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"Pocket" App is the best for "offline reading"

I love to load interesting 20-minute magazine articles for when I have some time to kill with no wifi or connection. First, I loaded this app on both my computer and then on my smartphone, using the same username and password for both devices. (the computer is much easier to use when cruising for articles.) The little black and white widget is located right on your browser bar looking like a little "down-arrow." Then I cruise "Vanity Fair" , or "Longreads" or "Wired" for some great reads.

Finding an article you like, you just click on this widget on your computer, and it sends it right to your smartphone, because you have loaded the app onto both devices using your same username and password. And when, say, 18 articles are loaded, you can read them right off your smartphone with no connection at all, because they're just like ordinary documents. I was sweating having to take my Nook Classic from 5 years ago - until I learned about Pocket. You can delete the article as soon as you've read it. Here's a small sample of what's "In My Pocket" : "The Battle for Picasso's Multi-Billion-Dollar Empire/Vanityfair.com. - Why Millennial Women are Burning Out/fastcompany.com --Which Rock Star Will Historians of the Future Remember? / nytimes.com and on and on. Haven't read any of these articles yet, but they're short reads. And they're ready for me even if I don't have connection.

Posted by
10049 posts

I love love love Pocket. A lot of the articles I've saved are on books, writers and editors, and of course Travel!!

Some examples:

From Literary Hub:

"Ana Goldstein on Translating Elena Ferrante and the Inner Workings of the New Yorker," Melinda Harvey
"Interview with a Gatekeeper: Nan Talese." Kerri Arsenault
"How Being a Bookseller Made me a Better Writer," Kea Wilson.

The New Yorker:

"Can Reading Make you Happier?" by Ceridwen Dovey.
"The Real Heroes are Dead," republication of a spring 2002 article about Dean Witter's chief security guy in the Twin Towers, Rick Rescorla, by James B. Stewart.
anything by Rebecca Mead!

The NYT:
"Enthralled by Sicily, Again," by Francine Prose.
"Making House: Notes on Domesticity," by Rachel Cusk.

The Rumpus:
"Interview with Nina Stibbe," Catherine Cusick.

Slate:
"Rukmini Callichi, The NYT ISIS Reporter, Discusses Her Beat," by Isaac Chotiner

The Guardian - their culture pages have GREAT articles
"Euro 2016: Why France Have Everything to Play For," by Andrew Hussey, author of The French Intifada: A War Between France and its Arabs, and Paris: The Secret History.
"The Subtle Art of Translating Foreign Fiction." -- Rachel Cooke.
"Han Kang and Deborah Smith: 'It is Fascinating to Ponder the Possibilities of Language" - yet another article on translating fiction.
and various political missives by the inimitable Timothy Garton Ash.

Open Letters Monthly:
"Book Review of A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr," by Ingrid Norton.

Reading My Tea Leaves.com (blog) - Erin Boyle.
"Photographing a Family Vacation"

Columbia Journalism Review:
"How Politico Recreated 9/11 Aboard Air Force One," interview with Garrett Graff by David Uberti.

Posted by
2768 posts

Agreed! I love pocket for exactly the type of articles you mentioned.

And, since this is a travel forum I'd like to add that it has some great, travel-specific functions too. Sure, you can load reading materials for offline - so you can read on the train/plane/hotel room with no internet, but you can also save more immediately practical things. A PDF map, a blog post explaining the history of something, your hotel's detailed directions page - save anything like this to pocket and you have it on your phone when you are on the go and need it!

Posted by
630 posts

Thank you for sharing! I just installed the app on my phone and I'm figuring it out now. I was able to save some Topics from this Forum which will come in handy when I travel. What a great App! I just figured out we can "tag" articles to organize them into "files."

Posted by
10049 posts

Yes, I think there are some additional options if you upgrade to premium (i.e. pay for the app). So far I've been happy with the free version and then tagging/organizing on my laptop at home . . but I could see myself tempted by the functionality of the upgraded paid app.

Mira, those are some great suggestions, and I hadn't thought of them. Thanks!