Free Summer Reading

Gifts are a love language and, while I am only now struggling to learn to speak it well, my husband  is a natural - he instinctively picks great gifts. Last year, to my astonishment, he presented me with a Kindle Fire for my birthday. I'd always assumed I'd stay an old-school, real-book kind of girl. While I've found that the Kindle is not a replacement for real books, I love it!

Ebooks are significantly cheaper than their counterparts, particularly in used-bookstore-bereft areas like mine. Possibly the best part, though, are the free books.

A friend clued me in to the fabulous reality that Amazon has free ebooks for the Kindle every day.

One of the recent free
book selections.

The selection changes daily (sometimes hourly), and contains a good mix of fiction and non-fiction across genres and reading levels. There are occasional kids books, and lots of youth/ young adult books, too. They're downloadable with a single click, and yours to keep. That means no stressing about finishing things before they automatically return themselves (like digital library books do) or finding a great book but not being able to share it (like the ebooks you can borrow via Amazon prime).

[Hint: from the Amazon main page, put your mouse on "Kindle", then select "Kindle books" from the menu that pops out to the right. On the right edge of the page that opens will be a "Top 100" list, and the tab next to it is "Top 100 Free". It will list the first 10, and at the bottom of that list will be a link to the full 100. It sounds convoluted, but it's really quick and easy once you know where to look.]

It's proven an awesome, no-risk way to check out new authors and new series. Even though I have very little time to read right now, I've got some great stuff tucked away in my Kindle for later - things that will keep my brain occupied and significantly lessen the temptation to buy any books. More money staying in my pocket, and more space staying free on my shelves! (Plus, as my Mom has pointed out, a Kindle takes up almost no space in a suitcase or shoulder bag, so you can take great beach reads on vacation and still have room for all your shoes!)

Where is your favorite place to pick up free ebooks?