Continuing with my Monthly Kindle Book Budget ....
February
For the month, that's 43 books, $29.97 in total, for $0.70 per book.
Book Reviews and Bargain reads for the Amazon Kindle, nook, Kobo, Sony and other ereaders, Kindle Fire, nookColor, Kobo Vox, and other tablets, along with some games, music, technology and computers tossed in now and then.
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Saturday, April 11, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Monthly Kindle Book Budget: January
I thought some of you might be interested in my Kindle book budget (or purchase list, since budget doesn't really fit) each month. These are the titles and prices for those I purchased last month. I do share a Kindle account with my husband and parents, so sometimes their purchases are reflected in the mix (and purchases outside of the Kindle are ignored, as I don't seem to be able to resist those $3 hardbacks when they have megasales down at Borders now and then, especially when they fill in series that I am reading on the Kindle and the Kindle price for the same book is often in the $6 to $10 range). Since I've started this late in the year, I'll start with January thru March, with a total and average per book each month and for the first quarter/year-to-date.
January
For the month, that's 59 books, $83.47 in total, for $1.41 per book, but there were a number of public domain books that we downloaded in January, which we could have found free elsewhere. Two books consumed nearly 1/4 of the total amount spent, at $9.99 each (one of which is no longer available), while the others were all under $5, almost all of which are now over $5 and including at least two that now are selling for $9.99.
WOW! Looking at this list, it's no wonder I seem to have too many books in my TBR list on the Kindle. Excuse me while I go read .... continued tomorrow!
January
| The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus By: Lee Strobel | $3.75 |
| The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity By: Lee Strobel | $3.75 |
| Year in the Life of William Shakespeare, A By: James, Shapiro | $4.95 |
| Halley's Bible Handbook with the New International Version By: Henry H. Halley | $9.99 |
| The Scourge of God By: William Dietrich | $3.33 |
| One Last Breath By: Stephen Booth | $1.77 |
| Death Dines at 8:30 By: Nick DiChario, Claudia Bishop | $1.74 |
| Dark Celebration: A Carpathian Reunion By: Christine Feehan | $1.60 |
| The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History By: John M. Barry | $3.83 |
| The Book of the Dead By: Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child | $3.71 |
| Down by the River (Grace Valley, Book 3) By: Robyn Carr | $2.16 |
| The Night Before Halloween (Monster Classics) By: Sondi Miller | $0.80 |
| Mother Ghoul's Curses and Rhymes (Monster Classics) By: Sondi Miller | $0.80 |
| The Protector's War By: S. M. Stirling | $3.67 |
| A Meeting at Corvallis By: S.M. Stirling | $2.40 |
| Mighty Hammer Down (Legend of Reason Series) By: David J. Guyton | $1.59 |
| The Clutter Diet: The Skinny on Organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life By: Lorie Marrero | $9.99 |
| Friends for Life By: Carol Smith | $1.00 |
| The Cabinet of Curiosities: A Novel By: Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child | $1.67 |
| Void Moon By: Michael Connelly | $1.00 |
| When Women Were Warriors Book I By: Catherine M. Wilson | $0.99 |
| The Difference Between Life and Death: Outliving the Flu Pandemic of 2009 By: Dennis Miner | $4.00 |
| Locked Rooms By: Laurie R. King | $1.40 |
| The Skies of Pern By: Anne Mccaffrey | $3.00 |
| Deader the Better, The By: G.M. Ford | $1.64 |
| Hey Diddle Diddle, the Corpse and the Fiddle By: Fran Rizer | $2.46 |
| Easy as 1-2-3 By: Phillip Depoy | $1.93 |
| A Death at the North Pole By: Joel M. Andre | $0.99 |
| Boys of Summer (anthology) By: Julie Elizabeth Leto | $1.00 |
| To Live & Die in Dixie By: Kathy Hogan Trocheck | $1.57 |
| Blood of Eden By: Edward Morris | $0.00 |
| Waiting for the World to End By: Nicole Hunter | $0.99 |
| The Doré Gallery of Bible Illustrations, Complete By: Paul Gustave Doré | $0.00 |
| Excursions By: Henry David, 1817-1862 Thoreau | $0.00 |
