As a continuation of my last post “Book Me: Reading, Buying, & Saving Books”, I’ve decided to add this new series of what I’m reading and where I’ve acquired the book.

So what’s currently fired up on my Kindle?  It’s “Napoleon for Dummies” by J. David Markham.  As with all books in the Dummies series, it comes in that unaesthetic yellow cover and the writing style is sprinkled with verbal informalities like:  “Okay, so Napoleon is a pretty big deal” or  “[Napoleon’s mistress] Pauline Foures was a very attractive 29-year-old leggy blond…”  Egads!, come to think of it, it's written in a very "bloggy" style.

Why this book and why Kindle it?  Like most Americans, I have an imperfect knowledge of world history.  What I knew about Napoleon, you could fit in a peanut shell.  This was an embarrassing fact I had to remedy, particularly if I was going to really enjoy the upcoming screening of Abel Gance’s silent film epic of Napoleon this spring (March 24, 25, 31, April 1 only) at the Oakland Paramount Theatre.  (Don’t miss it by the way!  It’s the restored five-plus-hours version by Kevin Brownlow -- not on DVD and not showing anywhere else.  Carl Davis will be conducting a live orchestra.)

Fearing that a serious biography of Napoleon would go way over my head, I opted for the Dummies version.  It’s informative and I already relish what I’ve read.  For instance:

•  Napoleon wasn’t that short – probably 5’ 6” which is in the James Cagney and Alan Ladd range.  You don’t have to be Abe Lincoln to change the world.

•  Napoleon was crazy about his wife Josephine, but she wasn’t so devoted to him.  While he was away at war, she took up with other lovers.

•  Napoleon wasn’t born in France.  He was Corsican (Corsica is that island west of Italy) and had to learn French in school where he was ridiculed for his thick Corsican accent.

There’s definitely more to this complex man and I’m only a third of the way through the book so far.  It can be quite a page-turner and, literally, I find myself reaching up to the top of the page to flip (!) to the next.  But of course, I’m reading it on a Kindle screen and have to tap my way forward instead. 

I don’t mind that it’s not a physical book.  If you’re a book lover, it means that your house is already full of them.  “Napoleon for Dummies” was not one that would beautify my shelves with its highlighter yellow cover so I opted for the digital format.  The book includes some illustrations and color photographs that come through just fine on the Kindle screen and I don’t feel as if I’ve missed out at all.  More importantly, I’ve saved some space in my house for some other beloved book that I will acquire in the future.