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Monday, September 3, 2012

Today's Deals

The Fictionwise Coupon for the weekend is good for 30% off: 090112

Today's Free Android App, Dungeon Scroll, combines a typical dungeon trawl with a Scrabble type word game.

Warren Adler is repeating his Mourning Glory giveaway.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is The Sleeping Night ($1.99), by Barbara Samuel (Bell Bridge Books).
Book Description
A triumphant tale of forbidden love that will delight Barbara Samuel’s many romance fans while tackling the serious issue of racism in our not-so-distant past.

An unforgettable romance in an unforgiving time.

They’ll need love and courage to see the dawn.

He's a hometown native, returning from the war, determined to change the world he'd fought to protect. She's the girl who's been his secret friend since childhood, now a beautiful woman.

Her war-time letters kept him alive. But he's black, and she's white.In 1946 in Gideon, Texas, their undeniable love might get them both killed.

The First Time: True Tales of Virginity Lost and Found ($1.57 / £0.99 UK), by Kate Monro, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).
Book Description
A groundbreaking and very personal insight into modern sexuality. Losing our virginity … it happens to all of us. How did it happen for you? What do other people think and feel about it? In February 2007, Kate Monro went on a mission to find out. She decided to ask as many people as possible - how did you lose your virginity? Men and women, old and young, gay, straight, Christian and Muslim; the stories range from the funny and the sad to the happy and occasionally, the unbelievable. Thus was born her much reviewed blog, The Virginity Project, and now this book. How do we define the loss of our virginity? What, if any, impact does the first time have on the rest of our lives? And in some cases how do we know for sure when that moment has occurred? After all sorts of conversations with all sorts of people, Kate will reveal the truth about other people’s most intimate sexual stories. She also discovers that the answers are not always as straightforward as you might think.

The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk ($11.96 paperback, $3.99 B&N, $3.49 Kobo - coupon eligible), by Jennifer Niven, is the Nook Daily Find, better than price matched at Kobo. There is no Kindle edition for this title, but a second biography of hers that Hyperion has marked down in is available in both stores: Ada BlackJack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic ($3.03 Kindle, $3.43 B&N)
The Ice Master
The Karluk set out in 1913 in search of an undiscovered continent, with the largest scientific staff ever sent into the Arctic. Soon after, winter had begun, they were blown off course by polar storms, the ship became imprisoned in ice, and the expedition was abandoned by its leader. Hundreds of miles from civilization, the castaways had no choice but to find solid ground as they struggled against starvation, snow blindness, disease, exposureand each other. After almost twelve months battling the elements, twelve survivors were rescued, thanks to the heroic efforts of their captain, Bartlett, the Ice Master, who traveled by foot across the ice and through Siberia to find help. Drawing on the diaries of those who were rescued and those who perished, Jennifer Niven re-creates with astonishing accuracy the ill-fated journey and the crews desperate attempts to find a way home.

Ada BlackJack
The gripping and inspiring tale of a woman's survival alone in the Arctic.

In 1921, four men and one woman ventured deep into the Arctic. Two years later, only one returned.

When 23-year-old Inuit Ada Blackjack signed on as a seamstress for a top-secret Arctic expedition, her goal was simple: earn money and find a husband. But her terrifying experiences -- both in the wild and back in civilization -- comprise one of the most amazing untold adventures of the 20th century. Based on a wealth of unpublished materials, including Ada's never-before-seen diaries, bestselling author Jennifer Niven narrates this true story of an unheralded woman who became an unlikely hero.

Princess Academy ($4.87 Kindle, $5.45 B&N), by Shannon Hale, is the Nook Daily Find for Families; there doesn't seem to be any price drop at B&N, though, and it's better than price matched on Kindle.
Book Description
Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king's priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess. Sent to an academy to learn how to become a princess, Miri soon finds herself confronted with a harsh mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and even bandits intent on kidnapping the future princess.

Grade Level: 5 and up

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are You Waking Up? ($1.99), by Bill Martin Jr., Michael Samplson and Laura J. Bryant (Illustrator). Requires Kindle Fire, Kindle Cloud Reader, Kindle for iPad or Kindle for Android.
Book Description
Kitty Cat should be getting ready for school, but instead, she's practicing her purr, looking for her socks, chasing a little mouse, and more. Will Kitty Cat make it out of the house in time for school? Adorable pastel illustrations rendered in watercolor paints and colored pencil bring Kitty Cat so close you'll want to reach out and touch her!

Grade Level: Pre K and up

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Today's Deals

Amazon has a new Coinstar bonus going on: Pour $20 for any Amazon.com Gift Card at Coinstar, get $5 in MP3s. I may try to get down to our Coinstar this afternoon and give it a try (most of the ones that create gift cards accept bills); the only limit I see is "per transaction", so I will even try to add two to my account to see if that works. It does say you can't combine it with any other offers, so you can't use it with the $3 Off MP3 AmazonLocal voucher, which has to be used today, btw. This new offer expires September 23, 2012 and you must use the credit by October 31, 2012.

I checked with Kobo on the Romance50 (50% off Romance Bestsellers; exp Sep 9) discount code - you can buy as many of the qualifying books as you want and use the code on each one.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Shelter ($2.99), a young adult novel by internationally bestselling author Harlan Coben. This is the first novel in his new Mickey Bolitar series, with the next, Seconds Away, due out in September.
Book Description
Mickey Bolitar's year can't get much worse. After witnessing his father's death and sending his mom to rehab, he's forced to live with his estranged uncle Myron and switch high schools.

A new school comes with new friends and new enemies, and lucky for Mickey, it also comes with a great new girlfriend, Ashley. For a while, it seems like Mickey's train-wreck of a life is finally improving - until Ashley vanishes without a trace. Unwilling to let another person walk out of his life, Mickey follows Ashley's trail into a seedy underworld that reveals that this seemingly sweet, shy girl isn't who she claimed to be. And neither was Mickey's father. Soon, Mickey learns about a conspiracy so shocking that it makes high school drama seem like a luxury - and leaves him questioning everything about the life he thought he knew.

First introduced to readers in Harlan Coben's latest adult novel, Live Wire, Mickey Bolitar is as quick-witted and clever as his uncle Myron, and eager to go to any length to save the people he cares about. With this new series, Coben introduces an entirely new generation of fans to the masterful plotting and wry humor that have made him an award-winning, internationally bestselling, and beloved author.

Nobody Loves a Ginger Baby ($1.57 / £0.99 UK), by Laura Marney , is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).
Book Description
Everybody’s on anti-depressants. They’re all suffering from Post Romantic Stress Disorder. Not being happy all the time makes them unhappy and stressed. Nowadays, not being happy is deeply unfashionable and therefore quite intolerable, and so everybody’s (secretly) on the happy pills.

Bertha chucks Donnie who goes out with Daphne and begs her not to chuck him but then he chucks her and returns to Bertha who inevitably chucks him again. Carol has uninhibited sex which ends with her panty liner stuck to the bottom of someone’s shoe. Donnie, after a mystery bite in a Third World country, thinks he’s incubating a nest of spiders up his bum. Daphne gets fat. She makes soup all the time and wonders if Woolworths sell a hosepipe to fit a Vauxhall Vectra. Pierce is a fat balding womaniser whose only steady relationship is with a cup at the sperm bank. He’s the only one not on anti-depressants, and he’s the hero.

But it’s not all sniffles and tears. After a few undignified deaths and some life-affirming events it all ends cheerily enough with Pierce saving the day and everybody taking a metaphorical shake to themselves.

Crossroads Cafe ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Deborah Smith, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle (and with a different cover than shown at B&N). If you've been following this blog for a while, you may find this one in your library (it was free Christmas Eve, 2009).
Book Description
A beautiful woman, scarred for life. A tortured man, seeking redemption. Brought together by fate in a small town high in the majestic Appalachian mountains. Live. Love. Believe. "Beauty is in the lie of the beholder." Heartbroken and cynical, famed actress Cathyrn Deen hides from the world after a horrific accident scars her for life. Secluded in her grandmother's North Carolina mountain home, Cathyrn at first resists the friendship of the local community and the famous biscuits served up by her loyal cousin, Delta, at The Crossroads Cafe, until a neighbor, former New York architect Thomas Mitternich, reaches out to her. Thomas lost his wife and son in the World Trade Center. In the years since he's struggled with alcohol and despair. He thinks nothing and no one can make his life worth living again. Until he meets Cathyrn.

Fablehaven ($6.39 Kindle, $6.71 B&N), by Brandon Mull, is supposed to be the Nook Daily Find for Families, but it seems to be full price (and the description is in Spanish). The only real bargain I see for the series is that you can get Fablehaven: The Complete Series for $21.81, which works out to just over $4/volume.
Book Description
For centuries, mystical creatures of all description were gathered to a hidden refuge called Fablehaven to prevent their extinction. The sanctuary survives today as one of the last strongholds of true magic in a cynical world. Enchanting? Absolutely. Exciting? You bet. Safe? Well, actually, quite the opposite. . .

Kendra and her brother Seth have no idea their grandfather is the current caretaker of Fablehaven. Inside the gated woods, ancient laws give relative order among greedy trolls, mischievous satyrs, plotting witches, spiteful imps, and jealous fairies. However, when the rules get broken, an arcane evil is unleashed, forcing Kendra and Seth to face the greatest challenge of their lives. To save her family, Fablehaven, and perhaps the world, Kendra must find the courage to do what she fears most.

Today's Kindle Teen Daily Deal is Flowers for Algernon ($2.99), by Daniel Keyes. This ones get a "definitely recommended" - I replaced my paperback copy during the Award-Winning Books for $1 KSO offer in January.
Book Description
With more than five million copies sold, Flowers for Algernon is the beloved, classic story of a mentally disabled man whose experimental quest for intelligence mirrors that of Algernon, an extraordinary lab mouse. In poignant diary entries, Charlie tells how a brain operation increases his IQ and changes his life. As the experimental procedure takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment seems to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance--until Algernon begins his sudden, unexpected deterioration. Will the same happen to Charlie?

An American classic that inspired the award-winning movie Charly.

Free Audiobook - The Brotherhood

Christianaudio's free audiobook this month is The Brotherhood ($10.19 Kindle; $14.95 Audible), by Jerry B. Jenkins, narrated by Johnny Heller. For those that like to read along, also check your Kindle library, as this was free last October.
Book Description
Boone Drake has it made. He’s a young cop rising rapidly through the ranks of the Chicago Police Department. He has a beautiful wife and a young son, a nice starter house, a great partner, and a career plan that should land him in the Organized Crime Division within five years. Everything is going right. Until everything goes horribly, terribly wrong. His personal life destroyed and his career and future in jeopardy, Boone buries himself in guilt and bitterness as his life spirals out of control. But when he comes face-to-face with the most vicious gang leader Chicago has seen in decades, he begins to realize that God is a God of second chances and can change the hardest heart . . . and forgive the worst of crimes.

A thought-provoking police thriller from New York Times best-selling author Jerry B. Jenkins.
Get the free audio download from Christianaudio and scroll down the page for two more in the series that are discounted to $4.98 for the month, along with Left Behind and a selection from Bill Myers.

The checkout process is very streamlined (a coupon code is no longer required), as is the download process (no longer do you have to download each part of the book separately). You can also send a gift download of the free audiobook to someone else!

After finishing your order, download a zip file with the entire audiobook: select MP3 if you want to be able to play the book on your Kindle (M4B for the iOS, iTunes or QuickTime). Unzip the contents to the \audiobooks directory on your Kindle (not \music) in order to have audiobook controls and see it on your Kindle home page.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Free Audiobook - Eat That Frog!

The unabridged audiobook performance of Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time ($8.22 Kindle), by Brian Tracy (and narrated by Brian Tracy), is free on Audible. This has been a Kindle Deal of the Day and a Nook Daily Find choice this year, so you may already have the ebook in your library.

After weeks of nothing interesting on my Kindle with Special Offers, this one popped up on it today, but anyone (at least, in the US; other areas may be locked out) can grab this freebie from Audible.
Book Description
There's an old saying: if you eat a live frog first thing each morning, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that it's probably the worst thing you'll do all day. Using "eat that frog" as a metaphor for tackling the most challenging task of your day, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on, but also the one that might have the greatest positive impact on your life, Eat That Frog! shows you how to zero in on these critical tasks and organize your day. You'll not only get more done faster, but get the right things done.

In his trademark high-energy style, acclaimed speaker and best-selling author Brian Tracy cuts to the core of what is vital to effective personal time management: decision, discipline, and determination. He reminds us: "The purpose of time-management skills, of eating that frog, and getting more done in less time, is to enable you to spend more 'face time' with the people you care about, doing the things that give you the greatest amount of joy in life."
Get the free audiobook from Audible. Update: No Longer Available

Bargin Book Roundup

Using Agate Surreys great looking free cookbook as my inspiration today, I've picked all food and drink related bargains for tonight's post. It's not all cookbooks, although I've picked out several of them (quite a few from the same publisher, Agate), though, as I considered the title and cover image, along with the subject matter, in deciding which ones made the cut.

I bought Nancie McDermott's Southern Pies: A Gracious Plenty of Pie Recipes, From Lemon Chess to Chocolate Pecan ($2.99) last year and it's on sale again, just in time to find a few recipes to try out for the holidays.
Book Description
Ask any pie lover—the words "southern" and "pie" go together like ripe fruit and flaky pastry. And behind all the mouthwatering, light-as-a-cloud meringue peaks and the sticky dark butterscotch fillings lies a rich and delicious history. In Southern Pies, some of the South's most famous bakers share recipes for 70 pies. Perfect for bakers of all skill levels, these pies are made with simple, easy-to-find, and gloriously few ingredients. Featuring such classics as Sweet Tea Pie and New Orleans Creole Coconut Pie, this tasty homage will fill everyone at the table with Southern hospitality.

The Latte Rebellion ($1.99), by Sarah Jamila Stevenson
Book Description
Hoping to raise money for a post-graduation trip to London, Asha Jamison and her best friend Carey decide to sell T-shirts promoting the Latte Rebellion, a club that raises awareness of mixed-race students.

But seemingly overnight, their "cause" goes viral and the T-shirts become a nationwide social movement. As new chapters spring up from coast to coast, Asha realizes that her simple marketing plan has taken on a life of its own—and it's starting to ruin hers. Asha's once-stellar grades begin to slip, threatening her Ivy League dreams, while her friendship with Carey hangs by a thread. And when the peaceful underground movement spins out of control, Asha's school launches a disciplinary hearing. Facing expulsion, Asha must decide how much she's willing to risk for something she truly believes in.

Age Level: 12 and up

The Quiche of Death ($2.99) is the first title M C Beaton's long running and extremely popular Agatha Raisin mystery series.
Book Description
Putting all her eggs in one basket, Agatha Raisin gives up her successful PR firm, sells her London flat, and samples a taste of early retirement in the quiet village of Carsely. Bored, lonely and used to getting her way, she enters a local baking contest: Surely a blue ribbon for the best quiche will make her the toast of the town. But her recipe for social advancement sours when Judge Cummings-Browne not only snubs her entry—but falls over dead! After her quiche’s secret ingredient turns out to be poison, she must reveal the unsavory truth…

Agatha has never baked a thing in her life! In fact, she bought her entry ready-made from an upper crust London quicherie. Grating on the nerves of several Carsely residents, she is soon receiving sinister notes. Has her cheating and meddling landed her in hot water, or are the threats related to the suspicious death? It may mean the difference between egg on her face and a coroner’s tag on her toe…

Rule of Three ($1.99), the second title in Megan McDonald's The Sisters Club series, looks like a good choice for the younger set. And, although there is no food on the cover, The Sisters Club, the first in the series, is also on sale for $1.99.
Book Description
Alex has always been the Actor with-a-capital-A in the Reel family, and middle-sister Stevie has always been content behind the scenes. But when the school play turns out to be a musical, Stevie decides that she’s tired of being the Sensible One. Maybe, for once, she’d like to be in the spotlight! Soon the dueling divas—with little sister Joey egging them on—are in a fierce competition to see who has what it takes to play the Princess. Has Stevie broken the rules by going for what she wants, or will it be Alex who hands down the biggest betrayal of all?

Grade Level: 3 and up

The Greenhouse ($1.99), by Audur Ava Olafsdottir and Brian FitzGibbon (Translator).
Book Description
Young Lobbi was preparing to leave his childhood home, his autistic brother, his octogenarian father, and the familiar landscape of mossy lava fields for an unknown future. Soon before his departure, he received an awful phone call: his mother was in a car accident. She used her dying words to offer calm advice to her son, urging him to continue their shared work in the greenhouse tending to the rare Rosa candida. Prior to his mother’s death, in that very same greenhouse, Lobbi made love to Anna, a friend of a friend, and just as he readies his departure he learns that in their brief night together they conceived a child. He is still reeling from this chain of events when he arrives at his new job, reinstating the rare eight-petaled rose in the majestic forgotten garden of an ancient European monastery. In focusing his energy cultivating the rarest rose, he also learns to cultivate love, with the help of a film buff monk and his newborn daughter, Flora Sol.

Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs: A True Story of Bad Breaks and Small Miracles ($2.99), by Heather Lende
Book Description
The Alaskan landscape—so vast, dramatic, and unbelievable—may be the reason the people in Haines, Alaska (population 2,400), so often discuss the meaning of life. Heather Lende thinks it helps make life mean more. Since her bestselling first book, If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name, a near-fatal bicycle accident has given Lende a few more reasons to consider matters both spiritual and temporal. Her idea of spirituality is rooted in community, and here she explores faith and forgiveness, loss and devotion—as well as raising totem poles, canning salmon, and other distinctly Alaskan adventures. Lende’s irrepressible spirit, her wry humor, and her commitment to living a life on the edge of the world resonate on every page. Like her own mother’s last wish—take good care of the garden and dogs—Lende’s writing, so honest and unadorned, deepens our understanding of what links all humanity.

Of Blood and Honey ($1.99), by Stina Leicht
Book Description
Liam never knew who his father was. The town of Derry had always assumed that he was the bastard of a protestant — his mother never spoke of him, and Liam assumed he was dead. But when the war between the fallen and the fey began to heat up, Liam and his family are pulled into a conflict that they didn’t know existed. A centuries old conflict between supernatural forces seems to mirror the political divisions in 1970’s era Ireland, and Liam is thrown headlong into both conflicts! Only the direct intervention of Liam’s real father, and a secret catholic order dedicated to fighting “The Fallen” can save Liam... from the mundane and supernatural forces around him, and from the darkness that lurks within him.

Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper ($2.99), by C. Marina Marchese
Book Description
In 1999, Marina Marchese fell in love with bees during a tour of a neighbor's honeybee hives. She quit her job, acquired her own bees, built her own hives, harvested honey, earned a certificate in apitherapy, studied wine tasting in order to transfer those skills to honey tasting, and eventually opened her own honey business. Today, Red Bee® Honey sells artisanal honey and honey-related products to shops and restaurants all over the country.

More than an inspiring story of one woman's transformative relationship with honeybees (some of nature's most fascinating creatures), Honeybee is also bursting with information about all aspects of bees, beekeeping, and honey—including life inside the hive; the role of the queen, workers, and drones; pollination and its importance to sustaining all life; the culinary pleasures of honey; hiving and keeping honeybees; the ancient practice of apitherapy, or healing with honey, pollen, and bee venom; and much more.

Recipes for food and personal care products appear throughout. Also included is an excellent, one-of-a-kind appendix that lists 75 different honey varietals, with information on provenance, tasting notes, and food-and-wine pairings.

The Healing Powers of Honey ($3.99), by Cal Orey
Book Description
Did you know?...
  • Known as Mother Nature's "nectar of the gods," honey was praised for its healing powers as far back as 5,000 years ago by Egyptians.
  • Eating honey can help lower the risk of heart disease, cancer , diabetes--even help reduce body fat and unwanted weight!--and increase longevity.
  • Pure, raw, unprocessed honey is a healthier sweetener than table sugar and high fructose corn syrup. It's chock-full of antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins--and only has 21 calories per teaspoon.
  • Super "bee foods" (including nutrient-rich bee pollen, propolis, and royal jelly) are used and touted for their healing powers by beekeepers and medical experts in the present-day.
  • Honey can relieve a variety of ailments, including allergies, coughs, fatigue, pain, and stress, as well as boost libido.
  • The honey bee pollinates about one-third of the food we consume (including nutritious fruits and nuts).

Drawing on the latest honey buzz and interviews with medical doctors, beekeepers, and researchers, this charming and enlightening book (sweetened with stories about honey bees and humans) reveals 30 healing honey varieties paired with cinnamon and teas, tells you how to incorporate honey into Mediterranean-style, heart-healthy recipes like Honey Custard French Toast, Honey-Glazed Game Hen, and Filo Pear and Honey Tarts, and provides more than 50 home cures that combat digestive woes to skin woes. You'll also enjoy Cleopatra's milk-and-honey beauty treatments and eco-friendly beeswax household uses--all made with the amazing honey bee's gifts!

Put 'em Up!: A Comprehensive Home Preserving Guide for the Creative Cook, from Drying and Freezing to Canning and Pickling ($2.99), by Sherri Brooks Vinton
Book Description
PRESERVING IS BACK, AND IT’S BETTER THAN EVER. Flavors are brighter, batch sizes are more flexible, and modern methods make the process safer and easier. Eating locally is on everybody's mind, and nothing is more local than Heirloom Salsa made from vine-fresh tomatoes or a quick batch of Ice-Box Berry Jam saved from the seasons last berries. Even beginners who never made peach jam or dill pickles in their grandmothers kitchens are eager to pick up preserving skills as a way to save money, extend the local harvest, and control the quality of preserved ingredients.

The step-by-step instructions in Put ‘em Up will have the most timid beginners filling their pantries and freezers with the preserved goodness of summer in no time. An extensive Techniques section includes complete how-to for every kind of preserving: refrigerating and freezing, air- and oven-drying, cold- and hot-pack canning, and pickling. And with recipe yields as small as a few pints or as large as several gallons, readers can easily choose recipes that work for the amount of produce and time at hand.

Real food advocate Sherri Brooks Vinton offers recipes with exciting flavor combinations to please contemporary palates and put preserved fruits and vegetables on dinner-party menus everywhere. Pickled Asparagus and Wasabi Beans are delicious additions to holiday relish trays; Sweet Pepper Marmalade perks up cool-weather roasts; and Berry Bourbon is an unexpected base for a warming cocktail.

The best versions of tried-and-true favorites are all here too. Bushels of fresh-picked apples are easily turned into applesauce, dried fruit rings, jelly, butter, or even brandy. Falling-off-the-vine tomatoes can be frozen whole, oven dried, canned, or made into a tangy marinara. Options for pickling cucumbers range from Bread and Butter Chips and Dill Spears to Asian Ice-Box Pickles. Something delicious for every pantry!

How to Stay Alive in the Woods: A Complete Guide to Food, Shelter and Self-Preservation Anywhere ($2.99), by Bradford Angier
Book Description
HOW TO STAY ALIVE IN THE WOODS is a practical, readable-and potentially indispensable-manual for anyone venturing into the great outdoors.

Broken down into four essential sections, Sustenance, Warmth, Orientation and Safety, this enlightening guide reveals how to catch game without a gun, what plants to eat (full-color illustrations of these make identification simple), how to build a warm shelter, make clothing, protect yourself and signal for help. Detailed illustrations and expanded instructions, newly commissioned for this deluxe edition, offer crucial information at a glance, making How to Stay Alive in the Woods truly a lifesaver.

Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide: Everything You Need to Know to Make Great-Tasting Beer ($2.99), by Dave Miller
Book Description
In this comprehensive guide to homebrewing, Miller clearly explains the best techniques for every step of the entire brewing process. Clear enough for the novice but thorough enough to earn a home in the libraries of brewmasters, this is the essential volume on brewing great-tasting beer at home.

Thirst ($2.99), by Andrei Gelasimov and Marian Schwartz (Translator)
Book Description
Masterfully translated from the original Russian by award-winning translator Marian Schwartz, Thirst tells the story of 20-year-old Chechen War veteran Kostya. Maimed beyond recognition by a tank explosion, he spends weeks on end locked inside his apartment, his sole companions the vodka bottles spilling from the refrigerator. But soon Kostya’s comfortable if dysfunctional cocoon is torn open when he receives a visit from his army buddies who are mobilized to locate a missing comrade. Through this search for his missing friend, Kostya is able to find himself.

How's Your Drink?: Cocktails, Culture, and the Art of Drinking Well ($0.99), by Eric Felten
Book Description
Based on the popular feature in the Saturday Wall Street Journal, How's Your Drink illuminates the culture of the cocktail. John F. Kennedy played nuclear brinksmanship with a gin and tonic in his hand. Teddy Roosevelt took the witness stand to testify that six mint juleps over the course of his presidency did not make him a drunk. Ernest Hemingway and Raymond Chandler both did their part to promote the gimlet. Eric Felten tells all of these stories and many more, and also offers exhaustively researched cocktail recipes.

Taste: A Life in Wine ($4.24), by Anthony Terlato
Book Description
Anthony Terlato's story is not simply the usual CEO narrative of achieving business success, nor i it the typical winemaker's tale of pursuing perfection in a glass. Straddling both of those stories, Terlato uses broad strokes to show how one individual had an enormous impact on Americans' wine-drinking habits. Wine journalist Linda Murphy described Terlato in the San Francisco Chronicle as "one of the most accomplished wine personalities on the planet," and readers of this account of a 50-year love affair with wine see this affable, intelligent man at his finest.

Wahoo Rhapsody ($1.99), an Atticus Fish novel by Shaun Morey
Book Description
Take one sea-loving captain, a drug-smuggling first mate, and a novice deckhand with a secret, and you have the motley crew of the Wahoo Rhapsody, a ramshackle fishing charter plying the Pacific’s waters off the coast of Cabo San Lucas. Captain Winston Weber makes an honest, if lean, living running fishing charters between Mexico and California, with no inkling of the fact that his first mate, Weevil Ott, is smuggling marijuana inside the yellowfin tuna stacked in the boat’s hold. But when Weevil decides to skim a small fortune for himself, goons under orders from the mysterious drug lord known only as “La Cucaracha” descend upon the Wahoo Rhapsody. What ensues is a madcap romp that will catapult readers from Cabo San Lucas to Tucson and San Diego, as Winston, Weevil, and an expat American lawyer by the name of Atticus Fish try to outrun La Cucaracha’s bloody reach. Fans of Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard will relish this rollicking satirical adventure from award-winning writer Shaun Morey.

Skinny Seafood: Over 100 delectable low-fat recipes for preparing nature's underwater bounty ($0.99), by Barbara Grunes
Book Description
Seafood eating is healthy eating. But preparing exciting and delicious fish and shellfish can be a challenge. Skinny Seafood meets the challenge with 100 new recipes that are as inventive as they are easy to make. Banish bland, ho-hum fish forever, and start enjoying the bounty of the sea for great taste as well as good health.

Skinny Seafood's recipes make it easy to prepare seafood. Most dishes require little cooking time, and fish is surprisingly economical when purchased fresh. All of the recipes employ simple preparation techniques to control fat, calories, and cholesterol. Likewise, the scores of creative sauces and accompaniments rely on herbs, spices, an fresh natural ingredients for flavor rather than fat-laden oils and butter.

Fish was never like this: Trout with Mango and Blueberry Sauce, Salsa Red Snapper, Sole and Shrimp with Tequila and more

Skinny Grilling: Over 100 inventive low-fat recipes for meats, fish, poultry, vegetables & desserts ($0.99), by Barbara Grunes
Book Description
The barbecue grill is an American icon. In suburbia it's a backyard fixture. In cities it appears on tiny balconies. At picnics and beach parties it's indispensable. Yet the food we usually grill has a fatty sameness that does justice neither to the cook's skill or the diners' good health.

Barbara Grunes, author of over 50 cookbooks and maven of grill cookery, puts an end to routine, fat-laden barbecues once and for all with Skinny Grilling's 100 exciting new recipes. This unique collection establishes grill cooking as a versatile culinary technique in its own right, no longer limited to chicken, ribs, and hamburgers.

Now home cooks can grill--easily and without fuss--delicious roasts, succulent seafood, smoked turkeys, bubbling pizzas, and dozens more main dishes. But that's just the beginning. Over the same coals, readers can quickly turn out juicy vegetables, creative salads, unforgettable smoked meats, oriental stir-fries in the wok--even fabulous desserts! Also included is a wonderful red-white-and-blue 5-course 4th of July feast.

Families and friends love the festivity and fun of cookouts, and Skinny Grilling will provide an inventive recipe collection to vastly extend any cook's grilling repertory. Even better, the food prepared from this book will be low in fat, high in flavor, and anything but routine.

Skinny Pizza: Over 100 healthy recipes for America's favorite food ($0.99), by Barbara Grunes
Book Description
Pizza is America's national fun food. And now--thanks to Barbara Grunes' innovative recipes--pizza qualifies as America's national good-health food, too. These 100-plus recipes trim away the excess fat, cholesterol, and calories that usually come with pizza, so families can enjoy all the great tastes without sacrificing good nutrition.

Starting with easy-to-make (and store) recipes for basic crusts and sauces, Skinny Pizzas shows you how easy it is to top pizzas with fresh, low-fat, high-fiber vegetables, dairy products, fruits, poultry, meat, and fish--everything from zucchini and pears to smoked salmon. From hearty one-dish meals to pizza snacks, appetizers, party dishes, and even desserts--all slimmed down for today's healthful lifestyle--home cooks can feel good about serving pizza any time and for any occasion.
  • Tomato-based pizzas: Shrimp, mushroom, chicken, spinach, tuna, peppers, artichoke, eggplant, and more.
  • Non-tomato-based pizzas: Teriyaki, salmon, bok choy, goat's cheese, clam, turkey, stir-fry, zucchini, and more.
  • Pizza on the grill: Fajita, vegetarian, Thai-flavored, salsa, olive, ratatouille, mango, barbecue, and more.
  • Specialty pizzas: Creole, Szechwan, smoked turkey, scallop, focaccia, crab cake, nacho, English muffin, and more.
  • Dessert pizzas: Apple, mint brownie, cheesecake, strawberry yogurt, rum-raisin, and more.
All recipes include diabetic exchanges and nutritional specifics on fat, cholesterol, sodium, calories, and percent of calories from fat. Recipes conform to the American Heart Association guidelines regarding the percent daily intake of calories from fat.

Speedy Suppers Cookbook: Simple meals for a family-on-the-go, all in about 30 minutes or less! ($2.99), by Gooseberry Patch
Book Description
Simple meals for busy families! Speedy Suppers cookbook features delicious dishes that are ready in 30 minutes or less like baked ziti supreme, quick-as-lightning enchiladas and easy, breezy caramel brownies. 224 pages.

Good Eating's Best of the Best: Great Recipes of the Past Decade from the Chicago Tribune Test Kitchen ($0.99), edited by Carol Mighton Haddix
Book Description
In this, it's first new cookbook in more than a decade, the Chicago Tribune offers 50 of the very best recipes from the pages of the paper’s weekly Good Eating section. The Tribune remains one of the few newspapers in this country with its own working test kitchen, which ensures that the recipes are accurate and reliable. Each year, staff members choose their favorites. Now, the best of those winning recipes are compiled in a book that reflects how we having been cooking--and eating--over the last decade.

The book features recipes from across the wide range of common kitchen offerings: starters, meat and poultry dishes, seafood, pasta, rice, side dishes, salads, baked goods, and desserts. In addition, a section on menu planning offers readers ideas for entertaining.

Good Eating's Seasonal Salads: Fresh and Creative Recipes for Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall ($3.99 pre-order), by the Chicago Tribune Staff
Book Description
Good Eating’s Seasonal Salads is a collection of 90 delicious recipes from the Chicago Tribune’s Good Eating section that are perfect as exciting side dishes or full, healthy meals. Making use of fresh in-season ingredients, this eclectic assortment of salads features flavorful options for every month of the year. Salads range in style and substance, from practical and quick to creative and gourmet, light and simple to hearty and robust, and from classic stand-bys to unique innovations.

Each recipe provides a series of healthy eating tips and is grouped into categories based on its main ingredients, including greens, vegetables, potatoes, eggs, poultry, meat, seafood, rice, grains, beans, pasta, fruit, and dressings. Especially useful is the book’s broad selection of winter salads, including delicious whole-grain salads and tips on seasonal produce. Each section is introduced by an entertaining narrative passage informing readers on topics such as the rise in popularity of Romaine lettuce and kale or the history behind the Caesar and Cobb salads. Good Eating’s Seasonal Salads also offers the culinary creations of several experienced cooks who provide their own perspectives and voice to the recipes.

Salads are versatile and healthful options for snacks or meals, lunch or dinner, summer or winter, and they let home cooks save money by creatively using leftovers in refreshing ways. Good Eating’s Seasonal Salads is ideal for novice and expert home cooks alike who are looking to prepare healthy, inexpensive, and appetizing salads using the freshest year-round ingredients.

