The literary penny pincher

Since I do most of my book reading on Kindle, I have a wishlist on Amazon unimaginatively named after the device.

Every time I hear about an exciting book, I add it to the list, which, as I write this, is 233 books strong. I made it a habit to check the list often since I found out that on any day, there’s a good chance a title from the list will be on offer, sometimes for as cheap as €0.99, and I usually buy them on the spot.

The best thing for me, besides the dopamine hit from the bargain, is that this habit adds serendipity to my reading routine. For example, here are five good books I read this year thanks to sorting my “Kindle” list by price (low to high):

• The Greatest Works of George Orwell - Free! (Read 1984 and The Road to Wigan Pier.)

• Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton - €0.99

• The official TED guide to public speaking, Chris Anderson - €0.99

• That Will Never Work, Marc Randolph - €1.19

• The book of disquiet, Fernando Pessoa - €2.99