Dailylit.com: Your Daily Lit Fix

Last Sunday I wrote about the learn-while-you-feed-the-world site, Freerice.com. The basic idea of Freerice.com is, you take an online vocab quiz, and every time you get a right answer, 20 grains of rice are donated to the United Nations World Food Program. Good stuff.

Today’s site, Dailylit.com won’t help feed the world, but it might feed your mind and soul a bit.

Here’s how it works. You choose a book from their list of 750 books ranging from classic to contemporary, and they email it to you in daily segments that take between two and five minutes to read. That’s it. Many of the books are free. Others you pay for.

I went into their list of 406 Classic books and chose a freebie, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. I read the book years ago and loved it, so I decided to go through it again. Franklin is the prototype for the uniquely American thinker-tinkerers who are not bound by centuries of tradition and think anything is possible. He’s an amazing individual.

Anyway, the book comes to me in 75 email segments, so I’ll finish it in two-and-a-half months, unless I want to request extra segments, which show up in my email box immediately. I had to force myself to read the first few, I admit – they broke my usual email rhythm – but now I look forward to the segments for the same reason – because they break my usual email rhythm.

If you’re looking for something less “edifying” than old Ben, you can read Skinny Bitch, The Three-Martini Playdate, Purchased for Pleasure or Bedded for Diamonds for under $5 each . (These aren’t personal recommendations, by the way. I’m just sayin’.)

Give it a try. You have much to gain, and nothing to lose but 3 minutes of your time each day.

(This is the end of a public service announcement from your friendly retired English teacher. You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.)