Grant Achatz: The Remarkable Rise of America's Most Celebrated Young Chef ($1.99), by the Chicago Tribune Staff
Book Description
Grant Achatz's career as a chef has been built around beating the odds—from his humble Midwestern beginnings and rise to stardom in Chicago; his iconoclastic vision of the American dining experience; and his life-threatening battle with cancer that temporarily stripped him of his ability to taste. In all these situations, Achatz defiantly and definitively surmounted innumerable obstacles to become—and remain—one of the world's most recognizable and respected chefs.

Grant Achatz: The Remarkable Rise of America's Most Celebrated Young Chef, a collection of articles taken from the Chicago Tribune, is an up-close examination of Achatz's personal history and international impact in the culinary world. Included are rare interviews on Achatz's humble beginnings as a young chef and modest lifestyle, stories from his stint as executive chef of Evanston, Illinois's four-star restaurant Trio, long-unseen restaurant reviews, as well as features on his innovative restaurants Aviary and Next, which play with Achatz's trademark concept of molecular gastronomy and the importance of presentation and memory in fine dining.

In the middle of all this success, Achatz was diagnosed with stage-four squamous cell carcinoma, a rare cancer afflicting the tongue that completely eliminated Achatz's sense of taste. Told he would die if he did not have his tongue surgically removed, Achatz tenaciously clung to the belief he would be able to regain the sense most vital to his extraordinary talent. While undergoing experimental treatment to regain his sense of taste, Achatz continued to manage Alinea and even improved it despite his professionally debilitating condition. Miraculously, Achatz made a full recovery and regained his ability to taste while going on to open one of the culinary world's most discussed and praised new restaurants: Next.

Grant Achatz tells the story of the man at the forefront of modern culinary trends and the world's top-rated restaurants, as seen through both his own eyes and the journalists who have been covering his fights against the odds from the beginning.

The Italian Slow Cooker ($2.99), by Michele Scicolone, is one that I bought last year.
Book Description
Finally a book that combines the fresh, exuberant flavors of great Italian food with the ease and comfort of a slow cooker. Michele Scicolone, a best-selling author and an authority on Italian cooking, shows how good ingredients and simple techniques can lift the usual “crockpot” fare into the dimension of fine food. Pasta with Meat and Mushroom Ragu, Osso Buco with Red Wine, Chicken with Peppers and Mushrooms: These are dishes that even the most discriminating cook can proudly serve to company, yet all are so carefree that anyone with just five or ten minutes of prep time can make them on a weekday and return to perfection.

Simmered in the slow cooker, soups, stews, beans, grains, pasta sauces, and fish are as healthy as they are delicious. Polenta and risotto, “stir-crazy” dishes that ordinarily need careful timing, are effortless. Meat loaves come out perfectly moist, tough cuts of meat turn succulent, and cheesecakes emerge flawless.

The Everything Soup, Stew, and Chili Cookbook ($1.99), by Belinda Hulin, is another one I bought last year.
Book Description
Creamy New England clam chowder. Hearty beef stew. Fresh vegetarian chili. Soups, stews, and chilies are comforting meals the whole family enjoys; and to top it off, they’re inexpensive to create! This cookbook includes information and cooking tips, as well as 300 mouthwatering recipes, including:
  • Smoked Duck and Squash Soup
  • Ginger Beef Soup with Dumplings
  • Creamy Asparagus Soup
  • Sirloin and Black Bean Chili
  • Mixed Bean Vegetarian Chili
  • Warm Apple-Cranberry Stew
  • Blackberry Stew with Sweet Biscuits
Whether you are in the mood for a chilled fruit soup on a warm summer day or a comforting meat-and-potato stew on a cold winter night, this book has everything! No matter what the season or occasion, you will find a choice that hits the spot.

Eat, Sleep, Ride: How I Braved Bears, Badlands, and Big Breakfasts in My Quest to Cycle the Tour Divide ($9.99), by Paul Howard, isn't discounted, but looks to be a good read. I've downloaded a sample and will probably stick it on my wishlist, to keep an eye on and consider as a holiday gift.
Book Description
For Paul Howard, who has ridden the entire Tour de France route during the race itself—setting off at 4 am each day to avoid being caught by the pros—riding a small mountain-bike race should hold no fear. Still, this isn’t just any mountain-bike race. This is the Tour Divide.

Running from Banff in Canada to the Mexican border, the Tour Divide is more than 2,700 miles—500 miles longer than the Tour de France. Its route along the Continental Divide goes through the heart of the Rocky Mountains and involves more than 200,000 feet of ascent—the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest seven times.

The other problem is that Howard has never owned a mountain bike—and how will training on the South Downs in southern England prepare him for sleeping rough in the Rockies? Entertaining and engaging, Eat, Sleep, Ride will appeal to avid and aspiring cyclers, as well as fans of adventure/travel narrative with a humorous twist.