I doubt that I'll ever read the books that I buy for my Kindle a second time, but I consider it worth the money for the hours that I spend enjoying the book, and the writers have to earn a living.

Perhaps he can look into Kindle Unlimited?

Edit: sorry, my first sentence is a bit flippant. Is the friend on a fixed income, and thus needs to borrow, rather than buy?

My library belongs to a system that lets me access tons of items from around the area. Does your friend's library belong to such a system?

Our library system in Canada has an entire website devoted to OverDrive, for digital books, eBooks as well as audiobooks, through Kindle (and other methods). It's one of three different websites for library patrons -- we have the local library's website, the interlibrary loan website, and then the OverDrive website. We're not limited to just our local library (which is only one branch in our small town); the system includes libraries for at least half of Alberta.

Worth asking your local library if they have such a thing.

I did a quick search on Google and turned up Amazon's Kindle Owners' Lending Library, which is available with Prime membership,

https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000739811

https://lifehacker.com/5985336/heres-how-to-see-all-the-books-you-can-borrow-for-free-on-your-kindle-from-your-browser

https://ebookfriendly.com/kindle-owners-lending-library-vs-kindle-unlimited/

I started using the library just this year for ebooks because I refuse to pay $14.99 for an ebook. I've joined three different libraries so far because some libraries don't buy best sellers right away and other have huge wait lists.

HERE is a link to some libraries that will let non-residents pay to join their library. He should check their collection to see if they have the authors he likes to read. I didn't join any of those because I didn't need to, but I found them when I was disappointed with my local library's inventory.

I like mysteries, too. I happen to have access through a relative to one city's library and I have two different libraries close to me that allow me to borrow without a fee, one of which doesn't get new releases for close to a year after publication.

Here's a site that lists lots of ways to get free books: https://www.thebalance.com/places-to-get-free-kindle-books-1357954

I also suggest trying to find a way to use OverDrive. It's terrific. If his library doesn't use it, it is worth driving a bit to get a card from a neighboring library. You check out books online and then click the link to Amazon. Sign in and the book automatically loads to your kindle. And returns are automatic too.

https://www.overdrive.com/

I use OverDrive, but you still have to belong to a library, I think.

Thank you everyone! Some great resources here. We use Overdrive for the local library, but haven't checked whether we have access to other libraries nearby. I'll send him the links and let him dig around. He is retired Navy, so he is going to check into the military libraries, too.

The site Book Bub, will send an e-mail every day when you sign up, with a list of low price, or free books, to buy or read. The free ones are meh, often, but not awful, and you can select the category of books you prefer to read, authors you like, etc. I must have 20 free books on my kindle, waiting for me to read. It is somehow associated with Amazon, as is everything, everywhere!

I use OverDrive also. My local library in Buffalo, NY didn't have enough of a selection of what I wanted to read. A friend told me that I could join the NY Public Library in NYC since I am a New York State resident. I did have to send them a copy of my license to prove I live in NYS, but it was well worth it.

So if your local library doesn't have much of a selection, see if you can find another library in a large city in your state and see what their requirements are for joining that library and using their OverDrive.

More good ideas. I will probably claim a few for myself. :-)

Yes, if you want to borrow e-books Amazon Kindle is not the place to go. That is what the library does - let you borrow books. Amazon takes your money. I did try the library but that didn't work for me as I don't finish my books fast enough. Or there was a waiting list of 175 for popular books and when I came up on the list I wasn't ready for a new book. It may have improved by now as that was a few years ago and trying a different library system might be a good idea.

For now I'm content to read inexpensive books from Amazon Kindle - either because they're just not expensive or they are on sale. Rarely do I buy a full price book - usually only if it's something DH and I both really want to read.

I haven’t read all the responses so I apologize if this is a repeat. My DH loves to read on his kindle so last year I got him a years subscription to Kindle Unlimited for $99.00 and he loves it. Granted it’s not for everyone, but they do offer a 30 day free trial and it might be worth giving it a try. There’s also a monthly option for 10.00/mo I think.

Kindle Unlimited

I second the nomination for BookBub. I selected four different genres and receive several options to buy or not every day. Most are less than a couple of dollars.

I eyeballed BookBub last night, and I'm going to sign up. I couldn't find how it works, so I want to do it from the device with my Kindle app, just in case it tries to look for some setting or something. Looks pretty cool!

The NY Public Library lets anyone in NYState join the library and they have tons of ebooks and movies.