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. This week, all three books came from the ‘Best of 2024‘ list (yes, they’ve been lingering a while!).

Colored Television by Danzy Senna

Summary: Jane has high hopes her life is about to turn around. After years of living precariously, she; her painter husband, Lenny; and their two kids have landed a stint as house sitters in a friend’s luxurious LA home, a gig that coincides magically with Jane’s sabbatical (if she could just finish her latest novel…). But things don’t work out quite as hoped. In search of a plan B, like countless writers before her, Jane turns her desperate gaze to Hollywood.

I’m thinking: Maybe.

The Coin by Yasmin Zaher

Summary: A young Palestinian woman’s life unravels, far from home, as she gets caught up in a scheme reselling Birkin bags.

I’m thinking: Yes.

Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers

Summary:

In all failed relationships there is a point that passes unnoticed at the time, which can later be identified as the beginning of the decline. For Helen it was the weekend that the Hidden Man came to Westbury Park.

Croydon, 1964. Helen is an art therapist in a psychiatric hospital where she has been having a long affair with a charismatic, married doctor. One afternoon they receive a call about a disturbance from a derelict house. A mute, thirty-seven-year-old man, William, has been discovered along with his elderly aunt. It is clear he has been shut up in the house for decades, but when it emerges that William is a talented artist, Helen is determined to discover his story.

I’m thinking: Yes.