Today's Deals

Get 30% off at Mills & Boon using promo code 30JUN12 (ends 24 June 2012)

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is The Eagle Has Landed ($1.99), by Jack Higgins. This is another Open Road reprint edition and should be worth picking up.

Book Description
In Jack Higgins’s classic international bestseller, an audacious Nazi plan to kidnap Winston Churchill threatens to tip the scales of World War II

In November of 1943, an elite team of Nazi paratroopers descends on British soil with a diabolical goal: to abduct Winston Churchill and cripple the Allied war effort. The mission, ordered by Hitler himself and planned by Heinrich Himmler, is led by ace agent Kurt Steiner and aided on the ground by IRA gunman Liam Devlin.

As the deadly duo executes Hitler’s harrowing plot, only the quiet town of Studley Constable stands in their way. Its residents are the lone souls aware of the impending Nazi plan, and they must become the most unlikely of heroes as the fate of the war hangs in the balance.

Somewhere Towards the End ($1.56 / £0.99 UK), by Diana Athill, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.39).

Book Description
What is it like to be old?

Diana Athill made her reputation as a writer with the candour of her memoirs – her commitment, in her words, ‘to understand, to be aware, to touch the truth’. Now in her nineties, and freed from any inhibitions that even she may once have had, she reflects frankly on the losses and occasionally the gains that old age brings, and on the wisdom and fortitude required to face death. This is a lively narrative of events, lovers and friendships: the people and experiences that have taught her to regret very little, to resist despondency and to question the beliefs and customs of her own generation.

Beer Is Proof God Loves Us: Reaching for the Soul of Beer and Brewing ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Charles W. Bamforth, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. This one has been free several times, on both platforms, so you may already have it in your library.

Book Description
Beer Is Proof God Loves Us is a funny, engaging, and downright joyous examination of the whole world of beer and brewing. Your guide, Charlie Bamforth, may be the world's #1 expert on every aspect of beer: After a worldwide search, he was selected as the first Anheuser-Busch Professor of Brewing Science at the University of California, Davis. Now, he presents the most compelling social history of beer ever written: where it's come from, where the brewing business stands now, and what the future holds.

Bamforth also explains what the rise of new craft breweries means to beer drinkers and what the latest global trends will have on beer consumption. The book concludes with a look to the future, illustrating how environmental issues will change the brewing industry and addressing radical new approaches to brewing, such as Happoshu and malternatives.

Day at the Beach (Dora the Explorer Series) ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Lauryn Silverhardt, is the Nook Daily Find for Families (requires NOOK Color, NOOK Tablet or NOOK Kids for iPad), price matched on Kindle (works with Kindle Fire, Kindle Cloud Reader, Kindle for iPad or Kindle for Android).

Book Description
Come play at the beach with Dora and Boots!

Age Level: 1 and up

Book Blog Tour - Big Sky Country

A little bit of fun for you today, as this post is a part of the Blog Tour Scavenger Hunt for Linda Lael Miller's newly released Big Sky Country ($5.99 Kindle). I've got an author Q&A, a book excerpt and a chance to win a copy of the book.

Author Q&A
Q: Which part of BIG SKY COUNTRY was the most enjoyable to write?
A: I loved writing about the livestock auction (go figure), which compromised the hero and heroine’s first date. (That’s a cowboy for you.) I also enjoyed penning the horse race scene.

Q: Which part was the least enjoyable?
A: I enjoy the whole process, though I admit I find the love scenes to be the most challenging. Trying to bring something new to a thing that’s as old as time can be hard work.

Q: How did you come up with the character, Joslyn Kirk?
A: Joslyn, like most of my characters, simply came to me as a brown-haired woman returning to her hometown to right an old wrong—one she’d had nothing to do with. As I wrote about Joslyn, she sort of flowered into a person I’d know if I met her on the street. It’s that way with all my story people—they become friends and I’m convinced that they’re real, somewhere.

Q: If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in the book?
A: I would worry less about getting it perfect and just have fun with the process. Since “Big Sky Country” is the first in a series, the staging has to be just right to carry not only that book, but the others coming after it.

Q: How much, and what kinds of research went into creating this novel?
A: I do a sort of ongoing research—I consult a friend who’s an expert on rodeos, for instance. Most of my stories, though, are pure imagination. I try to get things right, but I’m much more interested in giving the reader an emotional experience and a little vacation from the real world.

Book Excerpt
By this time, he reckoned, all his deputies and Becky, the longtime receptionist, were probably fixing to send out a search party, complete with cadaver dogs and a plan drawn out on a grid.

