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Kindle Genre Watch: New in Romance & Western Fiction

February 5, 2012 Jan Comments off

Spend less time searching for new fiction and more time reading it as I watch for newly-released genre fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. Outstanding new releases in romance and western fiction include:

Westerns

Country of the Bad Wolfes by James Carlos Blake. Cinco Puntos Press, 2012. Print length: 466 p. Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"In Country of the Bad Wolfes, based in part on his own ancestors, Blake presents the story of the Wolfe family - a saga that spans three generations, centers on two sets of identical twins and the women they love, and ranges from New England to the heart of Mexico before concluding in South Texas. Begat by an Irish-English pirate in New Hampshire in 1828, the Wolfe family follows its manifest destiny into war-torn Mexico. There, through the connection of a mysterious American named Edward Little, their fortunes intertwine with those of Porfirio Díaz, who will rule the country for more than thirty years before his overthrow by the Revolution of 1910. In the course of those tumultuous chapters in American and Mexican history, as Díaz grows in power, the Wolfes grow rich and forge a violent history of their own, spawning a fearsome legacy that will pursue them to a climactic reckoning at the Río Grande." - Publisher.

Tales of the Far West: A Wuxia-Western Anthology edited by Gareth-Michael Skarka. Adamant Entertainment, 2012. Print length: 226 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (8 reviews). Kindle edition $4.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Imagine: A fantasy world, but not one based on Medieval/Dark Ages European culture and myth, but rather on the tropes of the Spaghetti Western and Chinese Wuxia. Add steampunk elements. Mix well. A fantasy world that mixes the inspirations of Django and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...The Good, The Bad & The Ugly and House of Flying Daggers...Fistful of Dollars and Fist of Legend. A fantasy world that's explored through a book series, a constantly-updated website, a tabletop role-playing game, comics, artwork, webseries and much, much, more. This is FAR WEST. Tales of the Far West is the first book in Adamant Entertainment's Wuxia-Western mash-up, featuring a dozen all-new tales written by critically-acclaimed and award-winning fantasy, science-fiction, horror and adventure authors." - Publisher.

The Mule Tamer by John Horst. Publisher. Print length: Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $0.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Arvel Walsh can tame mules, but can he tame the wild Arizona frontier, and the Mexican girl known as Chica, as wild and unpredictable as the land she roams? Arizona in 1892 is the last of the untamed country in America. Laws are hard to enforce and bad hombres know it. Texas pushed them out of their land with the famous Texas Rangers, can Arizona do the same? Challenged by savage bandits, psychotic serial killers, and anarchists, Arvel Walsh and Dick Welles will have to summon all their knowledge, and all their guts as veterans of the Civil War to make the fledgling Arizona Rangers a force to be reckoned with. Follow the men as they ride across the deserts and through the arroyos of southern Arizona, encountering dangers, a mystical aborigine, a severed head in a bottle, and side show freaks while discovering that heroes may be found in the most unlikely places, and that a certain beautiful and unpredictable woman may very well be the key to their success and their salvation, in more ways than one." - Publisher.

Preacher's Fury by William W. Johnstone, with J. A. Johnstone. Pinnacle Books, 2012. Print length: 353 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (3 reviews). Kindle edition $4.49. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"Montana Territory and a band of Assiniboine Indians give Preacher shelter for the winter. A beautiful woman named Raven's Wing makes the sheltering even better - once he gets things straight with a jealous brave who wants to lift Preacher's scalp. Across the border is another wanderer and another tribe. Preacher's old enemy, Willie Deaver, plies a band of Indians with the deadliest combination possible: whisky, guns and bullets - then directs them to try out their killing tools on the Assiniboine. The raid reaps a harvest of devastating death, bloodshed and helpless captives. Deaver is all the more delighted when he learns Preacher is among the fallen. But in the driving, drifting snow, with a handful of bloodied survivors by his side, Preacher is rising: a rifle in his hands, red-hot fury in his heart, and icy vengeance in his gun sight..." - Publisher.

Romance

Lucky Penny by Catherine Anderson. Signet, 2012. Print length: 432 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"To support her orphaned niece, impoverished Brianna O'Keefe accepts work with a Colorado rancher. To guard herself from unwanted attention, she resorts to a harmless little lie: that she's married to a Denver gold miner named David Paxton. But when her 'husband' shows up, Brianna is stunned - not the least by her desire..." - Publisher.

The Summer Garden by Sherryl Woods. Mira, 2012. Print length: 384 p. Amazon customer rating:4 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $2.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Falling for 'Maddening Moira' O'Malley was the unexpected highlight of Luke O'Brien's Dublin holiday. So when she pays a surprise visit to Chesapeake Shores, Luke is thrilled...at first. A fling with this wild Irish rose is one thing, but forever? Maybe someday, but not when he's totally focused on establishing a business that will prove his mettle to his overachieving family. Given Luke's reaction, Moira has some soul-searching of her own to do. Scarred by her father's abandonment, she wonders if Luke, with his playboy past, is truly the family man she longs for. Adding to her dilemma, she's offered an amazing chance at a dream career of her own. Deep down, though, Moira knows home is the real prize, and that love can be every bit as enchanted as a summer garden." - Publisher.

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker. Other Press, 2012. Print length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $7.19. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present. When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be...until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains." - Publisher.

Next of Kin by Sharon Sala. Mira, 2012. Print length: 334 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (11 reviews). Kindle edition $4.89. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Beth Venable has seen too much. Witness to a major mob hit, she's placed in protective custody until the trial. But after her third safe house is riddled with bullets, she goes off-grid to save herself. What the FBI can't do, her kinfolk will. The beautiful but forbidding Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky welcome Beth back, dirt roads and rustic shacks a world apart from L.A. But her homecoming - even her blissful reunion with strong, silent Ryal Walker - is made bittersweet by the fight she's brought to the clan's doorstep. Hidden in a remote cabin with the man she's always wanted, Beth begins to dream of a new life: her old one. But after so long, with such dangers stalking her...impossible. But love can distill life down to its essence: an elixir of pure hope, nerve - and the will to survive." - Publisher.

The Capture of the Earl of Glencrae by Stephanie Laurens. Avon, 2012. Print length: 501 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (7 reviews). Kindle edition $6.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is the third book in Laurens' Cynster Sisters trilogy following Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue and In Pursuit of Eliza Cynster.

"Headstrong Angelica Cynster is certain she'll recognize her fated husband at first sight. And when her eyes meet those of a mysterious nobleman, she knows beyond a doubt that he's the one. But her heart is soon pounding for an entirely different reason - when her hero abducts her! The eighth Earl of Glencrae has no choice but to kidnap Angelica, the one Cynster sister with whom he hadn't wanted to tangle. But to save his castle and his clan, he must persuade her to assist him - and he's prepared to offer marriage to seal the deal!" - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

Uncategorized Genre Watch, romance fiction, westerns

Books They’re Talking About: Kindle Books in the Media

February 3, 2012 Jan Comments off

Media interviews are a popular way for writers to introduce new books they hope will catch the viewer's eye and generate interest in their work. Here's a selection of forthcoming Kindle books by authors scheduled for interviews on TV and radio programs. Books are arranged in chronological order by the date of the scheduled interview.

