I have a kindle question if anyone can help

[TippyThomas]

Thanks everyone.

Make sure you have them setup an account with their local library. There is an amazing amount of digital media available for free through the library system as well. There should be guides on how to setup the Kindle to receive borrowed books with no trouble at all.

 

[Meriweather]

I stopped buying gift cards for my wife for her Kindle. She gets the books she wants for free from the public library, and she has really taken to the free books on Amazon. Yes, many of the free books are pretty awful, poorly written and self published, which is what makes them even more entertaining......according to my wife.

I do get a free book every month through Prime First reads. I get them, but I don't think I have actually read one yet.
I have so many books on my Kindle from my favorite authors

 

[princesscinderella]

You could also get a subscription to kindle unlimited which is a monthly book subscription like Netflix for books. I buy them for a year at a time.

 

[wenrob]

I do get a free book every month through Prime First reads. I get them, but I don't think I have actually read one yet.
I have so many books on my Kindle from my favorite authors

I choose them but don’t really read them. The exception being that once in a blue moon an author I read pops up on there but that’s only happened maybe three times over years of owning Kindle/being a Prime member. The quality is just not there IMO.

 

[Christine]

I stopped buying gift cards for my wife for her Kindle. She gets the books she wants for free from the public library, and she has really taken to the free books on Amazon. Yes, many of the free books are pretty awful, poorly written and self published, which is what makes them even more entertaining......according to my wife.

I haven't bought a book in years with my Kindle. Just about everything I want is through the public library but unfortunately the waits are long and sometimes I have nothing to read. Unlike your wife, I can't bring myself to read a book that's probably horrible. I get angry when a "good" book is horrible.

 

[slo]

Make sure you have them setup an account with their local library. There is an amazing amount of digital media available for free through the library system as well. There should be guides on how to setup the Kindle to receive borrowed books with no trouble at all.

Yes - I agree with this
The only books I buy are ones that are my absolute favorites or ones that my library doesn’t offer for Kindle.

To answer the question about a gift card to go with the Kindle - an Amazon gift card.

 

[tvguy]

I haven't bought a book in years with my Kindle. Just about everything I want is through the public library but unfortunately the waits are long and sometimes I have nothing to read. Unlike your wife, I can't bring myself to read a book that's probably horrible. I get angry when a "good" book is horrible.

Her hobby is writing reviews for those horrible free books. She has quite a following of her "reviews". She is on the wait list for enough books that so far she always has at least a couple of options form the library.

 

[NotUrsula]

I haven't bought a book in years with my Kindle. Just about everything I want is through the public library but unfortunately the waits are long and sometimes I have nothing to read. Unlike your wife, I can't bring myself to read a book that's probably horrible. I get angry when a "good" book is horrible.

If you are using Libby (Overdrive) for your library books, double-check to see if your library also subscribes to Hoopla Digital.

Hoopla uses a different purchase model than Overdrive; there is no waiting. Unlike Overdrive, where the Library chooses and buys access to a certain number of titles before they are borrowed, Hoopla makes their whole catalog available up-front, and the Library pays for the title access when you borrow it. You get a set number of borrows per month, & the count restarts on your allowance at the beginning of each month. Hoopla does tend to have a lot more schlock in their catalog filler, but they also offer titles from the major publishers, plus a lot of audiobooks, plus movies and TV shows for streaming. They also have quite a lot of foreign titles in English and in other languages; I've been discovering a lot of Canadian and Australian authors that are not very well known in the US.

 

[mamamary]

We got an Amazon gift card to go with the kindle. I will also mention to the gift recipient about getting books from the library. She had a kindle before but it was from many years ago and it just stopped working right. Thx everyone for the help.

 

[RamblingMad]

I haven't bought a book in years with my Kindle. Just about everything I want is through the public library but unfortunately the waits are long and sometimes I have nothing to read. Unlike your wife, I can't bring myself to read a book that's probably horrible. I get angry when a "good" book is horrible.

Yep. I have six open holds right now.

 

[thinkerbell]

If you are using Libby (Overdrive) for your library books, double-check to see if your library also subscribes to Hoopla Digital.

Hoopla uses a different purchase model than Overdrive; there is no waiting. Unlike Overdrive, where the Library chooses and buys access to a certain number of titles before they are borrowed, Hoopla makes their whole catalog available up-front, and the Library pays for the title access when you borrow it. You get a set number of borrows per month, & the count restarts on your allowance at the beginning of each month. Hoopla does tend to have a lot more schlock in their catalog filler, but they also offer titles from the major publishers, plus a lot of audiobooks, plus movies and TV shows for streaming. They also have quite a lot of foreign titles in English and in other languages; I've been discovering a lot of Canadian and Australian authors that are not very well known in the US.

OMG. Thank you! I have been using only Libby and didn’t realize that there was also another platform. I checked and my library has Hoopla. I am signed up now. There are some of my favorite authors that have series on Libby but I won’t start listending to the series because they only have certain ones, like books 1, 3, and 6. I’m hoping Hoopla has them all or at least the ones that are missing.

 

[Lumpy1106]

I haven't bought a book in years with my Kindle. Just about everything I want is through the public library but unfortunately the waits are long and sometimes I have nothing to read. Unlike your wife, I can't bring myself to read a book that's probably horrible. I get angry when a "good" book is horrible.

Same. I almost exclusively read just library books on my Kindle. You can keep them as long as you want as long as you don't update your Kindle (just keep it on airplane mode or don't go back to your library until you are done reading your current book). I think I do what @RamblingMad does - I keep an inventory of books on hold on Libby, then just "borrow later" when a book from my holds comes available and I am not close to finishing the book I am reading. If I discover a book I would like to read I just add it to the "holds" list. Overdrive lets you request books if your library doesn't have them but I have not seen that option with Libby, and my library is switching to Libby exclusively pretty soon. Anyone know if you can make requests with Libby?
Will check out Hoopla - thanks for the suggestion!