I’ve read 109 Kindle samples this year – I reckon that downloading sample chapters is more prudent than impulse buying books that don’t quite pan out after the first few chapters.
Of the 109 I’ve read, I’ve said ‘yes’ to 64. Of those that I’ve said yes to, one I now own and a further nine I’ve read (via the library).
As always, I avoid a TBR-stack-blowout and narrow the shopping list down to the 15 that I’m busting to read –
Strangers to Ourselves by Rachel Aviv
In Love by Amy Bloom
Last Resort by Andrew Lipstein
Built to Move by Juliet Starrett and Kelly Starrett
Should We Stay or Should We Go? by Lionel Shriver
Did Ye Hear Mammy Died by Séamas O’Reilly
Unmask Alice by Rick Emerson
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue
Good Girls by Hadley Freeman
We Need to Hang Out by Billy Baker
Lioness by Emily Perkins
The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt
Pet by Catherine Chidgey
Enchantment by Katherine May
Erosion by Terry Tempest Williams
I did the same review in 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016. I still haven’t read all of the books on those lists but I’m chipping away…
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I have never checked it out before, but Should we Stay or Should we Go sounds good. I am definitely interested in The Librarianist.
I’ve read In Love, Last Resort, The Rachel Incident and The Librarianist of which my favourites were In Love and The Rachel Incident but they’re all worth reading. Like the look of Good Girls.
Oh my, I always read samples! Or I listen to them and then. if I need the Kindle to go with it (for a variety of reasons), I read a sample of it before actually purchasing it. LOL! It’s part of my routine. I might even listen to a sample 2 or 3 times! I only actually read a sample one time and decide.
I’ve read a couple of Lionel Shrivers. I think she writes well but I disagree with her arguments about writing from all different povs, so mostly I skip her if I see her in the library.
I’ve upped my Audible account to 24 books a year, effectively 30 with bonuses, but I buy them on the basis of opinions – mine and others – rather than on sampling (which Audible offers).
I reckon less than 5% of my purchases are Kindle so I don’t “do” samples. Around 75% of my books are physical, from my local indie, and even then I’ll rarely read any sample pages before buying. (The remaining 20% is from Dymocks and/or secondhand stores. )
I’m really keen to read The Librarianist. Hope you enjoy it!