title_body: How to change Kindle Windows 8 into a 'normal app'
upvoted_answer: I have found 2 solutions to this.  The first is to download the Windows 7 version of the Reader from here.  When I installed that particular version on W8.1, the popup said it was going to "expire soon" (which likely speaks to the fact that the company will be dropping XP support from the next version, not that they'll be discontinuing the non-Metro version completely).
  
  The second is to use the Kindle Cloud Reader.  While it is designed to be used "in the cloud" you can download your books to have local copies.  Using this method, you can open the app in a dedicated browser window and resize it as needed.