The literal penny pincher

I do most of my book reading on Kindle, and I have an ebook wishlist on Amazon that I unimaginatively named … “Kindle.”

Every time I hear about an interesting book, I add it to the list, which is 233 books strong as of today. 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 for as cheap as €0.99, which I proceed to buy 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 six of the best 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.)

• Greenlights, Matthew McConaughey - €0.99

• 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