They have all the Lonely Planet travel guides which has been useful. They don't have a lot of top authors, but a lot of genre books. It does give you an opportunity to read books you would not ordinarily read...

I take public transportation a LOT, and I think I find it appealing to be able to start reading a book and then throw it aside if it's not my thing.

And I do appreciate being able to throw it aside if I don't like it. My son is a not well known author and he has his books on KU. so that he can widen his readership.

which gave me a substantial discount

But that's way up from the nothin' I was reading before.

It's nice to pick up a book again instead of the TV remote.

They will give you incentives to stay.They do not add new authors frequently. .

I believe discount is 40% on Prime Day.

BTW for others reading I am on Apple iPad. Kindle app for iPad is excellent.

...and I really don't care who the author is.

But I might care if I had to buy each individual book.

The books I'd buy from top authors are of the non-fiction Sagan/Dawkins/Hitchens/Hawking type of dealios, and I don't mind paying for those.

out there. I do appreciate Amazon/Kindle giving them broad based exposure and distribution.

I've discovered many really good (and sometimes great) authors, thanks to KU.

It is definitely worth it if you read a lot.

I think I'm gonna do it.

are the only books I read...I have over 500 books in my Kindle Library and I will never give it up.

Iggo I don't know if you're aware of this. If you already have this info then I apologize for the duplication.

You don't have to purchase books from Amazon in order to add them to your library. Amazon wants us to think we have to buy everything (from them of course.) However there are many sources for free books and they can still be added on your Amazon Fire.

I own a Fire and I've purchased very few books. Most of the books I read are from the library (free) or downloaded from various internet websites (free & legal). Or if you have a scanner you can even make your own ebooks by scanning a hard copy book page-by-page. It's a lot of work to do that but certainly possible and no additional cost if you already have the book.

To add the books into your Fire, you need to use the USB wire and hook to your laptop or desktop computer. Open up the directory for the Fire and look for the "Documents" folder. This folder holds your own ebooks, not purchased from Amazon. The ebooks must be .mobi or .azw3 file designations. Just drag & drop them into your Documents folder. Once you have disconnected from the laptop and you restart the Fire, you should be able to find all those books in the "new" listings.

Just remember that you're sort of on your own because Amazon doesn't want us to know how easy it is to add books that weren't purchased from them. They're not giving a lot of "customer service" on this.

Kindle Unlimited gets repetitive after a couple of years. But I would keep it for the Lonely Planet travel guides alone....There are many classics out there I would like to reread. Do you mind recommending some book download websites?

Gutenberg.org is one of the best, and they've been around for years. They actually scan old out-of-print books and make them available for everyone. So they only have books that are in the public domain, including most of the classics.

Try googling "free ebook download" and you'll be amazed at all the websites that have books available. Some ask for donations, but it's completely voluntary.

For the Nook and most cell phones (Android) you need the .epub format. For the Kindle you should look for .mobi and .azw3 formats.

Usually a PDF will not display well on a Nook or Kindle because you can't resize the pages. (PDF books are good for reading on a standard desktop or laptop computer though.)

Good luck!

I have a lot of links to explore.

http://www.gutenberg.org/

All the books are free.

Some of my favorites are old Science Fiction with expired copyrights. I find them fascinating not for what they foretold, but for what they missed. It's a different way of exploring the social environment of the times they were written in.

I also find it interesting that SpaceX is, at last, building rockets that can land upright, just as the science fiction rockets of the 'thirties, 'forties, and 'fifties did.

I remember going through similar with iTunes and the iPod.

Thanks for the heads-up!

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store/zgbs/digital-text/ref=kbhp_nb_bs/ref=s9_acss_bw_cg_KCGTM_1b1_w/ref=s9_acss_bw_cg_KCGTM_6b1_w?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-1&pf_rd_r=T60D7WPQNQJN2MQY24WW&pf_rd_r=T60D7WPQNQJN2MQY24WW&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=daddf263-04e6-4da2-9fe8-62dfc3c460ab&pf_rd_p=daddf263-04e6-4da2-9fe8-62dfc3c460ab&pf_rd_i=154606011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-2&pf_rd_r=QCF766W8Q2132KKZ7MD6&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=528a855f-b89e-4149-85f6-174808589b31&pf_rd_i=14413390011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-2&pf_rd_r=VV459T543KS6J2DVSNV5&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1cdc4d53-9aaf-449a-a757-cabdf2bb6414&pf_rd_i=14413390011

(Sorry, I must have don't 'the link wrong as it didn't show. Guess you'll have to copy and paste.)

My usual route from here is to pick Kindle Ebooks on the left menu. Find the genre of your choice, make sure you've selected Top 100 Free above the pictures of the books (default is Top 100 Paid). Also make sure that the price is still $0.00 before you buy. Sometimes the price changes before they get it off the list.

https://archive.org

Prepare to be overwhelmed.

I just got a Fire HD8, too. I haven't downloaded any books yet, but I am sure enjoying that free 6 month subscription to the WaPo that came with it. I am also glad I tweaked it to run more like an Android. Some of the apps on Google Play come in handy at times.