On NBC's Today Show (Jan 24) and on The Tavis Smiley Show on PBS (Feb 6):

Revolution 2.0, by Wael Ghonim. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print Length: 329 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (9 reviews). Kindle edition $11.69. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"...one of the figures who emerged during the Egyptian uprising tells the riveting inside story of what happened and shares the keys to unleashing the power of crowds. Wael Ghonim was a little-known, thirty-year-old Google executive in the summer of 2010 when he anonymously launched a Facebook page to protest the death of one Egyptian man at the hands of security forces. The page’s following expanded quickly and moved from online protests to a nonconfrontational movement. The youth of Egypt made history: they used social media to schedule a revolution. The call went out to more than a million Egyptians online, and on January 25, 2011, Cairo’s Tahrir Square resounded with calls for change. Yet just as the revolution began in earnest, Ghonim was captured and held for twelve days of brutal interrogation. After he was released, he gave a tearful speech on national television, and the protests grew more intense. Four days later, the president of Egypt was gone. The lessons Ghonim draws will inspire each of us." - Publisher.

On NPR's Fresh Air (Jan 24):

Glock: The Rise of America's Gun, by Paul M. Barrett. Crown, 2012. Print Length: 306 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (43 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Based on fifteen years of research, Glock is the riveting story of the weapon that has become known as American’s gun. Today the Glock pistol has been embraced by two-thirds of all U.S. police departments, glamorized in countless Hollywood movies, and featured as a ubiquitous presence on prime-time TV. Created in 1982 by Gaston Glock, an obscure Austrian curtain-rod manufacturer, and swiftly adopted by the Austrian army, the Glock pistol, with its lightweight plastic frame and large-capacity spring-action magazine, arrived in America at a fortuitous time. Law enforcement agencies had concluded that their agents and officers, armed with standard six-round revolvers, were getting 'outgunned' by drug dealers with semi-automatic pistols. They needed a new gun. Filled with corporate intrigue, political maneuvering, Hollywood glitz, bloody shoot-outs—and an attempt on Gaston Glock’s life by a former lieutenant—Glock is at once the inside account of how Glock the company went about marketing its pistol to police agencies and later the public, as well as a compelling chronicle of the evolution of gun culture in America." - Publisher.

On NPR's Fresh Air (Jan 26):

Money Well Spent?: The Truth Behind the Trillion-Dollar Stimulus, the Biggest Economic Recovery Plan in History, by Michael Grabell. Public Affairs, 2012. Print Length: 416 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (3 reviews). Kindle edition $13.49. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"The 2012 presidential campaign will, above all else, be a referendum on the Obama administration’s handling of the financial crisis, recalling the period when Obama’s 'audacity of hope' met the austerity of reality. Central to this is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - the largest economic recovery plan in American history. Senator Mitch McConnell gave a taste of the enormity of the money committed: if you had spent $1 million a day since Jesus was born, it still would not add up to the price tag of the stimulus package. A nearly entirely partisan piece of legislation - Democrats voted for it, Republicans against - the story of how the bill was passed and, more importantly, how the money was spent and to what effect, is known barely at all. Stepping outside the political fray, ProPublica’s Michael Grabell offers a perceptive, balanced, and dramatic story of what happened to the tax payers’ money, pursuing the big question through behind-the-scenes interviews and on-the-ground reporting in more than a dozen states across the country." - Publisher.

On NPR's Morning Edition (Feb 2):

The Fear Index, by Robert Harris. Knopf, 2012. Print Length: 340 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (31 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Dr. Alex Hoffmann’s name is carefully guarded from the general public, but within the secretive inner circles of the ultrarich he is a legend. He has developed a revolutionary form of artificial intelligence that predicts movements in the financial markets with uncanny accuracy. His hedge fund, based in Geneva, makes billions. But one morning before dawn, a sinister intruder breaches the elaborate security of his lakeside mansion, and so begins a waking nightmare of paranoia and violence as Hoffmann attempts, with increasing desperation, to discover who is trying to destroy him. Fiendishly smart and suspenseful, The Fear Index gives us a searing glimpse into an all-too-recognizable world of greed and panic. It is a novel that forces us to confront the question of what it means to be human - and it is Robert Harris’s most spellbinding and audacious novel to date." - from the hardcover edition.

On CSPAN2's BookTV (Feb 4):

Wanted Women: Faith, by Deborah Scroggins. Harper, 2012. Print Length: 560 p. Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born former member of the Dutch Parliament and the author of the international bestseller Infidel, was raised as a Muslim fundamentalist in Kenya. A feminist, political analyst, writer, and fierce critic of her former religion, she champions the West in what she insists must be a war against Islam. Aafia Siddiqui, a native of Pakistan, moved to the United States to pursue a doctorate in neuroscience. A decade later, she returned to Pakistan, where her involvement with al-Qaeda, including her marriage to one of the 9/11 plotters, led the CIA to regard her as one of the most dangerous terrorists in the world. Reconstructing the histories of these two women, award-winning author and journalist Deborah Scroggins weaves a provocative true-life thriller from two separate but strangely parallel lives in a time of bitter battle. Based on remarkable original research and reporting, Wanted Women traces their origins to explain why they chose opposite paths and how each has risen to become revered and reviled as an international symbol of her beliefs." - Publisher.

On NPR's Diane Rehm Show (Feb 6):

Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone, by Eric Klinenberg. The Penguin Press, 2012. Print Length: 288 p. Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Renowned sociologist and author Eric Klinenberg explores the dramatic rise of solo living and examines the seismic impact it's having on our culture, business, and politics. Conventional wisdom tells us that living by oneself leads to loneliness and isolation, but, as Klinenberg shows, most solo dwellers are deeply engaged in social and civic life. In fact, compared with their married counterparts, they are more likely to eat out and exercise, go to art and music classes, attend public events and lectures, and volunteer. There's even evidence that people who live alone enjoy better mental health than unmarried people who live with others and have more environmentally sustainable lifestyles than families, since they favor urban apartments over large suburban homes. Drawing on over three hundred interviews with men and women of all ages and every class who live alone, Klinenberg reaches a startling conclusion: In a world of ubiquitous media and hyperconnectivity, this way of life helps us discover ourselves and appreciate the pleasure of good company." - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

cute puppy pictures - it's dangerouse to go alone here, take this

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Uncategorized books in the media, non-fiction

What People Magazine is Reading This Week (Jan 30th Issue)

February 1, 2012 Jan Comments off

For those Kindle readers who, like me, read for entertainment, scanning the book reviews in People magazine is good way to check out new people-related books - celebrity bios, popular novels, absorbing nonfiction - just hitting bookstore shelves. Featured in the January 30th issue of People:

There Is No Dog, by Meg Rosoff. Putnam, 2012. Print Length: 258 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (5 reviews). People's slant: "...thoughtful, hilarious YA novel..." Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"What if God were a teenaged boy? In the beginning, Bob created the heavens and the earth and the beasts of the field and the creatures of the sea, and twenty-five million other species (including lots of cute girls). But mostly he prefers eating junk food and leaving his dirty clothes in a heap at the side of his bed. Every time he falls in love, Earth erupts in natural disasters, and it's usually Bob's beleaguered assistant, Mr. B., who is left cleaning up the mess. So humankind is going to be very sorry indeed that Bob ever ran into a beautiful, completely irresistible girl called Lucy..." - Publisher.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain. Crown, 2012. Print Length: 352 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (43 reviews). People's slant: "In this intriguing book, Cain argues that the constitutionally introverted - those who prefer listening to talking, reading to regaling, solitude to hanging with the gang - get a bum rap." Kindle edition $13.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking, reading to partying; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over brainstorming in teams. Although they are often labeled 'quiet,' it is to introverts that we owe many of the great contributions to society - from van Gogh’s sunflowers to the invention of the personal computer. Passionately argued, impressively researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet shows how dramatically we undervalue introverts, and how much we lose in doing so. Taking the reader on a journey from Dale Carnegie’s birthplace to Harvard Business School, from a Tony Robbins seminar to an evangelical megachurch, Susan Cain charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal in the twentieth century and explores its far-reaching effects. Passionately argued, impressively researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people...Perhaps most inspiring, she introduces us to successful introverts - from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. " - from the hardcover edition.

Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That: A Modern Guide to Manners, by Henry Alford. Twelve, 2012. Print Length: 257 p. NONFICTION. Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (10 reviews). People's slant: "...tips for better etiquette, online and off." Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"We all know bad manners when we see them, NPR and Vanity Fair contributor Henry Alford observes at the beginning of his new book. But what, he asks, do good manners look like in our day and age? When someone answers their cell phone in the middle of dining with you, or runs you off the sidewalk with their doublewide stroller, or you enter a post-apocalyptic public restroom, the long-revered wisdom of Emily Post can seem downright prehistoric. Troubled by the absence of good manners in his day-to-day life - by the people who clip their toenails on the subway or give three-letter replies to one's laboriously crafted missives - Alford embarks on a journey to find out how things might look if people were on their best behavior a tad more often. He travels to Japan (the 'Fort Knox Reserve' of good manners) to observe its culture of collective politesse. He interviews etiquette experts both likely (Judith Martin, Tim Gunn) and unlikely (a former prisoner, an army sergeant). He plays a game called Touch the Waiter. And he volunteers himself as a tour guide to foreigners visiting New York City in order to do ground-level reconnaissance on cultural manners divides. Along the way (in typical Alford style) he also finds time to teach Miss Manners how to steal a cab; designates the World's Most Annoying Bride; and tosses his own hat into the ring, volunteering as an online etiquette coach." - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

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Uncategorized fiction, non-fiction, People Magazine

Kindle E-Books on the Cheap: Dog Mysteries

January 30, 2012 Jan Comments off

Once you've purchased an Amazon Kindle e-book reader, the wonderful world of public domain, Creative Commons and free e-book promotions opens up to you. This regular feature points you to a few of the most interesting new free (or very cheap) e-books available for the Kindle reader who reads for enjoyment.

For this special posting, I searched out bargain-priced mysteries under $4.50 featuring dogs and their owners who somehow become involved as amateur sleuths in a murder investigation. All have the Kindle text-to-speech feature enabled and all can be loaned to friends once you've read them. For more information on the lending feature, check out Lending Kindle Books on Amazon.

A Bite of Death, by Susan Conant. Print Length: 179 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $2.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"What if I died and came back to life as my own dog? Dog's Life columnist Holly Winter is writing a story based on that improbable premise when she's interrupted by an urgent summons to rush to the aid of feminist psychotherapist Elaine Walsh, whose wild-acting Alaskan malamute, Kimi, has driven Elaine to take refuge on her kitchen table. Elaine inherited Kimi when a patient, Donna Zalewski, apparently committed suicide. Before long, Elaine, too, is found dead - of a fatal overdose of the same prescription drug that killed her patient. Is a murderer targeting Kimi's owners? Or is Kimi the intended victim? Since the orphaned Kimi is Holly's dog now, Holly needs to find out who's next on the killer's hit list..." - Publisher.

Raining Cats and Dogs, by Laurien Berenson. Kensington Books, 2006. Print Length: 273 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (8 reviews). Kindle edition $4.30. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"...trainer Melanie Travis is pleased to learn on enrolling one of her standard poodles in a class at the South Avenue Obedience Club that the club offers a visiting program at the Winston Pumpernill Nursing Home in Greenwich, Conn. A club member, Paul Lennox, started the program to cheer his Aunt Mary, a dog lover and resident at Winston Pumpernill. Unfortunately, during Melanie's first visit to the home, someone suffocates Aunt Mary in her bed. Aided by her astute Aunt Peg, Melanie once again turns sleuth, though catching a killer must compete with the demands of her new second husband, her eight-year-old son, her poodles and intrusive cats from next door." - Publishers Weekly.

Bone Yard, by Donna Ball. Blue Merle Publishing, 2011. Print Length: 82 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (11 reviews). Kindle edition $1.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"Dog trainer Raine Stockton has lived all her life in the quiet community of Hansonville, North Carolina. She is the daughter of a judge, the niece of a sheriff, and the ex-wife of a deputy. She does not lead the kind of life, generally speaking, in which people get buried in her back yard. But when Cisco, Raine’s mischievous golden retriever, digs up human bones beneath the site of what will soon be her new training kennel, mayhem ensues. With the state police swarming everywhere, concerns about a mass grave and suspicions of a serial killer, Raine is surrounded by chaos. But when her beautiful collie Majesty keeps disappearing and cryptic messages from a pet psychic only add to the confusion, Raine soon finds herself plunged into the midst of a mystery that is far too close to home." - Publisher.

Karma's A Bitch, by Shannon Esposito. Shannon Esposito, 2011. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (3 reviews). Kindle edition $2.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"Darwin Winters, reluctant pet psychic, is determined to leave her family’s paranormal past behind and lead a normal life. So she strikes out on her own and opens up a new pet boutique in St. Pete, Florida. When a local homeless man she befriends is found dead, and the police assume it’s a suicide, Darwin has no choice but to use her gift to help collar the killer. She adopts his grieving mastiff, Karma - and with the dog’s help - tries to piece together the events of that fatal night. Accepting the visions is one thing, but can she solve the mystery without revealing her powers to the jaded, yet drool-worthy, detective in charge of the case? Or will the killer put an end to her psychic sleuthing and bury the truth for good?" - Author.

The Mouse in the Mountain, by Norbert Davis. fallen leaves press (TM), ignacio hills press (TM), E-Pulp Adventures (TM), 2010. Print Length: 152 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (7 reviews). Kindle edition $0.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"Doan, the 'hero' of this story is a small-time detective with a dry, sardonic wit, and a huge Great Dane (Carstairs - don't call him a 'pet') in these absolutely delightful series of humor-tinged mysteries. Great fun that shouldn't be missed! In this adventure, the duo travel to Mexico during World War 2, along with an heiress, a revolutionary, an artist, and more than a few mysteries. This is the original and unabridged version of this classic." - Publisher.

Sleeping Dogs Lie, by Sharon Henegar. Saturday Books, 2010. Print Length: 276 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (10 reviews). Kindle edition $2.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"On a rainy October night, Louisa McGuire waits in the car while her friend Bob makes a dash into the grocery store. Soon he comes out again - but with him is a woman in a sleek red suit. She leads him to her Mercedes and they drive away. Has Louisa been ditched, or has Bob been kidnapped? She enlists the help of her cousin Kay, owner of an antique store, and two intrepid canines, Jack and Emily Ann, to follow the scant clues to find Bob..." - Publisher.

In Dog We Trust, by Neil S. Plakcy. Self-Published, 2010. Print Length: 280 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (24 reviews). Kindle edition $2.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"After a bad divorce and a brief prison term for computer hacking, 42-year-old Steve Levitan has returned to his home town of Stewart’s Crossing and taken a part-time job as an adjunct professor of English at his alma mater, Eastern College. While walking around his gated community, he becomes friendly with his next-door neighbor, Caroline Kelly, and her golden retriever, Rochester. When Caroline is shot and killed while walking Rochester, Steve becomes the dog’s temporary guardian. Together, these two unlikely sleuths work to uncover the mystery behind Caroline’s death." - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

Uncategorized dogs, e-books on the cheap, mysteries

A Week of Entertainment: Kindle Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly’s January 27th Issue

January 28, 2012 Jan Comments off

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the January 27th issue include:

The Orphan Master's Son, by Adam Johnson. Random House, 2012. Print length: 465 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...both vivid and chilling." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (29 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Pak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mother - a singer 'stolen' to Pyongyang - and an influential father who runs Long Tomorrows, a work camp for orphans. There the boy is given his first taste of power, picking which orphans eat first and which will be lent out for manual labor. Recognized for his loyalty and keen instincts, Jun Do comes to the attention of superiors in the state, rises in the ranks, and starts on a road from which there will be no return. Part breathless thriller, part story of innocence lost, part story of romantic love, The Orphan Master’s Son is also a riveting portrait of a world heretofore hidden from view: a North Korea rife with hunger, corruption, and casual cruelty but also camaraderie, stolen moments of beauty, and love." - Publisher.

Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea, by Morgan Callan Rogers. Viking, 2012. Print length: 320 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "Florine - rendered first-person in confiding, colloquial prose - isn't always loveable; she's obstinate and angry and teenager-rude. But Red Ruby Heart makes her real." Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"When her mother disappears during a weekend trip, Florine Gilham's idyllic childhood is turned upside down. Until then she'd been blissfully insulated by the rhythms of family life in small town Maine: watching from the granite cliffs above the sea for her father's lobster boat to come into port, making bread with her grandmother, and infiltrating the summer tourist camps with her friends. But with her mother gone, the heart falls out of Florine's life and she and her father are isolated as they struggle to manage their loss. Both sustained and challenged by the advice and expectations of her family and neighbors, Florine grows up with her spirit intact. And when her father's past comes to call, she must accept that life won't ever be the same while keeping her mother vivid in her memories. A captivating debut, introducing a spirited young heroine coming of age in coastal Maine during the early 1960s." - Publisher.

Start Shooting, by Charlie Newton. Doubleday, 2012. Print length: 322 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...firecracker crime novel..." Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (21 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Officer Bobby Vargas is hard-edged but idealistic, a Chicago cop who stands at the epicenter of a subterranean plot that will have horrific ramifications for both himself and the entire city. Twenty-five years earlier, a gruesome murder rocked the unforgiving streets of Four Corners. Now, suddenly, a dying Chicago paper is running a serial exposé on new evidence in that old case, threatening to implicate Bobby and his older brother, Ruben - a decorated, high-ranking detective and cop - prince of the streets. The smear campaign stirs up decades-old bad blood, leading the Vargas brothers down an increasingly twisted and terrifying path, where the sins of the past threaten to destroy what remains of the truth." - Publisher.

Bond Girl, by Erin Duffy. William Morrow, 2012. Print length: 309 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...a character you really, truly root for...a sparkling debut, smart and snappy..." Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (19 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"When other little girls were dreaming about becoming doctors or lawyers, Alex Garrett set her sights on conquering the high-powered world of Wall Street. And though she's prepared to fight her way into an elitist boys' club, or duck the occasional errant football, she quickly realizes she's in over her head when she's relegated to a kiddie-size folding chair with her new moniker - Girlie - inscribed in Wite-Out across the back. No matter. She's determined to make it in bond sales at Cromwell Pierce, one of the Street's most esteemed brokerage firms. Fast-paced, funny, and thoroughly addictive, Bond Girl will leave you cheering for Alex: a feisty, ambitious woman with the spirit to stand up to the best (and worst) of the boys on the Street - and ultimately rise above them all." - Publisher.

The Flame Alphabet, by Ben Marcus. Knopf, 2012. Print length: 304 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...for those who can stomach it, Marcus' novel crackles with vicious intelligence and makes incisive statements about language and family." Amazon customer rating: Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"A terrible epidemic has struck the country and the sound of children’s speech has become lethal. Radio transmissions from strange sources indicate that people are going into hiding. All Sam and Claire need to do is look around the neighborhood: In the park, parents wither beneath the powerful screams of their children. At night, suburban side streets become routes of shameful escape for fathers trying to get outside the radius of affliction. With Claire nearing collapse, it seems their only means of survival is to flee from their daughter, Esther, who laughs at her parents’ sickness, unaware that in just a few years she, too, will be susceptible to the language toxicity. But Sam and Claire find it isn’t so easy to leave the daughter they still love, even as they waste away from her malevolent speech. On the eve of their departure, Claire mysteriously disappears, and Sam, determined to find a cure for this new toxic language, presses on alone into a world beyond recognition. Both morally engaged and wickedly entertaining, a gripping page-turner as strange as it is moving, this intellectual horror story ensures Ben Marcus’s position in the first rank of American novelists. " - Publisher.
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Please note: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

Amazon Arctic Delivery Service: The reason you're still waiting for your Kindle Fire

Uncategorized Entertainment Weekly, fiction

Just Out: Recent and Readable Nonfiction for the Kindle

January 26, 2012 Jan Comments off

What I like about non-fiction is that it covers such a huge territory. The best non-fiction is also creative. - Tracy Kidder.

Nonfiction encompasses a wealth of reading possibilities - history, essays, memoirs, scientific research, travel guides, cookbooks - essentially everything that is based on fact, real events and real people. Recent nonfiction titles for the Kindle that you might have missed:

Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners, by Michael Erard. Free Press, 2012. Print Length: 320 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (9 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"We all learn at least one language as children. But what does it take to learn six languages, twenty...seventy? Such feats of linguistic prowess provide a glimpse into what the human brain is capable of - and hold up a mirror to our desire to live without language barriers on a shrinking planet. In Babel No More, Michael Erard, 'a monolingual with benefits,' sets out on a quest to meet language superlearners and make sense of their mental powers. On the way he uncovers the secrets of historical figures like the nineteenth-century Italian cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti, who was said to speak seventy-two languages and was such a legend that when he died people all over Europe vied for his skull." - Publisher.

Londoners: The Days and Nights of London Now - As Told by Those Who Love It, Hate It, Live It, Left It, and Long for It, by Craig Taylor. Ecco, 2012. Print Length: 448 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (10 reviews). Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"...Craig Taylor has spent years traversing every corner of the city, getting to know the most interesting Londoners, including the voice of the London Underground, a West End rickshaw driver, an East End nightclub doorperson, a mounted soldier of the Queen's Life Guard at Buckingham Palace, and a couple who fell in love at the Tower of London - and now live there. With candor and humor, this diverse cast - rich and poor, old and young, native and immigrant, men and women (and even a Sarah who used to be a George) - shares indelible tales that capture the city as never before. Together, these voices paint a vivid, epic, and wholly original portrait of twenty-first-century London in all its breadth, from Notting Hill to Brixton, from Piccadilly Circus to Canary Wharf, from an airliner flying into London Heathrow Airport to Big Ben and Tower Bridge, and down to the deepest tunnels of the London Underground." - Publisher.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain. Crown, 2012. Print Length: 352 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (36 reviews). Kindle edition $13.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking, reading to partying; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over brainstorming in teams. Although they are often labeled 'quiet,' it is to introverts that we owe many of the great contributions to society - from van Gogh’s sunflowers to the invention of the personal computer. Passionately argued, impressively researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet shows how dramatically we undervalue introverts, and how much we lose in doing so. Taking the reader on a journey from Dale Carnegie’s birthplace to Harvard Business School, from a Tony Robbins seminar to an evangelical megachurch, Susan Cain charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal in the twentieth century and explores its far-reaching effects. Passionately argued, impressively researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people...Perhaps most inspiring, she introduces us to successful introverts - from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. " - from the hardcover edition.

Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith, by Father Robert Barron. Image, 2011. Print Length: 306 p. While readable on any Kindle, this title has complex layouts and has been optimized for reading on devices with larger screens. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (28 reviews). Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"What is the Catholicism? A 2,000 living tradition? A worldview? A way of life? A relationship? A mystery? In Catholicism Father Robert Barron examines all these questions and more, seeking to capture the body, heart and mind of the Catholic faith. Starting from the essential foundation of Jesus Christ’s incarnation, life, and teaching, Father Barron moves through the defining elements of Catholicism – from sacraments, worship, and prayer, to Mary, the Apostles, and Saints, to grace, salvation, heaven, and hell – using his distinct and dynamic grasp of art, literature, architecture, personal stories, Scripture, theology, philosophy, and history to present the Church to the world." - from the hardcover edition.

Inside Apple: How America's Most Admired - and Secretive - Company Really Works, by Adam Lashinsky. Business Plus, 2012. Print Length: 240 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (3 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"If Apple is Silicon Valley's answer to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, then author Adam Lashinsky provides readers with a golden ticket to step inside. In this primer on leadership and innovation, the author will introduce readers to concepts like the 'DRI' (Apple's practice of assigning a Directly Responsible Individual to every task) and the Top 100 (an annual ritual in which 100 up-and-coming executives are tapped a la Skull & Bones for a secret retreat with company founder Steve Jobs). Based on numerous interviews, the book offers exclusive new information about how Apple innovates, deals with its suppliers and is handling the transition into the Post Jobs Era." - Publisher.

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction, by Alan Jacobs. Oxford University Press, 2011. Print Length: 171 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (11 reviews). Kindle edition $9.32. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"In recent years, cultural commentators have sounded the alarm about the dire state of reading in America. Americans are not reading enough, they say, or reading the right books, in the right way. In this book, Alan Jacobs argues that, contrary to the doomsayers, reading is alive and well in America. There are millions of devoted readers supporting hundreds of enormous bookstores and online booksellers. Oprah's Book Club is hugely influential, and a recent NEA survey reveals an actual uptick in the reading of literary fiction. Jacobs's interactions with his students and the readers of his own books, however, suggest that many readers lack confidence; they wonder whether they are reading well, with proper focus and attentiveness, with due discretion and discernment. Many have absorbed the puritanical message that reading is, first and foremost, good for you - the intellectual equivalent of eating your Brussels sprouts. For such people, indeed for all readers, Jacobs offers some simple, powerful, and much needed advice: read at whim, read what gives you delight, and do so without shame...an insightful, accessible, and playfully irreverent guide for aspiring readers." - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

funny pictures - Nao ai lay me daon to rest A pyle of buuks up on mah deskkk If ai shud dye bfore ai wakes dats won less test i habs to takes

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Uncategorized non-fiction

What People Magazine is Reading This Week (Jan 23rd Issue)

January 24, 2012 Jan Comments off

How It All Began, by Penelope Lively. Viking, 2012. Print Length: 239 p. FICTION. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (8 reviews). People's slant: "With grace, wit and wisdom, Booker Prize winner Lively has crafted a highly readable tale about fates intersecting amid the chaos of modern life." Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"When Charlotte Rainsford, a retired schoolteacher, is accosted by a petty thief on a London street, the consequences ripple across the lives of acquaintances and strangers alike. A marriage unravels after an illicit love affair is revealed through an errant cell phone message; a posh yet financially strapped interior designer meets a business partner who might prove too good to be true; an old-guard historian tries to recapture his youthful vigor with an ill-conceived idea for a TV miniseries; and a middle-aged central European immigrant learns to speak English and reinvents his life with the assistance of some new friends. Through a richly conceived and colorful cast of characters, Penelope Lively explores the powerful role of chance in people's lives and deftly illustrates how our paths can be altered irrevocably by someone we will never even meet." - author's website.

MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend, by Rachel Bertsche. Ballantine Books, 2011. Print Length: 386 p. MEMOIR. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (61 reviews). People's slant: "...charming, funny chronicle..." Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech:.

"When Rachel Bertsche first moves to Chicago, she’s thrilled to finally share a zip code, let alone an apartment, with her boyfriend. But shortly after getting married, Bertsche realizes that her new life is missing one thing: friends. Sure, she has plenty of BFFs - in New York and San Francisco and Boston and Washington, D.C. Still, in her adopted hometown, there’s no one to call at the last minute for girl talk over brunch or a reality-TV marathon over a bottle of wine. Taking matters into her own hands, Bertsche develops a plan: She’ll go on fifty-two friend-dates, one per week for a year, in hopes of meeting her new Best Friend Forever. In her thought-provoking, uproarious memoir, Bertsche blends the story of her girl-dates (whom she meets everywhere from improv class to friend rental websites) with the latest social research to examine how difficult - and hilariously awkward - it is to make new friends as an adult." - Publisher.

Believing the Lie, by Elizabeth George. Dutton, 2012. Print Length: 624 p. MYSTERY. Amazon customer rating: 3 stars (29 reviews). People's slant: "...once again George creates a dense, twisty plot with characters who reveal the sad spectrum of human dereliction." Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Inspector Thomas Lynley is mystified when he's sent undercover to investigate the death of Ian Cresswell at the request of the man's uncle, the wealthy and influential Bernard Fairclough. The death has been ruled an accidental drowning, and nothing on the surface indicates otherwise. But when Lynley enlists the help of his friends Simon and Deborah St. James, the trio's digging soon reveals that the Fairclough clan is awash in secrets, lies, and motives." - Publisher.

A Chance in the World: An Orphan Boy, a Mysterious Past, and How He Found a Place Called Home, by Steve Pemberton. Thomas Nelson, 2012. Print Length: 272 p. MEMOIR. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (14 reviews). People's slant: "His incredible courage inspires." Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Taken from his mother at age three, Steve Klakowicz lives a terrifying existence. Caught in the clutches of a cruel foster family and subjected to constant abuse, he finds his only refuge in a box of books gifted to him by a kind stranger. In these books, he discovers new worlds he can only imagine and gains hope that one day he might have a different life, that one day he will find his true home. Armed with just a single clue, Steve embarks on an extraordinary quest for his identity, only to find that nothing is as it appears. A Chance in the World is the unbelievable true story of a broken boy destined to become a man of resilience, determination, and vision. Through it all, Steve's story teaches us that no matter how broken our past, we have it in us to create a new beginning and to build a new place, where love awaits." - Publisher.

Mentioned Briefly:

Breaking and Entering, by Eileen Pollack. Four Way Books, 2012. Print Length: 384 p. FICTION. Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $12.25. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"Set against the tragic events of the Oklahoma City bombings, Breaking and Entering follows Christian/Jewish couple Louise and Richard Shapiro as they move from California to rural Michigan with their daughter Molly in an attempt to save their marriage. They find their core beliefs about life and love tested as school counselor Louise's students blame Satan for their homosexuality while Richard's new buddies gather arms to defend themselves against enemies at home and abroad. Pollack's America is divided and splintered, yet she writes with hope and humor. Breaking and Entering challenges the stereotypes we hold about our fellow Americans, reminding us of the unexpected bonds that can form across the divide between so-called Red and Blue states." - Publisher.

The Little Russian, by Susan Sherman. Counterpoint, 2012. Print Length: 354 p. HISTORICAL FICTION. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (3 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"The novel tells the story of Berta Alshonsky, who revels in childhood memories of her time spent with a wealthy family in Moscow - a life filled with salons, balls and all the trappings of the upper class - very different from her current life as a grocer’s daughter in the Jewish townlet of Mosny. So when a mysterious and cultured wheat merchant walks into the grocery, Berta’s life is forever altered. She falls in love, unaware that he is a member of the Bund, The Jewish Worker’s League, smuggling arms to the shtetls to defend them against the pogroms sweeping the Little Russian countryside...Filled with heart-stopping action, richly drawn characters, and a world seeped in war and violence; The Little Russian is poised to capture readers as one of the hand-selling gems of the season." - Publisher.