| Civil Disobedience By: Henry David, 1817-1862 Thoreau | $0.00 |
| The Hunting of the Snark By: Lewis, 1832-1898 Carroll | $0.00 |
| How to Live on 24 Hours a Day By: Arnold, 1867-1931 Bennett | $0.00 |
| The Biography of a Grizzly By: Ernest Thompson, 1860-1946 Seton | $0.00 |
| Stickeen By: John, 1838-1914 Muir | $0.00 |
| The People of the Mist By: H. Rider (Henry Rider), 1856-1925 Haggard | $0.00 |
| The Pink Fairy Book By: Andrew, 1844-1912 Lang | $0.00 |
| Art of Money Getting By: P. T., 1810-1891 Barnum | $0.00 |
| Robin Hood By: J. Walker (Joseph Walker), 1874-1960 McSpadden | $0.00 |
| King of the Khyber Rifles By: Talbot, 1879-1940 Mundy | $0.00 |
| The Last American By: John Ames, 1845-1918 Mitchell | $0.00 |
| The New Jerusalem By: G. K. (Gilbert Keith), 1874-1936 Chesterton | $0.00 |
| Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant Volume 1 By: Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885 Grant | $0.00 |
| Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant Volume 2 By: Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885 Grant | $0.00 |
| The Ball and the Cross By: G. K. (Gilbert Keith), 1874-1936 Chesterton | $0.00 |
| All Things Considered By: G. K. (Gilbert Keith), 1874-1936 Chesterton | $0.00 |
| Ragnarok : the Age of Fire and Gravel By: Ignatius, 1831-1901 Donnelly | $0.00 |
| Orthodoxy By: G. K. (Gilbert Keith), 1874-1936 Chesterton | $0.00 |
| The Club of Queer Trades By: G. K. (Gilbert Keith), 1874-1936 Chesterton | $0.00 |
| Tremendous Trifles By: G. K. (Gilbert Keith), 1874-1936 Chesterton | $0.00 |
| Tales of the Jazz Age By: F. Scott (Francis Scott), 1896-1940 Fitzgerald | $0.00 |
| The Art of War By: 6th cent. B.C. Sunzi | $0.00 |
| From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan By: H. P. (Helena Petrovna), 1831-1891 Blavatsky | $0.00 |
| My Summer in a Garden By: Charles Dudley, 1829-1900 Warner | $0.00 |
| In the Heart of the Rockies By: G. A. (George Alfred), 1832-1902 Henty | $0.00 |
For the month, that's 59 books, $83.47 in total, for $1.41 per book, but there were a number of public domain books that we downloaded in January, which we could have found free elsewhere. Two books consumed nearly 1/4 of the total amount spent, at $9.99 each (one of which is no longer available), while the others were all under $5, almost all of which are now over $5 and including at least two that now are selling for $9.99.
WOW! Looking at this list, it's no wonder I seem to have too many books in my TBR list on the Kindle. Excuse me while I go read .... continued tomorrow!
Kindle Books for a Buck or less
This week's roundup of Kindle book bargains for a buck or less. All books are 99 cents unless otherwise noted, book descriptions, in italics, courtesy of Amazon.
Suspense / Thriller / Mystery
If you enjoyed Afraid
by Jack Kilborn ($1.99), you will also want to check out his work under the name J.A. Konrath 
. His Jack Daniels series starts off with Whiskey Sour
, which is bargain priced at $3.96. However, you can get it in PDF format free on the author's web site.
Lieutenant Jacqueline Daniels, or Jack, as she's known, has just broken up with her boyfriend and is having one of her bouts of insomnia, so she's not in the best of moods anyway. Then a frightening serial killer who calls himself the Gingerbread Man starts murdering women all over Chicago and dumping their violated bodies in garbage cans. With her binge-eating partner Herb, Jack begins to piece together the mystery of the maniac who's terrorizing the entire city. Unfortunately the FBI (or Feebs) send two officers who look like the Bobbsey Twins, and who have inordinate faith in their profiling computer. WHISKEY SOUR is full of hilarious moments in Jack Daniels' life, mingled with incredibly suspenseful scenes as she gets closer to discovering the killer--but not before he threatens her own life as well. There are a number of other freebies on the web site, including 55 Proof, a collection of 55 short stories, 13 of them featuring Jack Daniels.
A Lifetime of Vengeance
, by P. J. Grondin, is the first in the McKinney Brothers Murder Mystery Series (A Lifetime of Deception
is also on Kindle and currently marked down to $3.03).
