Three free books now have EPUB formats available:
Today's
free audiobook from The Guardian UK is
The Constant Gardener by John le Carré. This one is still $13 in Kindle edition and the CD set with Michael Jayston as narrator is selling for $58!
Christian publisher Moody is giving away your choice of any one of eight ebooks, if you'll Like
their Facebook page. All you have to do is claim the coupon (by Nov 1) and then use it (by Nov 2) to grab any one of the books on
this page (you can read the first chapter there; you'll get the whole book). Moody will then email the book directly to you (in EPUB format; I would think it will be DRM-free, though, so should be convertable; otherwise, it will likely only work using Adobe ADE app). You'll need to make your choice before claiming your coupon.
Bismarck : A Life (
$1.49), by Jonathan Steinberg, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day.
Book Description
Otto von Bismarck transformed Europe more completely than anybody in the nineteenth century--except for Napoleon. He unified--and indeed, created--the country at the center of two world wars that would transform the world. This riveting biography illuminates the life of the statesman who unified Germany but who also embodied everything brutal and ruthless about Prussian culture. Jonathan Steinberg draws heavily on contemporary writings, allowing Bismarck's friends and foes to tell the story. What rises from these pages is a complex giant of a man: a hypochondriac with the constitution of an ox, a brutal tyrant who could easily shed tears, a convert to an extreme form of evangelical Protestantism who secularized schools and introduced civil divorce. Bismarck may have been in sheer ability the most intelligent man to direct a great state in modern times. His brilliance and insight dazzled his contemporaries. But all agreed there was also something demonic, diabolical, overwhelming, beyond human attributes, in Bismarck's personality. He was a kind of malign genius who, behind the various postures, concealed an ice-cold contempt for his fellow human beings and a drive to control and rule them. As one contemporary noted: "the Bismarck regime was a constant orgy of scorn and abuse of mankind, collectively and individually." In this comprehensive and expansive biography--a brilliant study in power--Jonathan Steinberg brings Bismarck to life, revealing the stark contrast between the "Iron Chancellor's" unmatched political skills and his profoundly flawed human character.
Faith and The Future (
$2.13), by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Book Description
Increasingly, the future is becoming a theme for theological reflection. In the background we can detect a growing concern among many people for the future of faith. Does faith have any future at all, and, if so, where in all the confusion of today's trends will we discover its embryo?
But the problem of the future assails not only the believer. In the ever more rapidly advancing process of historical evolution, man is confronted with enormous opportunities, but also with colossal perils. For him, the future is not only hope, but sorrow-a nightmare, indeed. He cannot avoid asking what part faith can play in building tomorrow's world.
Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, approaches this problem of universal concern from a variety of angles, bringing his deep personal faith and theological brilliance to bear on these serious questions.
If you missed
How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood (
$2.04), by William J. Mann, the last time it was on sale, now is your chance to snag it. It went up drastically when Ms. Taylor passed away, but is now back to bargain prices.
Book Description
In the 60s, Elizabeth Taylor's affair with the married Richard Burton knocked John Glenn's orbit of the moon off front pages nationwide. Yet, despite all the gossip, the larger-than-life personality and influence of this very human woman has never been captured. William Mann, praised by Gore Vidal, Patricia Bosworth, and Gerald Clarke for Kate, uses untapped sources and conversations to show how she ignited the sexual revolution with her on-and off-screen passions, helped kick down the studio system by taking control of her own career, and practically invented the big business of celebrity star-making. With unputdownable storytelling he tells the full truth without losing Taylor's magic, daring, or wit.
Readers will feel they are sitting next to Taylor as she rises at MGM, survives a marriage engineered for publicity, feuds with Hedda Hopper and Mr. Mayer, wins Oscars, endures tragedy, juggles Eddie Fisher, Richard Burton and her country's conservative values. But it is the private Elizabeth that will surprise--a woman of heart and loyalty, who defends underdogs, a savvy professional whose anger at the studio's treatment of her led to a lifelong battle against that very system. All the Elizabeth's are here, finally reconciled and seen against the exciting years of her greatest spirit, beauty, and influence. Swathed in mink, staring us down with her lavender eyes, disposing of husbands but keeping the diamonds, here is Elizabeth Taylor as she was meant to be, leading her epic life on her own terms, playing the game of supreme stardom at which she remains, to this day, unmatched.
Will Allen and the Great Monster Detective (The Chronicles of the Monster Detective Agency) (
$0.05), a children's book by Jason Edwards and Jeffrey Friedman (Illustrator), is about as low in price as a book can go, without actually being free.
Book Description
Will Allen may be one of the smallest boys at Ashford Middle School, but he is also one of the smartest. But cleverness alone isn't enough to help him when monsters infest his room!
Together with his friend Jeannine Fitsimmons, Will searches fruitlessly for help, until a strange business card appears, instructing them how to summon Bigelow Hawkins, the Great Monster Detective. With Bigelow's help, along with the use of his very special monster-fighting instruments, the RevealeR and the MonsterScope, Will must learn how to conquer his monsters and reveal the secret of the dreaded HIDDEN BEAST before it's too late...
The World Before Her (
$1.31), by Deborah Weisgall
Book Description
Marian Evans—who writes under the pen name George Eliot—has come to Venice on her honeymoon. It is 1880 and she is newly married to John Cross, twenty years her junior. She has come to this city of canals and bridges to start again, to forget the death of her longtime partner, George Henry Lewes—with whom she shared twenty five years of happiness and art. In this new marriage, in this intensely romantic place, can she give herself the happy ending that she provided for Middlemarch’s Dorothea Brooke?
A century later, sculptor Caroline Spingold takes us to Venice again. Scarred by her father’s abandonment just after she and her parents spent a summer in the city, Caroline vowed never to return. But now her powerful, wealthy older husband has brought her back against her will, to celebrate their tenth anniversary.
Told in alternating chapters subtly linked by themes of art, love, and the challenges of marriage, The World Before Her tells of two women, their surprising similarities, and the reckoning Venice will force them to make with their desire, their memories, and their very selves.
Good News for Those Trying Harder (
$0.99), by Alan Kraft, is currently being discounted by Christian publisher David C. Cook.
Book Description
Countless believers are pursuing spiritual growth, only to repeatedly find themselves spinning their wheels and making no progress. Many are driven to just try harder. Others feel a growing sense of failure and distance from God. But for all involved, it's a frustrating cycle. What can we do when trying harder isn't working?
Author and pastor Alan Kraft invites us to be still...still enough to hear the twin melodies that comprise the good news of the gospel--brokenness and faith. These core strains have the power to lift our exhausted heads so we may experience life to the full as Jesus promised.
Discover the power of a broken spirit, embrace the wonder of living by faith, and experience the joy found when you just stop trying.
Heat Wave (
$5.00), the first of the Nikki Heat novels by TV character Richard Castle, is still being listed at a discount price. The third in the series,
Heat Rises, has dropped to $10.79, which is less that were it started (and well under half the print/digital list price the publisher has set), for those who want to keep up with the inside jokes that appear in the series.
Book Description
A New York real estate tycoon plunges to his death on a Manhattan sidewalk. A trophy wife with a past survives a narrow escape from a brazen attack. Mobsters and moguls with no shortage of reasons to kill trot out their alibis. And then, in the suffocating grip of a record heat wave, comes another shocking murder and a sharp turn in a tense journey into the dirty little secrets of the wealthy. Secrets that prove to be fatal. Secrets that lay hidden in the dark until one NYPD detective shines a light.
Mystery sensation Richard Castle, blockbuster author of the wildly best-selling Derrick Storm novels, introduces his newest character, NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat. Tough, sexy, professional, Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City's top homicide squads. She's hit with an unexpected challenge when the commissioner assigns superstar magazine journalist Jameson Rook to ride along with her to research an article on New York's Finest. Pulitzer Prize-winning Rook is as much a handful as he is handsome. His wise- cracking and meddling aren't her only problems. As she works to unravel the secrets of the murdered real estate tycoon, she must also confront the spark between them. The one called heat.
The Gypsy Kitchen (
$2.94), by Lisa Lamme
Book Description
Feeling uninspired by the contents of your cupboards and fridge? Don't be! All you need is a little culinary magic to turn what you have into what you crave.
Let gourmet food-store owner Lisa Lamme provide mealtime imagin-ation with delectable recipes from her award-winning Gypsy Kitchen. Spices, oils, and condiments jazz up the boring so you can transform chicken breasts into Grilled Jerk Chicken with Pineapple and Peppers, pork chops into Garlic Roast Pork with Rosemary Apple Sauce, and fish fillets into Marmalade Glazed Salmon. Now, you'll be able to conjure up what you want, whenever you want it.
Whether you're whipping up dinner after work or entertaining friends last minute, The Gypsy Kitchen dazzles and delivers dishes that are certain to satisfy.
G.A. Aiken Bundle: The Dragon Who Loved Me, What a Dragon Should Know, & Last Dragon Standing (
$9.99 B&N/
BooksOnBoard), by
G. A. Aiken, is available to pre-order (but not from Amazon, yet); the individual titles run a bit over $4-$5 each, so this is a decent discount.
Book Description
Only for those I love would I traipse into the merciless Northlands to risk life, limb, and my exquisite beauty. But do they appreciate it? Do they say, "Gwenvael the Handsome, you are the best among us--the most loved of all dragons?" No! For centuries my family has refused to acknowledge my magnificence as well as my innate humility. Yet for them, and because I am so chivalrous, I will brave the worst this land has to offer.So here I stand, waiting to broker an alliance with the one the Northlanders call The Beast. A being so fearful, the greatest warriors will only whisper its name. Yet I, Gwenvael, will courageously face down this terrifying. . .woman? It turns out the Beast, a.k.a. Dagmar Reinholdt, is a woman--one with steel-gray eyes and a shocking disregard for my good looks. Beneath her plain robes and prim spectacles lies a sensual creature waiting to be unleashed. Who better than a dragon to thaw out that icy demeanor? And who better than a beast to finally tame a mighty dragon's heart?"Sexy and outrageous humor." --Romantic TimesI know what they see when they look at me. The charming, soft-spoken dragoness bred from the most powerful of royal bloodlines. A disguise stronger than any battle shield that allows me to keep all suitors at tail's length. A technique that's worked until him. Until Ragnar the Cunning, handsome barbarian warlord and warrior mage from the desolate Northlands. Unlike those who've come before him, he does not simply submit...
Kevin J. Anderson has a new (short) novel coming out,
Tau Ceti, with a bonus novelette by indie-author Steven Savile, which will be released (DRM-free) at Phoenix Pick on November 22. The ebook will be $4.99 once released, but can be pre-ordered now for $2.99. This is another one that isn't in the Kindle store (but probably will be, after it is released).
Book Description
Generations spent reaching a home away from home…only to discover that Earth now has faster than light ships and a ruthless dictator wants to lay claim to their dream.
Gap Creek: The Story of a Marriage ($7.16), by Robert Morgan, is this week's Free Friday book at Barnes & Noble. I've reported the lower price to Amazon and hopefully they will match it in a day or two.