The Crown, by Nancy Bilyeau. Touchstone, 2012. Print length: 418 p. HISTORICAL FICTION. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (21 reviews). Kindle edition: $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"Joanna Stafford, a Dominican nun, learns that her favorite cousin has been condemned by Henry VIII to be burned at the stake. Defying the sacred rule of enclosure, Joanna leaves the priory to stand at her cousin’s side. Arrested for interfering with the king’s justice, Joanna, along with her father, is sent to the Tower of London. The ruthless Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, takes terrifying steps to force Joanna to agree to spy for him: to save her father’s life she must find an ancient relic - a crown so powerful, it may hold the ability to end the Reformation. This provocative story melds heart-stopping suspense with historical detail and brings to life the poignant dramas of women and men at a fascinating and critical moment in England’s past." - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

Uncategorized fiction, memoirs, non-fiction, People Magazine

Capturing the Lives of Others: Recent Biographies and Memoirs for the Kindle

January 22, 2012 Jan Comments off

One lives in the hope of becoming a memory - Antonio Porchia.

Given the burgeoning popularity of social media on the Internet, it is not surprising that biographies and memoirs are among the most popular reading choices of Kindle readers. Whether you enjoy reading of exemplary lives or living vicariously through celebrity memoirs, now you can spend less time searching and more time reading, as I watch for new biographies and memoirs in the Kindle Store so you don't have to.

My Seinfeld Year, by Fred Stoller. Kindle Single, 2012. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (8 reviews). Kindle edition $1.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"You'd know Fred Stoller if you saw him. He has appeared on practically every great sitcom you've ever seen - Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends, and Murphy Brown just to name a few. But he has never been a regular on a series, always the guest star. He longs to find a showbiz home. Instead, he is a television foster child, shuttling from show to show in the vain hope that one will finally agree to keep him. My Seinfeld Year tells the hysterical and bittersweet story of what happened when Stoller finally got a shot at the showbiz stability he'd always dreamed of - as a staff writer on one of the biggest television shows in history." - Publisher.

Below Stairs: The Classic Kitchen Maid's Memoir That Inspired "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "Downton Abbey", by Margaret Powell. St. Martin's Press, 2012. Print length: 221 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (32 reviews). Kindle edition $10.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Margaret Powell’s classic memoir of her time in service...is the remarkable true story of an indomitable woman who, though she served in the great houses of England, never stopped aiming high. Powell first arrived at the servants' entrance of one of those great houses in the 1920s. As a kitchen maid - the lowest of the low – she entered an entirely new world; one of stoves to be blacked, vegetables to be scrubbed, mistresses to be appeased, and bootlaces to be ironed. Work started at 5.30am and went on until after dark. It was a far cry from her childhood on the beaches of Hove, where money and food were scarce, but warmth and laughter never were. Yet from the gentleman with a penchant for stroking the housemaids’ curlers, to raucous tea-dances with errand boys, to the heartbreaking story of Agnes the pregnant under-parlormaid, fired for being seduced by her mistress’s nephew, Margaret’s tales of her time in service are told with wit, warmth, and a sharp eye for the prejudices of her situation." - Publisher.

Tyndale: The Man Who Gave God an English Voice, by David Teems. Thomas Nelson, 2012. Print length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (29 reviews). Kindle edition $8.79. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"The English Bible was born in defiance. It was also born in exile, in flight, in a kind of exodus. And these are the very elements that empowered William Tyndale in his bid to bring the English Scripture to the common citizen. Being 'a stranger in a strange land,' the very homesickness he struggled with, gave life to the words of Jesus, Paul, and to the wandering Moses. Tyndale's efforts ultimately cost him his life, a price he was certain he would have to pay. But his contribution to English spirituality is measureless. Even five centuries after his death at the stake, Tyndale's presence looms wherever English is spoken. His single word innovations, such as 'Passover,' 'beautiful,' and 'atonement' allowed the common man to more fully understand God's blessings and promises. His natural lyricism shines in phrases like 'Let not your hearts be troubled,' and 'for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory.' Although Tyndale has been somewhat elusive to his biographers, Teems brings wit and wisdom to the story of the man known as the 'architect of the English language,' the English Paul who defied a kingdom and a tyrannical church to introduce God to the plowboy." - Publisher.

The Rescuer, by Dara Horn. Tablet Magazine, 2012. Kindle Single. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $1.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"In 1941, a young Harvard-educated classicist named Varian Fry arrived in occupied France on a daring mission to rescue more than 2,000 of Europe's leading writers, artists, and intellectuals from the Nazis. Hounded by the Gestapo, he smuggled Marchel Duchamp, Marc Chagall, Hannah Arendt and dozens of other 20th century cultural luminaries out of France and brought them to America. So why did even the people Fry saved want to forget him? In this fascinating psychological profile, acclaimed novelist Dara Horn, chosen by Granta magazine as one of the 25 best young novelists in America, follows the peculiar life and legacy of an American Oskar Schindler. In the process, she reveals the secrets of a man who risked his life when others were silent — and the unforeseen consequences, personal and cultural, of his bravery." - Publisher.

Betrayal: Whitey Bulger and the FBI Agent Who Fought to Bring Him Down, by Robert Fitzpatrick, with Jon Land. Forge Books, 2012. Print length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (7 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"The Jack Nicholson film The Departed didn’t tell half of their story. A poor kid from the slums, Robert Fitzpatrick grew up to become a stellar FBI agent and challenge the country’s deadliest gangsters. Relentless in his desire to catch, prosecute, and convict Whitey Bulger, Fitzpatrick fought the nation’s most determined cop-gangster battle since Melvin Purvis hunted, confronted, and killed John Dillinger. In his crusade to bring Bulger to justice, Fitzpatrick faced not only Whitey but also corrupt FBI agents, along with political cronies and enablers from Boston to Washington who, in one way or another, blocked his efforts at every step. Even when Fitzpatrick discovered the very organization to which he had sworn allegiance was his biggest obstacle, the agent continued to pursue Whitey and his gang...knowing that they were prepared to murder anyone who got in their way." - Publisher.

William Henry Harrison, by Gail Collins. The American Presidents Series: The 9th President, 1841. Times Books, 2012. Print length: 176 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"William Henry Harrison died just thirty-one days after taking the oath of office in 1841. Today he is a curiosity in American history, but as Gail Collins shows in this entertaining and revelatory biography, he and his career are worth a closer look. The son of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Harrison was a celebrated general whose exploits at the Battle of Tippecanoe and in the War of 1812 propelled him into politics, and in time he became a leader of the new Whig Party, alongside Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. But it was his presidential campaign of 1840 that made an indelible mark on American political history. Collins takes us back to that pivotal year, when Harrison's 'Log Cabin and Hard Cider campaign transformed the way candidates pursued the presidency." - Publisher.

As Good as She Imagined: The Redeeming Story of the Angel of Tucson, Christina-Taylor Green, by Roxanna Green, with Jerry B. Jenkins. Worthy Publishing, 2012. Print length: 265 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (15 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Christina-Taylor Green was beautiful, precocious, and popular, a member of her elementary school’s student council and the only girl on her Little League team. Born on 9/11/2001, it was perhaps no surprise that she harbored aspirations of becoming a politician - thus her presence at the political rally that fateful day in Tucson last January. Congressman Gabrielle Giffords was severely wounded in the gunman’s splay of bullets; six others were killed, including Christina, the youngest of the victims. But this inspirational book recounts far more than the events of 'the tragedy of Tucson.' Written by Christina’s mother (with New York Times best-selling biographer Jerry Jenkins), As Good as She Imagined celebrates this little girl’s life, along with the hope that has been born out of a nation’s loss and a family’s grief." - Publisher.

The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-Changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous & Obscure, by Larry Smith. Harper Perennial, 2012. Print length: 368 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"The turning points, revelations, epiphanies, dramatic changes, the opening or closing of a door - in a life, a career, a love - can occur in a single glorious, terrible, unpredictable, serendipitous, crucial, calamitous, chaotic, amazing...Moment. The creators of the enormously popular Not Quite What I Was Planning and Six-Word Memoir series now offer stories of the Moment - the one-time chances, unexpected coincidences, and sudden catastrophes that made all the difference in the story of one life. The results are triumphant, outrageous, heartwarming, heartbreaking, embarrassing, illuminating, and inspiring - life-changing moments from contributors Dave Eggers, Diane Ackerman, Elizabeth Gilbert, Bill Ayers, Jennifer Egan, A. J. Jacobs, Judy Collins, and many more." - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

Uncategorized biography, non-fiction

A Week of Entertainment: Kindle Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly’s January 20th Issue

January 20, 2012 Jan Comments off

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the January 20th issue include:

The Crown, by Nancy Bilyeau. Touchstone, 2012. Print length: 418 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "an engrossing thriller...her extensive historical research shines." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (13 reviews). Kindle edition: $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"Joanna Stafford, a Dominican nun, learns that her favorite cousin has been condemned by Henry VIII to be burned at the stake. Defying the sacred rule of enclosure, Joanna leaves the priory to stand at her cousin’s side. Arrested for interfering with the king’s justice, Joanna, along with her father, is sent to the Tower of London. The ruthless Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, takes terrifying steps to force Joanna to agree to spy for him: to save her father’s life she must find an ancient relic - a crown so powerful, it may hold the ability to end the Reformation. This provocative story melds heart-stopping suspense with historical detail and brings to life the poignant dramas of women and men at a fascinating and critical moment in England’s past." - Publisher.

The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography, by Stephen Fry. Overlook, 2012. Print length: 448 p. MEMOIR. EW's slant: "...the memoir stands as proof of the author's intelligence, wit, and insight." Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition: $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is Fry's second memoir, continuing the story began in Moab Is My Washpot.

"Stephen Fry arrived at Cambridge University as a convicted fraudster and thief, an addict, liar, fantasist, and failed suicide, convinced that any moment he would be sent away. Instead, he befriended bright young things like Emma Thompson and Hugh Laurie, and he emerged as one of the most promising comic talents in the world. This is the engrossing, hilarious, and utterly compelling story of how the Stephen the world knows (or thinks it knows) found his way. Tales of champagne, love, and conspicuous consumption jostle with insights into Broadway and TV stardom. A feat of trademark wit and verbal brilliance..." - Publisher.

The Obamas, by Jodi Kantor. Little, Brown and Company, 2012. Print length: 329 p. NONFICTION. EW's slant: "...making her the scapegoat for her husband's problems makes for salacious - and delicious - reading, at least at first. It's fun gulping those salted peanuts, but after too many handfuls you get thirsty - and after that, you start to feel a little sick." Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (33 reviews). Kindle edition: $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"When Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election, he also won a long-running debate with his wife Michelle. Contrary to her fears, politics now seemed like a worthwhile, even noble pursuit. Together they planned a White House life that would be as normal and sane as possible. Then they moved in. In The Obamas, Jodi Kantor takes us deep inside the White House as they try to grapple with their new roles, change the country, raise children, maintain friendships, and figure out what it means to be the first black President and First Lady. Filled with riveting detail and insight into their partnership, emotions and personalities, and written with a keen eye for the ironies of public life, The Obamas is an intimate portrait that will surprise even readers who thought they knew the President and First Lady." - Publisher.

Hope: A Tragedy, by Shalom Auslander. Riverhead, 2012. Print length: 304 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "poisonously funny debut novel...like an unintentional bark of laughter at a funeral..." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (7 reviews). Kindle edition: $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

The rural town of Stockton, New York, is famous for nothing: No one was born there, no one died there, nothing of any historical import at all has ever happened there, which is why Solomon Kugel, like other urbanites fleeing their pasts and histories, decided to move his wife and young son there. To begin again. To start anew. But it isn't quite working out that way. His ailing mother stubbornly holds on to life, and won't stop reminiscing about the Nazi concentration camps she never actually suffered through. To complicate matters further, some lunatic is burning down farmhouses just like the one he bought. And when, one night, Kugel discovers history - a living, breathing, thought-to-be-dead specimen of history - hiding upstairs in his attic, bad quickly becomes worse..." - Publisher.

Girl Land, by Caitlin Flanagan. Reagan Arthur Books, 2012. Print length: 224 p. ESSAYS. EW's slant: "Ever nostalgic for things that never were..." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (8 reviews). Kindle edition: $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Caitlin Flanagan's essays about marriage, sex, and families have sparked national debates. Now she turns her attention to girls: the biological and cultural milestones for girls today, and how they shape a girl's sense of herself. The transition from girl to woman is an experience that has changed radically over the generations: everything from how a girl learns about her period to how she expects to be treated by boys and men. Girls today observe these passages very differently, and yet the landmarks themselves have remained remarkably constant - proof, Flanagan believes, of their significance. In a world where protections of girls' privacy and personal freedom seem to disappear every day, the ultimate challenge modern parents face is finding a way to defend both." - Publisher

Trade a Fave TV Show for a Great Book:

For fans of Downton Abbey:
The House at Tyneford, by Natasha Solomons. Penguin Publishing, 2011. Print length: 368 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (18 reviews). Kindle edition: $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"It's the spring of 1938 and no longer safe to be a Jew in Vienna. Nineteen-year-old Elise Landau is forced to leave her glittering life of parties and champagne to become a parlor maid in England. She arrives at Tyneford, the great house on the bay, where servants polish silver and serve drinks on the lawn. But war is coming, and the world is changing. When the master of Tyneford's young son, Kit, returns home, he and Elise strike up an unlikely friendship that will transform Tyneford-and Elise-forever." - Publisher.

For fans of Being Human:
A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness. Viking, 2011. Print length: 594 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (1188 reviews). Kindle edition: $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Diana Bishop is the last of the Bishops, a powerful family of witches, but she has refused her magic ever since her parents died and, instead, has turned to academia. When a new project takes her to Oxford, she is looking forward to several months in the Bodleian, investigating alchemical manuscripts. Her peace is soon interrupted when one of the books she finds in the library turns out to have been lost for 150 years and is wanted desperately by the witch, daemon, and vampire communities - so desperately that many are willing to kill for it. But the very first creature to approach her after her discovery is Matthew, a very old vampire and fellow scholar, who seems only to want to protect her. Harkness creates a compelling and sweeping tale that moves from Oxford to Paris to upstate New York and into both Diana's and Matthew’s complex families and histories. All her characters are fully fleshed and unique, which, when combined with the complex and engaging plot, results in one of the better fantasy debuts in recent months." - Jessica Moyer for Booklist.
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Please note: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

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Uncategorized biography, Entertainment Weekly, fiction

Kindle Genre Watch: New in Fantasy and Science Fiction

January 18, 2012 Jan Comments off

Spend less time searching for new genre fiction and more time reading it as I watch for newly-released genre fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. Outstanding new releases in fantasy and science fiction include:

Fantasy

Hidden by Kelley Armstrong. Subterranean Press, 2011. Print Length: 193 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (10 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"Hiking through the snow, holiday baking and playing board games by the fire - what's not to love about an old-fashioned family Christmas? Werewolves Elena Michaels and Clayton Danvers want to give their four-year-old twins, Kate and Logan, something their parents never had: a nice, normal holiday. No Pack responsibilities, no homicidal half-demons or power-hungry sorcerers to deal with - just the four of them, alone, at a chalet outside Ontario's Algonquin Park. Then a strange werewolf shows up at their door...while the town is buzzing about a young man, back from college, found half-eaten in the woods. And there's the missing little girl..."

