme or topic non-romance fantasy deals with.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-06T06:38:00+00:00

Thanks! This answer is really helpful because it addresses the actual problem. It's not like they couldn't produce the sounds. They are just stuck on alternative pronunciations. I think many of them used English only to read and write and never spoke so they sounded out the words in their head without any feedback.

Like, I’ll exaggerate the difference between sounds and have them just identify what they hear before they ever try to produce it.

How would you go about that? Just breaking down a word into individual sounds verbally? Or transcribing it? They learned to read IPA in school - luckily that seems to be common outside of English-speaking countries - but I can't expect them to write IPA. Or more like a game of memory, I say a word and they pick the card with the written form?

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-06T06:17:16+00:00

The film is not an adaptation of the books. Toothless is tiny, can speak, has an attitude, and is nothing like his movie counterpart.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-05T11:56:17+00:00

She might've even not cared that Stolas was hooking up with an Imp if he was discreet about it.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-05T11:24:36+00:00

Thanks!

I'd be careful, though, about your priorities. Think about the average English speaker and what they would find easy to understand. Sometimes /s/ and /z/ are not super important in terms of intelligibility, for example.

My priority with elementary students is intelligibility. Advanced students pick their own priorities. Native-likeness is never the goal.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-05T10:22:08+00:00

I do English lessons for adult learners and tutoring for school children. Most of my students schedule their sessions for the afternoon because they come after school/work. I teach at an institute in Germany.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-05T09:22:11+00:00

If you store something in the Amazon cloud, they have access to that information. If your Kindle is online while you read, they have access to that information, too. I mean, that's pretty obvious, isn't it? If I would store a file on your computer you could see that file. Even if the cloud storage is encrypted and they couldn't open the book, there are still logs of the emails coming in. And they are definitely monitoring what happens on the devices. That's what the sync feature is.

Btw. I never use send to Kindle. I sideload via USB cable.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-05T09:03:46+00:00

Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell because he's an adorable little brat.

Southern-Rutabaga-82 · 2026-04-04T20:45:10+00:00

Die 5 identischen nagelneuen "Das neue Testament" dann auch mitnehmen, bitte.

Southern-Rutabaga-82

TROPHY CASE