Every Friday, Marilyn Knapp Litt, who blogs at ClassicKindle.com, brings us her recommendation of a free classic book to discover (or rediscover) on Kindle.  Find more of Marilyn’s recommendations at her blog,  ClassicKindle.com,  a guide to the best free and inexpensive classic literature for the Kindle. You can also get Marilyn’s blog on Kindle and I recommend that you “Like” the Classic Kindle Facebook page as well so you don’t miss anything. Here’s Marilyn’s post:

Those of us who are a certain age, well remember carrying around a paperback copy of Siddartha by Herman Hesse. Some of us even read it! I read several of his books and as they were bestsellers and I had not heard of the author, I thought they had just been written, but this novel is from 1922.

Siddhartha was thus loved by everyone. He was a source of joy for everybody, he was a delight for them all.
But he, Siddhartha, was not a source of joy for himself, he found no delight in himself. Walking the rosy paths of the fig tree garden, sitting in the bluish shade of the grove of contemplation, washing his limbs daily in the bath of repentance, sacrificing in the dim shade of the mango forest, his gestures of perfect decency, everyone’s love and joy, he still lacked all joy in his heart.

I remember how lyrical I found his writing.
A few Amazon reviewers dislike the translation. But one reader from my era said, “This is one of my favorite novels. Your soul is your whole world. I read it when I was younger and again years after that. Wherever you are in life, you will find SIDDHARTHA meaningful.”

At one time, when the two young men had lived among the Samanas for about three years and had shared their exercises, some news, a rumour, a myth reached them after being retold many times: A man had appeared, Gotama by name, the exalted one, the Buddha, he had overcome the suffering of the world in himself and had halted the cycle of rebirths. He was said to wander through the land, teaching, surrounded by disciples, without possession, without home, without a wife, in the yellow cloak of an ascetic, but with a cheerful brow, a man of bliss, and Brahmans and princes would bow down before him and would become his students.

And then Siddartha is off to find this wise being called “Buddha.” Join him once again, or maybe for the first time, on his journey.

Download your free copy of “Siddartha” by Herman Hesse here >>>