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.

Blood Orange Night by Melissa Bond

Why I have it: Recommended by Christine at Bookishly Boisterous.

Summary: As Bond raises her two young children, she suffers from unbearable insomnia, sleeping an hour or less each night. She loses her job and her relationship with her husband suffers. Her doctor casually prescribes benzodiazepines and following doctor’s orders, she takes the pills – until her body begins to shut down, and then she learns that her doctor has over-prescribed the medication, and quitting cold turkey could lead to psychosis or fatal seizures.

I’m thinking: Yes.

Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry

Why I have it: Because it made Bookish Beck cry (and I love a book that makes me cry).

Summary: Sarah Perry’s father-in-law David died in the autumn of 2022, only nine days after a cancer diagnosis. Until then he’d been healthy and happy – an ‘ordinary’ man. But as he began to die, it became clear how extraordinary he was. Sarah and her husband, Robert, nursed David themselves at home. Day by day and hour by hour, they witnessed what happens to the body and spirit as death approaches and finally arrives.

I’m thinking: Yes.

It’s Only Drowning by David Litt

Why I have it: I liked the description – ‘a love letter to surfing’.

Summary: A former Obama speechwriter (with a fear of sharks) moves to the Jersey Shore and learns to surf with the help of his brother-in-law (a daredevil electrician with a shed full of surfboards).

I’m thinking: Yes.