books and prices and books

[pricciar]

Recently, I got a couple of Amazon gift cards. I have been trying to think of what fun things to do with them. There are always PS3 games to buy, so that's an easy choice- that's usually my first option. But, the Kindles are so cheap now, and the idea of reading ten books at once with no need to carry much of anything at all is kind of appealing. Plus, it's a lot more brain filling. To help figure out whether using a Kindle would work well for me I decided to come up with a list of 30 books and see if they were available, how much they cost, and if I could get them at the library. The library does offer ebooks, but I am not sure they work in the Kindle. So, I checked to see if the library had ebooks of the books, I wanted as well.
Really, how I buy books doesn't work out especially well for the Kindle. I usually like to buy a book used, or borrow it from the library. The prices of Kindle books are about 45 dollars more than I would pay on my own (I would mostly use the library, anyhow). And, the library only offers ecopies of 9 books of the 30. So, I'm not going to get a Kindle. But, I am really glad I made the list up. When I am finished the book I am reading now, I am going to get started on whittling down the list. In coming up with stuff I want to read next I found a lot of fun stuff! And, since I spent time compiling such a dumb list, I will post it here so at least other people can see it, too.

Title	New Price	Used Price	Kindle Price	Library Print?	Library Digital Version?	Cheapest Print
Hunger Games	$8.99	$10.21	$5.00	yes	no	$8.99
Complete Sherlock Holmes	$10.00	$11.82	$1.99	yes	adobe epub	$10.00
East of Eden	$10.66	$4.13	$12.99	yes	adobe epub	$4.13
C by Tom McCarthy	$14.17	$14.60	$9.34	yes	no	$14.17
Before I Fall	$10.52	$11.48	$9.99	yes	no	$10.52
Moneyball	$9.41	$7.07	$8.94	yes	no	$7.07
Water For Elephants	$7.76	$8.39	$5.00	yes	adobe epub	$7.76
Living Dead in Dallas	$7.81	$4.00	$6.99	yes	adobe epub	$4.00
God Save the Mark	$11.82	$5.96	$7.99	no	no	$5.96
The Hunter	$8.87	$10.68	$7.57	yes	no	$8.87
LaBrava	$7.50	$3.96	$9.99	yes	no	$3.96
Not Quite Dead Enough	$7.99	$5.83	$6.39	no	no	$5.83
Make Out With Murder	n/a	$2.20	$9.99	no	no	$2.20
Hit Parade	$7.99	$2.97	$7.99	yes	no	$2.97
Hit and Run	$7.99	$4.49	$7.99	yes	adobe epub	$4.49
The Memory Keeper's Daughter	$10.20	$2.25	$12.99	yes	adobe epub	$2.25
Zeitoun	$7.45	$9.89	$5.69	yes	adobe epub	$7.45
Emperor of All Maladies	$15.58	$24.81	$12.99	yes	no	$15.58
Gentlemen of the Road	$10.55	$4.00	$9.29	yes	no	$4.00
To Say Nothing of the Dog	$7.99	$4.89	$6.15	yes	no	$4.89
Kafka on the Shore	$10.20	$9.69	$8.10	yes	no	$9.69
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers	$8.25	$4.99	$7.32	yes	no	$4.99
The Moving Target	$10.36	$7.34	$9.84	no	adobe epub	$7.34
The Handmaid's Tale	$9.03	$4.00	$7.89	yes	no	$4.00
A Dirty Job	$11.19	$5.34	$9.99	yes	adobe epub	$5.34
Sunnyside	$12.71	$4.07	$8.77	yes	no	$4.07
Abel's Island	$6.99	$4.98	n/a	yes	no	$4.98
A Cold Case	$11.05	$3.65	n/a	yes	no	$3.65
The Fixer	$8.93	$5.77	n/a	yes	no	$5.77
More than Human	$13.15	$9.84	n/a	yes	no	$9.84
Total (available on Kindle)	$244.99	$189.06	$217.17	26	9	$170.52
Total (all)	$285.11	$213.30				$194.76

Comments

[rue_deday.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (borrowed from the library). My 14 year old son liked The Hunger Games. That's what I've got.

[pricciar.livejournal.com]

Good to know on both counts! Thanks.

Yeah, thats another good thing about putting up the list. Everyone on my friend's list reads more than me, so it is good to hear what everyone thought of the books on it they read.

pat

[daedalsobriquet.livejournal.com]

i have a number of ebooks... epub and pdf files.
if you want i can send you the list and you can let me know if youd like any of them.

[pricciar.livejournal.com]

I probably wouldn't take anything, because I don't like read on the computer. But, I would love to see what you have, just to see what is out there.

Do you read it on a Kindle, or on your computer or something?

pat

[daedalsobriquet.livejournal.com]

i use my iphone and sometimes ill print them out and read them that way.

i'll send you the list in a bit...

[welfy.livejournal.com]

Those all sound interesting. I LOVED Water for Elephants!

I liked the Millennium Trilogy books...Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and whatnot.

[pricciar.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw the trailer for the movie and realized I had to get on reading the book before the movie came out.

I have the first one of those, but haven't read it. I tried once, but couldn't get into it. Maybe I will try that one again.

pat

[nymysys.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised you haven't read The Handmaid's Tale. Not in an OMG I CANT BLIEV IT LOLOLOLOL kind of way, but I would have thought it'd be totally your taste.

[pricciar.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have heard nothing but good things. Just haven't had a chance to try it. I have also had the Blind Assassin recommended to me, but never read it.

pat

[katiekilldare.livejournal.com]

I might copy your list here. Look at all the good books.

Have you read "City of Thieves" by David Benioff? Among what I read last year, it was probably my favorite. And it's short.

[pricciar.livejournal.com]

I'll keep my out for that one. Short is great, sometimes!

pat

[ne-jyam.livejournal.com]

To Say Nothing of the Dog -- Connie Willis right??? That was a good one! She's my second favorite author of all time. I'm re-reading a collection of her short stories right now.

Handmaid's Tale was eery and creeptastic. Very good, and very unsettling.

Are you on goodreads.com? Add me! http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4165520

[pricciar.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I don't know much about it, but I was looking through Hugo award winners and it sounded interesting. Good to know she is one of your faves. That's a thumbs up before I even start.

Yeah, I am on it. I am bad about updating it, though. But, I am going to try to start updating my reviews once I finish books for now on. It helps me remember what I read better.

pat

[jamespolk.livejournal.com]

Your list is the right approach. I try to be honest with people who ask me if they should get a Kindle and I tell them it depends on how much they read, what they read, and how they get what they read. A lot of people seem to just say "well since they're free at the library it makes no sense" when I know for a fact that the only time they're in a library is to vote.

But personally I almost always purchased my books new, hate going to the library, and rarely resold them after reading so it is a good savings overall for me

[withbutterflies.livejournal.com]

Stealing the books where it's at!