The idea made him smile as he headed back toward the courthouse.

Joslyn Kirk overslept that morning, and when she opened her eyes, it took her a few seconds to recognize her surroundings and realize she was right back in the one place she’d sworn never to set foot in again—Parable, Montana.

Joslyn sat up in her sleeping bag—she’d arrived late the night before and hadn’t bothered to put sheets on the antique brass bed—and looked around, taking in the cabbage-rose wallpaper, the worn planks in the floor and ornate woodwork, the heavy wardrobe that served as a closet.

She was in the guesthouse behind that mansion that had been her home for most of her childhood.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Blog Tour for your chance to win a copy of the book and a necklace from Etsy (the entry button is on the bottom of the page). There will be a second part to the Scavenger Hunt next month, when her Big Sky Mountain is released.

The publicist sent me a paper copy of Big Sky Country for review and I'm about half-way thru it (I'll admit, I miss reading on the Kindle when I have to back to a paper book); after getting past the rather incredulous setup in the first chapter, it's been a pretty good read. Of course, I'm pretty sure I know how it will end, but isn't that true of most romances? It's the journey, not the ending, that makes the book.

Book Description
The illegitimate son of a wealthy rancher, Sheriff Slade Barlow grew up in a trailer hitched to the Curly-Burly hair salon his mother runs. He was never acknowledged by his father…until now. Suddenly, Slade has inherited half of Whisper Creek Ranch, one of the most prosperous in Parable, Montana. That doesn't sit well with his half brother, Hutch, who grew up with all the rights of a Carmody—including the affections of Joslyn Kirk, homecoming queen, rodeo queen, beauty queen, whom Slade has never forgotten.

But Joslyn is barely holding her head up these days as she works to pay back everyone her crooked stepfather cheated. With a town to protect, plus a rebellious teenage stepdaughter, Slade has his hands full. But someone has to convince Joslyn that she's responsible only for her own actions—such as her effect on this lawman's guarded heart.

Get $2 Off Select $5 MP3 Albums

It appears that the $2 off a $5 MP3 deal is back and valid on select $5 albums, for those with either a Kindle Fire or access to any Android device that can run the Amazon MP3 app. You must use either the App or the Music Store on the Kindle Fire, not a web browser to purchase the album. So, although I've linked in the list here, to make it easier to see which albums are on the list (it's mostly the same as the June $5 MP3 Albums list, with some changes (currently there are only 99 eligible albums, not 100). As before, be sure that you don't accidentally grab a version that has a digital booklet with it, also, as those are specifically excluded.

Once again, there's no date indicated as to when this offer ends, so I wouldn't wait too long to try it (right now, I see a box about the offer on the product details page for the albums included - so long as you can see that, it should still be a valid promotion; the first time I saw this promotion, it disappeared the next day). I also don't see any information as to whether or not this is a "limit one" offer, but last month you could buy as many albums on the list as you wanted and received the $2 discount on each one (you'll have to check your emailed receipt to check, though, as you don't get an invoice summary when buying on the Kindle).

The Fine Print
Purchase Select $5 MP3 Albums on Your Kindle Fire or on the Amazon MP3 App for Android and Get a $2 Discount Applied at Purchase.

1. Search for any eligible $5 MP3 album title in the Amazon MP3 App for Android or Kindle Fire. If you don't have the Amazon MP3 App for Android, download it here.
2. Purchase your album by clicking the "Buy" button and your $2 discount will be automatically applied to your order. The credit only applies to album purchases and not individual song purchases from the albums. The discount will not apply to album purchases made in the Amazon MP3 webstore or through your Kindle Fire browser. This promotion does not apply to digital booklet versions of the $5 album titles.
3. After your purchase, you can confirm that your $2 credit was applied by checking your order confirmation, which will be sent to you by e-mail.
4. Additional terms and conditions apply.

While looking thru the selections, I ran across two albums that aren't in the list, but are worth considering. Both are on sale for $2.99: The Paul Simon Collection: On My Way, Don't Know Where I'm Going and 100 Must-Have Movie Classics

A Matter of Principle for One Cent (K)

A Matter of Principle, Conrad Black's memoir, is currently on sale for a penny in the Kindle store. This looks like a pricing error by McClelland & Stewart (Random House) and it probably isn't supposed to be free, so if you are interested, grab it quick!

