Miles Vorkosigan saga

[Inanna]

Huh? I have the kindle... You mean, BUY them?!

[Impenitent]

There's that possibility, or there's kindle unlimited, which offers an ebook borrowing library for $10 a month (that's a bargain for me, even in $Oz, because I get through about 10 books a week, but your mileage may vary).

[Impenitent]

There's that possibility, or there's kindle unlimited, which offers an ebook borrowing library for $10 a month (that's a bargain for me, even in $Oz, because I get through about 10 books a week, but your mileage may vary).

[Primula Baggins]

Hey, I buy Kindle books fairly often, and it doesn't exactly break the bank. Current big hits that are still in hardcover are expensive in Kindle, too (I don't buy them; there are libraries for this). But any book originally published in paperback or that was published at least a few years ago (which applies for much of the Miles series) costs about the same as a mass-market paperback, eight or nine bucks. Definitely an optional item, but not reprehensibly so, IMO.

[Maria]

I've recently started buying free Kindle ebooks on Amazon, and then adding "audible narration" for about $2. That's far, far cheaper than one credit on audible.com costs us. Lots of first novels in series are free, so it is a good way to try the series cheaply. That's if you are into audiobooks, that is.

[Primula Baggins]

I definitely see the appeal if you drive a lot or spend long periods working with your hands but not your brain. When Tom and I retire we hope to do a lot of road trips, and although we both enjoy all kinds of music, along about day 6 something else might start to sound better.

[Maria]

We go home for lunch every day, so our daily commute ends up being about 80 minutes per day. That eats up a lot of audiobooks all on its own, but I also listen to them while doing chores or housework or cooking or crafts that use my hands. We listen to new ones together, but we listen to old favorites when we are apart.

I'm currently going through the Miles Vorkosigan series again when I'm on my own, and the David Weber novel we are listening to together is really suffering in comparison. "It has no PLOT!" I keep saying to my husband. We really need something better for a long drive we are planning for this weekend.

[Inanna]

Impish, I tried kindle unlimited for a few months, then gave it up, and decided to rely on eNYPL. The way books eat up into my working time (yes, really) I need some restriction over not having continuous access to them.

[Impenitent]

Inanna, I am so completely in sync with you there! I read in preference to any other task including sleeping. It's a significant contributor to my unproductiveness and deadline panic.

[Frelga]

* joins Inanna and Impish in the "Sleepless with a book" club *

Does Kindle still do a thing for Prime where you can borrow books for free? I haven't looked in a while, my backlog would reach the ceiling if I were to pile it up, and that's not counting the stuff on Kindle.

By the way, on the off chance that not everyone knows this already, it's real easy to get any book on Project Gutenberg onto a Kindle.

[Impenitent]

Yes, Project Gutenberg is fabulous! And Librivox is great for audiobooks in the public domain.

I think that Prime includes Kindle Unlimited borrowing. For me in Oz, Prime is an extravagance because it doesn't include such things as music and film (nor free shipping, but then I so rarely buy anything non-digital from Amazon that it makes no difference).

[Inanna]

Prime doesn't include kindle unlimited. But yes, Frelga, afaik, the borrow one book in one calendar month thing is still on for prime members.

Once I finished all the Barbara michaels Books on eNYPL, I am sleeping so much more. . Getting more work done too. I think I will re-read for another week of two before I find something new.

[Primula Baggins]

I lost the ability to read long fiction for pleasure for years while my kids were little and I was working to get my editing business going (and writing two novels, one of which ended up published, so . . .). I was only able to read fiction in two- or three-minute snatches and I completely lost the ability to immerse myself in it. I would sit out at the coast, say, with all the time in the world, and my mind would bounce around and I couldn't focus on the page. It made me angry and sad, and it has taken years and conscious practice to regain the ability to get lost in fiction. Writing gave me some of that, but for a long time I was not able to lose myself in other people's work.

So good for you, Inanna, for keeping that going in this difficult phase of life, even if you feel like you're reading "too much." You won't have that loss and won't have to fight your way back from it.

I think it was getting a Kindle that completed my recovery. I always knew where my book was, and it always knew where I'd left off.

[Frelga]

The upside of my probable ADD is that I have no problem reading in 5 minute snatches, often from multiple books.

[Primula Baggins]

I can, too, and usefully. But I really love becoming immersed, lost to the world, while reading a good story—where all I see is what's in my mind's eye, and people have to jog my elbow to get my attention. I'm not able to do that five minutes at a time, so after enough years, I wasn't able to do it at all. But I'm getting it back, and my Kindle has unquestionably helped.

[Frelga]

Hooray for that!

[Maria]

Word of the Day: Propinquity
Found in "A Civil Campaign" by Lois McMaster Bujold.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propinquity

I might actually use that one sometime.

[Primula Baggins]

It's a lovely word.

[Inanna]

Yes, I agree, Prim, losing yourself in books is essential.

I have been losing myself in the Paper Magician series. Imp, they are on kindle, part of the unlimited collection (& the lending library collection).

[Maria]

I've found a series that strongly reminds me of the Vorkosigan saga: The Liaden Universe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liaden_universe

There are multiple entrances into the series, so I just started with the first one written. We are 3 books in and are really liking it so far.

We had to speed up the reader significantly, though. I'm glad the current audible app has this ability! Anyway, if you liked the Vorkosigan books, these are very similar.