Today's Deals

Additional formats on free books:

• The Puglian Cookbook (K/N)

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Home: A Memoir of My Early Year ($1.99), by Julie Andrews.

Book Description
Since her first appearance on screen in Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews has played a series of memorable roles that have endeared her to generations. But she has never told the story of her life before fame. Until now.

In Home: A Memoir of My Early Years, Julie takes her readers on a warm, moving, and often humorous journey from a difficult upbringing in war-torn Britain to the brink of international stardom in America. Her memoir begins in 1935, when Julie was born to an aspiring vaudevillian mother and a teacher father, and takes readers to 1962, when Walt Disney himself saw her on Broadway and cast her as the world's most famous nanny.

Along the way, she weathered the London Blitz of World War II; her parents' painful divorce; her mother's turbulent second marriage to Canadian tenor Ted Andrews, and a childhood spent on radio, in music halls, and giving concert performances all over England. Julie's professional career began at the age of twelve, and in 1948 she became the youngest solo performer ever to participate in a Royal Command Performance before the Queen. When only eighteen, she left home for the United States to make her Broadway debut in The Boy Friend, and thus began her meteoric rise to stardom.

Home is filled with numerous anecdotes, including stories of performing in My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison on Broadway and in the West End, and in Camelot with Richard Burton on Broadway; her first marriage to famed set and costume designer Tony Walton, culminating with the birth of their daughter, Emma; and the call from Hollywood and what lay beyond.

Julie Andrews' career has flourished over seven decades. From her legendary Broadway performances, to her roles in such iconic films as The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hawaii, 10, and The Princess Diaries, to her award-winning television appearances, multiple album releases, concert tours, international humanitarian work, best-selling children's books, and championship of literacy, Julie's influence spans generations. Today, she lives with her husband of thirty-eight years, the acclaimed writer/director Blake Edwards; they have five children and seven grandchildren.

Featuring over fifty personal photos, many never before seen, this is the personal memoir Julie Andrews' audiences have been waiting for.

The Sins of the Father ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Allan Massie, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.79).

Book Description
A Nazi war criminal's son and a Holocaust survivor's daughter decide to get married in the pleasant, middle-class conformity of sixties Argentina. When the two families come together, Becky's blind father recognizes the voice of the former SS officer, and sets off a chain of events that to varying degrees damage everyone at that meeting. Franz has to discover the real past of his distant father, who is kidnapped by Mossad agents and taken to Israel for trial. The action shifts to that country, and then to England. Allan Massie uses this drama to explore a wealth of ideas concerning such themes as guilt, retribution, identity, power, political motivation, memory and above all, as the title implies, the effects of brutal conflicts and war crimes on the following generation. Massie does not dwell on the savagery of the crimes, but forensically analyses the scar they leave in history, suggesting that, post Holocaust, we inhabit a different moral world - a world in which we can no longer ignore the enormity of the crimes of which we are capable.

Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead ($9.39 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by Sara Gran, is the Nook Daily Find. This was a Kindle Deal of the Day last July.

Book Description
Claire DeWitt believes she is the world’s greatest PI, even if few agree with her. A one-time teen detective in Brooklyn, she is a follower of the esoteric French detective Jacques Silette, whose mysterious handbook Détection inspired Claire’s unusual practices.

Claire also has deep roots in New Orleans, where she was mentored by Silette’s student the brilliant Constance Darling—until Darling was murdered. When a respected DA goes missing she returns to the hurricane-ravaged city to find out why.Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead is a knockout start to a bracingly original new series.

The Speech: Race and Barack Obama's 'A More Perfect Union' ($9.99 Kindle, $0.99 B&N), by T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, is the Nook Daily Find: Election 2012, substantially discounted versus the Kindle edition.

Book Description
After Senator Barack Obama delivered his celebrated speech, "A More Perfect Union," on March 18, 2008, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd noted that only Barack Obama "could alchemize a nuanced 40-minute speech on race into must-see YouTube viewing for 20-year-olds." Pundits established the speech’s historical eminence with comparisons to Abraham Lincoln’s "A House Divided" and Martin Luther King Jr’s "I Have a Dream." The future president had addressed one of the biggest issues facing his campaign-and our country-with an eloquence and honesty rarely before heard on a national stage.

