Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is the RosettaBooks edition of Cat's Cradle ($1.99), by Kurt Vonnegut (the Random House edition is $11.99). I'd definitely be getting this one, if I hadn't already replaced my worn out paperback edition earlier this year.Book Description
Cat’s Cradle (1963) is Vonnegut's most ambitious novel, which put into the language terms like "wampeter", "kerass" and "granfalloon" as well as a structured religion, Boskonism, and was submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for a Master's Degree in anthropology, and in its sprawling compass and almost uncontrolled (and uncontrollable) invention, may be Vonnegut's best novel.
Written contemporaneously with the Cuban missile crisis and countenancing a version of a world in the grasp of magnified human stupidity, the novel is centered on Felix Hoenikker, a chemical scientist reminiscent of Robert Oppenheimer… except that Oppenheimer was destroyed by his conscience and Hoenikker, delighting in the disastrous chemicals he has invented, has no conscience at all. Hoenikker's "Ice 9" has the potential to convert all liquid to inert ice and thus destroy human existence; he is exiled to a remote island where Boskonism has enlisted all of its inhabitants and where religion and technology collaborate, with the help of a large cast of characters, to destroy civilization.
Vonnegut's compassion and despair are expressed here through his grotesque elaboration of character and situation and also through his created religion which like Flannery O'Connor's "Church Without Christ" (in Wise Blood) acts to serve its adherents by removing them from individual responsibility. Vonnegut had always been taken seriously by science fiction readers and critics (a reception which indeed made him uncomfortable) but it was with Cat’s Cradle that he began to be found and appreciated by a more general audience. His own ambivalence toward science, science fiction, religion and religious comfort comes through in every scene of this novel.
A Trick of Light ($1.56 / £0.99 UK), by Karen Blomain, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $3.99/KLL Eligible).Book Description
When Hattie Darling’s husband Ben dies on his first night home from an extended business trip, she is devastated. But when she finds among his belongings evidence that there had been another woman in his life, Hattie is unable to mourn Ben as she thinks she should. In an attempt to make peace with her discovery, and against the advice of her friends, Hattie decides to find the other woman and confront her. At the heart of this emotional novel is the intertwining of the lives of two very different women who connect in unexpected and inspiring ways.
The Modern Ayurvedic Cookbook: Healthful, Healing Recipes for Life ($3.99 Kindle, B&N), by Amrita Sondhi, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle (at least, in the US - it's $21 for those in the UK, for example).Book Description
Ayurveda is a holistic healing tradition from India whose history is linked to the development of yoga. It is an ancient system in which physical and spiritual well-being comes from a number of sources, including a healthful diet based on one’s individual constitution.
Ayurveda is about achieving a physical and spiritual balance through a number of means, including yoga, aromatherapy, and diet. This all-vegetarian cookbook based on Ayurvedic traditions features delectable and nutritious recipes that appeal to particular doshas, which are one’s personal constitution based on physical and mental characteristics: fire (pitta), air (vata), and earth (kapha). (The book includes a dosha questionnaire so readers can determine their own.) And while the recipes are authentically Ayurvedic, they feature easy-to-find ingredients and modern-day cooking methods appropriate for busy schedules.
The book also includes yoga postures, cleansing programs, and information on aromatherapy, color therapy, and Abhyanga massage. There are also suggested meat substitutions for non-vegetarians. (Ayurveda is not exclusively vegetarian, although this book is.)
Written with both converts and beginners in mind, The Modern Ayurvedic Cookbook is a twenty-first-century approach to a five-thousand-year-old tradition that will restore your health, energy, and sense of well-being.
Spirit Fighter ($7.69 Kindle, 1.99 B&N), the first novel in the Son of Angels, Jonah Stone series by Jerel Law, is the Nook Daily Find for Families.Book Description
Percy Jackson, move over! Jonah Stone is here!
What if Nephilim - the children of angels and men-still walked the earth? And their very presence put the entire world in danger? In Spirit Fighter, Jonah and Eliza Stone learn that their mother is a Nephilim and that they have special powers as quarter-angels. When their mom is kidnapped by fallen angels, they must use those powers to save her. Along the way, they discover that there is a very real and dangerous war going on between good and evil and that God has a big part for them to play in that war.
Parents today are looking for fiction that makes Christianity and the Bible exciting for their kids. This series is the Christian answer to Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Kane Chronicles, The Secret Series and other middle-grade series packed with adventure, action, and supernatural fights. Son of Angels, Jonah Stone will be the first series in the market to explore this topic from a biblical perspective with content that is appropriate and exciting for middle-grade readers.
Grade Level: 4 and up