One thing to keep in mind? Although you can't send free books as a gift, you can send the ones that are a penny - so this is the perfect book to send to a friend, if you think they might be interested (if not, all it cost you was a penny!).

Book Description
In 1993, Conrad Black was the proprietor of London's Daily Telegraph and the head of one of the world's largest newspaper groups. He completed a memoir in 1992, A Life in Progress, and "great prospects beckoned." In 2004, he was fired as chairman of Hollinger International after he and his associates were accused of fraud. Here, for the first time, Black describes his indictment, four-month trial in Chicago, partial conviction, imprisonment, and largely successful appeal.

In this unflinchingly revealing and superbly written memoir, Black writes without reserve about the prosecutors who mounted a campaign to destroy him and the journalists who presumed he was guilty. Fascinating people fill these pages, from prime ministers and presidents to the social, legal, and media elite, among them: Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, George W. Bush, Jean Chrétien, Rupert Murdoch, Izzy Asper, Richard Perle, Norman Podhoretz, Eddie Greenspan, Alan Dershowitz, and Henry Kissinger.

Woven throughout are Black's views on big themes: politics, corporate governance, and the U.S. justice system. He is candid about highly personal subjects, including his friendships - with those who have supported and those who have betrayed him - his Roman Catholic faith, and his marriage to Barbara Amiel. And he writes about his complex relations with Canada, Great Britain, and the United States, and in particular the blow he has suffered at the hands of that nation.

In this extraordinary book, Black maintains his innocence and recounts what he describes as "the fight of and for my life." A Matter of Principle is a riveting memoir and a scathing account of a flawed justice system.

Today's Deals

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is Pocket-47 ($1.99), the first Nicholas Colt Thriller by Jude Hardin, which received a starred review from Publisher's weekly.

Book Description
Fifteen-year-old Brittney Ryan has taken to the streets. Leitha, her older sister and legal guardian, hires private investigator Nicholas Colt to find her and bring her home. Piece of cake, Colt thinks. With Brittney's forbidden boyfriend's address in hand, he plans to make a surprise visit and put this one in the scrapbook.

But something more sinister is behind Brittney's disappearance, and Colt soon finds himself in an ever-widening maze of deceit, betrayal, and murder. When Colt learns what the mysterious phrase Pocket-47 means, he is haunted even more by the plane crash that killed his family and rock band twenty years ago-a crash he now realizes might not have been an accident.

Determined to save Brittney, Colt struggles to untangle the threads of his own tortured past. Unfortunately, one of the most heinous and violent criminals in modern history has other ideas.

An Atlas of Impossible Longing ($1.56 / £0.99 UK), by Anuradha Roy, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $10.99).

Book Description
On the outskirts of a small town in Bengal, a family live in solitude in their vast new house. Here, swathed in silence, a widower struggles with feelings for an unmarried cousin while his motherless daughter Bakul runs wild with Mukunda, an orphan of unknown caste adopted by the family. Confined at the top of the house, the matriarch goes slowly mad, while her husband shapes and reshapes his glorious garden. As Mukunda and Bakul grow, their intense closeness matures into something else and Mukunda is banished to Calcutta. Although he prospers in the turbulent years after Partition, his thoughts are all of what was once his home – and he knows that he must return. This is a love story, as intricate as it is enchanting, about two people who find each other when abandoned by everyone else.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Betty Smith, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle (which has a "P.S. Edition" with bonus material).

Book Description
The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness -- in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience.

This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

Jamberry ($7.99 paperback, no Kindle edition; $1.99 B&N), by Bruce Degen, is the Nook Daily Find for Families (requires NOOK Color or NOOK Tablet).

Book Description
Celebrating twenty-five years of Jamberry--a bestselling blockbuster with more than 1.5 million copies in print.

This NOOK Kids Read and Play book features narration, animation and interactivity. Kids can choose to hear the story read aloud and play activities on select pages of the book. Animations replay with a simple tap. Plus, kids can tap to enlarge text and pinch & stretch to zoom in on pictures.

A little boy walking in the forest meets a big lovable bear that takes him on a delicious berry-picking adventure in the magical world of Berryland.

Today's Deals

Money: Everything You Never Knew About Your Favorite Thing To Find, Save, Spend & Covet ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Harry Choron, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Ever made a fast buck? How about traded cowrie shells for a bride or paid for gum with a $10,000 bill? This entertaining and information-packed miscellany explains our fascination with money and how it has shaped our world. Vintage photographs and artwork illustrate surprising facts, lists, and trivia about forgotten financial catastrophes and famous bank robbers, the history of bankruptcy and ancient money gods, wacky cash-related slang and get-rich-quick schemes for the ages. Witty and comprehensive, Money explores the one subject that really makes the world go round.