The Speech brings together a distinguished lineup of writers and thinkers-among them Adam Mansbach, Alice Randall, Connie Schultz, and William Julius Wilson -in a multifaceted exploration of Obama’s address. Their original essays examine every aspect of the speech-literary, political, social, and cultural-and are punctuated by Boston Globe columnist Derrick Z. Jackson’s reportage on the issue of race in the now historic 2008 campaign. The Speech memorializes and gives full due to a speech that propelled Obama toward the White House, and prompted a nation to evaluate our imperfect but hopeful union.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is I Need My Monster ($1.99), by Amanda Noll and Howard McWilliam (Illustrator).

Book Description
A unique monster-under-the-bed story with the perfect balance of giggles and shivers, this picture book relies on the power of humor over fear, appeals to a child’s love for creatures both alarming and absurd, and glorifies the scope of a child’s imagination. One night, when Ethan checks under his bed for his monster, Gabe, he finds a note from him instead: "Gone fishing. Back in a week." Ethan knows that without Gabe’s familiar nightly scares he doesn't stand a chance of getting to sleep, so Ethan interviews potential substitutes to see if they've got the right equipment for the job—pointy teeth, sharp claws, and a long tail—but none of them proves scary enough for Ethan. When Gabe returns sooner than expected from his fishing trip, Ethan is thrilled. It turns out that Gabe didn't enjoy fishing because the fish scared too easily.

Grade Level: K and up

Note: This book features Kindle Text Pop-Up for reading text over vivid, full-color images when using Kindle Fire or select Kindle Reading Apps (Kindle Cloud Reader, Kindle for iPad or Kindle for Android); unlike some other Text Popup books, this one won't work on any of the eInk Kindles.

Free Audiobook - How Should Christians Vote?

Christianaudio's free audiobook this month is How Should Christians Vote? ($3.93 Kindle; $4.95 Audible), by Tony Evans, narrated by Mirron Willis.

Book Description
Christians are a large and influential voting block today. But as each governmental election approaches, an increasing polarity occurs within those claiming the Christian faith. This comes as a result of party-voting rather than voting according to Biblical mandates and authority. To refocus correctly, Dr. Tony Evans goes back to the basics and teaches on how God established government as a divine institution whose tasks include promoting the well-being of those within its realm and protection from evil.

Scripture trumps all political alliances making the voting decision a critical opportunity for Christians to promote God's Word and His values through whom they elect. In the face of increasing emotions the Christians representing God's kingdom values should communicate His truths in a manner reflective of the King - in a gracious and strategic way. Dr. Evans also looks at the necessary qualities in a good candidate which include intellect, education, competency, skill and spiritual beliefs - whether certain issues are non-negotiables, and how a responsible citizen is to research a candidates' position in order to evaluate it against God's Word.

Get the free audio download from Christianaudio and scroll down the page for several discounted political or Mormon related titles.

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.

Today's Deals

The coupon code for Fictionwise is for 60% off this weekend: 100612. Might be a good time to see if they have any magazine issues you haven't picked up.

At Kobo, use oct0525RB for 25% off selected bestsellers and for Canadians only, take 30% off Scholastic Books using Schol3005 (both exp Oct 8). 56b6c125 is a generic code for 25% off, expires Oct 11.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Hero Cat ($1.99), by Eileen Spinelli and Jo Ellen McAllister Stammen (Illustrator).

Book Description
Five tiny kittens cry for their mama, as smoke begins to fill the abandoned warehouse that has been their home. But Mother Cat has left her cozy heap of kittens to go in search of food.Determined to save her babies, Mother Cat dashes into the burning building and follows the sounds of frightened mewing. In five daring acts, she saves each kitten—a true hero cat! This story, accompanied by beautiful illustrations rendered in pastel, honors the tenth anniversary of the real story of a homeless cat who rescued her kittens from a burning building in 1996.