While still in their teens the McKinney brothers enter the world of illicit drug trade. Just as their business appears to be running on auto-pilot, events turn their charmed lives into a living hell. Their friends turn against them and commit an act so heinous that the brothers are forced to leave their home in central Florida. They vow to come back and exact revenge on their friends-turned-enemies. After 6 years of military training they return to Florida to carry out their plan but their plan takes on a life of its own. But their enemies have a new, powerful friend. He’s a big player in the central Florida drug trade and he has help from inside the sheriff’s vice squad. Will the brothers survive this new threat? Will they carry out their plan and succeed in eliminating their adversaries, or will they forever harbor A Lifetime of Vengeance?
Fantasy / Science Fiction
The Second Ship (The Rho Agenda : Book One)
by Richard Phillips. This one is marked down until May 1, when the paperback will be released. The second in the series is also available for Kindle, Immune (The Rho Agenda : Book Two)
and at $6.99, you get both books for under $8.
Top-Secret Los Alamos, New Mexico. In 1945 its scientists unlocked the secrets of the atomic bomb. Now they've cracked the very lock on hell itself. Once again the quiet scientific community spawned by the Manhattan Project comes face to face with a technological breakthrough for which the world is completely unprepared. Now, as a special team of operatives struggles to stop the project codenamed Rho while containment is still possible, what it means to be human is about to change -- forever. In this heart pounding new series, acclaimed author Richard Phillips gives us a terrifying glimpse into what lies just around the future's corner.
Sports
Advantage Disadvantage
by Yale R. Jaffe.
A neighborhood bookie peddles athletes to college coaches and develops a sport betting operation centered on high school games. He recruits an accomplice to execute his last bet, one that could set them up financially for life but is fraught with danger. The Chicago Police investigate the greedy gamblers who might try to manipulate a high school basketball playoff game. A chance meeting between the father of a mediocre student-athlete and the bookie puts in motion a sequence of events transforming the player into a Division 1 prospect using unorthodox basketball training methods. Corrupt adults, who selfishly engage in risky and exploitive behaviors, surround the athlete: gangland profiteers, win-at-all-cost coaches, greedy street agents, shoe company representatives, college recruiters, disloyal lovers, and others. Advantage Disadvantage examines the motivations that drive the surrounding adults to corruption, betrayal, and greed. Advantage Disadvantage is a nail-biting, behind-the-scenes pass into the world of high school sports and the people who make and break it. Set in Chicago, its innately urban backdrop is full of distinctly Windy City landmarks. This is the perfect read for sports fans that love an insider's view...an insightful and deliciously-sinful plot full of twists and turns. You'll find the perfect blend of bravery, betrayal and who-done-it adventure in this vividly penned thriller.
Romance / Suspense (Gay)
Turning Idolater
by Edward C. Patterson, the author of Bobby's Trace
, which is still on sale for 99 cents (but is scheduled to go back to $3.99). This one isn't for everyone, but the premise is intriguing and definitely worth checking out if you are interested in the genre and enjoyed his earlier bargain book.
Philip Flaxen, who strips past his jockstrap on the Internet for manluv.com, acquires a rare gift - a book that transforms his life. With it, he sparks with a famous author, whittles away at a new craft, swims with an odd circle of new acquaintances and is swept up in mayhem. Philip leaves the world of the Porn Nazi and enters the realm of crisp possibilities - great expectations and dark secrets that unravel over deep waters. Follow this whodunit as Philip Flaxen "turns idolater" and never looks back - a tale of Internet strippers, back street murders, Provincetown glitz, New York City nightlife and a love story for the ages. If you liked "No Irish Need Apply" and loved "Bobby's Trace", you will absolutely adore "Turning Idolater". Life is filled with serendipity, pleasurable and bracing, but on the fringes and in the heart, life can be a very bloody business.
Suspense / Thriller / Mystery
If you enjoyed Afraid by Jack Kilborn ($1.99), you will also want to check out his work under the name J.A. Konrath . His Jack Daniels series starts off with Whiskey Sour, which is bargain priced at $3.96. However, you can get it in PDF format free on the author's web site.Lieutenant Jacqueline Daniels, or Jack, as she's known, has just broken up with her boyfriend and is having one of her bouts of insomnia, so she's not in the best of moods anyway. Then a frightening serial killer who calls himself the Gingerbread Man starts murdering women all over Chicago and dumping their violated bodies in garbage cans. With her binge-eating partner Herb, Jack begins to piece together the mystery of the maniac who's terrorizing the entire city. Unfortunately the FBI (or Feebs) send two officers who look like the Bobbsey Twins, and who have inordinate faith in their profiling computer. WHISKEY SOUR is full of hilarious moments in Jack Daniels' life, mingled with incredibly suspenseful scenes as she gets closer to discovering the killer--but not before he threatens her own life as well. There are a number of other freebies on the web site, including 55 Proof, a collection of 55 short stories, 13 of them featuring Jack Daniels.
A Lifetime of Vengeance, by P. J. Grondin, is the first in the McKinney Brothers Murder Mystery Series (A Lifetime of Deception is also on Kindle and currently marked down to $3.03).While still in their teens the McKinney brothers enter the world of illicit drug trade. Just as their business appears to be running on auto-pilot, events turn their charmed lives into a living hell. Their friends turn against them and commit an act so heinous that the brothers are forced to leave their home in central Florida. They vow to come back and exact revenge on their friends-turned-enemies. After 6 years of military training they return to Florida to carry out their plan but their plan takes on a life of its own. But their enemies have a new, powerful friend. He’s a big player in the central Florida drug trade and he has help from inside the sheriff’s vice squad. Will the brothers survive this new threat? Will they carry out their plan and succeed in eliminating their adversaries, or will they forever harbor A Lifetime of Vengeance?
Fantasy / Science Fiction
The Second Ship (The Rho Agenda : Book One) by Richard Phillips. This one is marked down until May 1, when the paperback will be released. The second in the series is also available for Kindle, Immune (The Rho Agenda : Book Two) and at $6.99, you get both books for under $8.Top-Secret Los Alamos, New Mexico. In 1945 its scientists unlocked the secrets of the atomic bomb. Now they've cracked the very lock on hell itself. Once again the quiet scientific community spawned by the Manhattan Project comes face to face with a technological breakthrough for which the world is completely unprepared. Now, as a special team of operatives struggles to stop the project codenamed Rho while containment is still possible, what it means to be human is about to change -- forever. In this heart pounding new series, acclaimed author Richard Phillips gives us a terrifying glimpse into what lies just around the future's corner.
Sports
Advantage Disadvantage by Yale R. Jaffe.A neighborhood bookie peddles athletes to college coaches and develops a sport betting operation centered on high school games. He recruits an accomplice to execute his last bet, one that could set them up financially for life but is fraught with danger. The Chicago Police investigate the greedy gamblers who might try to manipulate a high school basketball playoff game. A chance meeting between the father of a mediocre student-athlete and the bookie puts in motion a sequence of events transforming the player into a Division 1 prospect using unorthodox basketball training methods. Corrupt adults, who selfishly engage in risky and exploitive behaviors, surround the athlete: gangland profiteers, win-at-all-cost coaches, greedy street agents, shoe company representatives, college recruiters, disloyal lovers, and others. Advantage Disadvantage examines the motivations that drive the surrounding adults to corruption, betrayal, and greed. Advantage Disadvantage is a nail-biting, behind-the-scenes pass into the world of high school sports and the people who make and break it. Set in Chicago, its innately urban backdrop is full of distinctly Windy City landmarks. This is the perfect read for sports fans that love an insider's view...an insightful and deliciously-sinful plot full of twists and turns. You'll find the perfect blend of bravery, betrayal and who-done-it adventure in this vividly penned thriller.
Romance / Suspense (Gay)
Turning Idolater by Edward C. Patterson, the author of Bobby's Trace, which is still on sale for 99 cents (but is scheduled to go back to $3.99). This one isn't for everyone, but the premise is intriguing and definitely worth checking out if you are interested in the genre and enjoyed his earlier bargain book.Philip Flaxen, who strips past his jockstrap on the Internet for manluv.com, acquires a rare gift - a book that transforms his life. With it, he sparks with a famous author, whittles away at a new craft, swims with an odd circle of new acquaintances and is swept up in mayhem. Philip leaves the world of the Porn Nazi and enters the realm of crisp possibilities - great expectations and dark secrets that unravel over deep waters. Follow this whodunit as Philip Flaxen "turns idolater" and never looks back - a tale of Internet strippers, back street murders, Provincetown glitz, New York City nightlife and a love story for the ages. If you liked "No Irish Need Apply" and loved "Bobby's Trace", you will absolutely adore "Turning Idolater". Life is filled with serendipity, pleasurable and bracing, but on the fringes and in the heart, life can be a very bloody business.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Games, Games, Games
Photo courtesy of University of Rochester.It seems that every week sees a new story on how playing games is good for our brains, whether the games involve puzzles, word use, math and now even action games: the ability to perceive changes in shades of gray improves up to 58 percent, something you need when reading a Kindle in low light conditions, viewing it's graphics or when driving in low light conditions. The photo above demonstrates the difference that can make. No longer need you feel guilty about playing video games (unless, of course, your Kindle becomes too lonely or your family forgets what you look like).
