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Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Beach Bag Reads for Summer

Open Road has a number of books on sale thru Tuesday, so that you can stuff your beach bag full for the summer. The books are supposed to be discounted in all the major stores, but I didn't find all of them marked down at Google or Kobo, so the links below will all be for Kindle. I've picked out a few that look interesting (and maybe a few that aren't on their sale), but you usually can't go wrong with the editions that Open Road brings out.

All Creatures Great and Small ($3.99), by James Herriot, is a good price on the start of a classic series, but I'd recommend you splurge instead on All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Bright and Beautiful, and All Things Wise and Wonderful: Three James Herriot Classics ($11.99), for less than the cost of the first two.
Book Description
The stories of a young veterinarian making his way in the rugged English countryside—and of the people and animals he met along the way

In the rolling dales of Yorkshire, a simple, rural region of northern England, a young veterinarian from Sunderland joins a new practice. A stranger in a strange land, he must quickly learn the odd dialect and humorous ways of the locals, master outdated equipment, and do his best to mend, treat, and heal pets and livestock alike.

This witty and heartwarming collection, based on the author’s own experiences, became an international success, spawning sequels and winning over animal lovers everywhere. Perhaps better than any other writer, James Herriot reveals the ties that bind us to the creatures in our lives.

How to Talk to Your Animals ($1.99), by Jean Craighead George
Book Description
Our pets speak to us in a language all their own, if only we stop to listen

Can animals really talk? In How to Talk to Your Animals, Jean Craighead George turns her attention away from animals in the wild to those in our homes in this practical look at the ways our pets speak to us. Based upon the work of contemporary naturalists, psychologists, and zoologists, George explains the sometimes eerie phenomenon of unspoken communication observed by many pet owners, as well as the signals that our animal companions use to decide whether humans are friend or foe. Filled with loving stories of real animals “talking” to humans, this book will warm the heart of anyone who has ever loved an animal.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Jean Craighead George, including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.

Riso: Undiscovered Rice Dishes of Northern Italy ($3.79), by Gioietta Vitale and Lisa Lawley, and Verdure: Simple Recipes in the Italian Style ($3.79), by Gioietta Vitale and Robin Vitetta-Miller
Riso: Undiscovered Rice Dishes of Northern Italy
One hundred quick and simple rice recipes capturing the flavor and excitement of traditional Italian cooking

From soups and salads to risottos and desserts, Gioietta Vitale presents the best of northern Italy’s rice-based specialties. Illustrated with line drawings and filled with tips on ingredients, techniques, and even the perfect wine to go with each dish, Riso is a comprehensive guide to rice by a master of Italian cuisine.


Verdure: Simple Recipes in the Italian Style
One hundred healthful and delicious Italian recipes centered on the best fresh, seasonal produce

From artichoke frittata to zucchini soup, Vitale offers simple and nutritious recipes dedicated entirely to vegetables. Providing tips on selecting fresh ingredients and bringing out each dish’s unique flavor, Verdure represents the best of northern Italian cuisine, and is a must-have for anyone seeking no-frills meals using the best that any local produce market has to offer.

Canal House Cooking Volume N° 1: Summer ($5.69), by Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton, is the first of several in the series, several of them included in the sale. Ignore the "11 pages" in the description, as there are more than that in the sample and it claims 81 recipes in this volume.
Book Description
CANAL HOUSE COOKING, VOLUME N° 1, SUMMER is a collection of our favorite summer recipes, ones we cook for ourselves all through the long lazy months. We are home cooks writing about home cooking for other home cooks. We cook seasonally because that’s what makes sense. In midsummer, we buy boxes of tomatoes to dress as minimally as we do in the heat. And in the height of the season, we preserve all that we can, so as to save a taste of summer. We make jarfuls of teriyaki sauce for slathering on chicken. We love to cook big paellas outdoors over a fire for a crowd of friends. We are crazy for ripe melons in late summer. And we churn tubs of ice cream for our families.

If you cook your way through a few of our recipes, you’ll see that who we are comes right through in these pages. With a few exceptions, we use ingredients that are readily available and found in most markets in most towns throughout the United States. All the recipes are easy to prepare (some of them a bit more involved), all completely doable for the novice and experienced cook alike.

Cook all summer long with Canal House Cooking!

Something Warm from the Oven: Baking Memories, Making Memories ($3.79), by Eileen Goudge
Book Description
A trove of classic recipes from the New York Times bestselling novelist Eileen Goudge

One of six children, Eileen Goudge learned to bake at an early age, inspired by her mother, who made everything from scratch and baked all her own bread. She has fond memories of the banana cake, apple crisp, and baked Alaska she loved as a child, and many of her novels feature temptations in the form of sweets, from the fine chocolates of Such Devoted Sisters to the icebox cookies of One Last Dance.

In this volume, Goudge collects the best of her mother’s recipes, adds some of her own, and includes a few from friends and readers. She tells the story of each dish in mouthwatering detail, giving glimpses of her childhood and noting which treats are best for picnics, parties, and other special occasions. These are not difficult recipes, but they are brilliant, and each one is designed to soothe the soul as well as please the palate.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Eileen Goudge including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.

Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life ($3.99), by Natalie Goldberg
Book Description
An inspirational, practical, and often lighthearted guide on how to find time to write, how to discover your personal style, and how to make sentences come alive

Natalie Goldberg, author of the bestselling Writing Down the Bones, shares her invaluable insight into writing as a source of creative power, and the daily ins and outs of the writer’s task. Topics include balancing mundane responsibilities with a commitment to writing; knowing when to take risks as a writer and a human being; coming to terms with success, failure, and loss; and learning self-acceptance—both in life and art.

