Sample Saturday is when I wade through the eleventy billion samples I have downloaded on my Kindle. I’m slowly chipping away and deciding whether it’s buy or bye.
Be Frank With Me by Julia Claibourne Johnson
Why I have it: Because every person and their dog is reading it. And it looks exactly like the kind of ‘light’ choice I’d enjoy.
Summary: Reclusive literary legend Mimi Banning is writing her first book in decades and calls in an assistant to be a full-time companion to Frank, her eccentric nine-year-old son.
I’m thinking: Yes. Will probably be one of my only-six-book-acquisitions-for-2016 selections if the Stella Prize shortlist doesn’t suck up my book allowance.
A Murder Without Motive by Martin McKenzie-Murray
Why I have it: Because Jenny likened it to Helen Garner’s This House of Grief.
Summary: True story of the 2004 murder of a young Perth woman, Rebecca Ryle. The killing mystified investigators, and also involved the author’s family, whose brother knew the man charged with the murder.
I’m thinking: Yes – the author’s personal links to the murderer makes it gripping stuff.
Hope Farm by Peggy Frew
Why I have it: Because it’s on the Stella longlist.
Summary: Silver’s mother has fallen for a charismatic man, and the three of them move to a rural hippie commune, Hope Farm. Although settled in one place, Silver is thrust into an adult world.
I’m thinking: No. It feels too contrived. But I’ll be ‘forced’ to read it if it makes the shortlist…