This last week, I've been working my way through the levels of Airport Mania: First Flight, which Amazon had for 98 cents earlier this month (it's $9.99 now), which has both action and puzzle elements (as well as airplanes that get as angry as passengers at a real terminal if they are kept waiting too long). If you missed this game, it isn't too late to pick up some others at some good prices, as Amazon is having a month-long Buy One, Get One Free Sale on Game Downloads
. Each week will be a different category of games - this week it is Puzzle Games. Two of the top three sellers were also free at one time: The Scruffs and Jewel Quest II (Build-a-lot was also free at one time and Big Kahuna Reef is still free - the sequel, Big Kahuna Reef 2
and 
, is $9.99 and on this week's sale) . The way it works is you buy one title (the most expensive of the two you want) and within two (business) days you get a credit to your account and can then come back and buy the second title at no charge (I've had similar credits in the MP3 download store, from other Amazon promotions). You have until May 31 to purchase your second game, which must come from the same list as the first selection. Just like Kindle books, Game Downloads all come with a free sample - except in this case, it's the entire game and it's generally free for 14 days (however, this sale changes each week, so don't take that long to make up your mind). It's a good idea to use the trial, as game downloads are non-refundable, unlike Kindle books. My biggest problem with the sale? There are just too many interesting looking choices.
For the RPG players out there, White Wolf has a special treat for you: a free PDF (and DRM-free) copy of the Exalted Second Edition rulebook (registration is required), as well as a one-time 10% discount on the purchase of any White Wolf PDF titles through DriveThruRPG.com and RPGNow.com from 1 Am Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Simply enter the coupon code “wwlovesyou” to receive the discount. Both offers expire by midnight (EST) on Sunday, April 12th. Wizards of the Coast’s recently decided to discontinue on-line PDF sales (existing customers and the sole vendor had very little notice, essentially a single day) and had to complete all downloads of purchased PDF's by April 7th), citing piracy concerns (of a watermarked and personalized PDF; what are they crazy?). But White Wolf wants to demonstrate that other game publishers are remaining the the DRM-free PDF arena. This rulebook is a massive, 65MB, 400+ page, color, illustrated manual. Not something that will work well on the Kindle (for now) and nothing you'd want to print out at home (even an inexpensive color ink printer will use a ton of toner), but a great reference to have on hand in your Netbook
or gaming computer.
Free Read: The Winner Stands Alone
The Winner Stands Alone ($16.82 Hardcover; not yet on Kindle) by Paulo Coelho. The author of The Alchemist
, returns with another haunting novel — an exploration of our fascination with the worlds of fame, fortune, and celebrity. A profound meditation on personal power and innocent dreams that are manipulated or undone by success, The Winner Stands Alone is set in the exciting worlds of fashion and cinema. Taking place over the course of twenty-four hours during the Cannes Film Festival, it is the story of Igor, a successful, driven Russian entrepreneur who will go to the darkest lengths to reclaim a lost love—his ex-wife, Ewa. Believing that his life with Ewa was divinely ordained, Igor once told her that he would destroy whole worlds to get her back. The conflict between an individual evil force and society emerges, and as the novel unfolds, morality is derailed.
Meet the players and poseurs behind the scenes at Cannes—the "Superclass" of producers, actors, designers, and supermodels, as well as the aspiring starlets, has-been stars, and jaded hangers-on. Adroitly interweaving the characters' stories, Paulo Coelho uses his twelfth novel to paint an engrossing picture of a world overrun by glamour and excess, and shows us the possibly dire consequences of our obsession with fame.
For a limited time, 100% of The Winner Stands Alone is available for you to read online, for free!
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