i love my kindle

If you type in "Kindle" in the search bar at the top left of my blog, all of the posts containing the word will appear.  I got to 36 before I stopped counting.  Posts that star my Kindle -- or where it plays, at least, a supporting role

I bought my first electronic little black book in the summer of 2010 -- just three years ago.  I am now on my fourth.  Mainly because each new version has features I have been wanting.

I have to hand it to Amazon.  The company knows is customers.  And not only on the devises themselves.  They also know how to sell books.

If there is anything I miss about buying hard copy books, it is the ability to go to my local book store (that was once Powell's) and browse through a book to see if I wanted to invest my $25.

Amazon has an answer for that.  Electronic samples.  Similar to those little tidbits served up at Costco to customers who know how to feed their inner Pavlov dog.

My book recommendations come from various sources.  Magazine book reviews.  Suggestions from friends.  Often, mere comments on Facebook. 

Last week, Nancy of Countdown to Mexico mentioned she was reading David Sedaris's latest book.  On her recommendation, I pointed my Kindle to the Amazon site (while eating that mediocre meal at Chili's) and had a sample within seconds. 

Whoever puts together the samples has a great marketing sense.  The samples are long enough to catch the reader's attention. And then they almost always stop right in the middle of a thought.  The next box that pops us is a "purchase now" box.  I suspect most people do what I do: I buy the book right then.

The downside is that my samples tend to form a queue longer than the line at DMV.  But I always manage to get through them.

Here is what is on the list right now.

Let's Explain Diabetes With Owls -- David Sedaris

Journeys of Faith: Evangelism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Anglicanism -- Robert l. Plummer

The Painted Word -- Tom Wolfe

Coolidge -- Amity Shlaes

Inferno: A Novel -- Dan Brown (I am reading it right now.  Expect a review if I can manage to finish it.)

Help, Thanks, Wow: Three Essential Prayers  -- Anne Lamott

The Reason for God -- Timothy Keller

Without my Kindle, it would be logistically difficult to get any of those books to Mexico.

But with my Kindle, I can sit back and slip another shrimp on the Barbie.