Thought-provoking and practical, Wild Mind provides an abundance of suggestions for keeping the writing life vital and active, and includes more than thirty provocative “try this” exercises as jump-starters to get your pen moving.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Natalie Goldberg, including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection.

The Ethics of Ambiguity ($1.99), by Simone de Beauvoir
Book Description
In de Beauvoir’s second major essay, the renowned French philosopher illustrates the ethics of Existentialism by outlining a series of “ways of being”

In this classic introduction to Existentialist thought, French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir’s The Ethics of Ambiguity simultaneously pays homage to and grapples with her French contemporaries, philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, by arguing that the freedoms in Existentialism carry with them certain ethical responsibilities. While contemplating Nihilism, Surrealism, Existentialism, Objectivity, and human values, The Ethics of Ambiguity is a thorough examination of existence and what it means to human life.

To do this, de Beauvoir outlines a series of “ways of being” (the adventurer, the passionate person, the lover, the artist, and the intellectual), each of which overcomes the former’s deficiencies, and therefore can live up to the responsibilities of freedom. Ultimately, de Beauvoir argues that in order to achieve true freedom, one must battle against the choices and activities of those who suppress it.

When the Legends Die ($1.99), by Hal Borland
Book Description
A young Native American walks between the lonesome forest where he was raised and the complicated modern world he must navigate to survive

Thomas Black Bull’s parents forsook the life of a modern reservation and took to ancient paths in the woods, teaching their young son the stories and customs of his ancestors. But Tom’s life changes forever when he loses his father in a tragic accident and his mother dies shortly afterward. When Tom is discovered alone in the forest with only a bear cub as a companion, life becomes difficult. Soon, well-meaning teachers endeavor to reform him, a rodeo attempts to turn him into an act, and nearly everyone he meets tries to take control of his life.

Powerful and timeless, When the Legends Die is a captivating story of one boy learning to live in harmony with both civilization and wilderness.

Chaos: Making a New Science ($3.79), by James Gleick
Book Description
The blockbuster modern science classic that introduced the butterfly effect to the world—even more relevant two decades after it became an international sensation

For centuries, scientific thought was focused on bringing order to the natural world. But even as relativity and quantum mechanics undermined that rigid certainty in the first half of the twentieth century, the scientific community clung to the idea that any system, no matter how complex, could be reduced to a simple pattern. In the 1960s, a small group of radical thinkers began to take that notion apart, placing new importance on the tiny experimental irregularities that scientists had long learned to ignore. Miniscule differences in data, they said, would eventually produce massive ones—and complex systems like the weather, economics, and human behavior suddenly became clearer and more beautiful than they had ever been before.

In this seminal work of scientific writing, James Gleick lays out a cutting edge field of science with enough grace and precision that any reader will be able to grasp the science behind the beautiful complexity of the world around us.

The Sea Around Us ($3.79), by Rachel Carson, Ann H. Zwinger and Jeffrey S. Levinton
Book Description
Rachel Carson’s National Book Award–winning classic effortlessly mingles detailed fieldwork and inspiring prose to reveal a deep understanding of the earth’s most precious, mysterious resource—the ocean

With more than one million copies sold, Rachel Carson’s The Sea Around Us became a cultural phenomenon when first published in 1951 and cemented Carson’s status as the preeminent natural history writer of her time. Her inspiring, intimate writing plumbs the depths of an enigmatic world—a place of hidden lands, islands newly risen from the earth’s crust, fish that pour through the water, and the unyielding, epic battle for survival.

Firmly based in the scientific discoveries of the time, The Sea Around Us masterfully presents Carson’s commitment to a healthy planet and a fully realized sense of wonder.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Rachel Carson including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.

The Cannibal Queen: A Flight Into the Heart of America ($3.79), by Stephen Coonts
Book Description
Bestselling author Stephen Coonts’s stirring ode to aviation: a revealing account of his three months spent exploring small-town America from the skies

Stephen Coonts spent the summer of 1991 cruising above rivers, farms, mountains, and swamps in the Cannibal Queen, his restored 1942 Boeing-Stearman open cockpit biplane. With his fourteen-year-old son, David, along for the ride, Coonts explored the diverse landscapes of the forty-eight contiguous states, touching down in each one to record the untold stories of America’s countryside. The result is The Cannibal Queen, a striking memoir that features all the technical aviation know-how of Coonts’s acclaimed thrillers, but with the spotlight focused squarely on the beauty of rural America and the spirit of those who live there.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Stephen Coonts, including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.

That's it for the Open Road highlights. Be sure to check the sale page for more.

Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions ($2.99), by Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr
Book Description
A journey may take hundreds of miles, or it may cover the distance between duty and desire.

Sixteen of today’s hottest writers of paranormal tales weave stories on a common theme of journeying. Authors such as Kelley Armstrong, Rachel Caine, and Melissa Marr return to the beloved worlds of their bestselling series, while others, like Claudia Gray, Kami Garcia, and Margaret Stohl, create new land-scapes and characters. But whether they’re writing about vampires, faeries, angels, or other magical beings, each author explores the strength and resilience of the human heart.

Suspenseful, funny, or romantic, the stories in Enthralled will leave you moved.

Variant ($2.99), by Robison Wells. I picked this up at Audible during one of their sales and what I've listened to, sof far, is pretty good.
Book Description
Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Academy would be the ticket out of his dead-end life.

He was wrong.

Now he’s trapped in a school that’s surrounded by a razor-wire fence. A school where video cameras monitor his every move. Where there are no adults. Where the kids have split into groups in order to survive.

Where breaking the rules equals death.

But when Benson stumbles upon the school’s real secret, he realizes that playing by the rules could spell a fate worse than death, and that escape—his only real hope for survival—may be impossible.

The final selection for tonight is City of Bones ($0.99 Kindle, Kobo), the first title in Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series.
Book Description
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . .

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.