You probably know all this, but I thought I'd repeat it just the same. There's method in my madness, as you will see.
- Buy Once, Read Everywhere: You don't need to own a Kindle device to enjoy Kindle books. Download one of our free Kindle apps to start reading Kindle books on all your devices. The Kindle app is available for every major smartphone, tablet, and computer. That means with our free Kindle Reading apps, you can buy a Kindle book once, and read it on any device with the Kindle app installed. And of course, you can also read that same Kindle book on a Kindle, Kindle Touch, or Kindle Keyboard if you own one.
- .............
- Get free book samples--read the first chapter for free before you decide to buy.
If you have downloaded these free samples, you may have found that they are an excellent way of finding out whether you are likely to enjoy a book before you take the plunge. But wait, there's more! If your taste runs to short stories, you can actually download a complete story from a collection. You could, for example, download a short story by the sublime Alice Munro free of charge. Not that it would do you much good, as she is so extraordinary that you will immediately want to download (and buy) all the other stories in the collection!
Greetings Barnaby
ReplyDeleteI had a day off work today to celebrate mum's 97th birthday but before going up to the celebratory lunch in Town, I met up with mrs maytrees (who was coming of course after meeting her friend to the birthday lunch) and a friend in Wimbledon's Cafe Nero.
As it happens the Kindle was the subject of much discussion. Mrs maytree's friend buys me books for my birthday each year but refuses to acquire a Kindle or to get me Kindle versions because of the closure of local bookshops the Kindle is causing.
Wimbledon's 5 bookshops are now down to just 2 for example. Waterstones is still open in Wimbledon but many closed before a Russian entrepreneur saved the remaining ones.
The trouble is that the Kindle is ideal to read on the Underground commute not least because of its screen light and a daily book deal for 99p is good value.
Nonetheless it is good to see Waterstones Wimbledon is still busy and full of knowledgeable assistants. I was amazed recently to find that they had started selling Kindles. One of their learned assistants said that it had to be done on a
"If you can't beat them join them" basis.
Hello Jerry. I hope your mother's birthday was a great success.
DeleteI don't know if you remember a 1998 film called "You've Got Mail", starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan? Meg Ryan's traditional bookshop is threatened by the equivalent of Waterstones or Barnes and Noble. How times have changed! Now even the big shops are under attack from Amazon.
In spite of what I wrote in my post, I still do prefer to read a real physical book but it's only a fragile preference and not necessarily proof against all the advantages of Amazon and the Kindle. I think that if I lived in a place like Wimbledon I would probably spend quite a bit of time in Waterstones, provided they have a coffee bar! But stuck out here in the country... and besides there are not many really welcoming big bookshops in France, not even in Paris.
Incidentally, what is this "daily book deal for 99p"? I'm very intrigued!
Greetings Barnaby
DeleteThose who read most books seem to live in the coldest climes. From visiting Iceland as a 60th birthday present some 4 years ago I saw and since learned how many bookshops there are in Reykjavik. However I always thought Paris was full of bookshops.
The 99p daily deal today reads:
"Kindle Daily Deal: October 27
Today only, save up to 84% on books by Neil Gaiman, Ruby M Ayres, and Andrew Weist."
Hi Jerry
ReplyDeleteYes, there are plenty of bookshops in Paris but none on a par with the Barnes&Noble (or was it Borders?) in Houston where you could while away a good part of the day at the Starbucks enclave!
Unfortunately, I don't think Amazon France has the equivalent of daily deals! Have you bought any books this way?