Grade Level: 1st and up. Double Tap to Zoom.

This book features Kindle Text Pop-Up for reading text over vivid, full-color images when using Kindle Fire or select Kindle Reading Apps (Kindle Cloud Reader, Kindle for iPad or Kindle for Android); for eInk Kindles, only available for Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is 14 Novels by Sci-Fi Master Philip K. Dick for $1.99 each. Be sure to double check your library if you have had your Kindle for a while, as I found three of these in different editions in my library. Which also means, of course, that my gift card balance is going to take a beating later today, when I pick up all the missing titles.

These are all published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, so I was surprised that Total Recall wasn't on the list - it's only $1.88 today (it is a short story, but they have a $4 list price on it). His best known novel, perhaps, is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the inspiration for the movie BladeRunner; it's published by Ballantine Books and not included in the sale. You can also find a number of his short stories for free on Amazon or at Feedbooks, Manybooks.net or Gutenberg or in collections such as The Best of Philip K. Dick (Unexpurgated Edition) from Halcyon Classics (also $1.99) and The Third Science Fiction Megapack: 26 Modern and Classic Science Fiction Tales from Wildside Press (only $0.99 and 583 pages "in print").

1. A Scanner Darkly
2. The Man in the High Castle
3. Ubik
4. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
5. The Simulacra
6. Now Wait for Last Year
7. The Penultimate Truth
8. Valis
9. The Divine Invasion (Valis #2)
10. The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (Valis #3)
11. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
12. Counter-Clock World
13. Eye in the Sky
14. The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick, edited by Jonathan Lethem and Pamela Jackson

The Voice Bible: Step Into the Story of Scripture ($7.99 Kindle, B&N), edited by The Ecclesia Bible Society, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle (when I first checked last night, it was $19.99).

Book Description
The Voice™ is a faithful dynamic equivalent translation that reads like a story with all the truth and wisdom of God's Word. Through compelling narratives, poetry, and teaching, The Voice invites readers to enter into the whole story of God with their heart, soul, and mind, enabling them to hear God speaking and to experience His presence in their lives. Through a collaboration of nearly 120 biblical scholars, pastors, writers, musicians, poets, and artists, The Voice recaptures the passion, grit, humor, and beauty that is often lost in the translation process. The result is a retelling of the story of the Bible in a form as fluid as modern literary works yet painstakingly true to the original manuscripts.

Features include:

• 2-color text
• Italicized information added to help contemporary readers understand what original readers would have known intuitively
• In-text commentary notes that include cultural, historical, theological, or devotional thoughts
• Screenplay format, ideal for public readings and group studies
• Book introductions
• Presentation page for personalization
• Reading plans for Lent, Easter, Advent, and more
• Topical Guide to the Notes
• Topical Guide to the Scripture

Part of the Signature Series line of Thomas Nelson Bibles; The Voice Bibles sold to date: More than 308,000. Thomas Nelson Bibles is giving back through the God’s Word in Action program. Donating a portion of profits to World Vision, we are helping to eradicate poverty and preventable deaths among children. Learn more and discover what you can do at www.seegodswordinaction.com.

From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 STOPs to Restoring America's Greatness ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Mike Huckabee, is the Nook Daily Find: Election 2012, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
With the small but powerfully inspiring word "hope," nationally recognized leader and policy-maker Governor Mike Huckabee points out that progress for our country cannot happen with the continued bipartisan rift dividing it. He taps into the fundamental core of every American, confronting matters closest at hand with the call for a critical change in perspective and a clear plan of action that shows what we can become as a truly indivisible nation. The governor presents 12 key things we need to STOP doing in order to make America stronger, speaking out on immigration, the job market, health care, education, and taxes, and provides practical solutions that could bring our nation to higher ground.

