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.
Can You Tolerate This? by Ashleigh Young
Why I have it: I think I was looking at books by New Zealanders.
Summary: A collection of essays on youth and aging, ambition and disappointment, New Zealand punk rock, and the limitations of the body (the title comes from the question chiropractors ask to test a patient’s pain threshold).
I’m thinking: Maybe.
Hourglass by Dani Shapiro
Why I have it: Not sure.
Summary: An inquiry into how marriage is transformed by time – abraded, strengthened, shaped in miraculous and sometimes terrifying ways by accident and experience.
I’m thinking: Yes.
The Invention of Clouds by Richard Hamblyn
Why I have it: Because I’m a cloud-spotter.
Summary: The true story of Luke Howard, the amateur English meteorologist who in 1802 gave the clouds their names. He immediately gained international fame, becoming a cult figure among artists and painters and legitimizing the science of meteorology.
I’m thinking: Yes – essential reading given how much time I spend cloud-spotting.
Hourglass gets my vote.
Have you read any of her work?
I haven’t but her name’s popped up on my Twitter timeline several times, spoken off approvingly
I’ve read Shapiro’s latest memoir, Inheritance (about learning through a random DNA test that her father was not her biological father), and thought it was terrific. I’d like to read all her others.
I know Luke Howard’s story through Kitty Macfarlane’s wonderful song, “Namer of Clouds.”
Inheritance is on my list as well.
Thank you for alerting me to tht song. I had not heard it before (and will be sharing it with my cloud-spotting friends).
Everyone else, here’s the link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMNGDwpVYF0
I’ve never heard about these, but Hourglass seems like such a powerful read!
It hooked e from the beginning.
My cloudspotting has drifted somewhat but the Hamblyn gets my vote. I must start gazing skywards again!
Thankfully cloudspotting is not a demanding hobby… 🙂
This is such a good idea. I have been tackling my samples, downloaded not only because I’m curious but also when finances are not up to stretching to new books. Now sorting them regularly and am most interested in yours. Seem to have bought an awful lot of them!
I’m sure I’ve saved lots of money and, more importantly, lots of reading time over the years by reading the free samples before buying the book. I rarely mark a book as DNF and I think it’s because of samples.
Phew, I’m glad to say none of these hold huge appeal for me. Usually I see your samples and end up adding to my own wishlist. For once I can resist
I’ll try harder next week 😉
I love the idea of The Invention of Clouds, I had never heard of Luke Howard!
And I hadn’t heard of this lovely song about Howard (Bookish Beck just pointed it out) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMNGDwpVYF0