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Monday, October 24, 2011

Today's Deals and Bargain Books

If you haven't used your coupon code, you are down to only two days left on the Buy a Romance for $1 KSO offer.

BoneMan's Daughters ($1.99), by Ted Dekker, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day. That's a good price on a good book (and one that is appropriate to read, for the Halloween season, if you are into a good thriller); looks like I bought it a couple of years ago, but a nowhere near this good a price.
Book Description
They call him BoneMan, a serial killer who's abducted six young women. He's the perfect father looking for the perfect daughter, and when his victims fail to meet his lofty expectations, he kills them by breaking their bones and leaving them to die.

Intelligence officer Ryan Evans, on the other hand, has lost all hope of ever being the perfect father. His daughter and wife have written him out of their lives.

Everything changes when BoneMan takes Ryan's estranged daughter, Bethany, as his seventh victim. Ryan goes after BoneMan on his own.

But the FBI sees it differently. New evidence points to the suspicion that Ryan is BoneMan. Now the hunter is the hunted, and in the end, only one father will stand.

The Digital Photography Book: The Step-by-Step Secrets for How to Make Your Photos Look Like the Pros, Volume 1 ($3.50 Kindle, B&N), by Scott Kelby, is today's Nook Daily Find. Amazon has matched the price on one of the two editions in their store, but you might want to get samples to determine if there is any difference between the two, other than size, since the publisher has entered the same edition date on the two.
Book Description
Scott Kelby, the man who changed the "digital darkroom" forever with his groundbreaking, #1 bestselling, award-winning book The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers, now tackles the most important side of digital photography--how to take pro-quality shots using the same tricks today's top digital pros use (and it's easier than you'd think).

This entire book is written with a brilliant premise, and here’s how Scott describes it: "If you and I were out on a shoot, and you asked me, 'Hey, how do I get this flower to be in focus, but I want the background out of focus?' I wouldn't stand there and give you a lecture about aperture, exposure, and depth of field. In real life, I'd just say, 'Get out your telephoto lens, set your f/stop to f/2.8, focus on the flower, and fire away.' You d say, 'OK,' and you'd get the shot. That's what this book is all about. A book of you and I shooting, and I answer the questions, give you advice, and share the secrets I've learned just like I would with a friend, without all the technical explanations and without all the techno-photo-speak."

This isn't a book of theory—it isn't full of confusing jargon and detailed concepts: this is a book of which button to push, which setting to use, when to use them, and nearly two hundred of the most closely guarded photographic "tricks of the trade" to get you shooting dramatically better-looking, sharper, more colorful, more professional-looking photos with your digital camera every time you press the shutter button.

Here's another thing that makes this book different: each page covers just one trick, just one single concept that makes your photography better. Every time you turn the page, you'll learn another pro setting, another pro tool, another pro trick to transform your work from snapshots into gallery prints. There's never been a book like it, and if you're tired of taking shots that look "OK," and if you’re tired of looking in photography magazines and thinking, "Why don't my shots look like that?" then this is the book for you.

The Intellectual Devotional Modern Culture: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Converse Confidently with the Culturati ($2.70), by David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim, comes to us from Rodale Press.
Book Description
In the tradition of the instant bestsellers The Intellectual Devotional and The Intellectual Devotional: American History comes the third installment in this indispensable series. In The Intellectual Devotional: Modern Culture, the authors explore the fascinating world of contemporary culture to offer 365 daily readings that provide the essential references needed to navigate the world today.
Quench your intellectual thirst with an overview of the literature, music, film, personalities, trends, sports, and pop references that have defined the way we live. From the Slinky to Star Wars; Beatlemania to Babe Ruth; flappers to fascism—refreshing your memory and dazzling your friends has never been easier, or more fun. Whether you're a trivia genius, pop-culture buff, or avid reader, you'll be riveted by this comprehensive journey through contemporary culture.

100 Words To Make You Sound Smart ($4.76) is one of eight "100 word" titles discounted under $5 by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries.
Book Description
The newest title in the popular 100 Words series is an informative and entertaining resource that can help anyone be right on the money when looking for words that will make a point, seal the deal, or just keep folks listening. Chosen by the editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries, these words will appeal to anyone who wants to be a more compelling communicator—as a worker, consumer, advocate, friend, dinner companion, or even as a romantic prospect.

The book includes a colorful variety of words, including handy words of just one syllable (such as glib) and words derived from the names of famous people (such as Freudian slip and Machiavellian).

There are expressions from popular culture (Catch-22) and words that date back to classical civilization (spartan and stoic). Each word is clearly defined and shown in context with quotations from contemporary sources: magazines, newspapers, broadcast media, movies, and television. For many words, quotations from distinguished authors and speakers are also given and word histories are explained.

Like its predecessors in this successful series, 100 Words to Make You Sound Smart provides an affordable and enjoyable way to communicate more effectively. It offers the coveted gift of gab to anyone who needs to “say it right”—and to anyone who wants to sound more articulate.

I'm Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and High Times in Stand-Up Comedy's Golden Era ($3.48), by William Knoedelseder
Book Description
In the mid-1970s, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Andy Kaufman, Richard Lewis, Robin Williams, Elayne Boosler, Tom Dreesen, and several hundred other shameless showoffs and incorrigible cutups from all across the country migrated en masse to Los Angeles, the new home of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. There, in a late-night world of sex, drugs, dreams and laughter, they created an artistic community unlike any before or since. It was Comedy Camelot—but it couldn’t last.

William Knoedelseder, then a cub reporter covering the scene for the Los Angeles Times, was there when the comedians—who were not paid for performing—tried to change the system and incidentally tore apart their own close-knit community. In I’m Dying Up Here he tells the whole story of that golden age, of the strike that ended it, and of how those days still resonate in the lives of those who were there.

Men, Money, and Chocolate ($1.99), by Menna Van Praag
Book Description
Maya spends each day in her cafĂ©, dreaming of a perfect life: one filled with love, wealth, and beauty. But she can’t create the life she longs for. She tries to find fulfillment in the pursuit of men and money, and when that doesn’t work, she seeks comfort in chocolate. This just leaves her empty and lost. Then Maya meets a magical stranger who sets her on a path to create the life of her dreams…

This sweet and touching true-life tale about love, success, weight loss, and enlightenment will show you what is possible when you listen to your heart, believe in yourself, and take inspired actions in the direction of your dreams. Based on the author’s actual experiences, this is a tale of transformation that reveals how to love another without losing yourself, find work that makes your heart sing, and revel in the delightful decadence of chocolate without guilt or recrimination!

American Indian Prophecies ($1.99), by Kurt Kaltreider
Book Description
American Indian Prophecies: Conversations with Chasing Deer tells of indigenous American culture, values, and spirituality as seen through their prophecies. The book is a series of conversations between young John Peabody of the New England gentry and Chasing Deer, an aged Cheyenne/Lakota and keeper of the true history of the Americas. As the conversations unfold, you see the contrast between Euro-American and American Indian cultures and values, bringing many interesting questions to light. As the conversations unfold, we learn that perhaps the Amercian Indian culture has some of the answers that we are all looking for.

The dog on the cover of Dogs I Have Met: And the People They Found ($3.99), by Ken Foster, looks a lot like some of the ones that frequent our local dog park.
Book Description
Ken Foster knows that a dog can change a person's life - and that several dogs can change it even more. His three adopted dogs have helped him overcome a number of difficult times in his life - including a heart condition that saw him land in hospital, and the death of two very close friends."Dogs I Have Found" is a collection of stories, from both the author and other owners of rescued and adopted dogs that show how man's best friend can provide love and friendship during the best and the worst of times.This is a heart-warming volume that is sure to find a place of the bookshelf of dog lovers everywhere.

Dead Girls Are Easy ($0.99), by Terri Garey, is the lowest price I've seen on this start of her Nicki Styx series. If you missed it or held off when it was $1.99 last year, be sure to grab it this time around. I've already replaced my paperback copies of this one and the next two in the series. *recommended
Book Description
There's something about almost dying that makes a girl rethink her priorities. Take Nicki Styx—she was strictly goth and vintage, until a brush with the afterlife leaves her with the ability to see dead people.

Before you can say boo, Atlanta's ghosts are knocking at Nicki's door. Now her days consist of reluctantly cleaning up messes left by the dearly departed, leading ghouls to the Light . . . and one-on-one anatomy lessons with Dr. Joe Bascombe, the dreamy surgeon who saved her life. All this catering to the deceased is a real drag, especially for a girl who'd rather be playing hanky-panky with her hunky new boyfriend . . . who's beginning to think she's totally nuts.

But things get even more complicated when a friend foolishly sells her soul to the devil, and Nicki's new gift lands her in some deep voodoo.

As it turns out for Nicki Styx, death was just the beginning.

A Friend of the Family ($1.89), by Lauren Grodstein, has very good reviews and I expect it to jump back up in price, once Amazon clears out some of their hardcover inventory.
Book Description
Pete Dizinoff, a skilled and successful New Jersey internist, has a loving and devoted wife, a network of close friends, an impressive house, and, most of all, a son, Alec, now nineteen, on whom he has pinned all his hopes. But Pete hadn’t expected his best friend’s troubled daughter to set her sights on his boy. When Alec falls under her spell, Pete sets out to derail the romance, never foreseeing the devastating consequences.

In a riveting story of suburban tragedy, Lauren Grodstein charts a father’s fall from grace as he struggles to save his family, his reputation, and himself.

Perfectly Dateless and Perfectly Invisible, by Kristin Billerbeck, are both currently marked down to $4.79. Together, the make up the Universally Misunderstood series and are her two of her newest novels from Christian publisher Revell.
Perfectly Dateless
Daisy Crispin has 196 days to find the right date for the prom. There's only one problem--her parents won't let her date or even talk to a guy on the phone. Oh, and she's totally invisible at school, has to wear lame homemade clothes, and has no social skills. Okay, so maybe there's more than one problem. Can she talk her parents into letting her go to the prom? Or will they succeed at their obvious attempt to completely ruin her life?

With hilarious and truthful writing, Kristin Billerbeck uncovers the small--and large--mortifications that teen girls encounter. Readers will fall in love with Daisy's sharp wit and resourcefulness as she navigates the world of boys, fashion, family, and friendship.


Perfectly Invisible
It's Daisy Crispin's final trimester of high school, and she plans to make it count. Her long-awaited freedom is mere months away, and her big plans for college loom in the future. Everything is under control. Or is it? Her boyfriend is treating her like she's invisible, and her best friend is selling bad costume jewelry in the school quad--and hanging out with her boyfriend. To top it off, Daisy's major humiliation for the year will be remembered in the yearbook for all eternity. It's enough to make her wonder if maybe being invisible isn't so bad after all.

With more of the funny-but-too-true writing readers have come to expect from Kristin Billerbeck, Perfectly Invisible shows teen girls that everyone is special--no matter what they're going through.

Starting Your Day Right: Devotions for Each Morning of the Year ($2.99), by Joyce Meyer, is from Hatchette imprint FaithWords.
Book Description
Readers are invited to start the morning off right with #1 New York Times bestselling author Joyce Meyer's devotions for each day of the year.

Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr ($3.99), by Nancy Isenberg, should be a good one for the history buffs out there. Careful buying direct from your Kindle, though, as there are two editions at the same price and the other is in the Topaz format.
Book Description
A controversial challenge to the works of Ron Chernow and David McCullough

With Fallen Founder , Nancy Isenberg plumbs rare and obscure sources to shed new light on everyone’s favorite founding villain. The Aaron Burr whom we meet through Isenberg’s eye-opening biography is a feminist, an Enlightenment figure on par with Jefferson, a patriot, and—most importantly—a man with powerful enemies in an age of vitriolic political fighting. Revealing the gritty reality of eighteenth-century America, Fallen Founder is the authoritative restoration of a figure who ran afoul of history and a much-needed antidote to the hagiography of the revolutionary era.

The Echo Man ($4.99), by Richard Montanari
Book Description
Tormented by the exquisite beauty of a concerto and the bloodcurdling cries of a dying woman, the Echo Man composes his own symphony in response: a string of artfully staged slayings—all of them linked to cold murder cases and designed to taunt the police of Philadelphia.

Detective Kevin Byrne hears sounds, too. They wake him in the night, haunt him by day, and remind him of the first homicide suspect he ever arrested: a gifted, beautiful classical musician who inexplicably went mad and became murderous. Now Byrne believes that Philly’s serial killings might be linked to that case. But his partner, Jessica Balzano, has too many bodies on her hands to worry about Byrne’s strange intuition or personal demons—until all the perfectly placed clues, all the evidence, all the deception point Balzano in one direction, and she discovers that the killer is closer than she could ever have suspected.

From the acclaimed author of Merciless, The Echo Man is a masterpiece of suspense that builds to a crescendo of terror and stunning surprise.

Classic Goosebumps #11: The Werewolf of Fever Swamp ($3.79), the fourteenth in the popular Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine, wraps up today's roundup with a perfect book for reading with your kids at Halloween.
Book Description
Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf?

There is something weird happening in Fever Swamp. Something really horrible.It started with the strange howling at night. Then there was the rabbit, torn to shreds. Everyone thinks Grady's new dog is responsible. After all, he looks just like a wolf. And he seems a little on the wild side.

But Grady knows his dog is just a regular old dog. And most dogs don't howl at the moon. Or disappear at midnight. Or change into terrifying creatures when the moon is full.

Or do they?