scott stonehouse

My wife is aware of my love for Libby and fully supports it.

It helps, of course, that Libby is not another woman but an online library resource to check out electronic books and audiobooks.

I love to read. For many years I spent a lot of money on books every year. That wasn’t a bad thing. I saw it as an investment or entertainment.

One year I decided to try and go an entire year without spending any money on books. It sounded crazy and impossible to me, but I wanted to challenge myself. That challenge is what led me to discover Libby.

With Libby I can check out books to read on my Kindle or audio books to listen to on my phone. For free. From home. And when they are due, they are automatically returned. Nothing is ever late.

Is that not incredible?

You can belong to more than one library and some libraries allow you to join them without being a resident of their city. I have electronic cards at four different libraries.

Whenever I see a book I am interested in reading or one is recommended to me, I add it to a “To Read” list. My first step is to always check Libby to see if it is available for free. If not, I typically go to the next book on the list that is available for free and come back and check the original book at a later date.

Even after my challenge years ago, my love for Libby remains. I have significantly reduced the amount of money I spend on books. This is why my wife is so supportive of my love for Libby. In fact, she loves Libby, too.

** PRO TIP ** I learned this from my reading text group (Hi Robert & Dave!): You can turn your Kindle on Airplane Mode and keep the books you have downloaded via Libby beyond their due date! They will still be returned on time as far as the library is concerned, but they won’t be removed from your Kindle until you turn Airplane Mode off and sync again.