Saturday, April 21, 2012

What to read?

Right now I'm on a miserably strict budget (still need to replace my crapped-out camera, still need a laptop with Word 2010, still need silly little things like groceries, etc.), so I'm trying to figure out how to satisfy my need to read without exceeding $5 a pop for each title.

Thus far I've been turning to dead-tree books I've picked up over the years at a local thrift shop and at library sales. (Most have been disappointing.) I've been feeding my Kindle, too, but only if/when I can find deals. Used print editions of older nonfiction texts are fairly easy to come by at Amazon and Half.com, so that's helped.

Got any other suggestions? I have an enormous TBR of e-book fiction titles, but . . . they all exceed my spending limit. I'll get them sooner or later; just can't do it now. (Seriously, I have to stick to this $5 cap lest my next credit card bill makes me run screaming through the woods!)

By the way, if you have the impression JLA ain't no sugar daddy, you're absolutely correct. ;-)

10 comments:

Jason said...

Have you read The Violet and The Tom? It's by Eve Ocotillo.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8164754-the-violet-and-the-tom

It's a free read at Fictionpress but I found a way, somehow to get it as an ebook a while back. It may be available somewhere else.

Tam said...

Since you are now the owner of a Kindle, have you tried the Kindle Lending Library? I think Amazon has one and I know there is one at the m/m GR group. I have no clue how it works but there are a lot of people with lendable shelves.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_folder/91106?group_id=20149

Doesn't Amazon have a kindle library of some sort? No idea how it works. Even some public libraries have e-book lending I think.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200549320

This supposedly explains it. Good luck finding something decent and free. I have such a backlog that I could go months without buying a book, but ....

K. Z. Snow said...

Thanks, Jase. I've heard of Oco's story, and it does sound good.

Yeah, I've sort of looked into that, Tam. It confused me at first, but if I applied myself, I could probably figure it out. (I've had concentration issues lately. *sigh*)

Chris said...

To get FictionPress stories as ebooks, you go here with the story url:

http://storymaster.the-code-monkey.com/story-master-application/

Some other good freebies I've read lately:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13555973-the-epic-love-story-of-doug-and-stephen
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11225647-wmsmoker-seeks-seclusion
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13151360-heart-in-hand
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13501799-taking-these-chances
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13501762-of-sweaters-and-heartache

You can also join the GRs group The Freeloaders, who link to legal free m/m ebooks:

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/65136-the-freeloaders

Chris said...

Oh, and you can also join Netgalley:

http://netgalley.com/index2.php?module=catalog&genre=11

K. Z. Snow said...

Wow, thanks, Chris! You are truly a one-woman resource-apalooza. :-)

Chrissy said...

Hi K.Z. - for my inexpensive & free Kindle needs I check the Kindle World Blog here: http://kindleworld.blogspot.com/ - they have great links on the right sidebar, including some I'll list below:

Since I'm too impatient to wade thru all the listings at Amazon I use this handy filter for Free Recently Published Kindle Books :http://bit.ly/latestfreenonclassics5 & this filter to the Top 100 Free Kindle Books at Amazon: http://bit.ly/kfreepaid.

Here's their filter to the Kindle Daily Deal: http://amzn.to/kindledailydeal and the Kindle Monthly Deal where the prices are from $1.99 to $3.99: http://amzn.to/100kbooks-2to4

I'm afraid there's probably not too many of the titles on your TBR list there, but maybe some others might catch your eye.

K. Z. Snow said...

Hiya, Chrissy! How're you doing?

Ooo, good Kindle tips. Thank you.

Chrissy said...

Ducking back in with another link, K.Z. - I just found this one. It's the Free Books Forum at the Kindle Users Forum - it's updated throughout the day with freebies.

here

K. Z. Snow said...

Nice! Thanks again.