I’ve started using a site called eReaderIQ as part of my book selection process. It actually reminds me a bit of how LoveFilm (and later Cinema Paradiso) used to fit into my movie watching.

Here is how it usually works:

I come across a book somehow, maybe through a friend’s recommendation, a newsletter, or a podcast.

First, I look it up on Goodreads. If it scores more than 4, or if I really trust the person who mentioned it, I send a sample to my Kindle. Every now and again, usually when I’m on holiday or have some downtime, I read through those samples to decide if I actually want to read the full book. If the answer is yes, I head over to eReaderIQ. I find the book on there and set up tracking for it at a level of £1. That way, if it ever drops to a 99p offer, I get a notification.

Then, every so often, an email pops up to tell me an alert has been triggered. I just buy the book automatically. There is no further thought required because “past me” already decided this was a book worth tracking. All “current me” has to do is press buy and commit to spending 99p.

The result is that I now have a tsundoku on my Kindle to match the one on my physical shelf.

I quite like this balance. The physical books on my shelf are mainly non-fiction or episodic. These are my “read to learn” choices. The books on my Kindle are mainly novels or memoirs, which are my day to day reads.

It means I have more choice available to me immediately. I’m relying less on the Amazon Prime lending library or tailoring what I read around what happens to be available for free. For the moment, this is working nicely.