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.

On Being 40(ish) by Lindsey Mead

Why I have it: referred to in something I was reading recently but can’t remember where…

Summary: The big 4-0 is a major and meaningful milestone. In this essay collection, fifteen writers explore being 40 within the context of friendship, independence, sex, beauty, aging, wisdom, and the passage of time.

I’m thinking: No (a couple of essays by authors I like – Taffy Brodesser-Akner and Sloane Crosley but not enough to read the whole collection).

Hard to Love by Briallen Hopper

Why I have it: Not sure.

Summary: Hopper’s essays honor the categories of loves and relationships beyond marriage – friendships, kinship with adult siblings, care teams that form in times of illness, and more. She also values difficult and amorphous loves like loving a challenging job or inanimate objects that can’t love you back.

I’m thinking: No.

The State of Affairs by Esther Perel

Why I have it: Because I enjoyed Perel’s podcast,

Summary: Perel has worked with hundreds of couples who have grappled with infidelity. Betrayal hurts, she writes, but it can be healed. Affairs, she argues, have a lot to teach us about modern relationships – what we expect, what we think we want, and what we feel entitled to.

I’m thinking: Maybe (interesting from a professional perspective, although I would never work with couples!).