The Reinvention of Love ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), by Helen Humphreys, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
When Charles Sainte-Beuve, a French journalist, met Victor Hugo, an ambitious young writer, he was swept into a world of grand emotions, a world where words can become swords. But Charles' attraction moves on from Victor, to his wife Ad?le. Soon the two lovers are on the edge of a great scandale and a wounded Victor must exact his price for betrayal. Set during the tumultuous reign of Napoleon III, this mesmerising novel draws a rich portrait of old Paris, where duels were fought and cholera-ridden bodies float in the Seine. An atmospheric story of delicacy and emotion, The Reinvention of Love brings together the voices of two women destroyed by Victor Hugo's ferocious ambition, and the unique, acerbic and heart-breaking voice of Charles Sainte-Beuve, first Hugo's friend and then his unlikely competitor in love.

30% Off Select Kindle Accessories (KSO)

This offer for those with a Kindle Fire with Special Offers only. On your Kindle Fire with Special Offers, swipe the top menu to the left until you see Offers, then press/click in order to see the current offers. At the bottom, you should see the offer to 30% Off Select Kindle Accessories. Click on the offer, then on the orange button to add the credit directly to your account. It's nearly instant and the next screen offers to take you to Amazon so you can spend that credit away! If you miss that screen, though, don't worry - a document about the offer will appear on your home page.

The discount is limited to Select Kindle Accessories and they must be "sold by Amazon.com". You can put multiple items into your cart, then go thru the full checkout process - you should see the discount in your Order Summary at the upper right corner of the page. The total discount is limited to $30 (30% off $100 in purchases) and will expire at midnight (PT), October 15.

There are the usual assortment of cases to choose from (although, not the ones actually made by Amazon), along with stands, earbuds and styluses that will work with many different devices.

Today's Deals

BooksonBoard is running a sale for all non-Agency titles; those published in 2012 are 40% off (including rewards dollars) and anything pre-2012 is 50%. On their site you call tell the Agency titles by the presence of a red diamond next to the price. Last I checked they were giving discounts on HarperCollins titles, but no reward dollars, but the other Agency publishers had not yet complied with the court-ordered dissolution of their Agency contracts (there or anywhere else).

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is the Wool Omnibus Edition ($1.99), by Hugh Howey. Although you can still get the first volume, Wool, for free, even at indie author prices it will cost you more to finish out this well-reviewed series when buying the individual titles. Lengthwise, the omnibus is estimated to cover 550 pages in print, so about a 2-novel equivalent in today's market for the genre.

Book Description
This Omnibus Edition collects the five Wool books into a single volume. It is for those who arrived late to the party and who wish to save a dollar or two while picking up the same stories in a single package.

The first Wool story was released as a standalone short in July of 2011. Due to reviewer demand, the rest of the story was released over the next six months. My thanks go out to those reviewers who clamored for more. Without you, none of this would exist. Your demand created this as much as I did.

This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

Rough Weather: A Spenser Novel ($1.60 / £0.99 UK), the 36th novel in the Spencer series by Robert B. Parker, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.99).

Book Description
Heidi Bradshaw is wealthy, beautiful, and well-connected. She's also a notorious gold digger only recently separated from her latest husband – and she's hired Spenser to act as her stand-in spouse.

The Boston P.I. is to accompany Heidi to her private island to attend her daughter's wedding. It should be a straightforward job, but when his old nemesis Rugar – the Gray Man – arrives, Spenser realizes that something is amiss. As a storm strikes, cutting off the island, a kidnapping and a series of murders turn celebrations into chaos.

With six dead bodies and more questions than he can handle, Spenser begins a search for answers – and the Gray Man.

Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Lost Command ($13.91 Hardcover, $2.99 B&N), by Haden Blackman, is the Nook Daily Find, in celebration of Star Wars Read Day. A graphic novel from Dark Horse Comics, there is no Kindle edition.

Book Description
Still haunted by the death of Anakin Skywalker''s beloved Padme in Revenge of the Sith, Darth Vader is tasked with a mission to locate a lost Imperial expeditionary force-led by the son of Vader''s rising nemesis, Moff Tarkin. But the perils of Vader''s journey into the unexplored Ghost Nebula are compounded by traitors among his crew and the presence of the system''s religious leader, the beautiful and mysterious Lady Saro.

