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.

The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman

Why I have it: Made my list of books I was looking forward to in 2022.

Summary: In the beginning, almost every name and address was listed in a phone book, and everyone answered their landlines because you didn’t know who it was. By the end, exposing someone’s address was an act of emotional violence, and nobody picked up their new cell phone if they didn’t know who it was. The ’90s brought about a revolution in the human condition we’re still groping to understand. Klosterman examines film, music, sports, TV, politics, and the changes regarding race and class and sexuality.

I’m thinking: Yes.

Exit Stage Left by Nick Duerden

Why I have it: Not sure.

Summary: Duerden has spent many years interviewing famous musicians and believes that they are at their most interesting when they’ve  peaked, and when they are on their way down. In many ways, this is when  these former idols are at their most heroic, too, because they reveal  themselves not only to be humane and sensitive, but also still driven to  create and to fulfill their lingering dreams.

I’m thinking: No.

A Catalog of Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On by Dung Kai-cheung

Why I have it: No idea.

Summary: Dung Kai-cheung’s collection of 99 vignettes is a glimpse into the consumerist dreamscape of late-nineties Hong Kong. First published in 1999, just after the handover of the former British colony to China, each of the stories begins from a piece of ephemera, usually consumer products or pop culture phenomena, and develops alternately comic and poignant snapshots of urban life.

I’m thinking: No.