City of Dragons by Robin Hobb. Harper Collins, 2012. Print Length: 352 p. Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (23 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is book three of the Rain Wilds Chronicles, following Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven.

"Once, dragons ruled the Rain Wilds, tended by privileged human servants known as Elderlings. But a series of cataclysmic eruptions nearly drove these magnificent creatures to extinction. Born weak and deformed, the last of their kind had one hope for survival: to return to their ancient city of Kelsingra. Accompanied by a disparate crew of untested young keepers, the dragons embarked on a harsh journey into the unknown along the toxic Rain Wild River. Battling starvation, a hostile climate, and treacherous enemies, dragons and humans began to forge magical connections, bonds that have wrought astonishing transformations for them all. And though Kelsingra is finally near, their odyssey has only begun. Because of the swollen waters of the Rain Wild River, the lost city can be reached only by flight - a test of endurance and skill beyond the stunted dragons’ strength. The dragons must plumb the depths of their ancestral memories to help them take flight and unlock the secrets buried in Kelsingra. But enemies driven by greed and dark desires are approaching..." - Publisher.

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley. Little, Brown and Company, 2012. Print Length: 497 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (8 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"The body you are wearing used to be mine. So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her. She soon learns that she is a Rook, a high-ranking member of a secret organization called the Chequy that battles the many supernatural forces at work in Britain. She also discovers that she possesses a rare, potentially deadly supernatural ability of her own. In her quest to uncover which member of the Chequy betrayed her and why, Myfanwy encounters a person with four bodies, an aristocratic woman who can enter her dreams, a secret training facility where children are transformed into deadly fighters, and a conspiracy more vast than she ever could have imagined." - Publisher.

Empire State by Adam Christopher. Angry Robot, 2011. Print Length: 448 p. Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (11 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"The Empire State is the other New York. A parallel-universe, Prohibition-era world of mooks and shamuses that is the twisted magic mirror to our bustling Big Apple, a place where sinister characters lurk around every corner while the great superheroes that once kept the streets safe have fallen into dysfunctional rivalries and feuds. Not that its colourful residents know anything about the real New York... until detective Rad Bradley makes a discovery that will change the lives of all its inhabitants. Playing on the classic Gotham conventions of the Batman comics and HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, debut author Adam Christopher has spun this smart and fast-paced superhero-noir adventure, the sort of souped-up thrill ride that will excite genre fans and general readers alike." - Publisher.

Science Fiction

Star Wars: Darth Plagueis by James Luceno. LucasBooks, 2012. Print Length: 401 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (41 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Darth Plagueis: one of the most brilliant Sith Lords who ever lived. Possessing power is all he desires. Losing it is the only thing he fears. As an apprentice, he embraces the ruthless ways of the Sith. And when the time is right, he destroys his Master - but vows never to suffer the same fate. Darth Sidious: Plagueis’s chosen apprentice. Under the guidance of his Master, he secretly studies the ways of the Sith, while publicly rising to power in the galactic government, first as Senator, then as Chancellor, and eventually as Emperor. Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious, Master and acolyte, target the galaxy for domination - and the Jedi Order for annihilation. But can they defy the merciless Sith tradition? Or will the desire of one to rule supreme, and the dream of the other to live forever, sow the seeds of their destruction?" - Publisher.

The Martian Emperor by Andrew Mayne. Print Length: 160 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (10 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled. This is the second book in the author's Chronological Man series, following The Monster in the Mist.

"Who is the Martian Emperor? When a giant airship descends on New York City in 1892 and threatens destruction if the world doesn’t submit to the Martian flag, it’s up to the mysterious Smith, inventor and adventurer to find out what forces are at work. From the dangerous basement fan-tan parlors of Chinatown to the top of the Statue of Liberty’s torch, Smith and his brilliant assistant, April Malone, will have to unravel the clues and avoid danger lurking behind every corner. To stop the menace they’ll need they enlist the help of Theodore Roosevelt and other early twentieth-century heroes." - Publisher.

Faith by John Love. Night Shade Books, 2012. Print Length: 387 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (4 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Faith is the name humanity has given to the unknown, seemingly invincible alien ship that has begun to harass the newly emergent Commonwealth. 300 years earlier, the same ship destroyed the Sakhran Empire, allowing the Commonwealth to expand its sphere of influence. But now Faith has returned! The ship is as devastating as before, and its attacks leave some Commonwealth solar systems in chaos. Eventually it reaches Sakhra, now an important Commonwealth possession, and it seems like history is about to repeat itself. But this time, something is waiting: an Outsider, one of the Commonwealth's ultimate warships. Slender silver ships, full of functionality and crewed by people of unusual abilities, often sociopaths or psychopaths, Outsiders were conceived in back alleys, built and launched in secret, and commissioned without ceremony. One system away from earth, the Outsider ship Charles Manson makes a stand. Commander Foord waits with his crew of miscreants and sociopaths, hoping to accomplish what no other human has been able to do - to destroy Faith!" - Publisher.

The Galactic Mage by John Daulton. Daulton Books, 2012. Print Length: 536 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (6 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"Altin Meade is a sorcerer running from a curse, the curse of Six: He’s got too much magic to control, yet not enough to save himself. No Six in his planet’s history has lived beyond the age of twenty-five. Altin is twenty-two. Determined to escape that fate, Altin seeks to leave his home world and remake his destiny amongst the stars. But first he has to invent a way to get there - a process that might bring about the very doom he’s trying to avoid. Far across the galaxy, there is nothing Ensign Orli Pewter hates more than life amongst the stars. Brought aboard as a child, she has spent the last ten years on the spaceship Aspect, a life she never asked for, a life of misery. Bright, strong and beautiful, Orli is now an officer in the fleet from Earth, serving a role and a mission she did not choose. As the lumbering Earth ships hunt a mysterious race of genocidal aliens across the enormity of the galaxy, years are ticking off her life, her very sanity at stake. She’s got to get away. She’s got to get off that ship. But there is nowhere for her to go. Or is there?" - Publisher.

The Lodestone Trilogy by Mark Whiteway. Mark Whiteway, 2011. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (1 review). Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled. Includes the first three books in the author's Lodestone series: The Sea of Storms, The World of Ice and Stars, and The Crucible of Dawn.

"On the planet Kelanni, life is cheap. With the aid of the fearsome 'Keltar' enforcers, in their flying cloaks, a ruthless invader is forcing the native people to mine the colloquially named 'lodestone' - a substance from another universe with infinitely destructive power. The only ones who can stop him are a tiny girl with fiery disposition, a former Keltar, a failed revolutionary, a musician and the mysterious creature, Boxx, who seems to speak only in riddles." - Publisher.

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sci fi fantasy Star Trek - Hufflepuff?! WTF?!

Uncategorized fantasy, Genre Watch, science fiction

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