This is appropriate. It's raining and I'm reading Thomas Jefferson's final State of the Union message, and the power is out again. Welcome to the early 19th century.

Back in the day when we had electricity freely coursing down wires from the central pollution station, I discovered an excellent web site that helps people such as me find the time to read. How is this possible? The folks at dailylit.com send you entire books of your choice, by email, a couple of pages at a time, as often as you want, at the time of your choice.

Dailylit.com was invented only a year or so ago by a couple of busy readers, Susan Danziger and Albert Wenger. I've been having serious fun with their new toy.

Everything is free as long as you stick to authors such as Jane Austen or Thomas Jefferson or novels such as Anna Karenina (she appears in 430 consecutive emails). If you want to read current books such as Three Martini Playdate you will have to pay, but not very much.

For example, reading Moby Dick in a series of 252 emails is free; reading The 1001 Dumbest Things Ever Said (365 emails) will cost you $4.95.

Danziger and Wenger explain,

"We created DailyLit because we spent hours each day on email but could not find the time to read a book.

"We got the idea for DailyLit after the New York Times serialized a few classic works a few summers ago. The only thing we do more consistently than read the paper is read email. We put together a first version and began reading War of the Worlds and Pride and Prejudice. We showed it to friends, added more books and features... and presto, DailyLit was born."

Wenger and Danziger point out this is how many classics were originally published -- "scene by scene, chapter by chapter."

It's a kick to turn on the email machine and find Thomas Jefferson's speeches waiting, in easy-to-digest small bits.

The other evening I tuned in to George W.'s final State of the Union speech. Eyes, ears and nose glazed with boredom, I remembered email number 24 (of 24) in which President Thomas Jefferson addressed his Congress for the final time, in 1808:

"Availing myself of this the last occasion which will occur of addressing the two Houses of the Legislature at their meeting, I can not omit the expression of my sincere gratitude for the repeated proofs of confidence..."

Apparently, Thomas Jefferson wrote his own speeches!

"... Grateful acknowledgments are due to my fellow citizens generally, whose support has been my great encouragement under all embarrassments. In the transaction of their business I can not have escaped error. It is incident to our imperfect nature. But I may say with truth my errors have been of the understanding, not of intention..."

He admitted mistakes!

"I trust that in their steady character, unshaken by difficulties, in their love of liberty, obedience to law, and support of the public authorities, I see a sure guaranty of the permanence of our Republic; and, retiring from the charge of their affairs, I carry with me the consolation of a firm persuasion that Heaven has in store for our beloved country long ages to come of prosperity and happiness."

Thomas Jefferson has my vote.

Aired Sunday February 3, 2008 at 10:55 am and Wednesday February 6, 2008 at 1:00 pm

Notes:

DailyLit.com is an excellent resource for older material, and for a smaller selection of books in other languages (French, German, Italian, Spanish). Their choice of current books, however, is not excellent (they seem to run to Romance. Sci Fi and Self-Help a lot) due no doubt not to a lack of taste and judgement, but to the costs incurred in licensing new works. Most of the not-free titles, however, may be sampled for free.

I tried to read Six Characters in Search of an Author in the original Italian, but even at the pace of three short emails a week I couldn't keep up. T. Jefferson was much easier and more satisfying. I'm now starting Boccaccio's Decameron volume one. In English.

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