The American Spring: What We Talk About When We Talk About Revolution ($7.99 Kindle, $5.99 B&N), by Amelia Stein, is the Nook Daily Find: Election 2012.

Book Description
Since the eviction of Occupy Wall Street protestors from encampments in many cities throughout the world, smaller and more targeted occupations have continued. Workers in a Chicago factory occupied–with the support of their union–to protest layoffs. Teachers and students in Tucson staged a walkout to protest the removal of Chicano history books from the curriculum. Home foreclosures were disrupted, even avoided, by direct community action. But what does it all mean? What do we talk about when we talk about ‘revolution,’ if we talk about it at all? Journalist Amelia Stein sat down with some of our most prominent thinkers, artists, and activists and asked them. The resulting conversations were lively, thoughtful, and engaging. This is the perfect handbook for anyone looking to engage more deeply with our own, ongoing, American Spring.

Today's Kindle Young Readers Daily Deal is Five Mary Downing Hahn Ghost Stories for $1.99 each.

The Doll in the Garden

When Ashley discovers a turn-of-the-century doll it is just the first of several puzzling events that lead her through the hedge and into a twilight past where she meets Louise, an ailing child whose beloved doll has mysteriously disappeared.

Grade Level: 1 and up

Wait Till Helen Comes

Since its publication in 1986, the deliciously frightening novel Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story has not only haunted countless readers, it has also won 11 state book awards. The spine-chilling tale begins when 12-year-old Molly and her 10-year-old brother Michael learn they’ll be moving to a refurbished old church in rural Maryland with their mother’s new husband Dave and their younger stepsister Heather. Heather is an insufferable brat, but that turns out to be the least of the family’s worries. When she strikes up a friendship with Helen, the malevolent ghost of a seven-year-old girl who died in a mysterious fire more than 100 years ago, things really heat up… and Heather’s unsettling threat "Wait till Helen comes" becomes a grim reality.

Grade Level: 3 and up

The Old Willis Place

Diana and her little brother Georgie have been living in the woods behind the old Willis place, a decaying Victorian mansion, for what already seems like forever. They aren’t allowed to leave the property or show themselves to anyone. But when a new caretaker comes to live there with his young daughter, Lissa, Diana is tempted to break the mysterious rules they live by and reveal herself so she can finally have a friend. Somehow, Diana must get Lissa’s help if she and Georgie ever hope to release themselves from the secret that has bound them to the old Willis place for so long.
Mary Downing Hahn has written a chilling ghost story in the tradition of her most successful spine-tingling novels. The intriguing characters, frightening secrets, and plot twists will delight her many fans.

Grade Level: 4 and up

Deep and Dark and Dangerous

A chilling supernatural tale!

Just before summer begins, thirteen-year-old Ali finds an old photograph. She recognizes the two children. One’s her mother, the other her aunt Dulcie…but who is the third person, the one who’s been torn out of the picture? Ali will have all summer to figure it out, since she’s spending the summer with her aunt and her cousin in the same house her mom and aunt used to visit when they were kids.

Then Ali meets Sissy. Sissy is mean, spiteful, and determined to ruin Ali’s summer. Sissy also has a secret. Could it have something to do with the old photo? Ali is dying to find out, and if she’s not careful, that’s exactly what might happen to her.

Grade Level: 4 and up

All the Lovely Bad Ones

Travis and his sister, Corey, can’t resist a good trick—so when they learn that their grandmother’s sleepy Vermont inn has a history of ghost sightings, they decide to do a little “haunting” of their own. Scaring the guests proves to be great fun, and before long, the inn is filled with tourists and ghost hunters eager for a glimpse of the supernatural.

But Travis and Corey soon find out that they aren’t the only ghosts at Fox Hill Inn. Their thoughtless games have awakened something dangerous, something that should have stayed asleep. Restless, spiteful spirits swarm the inn, while a dark and terrifying presence stalks the halls and the old oak grove on the inn’s grounds. To lay the ghosts to rest, Travis and Corey must first discover the dark history of Fox Hill and the horrors visited on its inhabitants years earlier.

Grade Level: 4 and up