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is Five Top-Rated "Brain Books" for $1.99 apiece.

• Brain Power, by Michael J. Gelb, Kelly Howell and Tony Buzan
  Virtually everyone fears mental deterioration as they age. But in the past thirty years neuroscientists have discovered that the brain is actually designed to improve throughout life. How can you encourage this improvement? Brain Power shares practical, state-of-the-evidence answers in this inspiring, fun-to-read plan for action. The authors have interviewed physicians, gerontologists, and neuroscientists; studied the habits of men and women who epitomize healthy aging; and applied what they describe in their own lives. The resulting guidance — along with the accompanying downloadable Brain Sync audio program — can help you activate unused brain areas, tone mental muscles, and enliven every faculty.
• The Practicing Mind: Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life, by Thomas M. Sterner
  Early life is all about trial-and-error practice. If we’d given up in the face of failure, repetition, and difficulty, we’d never have learned to walk, tie our shoes, or ride a bike. So why, as adults, do we often throw in the towel when at first we don’t succeed? Modern life’s technological speed, habitual multitasking, and promises of instant gratification don’t help. But in his study of how we learn (prompted by his experiences as a musician and adult newbie golfer), Thomas Sterner has found that we have also lost the principles of practice; the process of picking a goal and applying steady effort to reach it. The methods Sterner teaches show that practice done properly isn’t drudgery on the way to mastery but a fulfilling process of building focus, mind-calming clarity, and joy-filled effort in and of itself. The practicing mind savors the baby steps that lead to great strides.
• Creative Thinkering, by Michael Michalko
  Why isn’t everyone creative? Why doesn’t education foster more ingenuity? Why is expertise often the enemy of innovation? Bestselling creativity expert Michael Michalko shows that in every field of endeavor — from business and science to government, the arts, and even day-to-day life — natural creativity is limited by the prejudices of logic and the structures of accepted categories and concepts. Through step-by-step exercises, illustrated strategies, and inspiring real-world examples, he shows readers how to liberate their thinking and literally expand their imaginations by learning to synthesize dissimilar subjects, think paradoxically, and enlist the help of the subconscious mind. He also reveals the attitudes and approaches that diverse geniuses share — and anyone can emulate. Fascinating and fun, Michalko’s strategies facilitate the kind of lightbulb-moment thinking that changes lives — for the better.
• The Right-Brain Business Plan, by Jennifer Lee
  Millions of artists, entrepreneurs, crafters, and solopreneurs dream of making a living doing what they love. But turning their vision into a viable business plan can feel like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Jennifer Lee knows what it’s like to make the entrepreneurial leap — and how to do it successfully. The key is showing creative types how to use — rather than stifle — the imagination and intuition that make them creative in the first place. Lee’s illustrated, colorful worksheets and step-by-step instructions are playful yet practical, enabling readers to get down to the essential business of defining their vision and nailing down plans for funding, marketing, networking, and long-term strategy. Both budding and seasoned business owners will benefit from Lee’s wonderfully original approach.
• The Misleading Mind: How We Create Our Own Problems and How Buddhist Psychology Can Help Us Solve Them, by Karuna Cayton
  Buddhism asserts that we each have the potential to free ourselves from the prison of our problems. As practiced for more than twenty-six hundred years, the process involves working with, rather than against, our depression, anxiety, and compulsions. We do this by recognizing the habitual ways our minds perceive and react — the way they mislead. The lively exercises and inspiring real-world examples Cayton provides can help you transform intractable problems and neutralize suffering by cultivating a radically liberating self-understanding.

The Immortalists ($1.56 / £0.99 UK), by Kyle Mills, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $2.99/KLL Eligible).

Book Description
Dr. Richard Draman is trying desperately to discover a cure for a disease that causes children to age at a wildly accelerated rate—a rare genetic condition that is killing his own daughter. When the husband of a colleague quietly gives him a copy of the classified work she was doing before her mysterious suicide, Draman finally sees a glimmer of hope. The conclusions are stunning, with the potential to not only turn the field of biology on its head, but reshape the world. Soon, though, he finds himself on the run, relentlessly pursued by a seemingly omnipotent group of men who will do whatever it takes to silence him.

Finnikin of the Rock ($7.39 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), the first novel in Melina Marchetta's young adult Lumatere Chronicles series, is the Nook Daily Find for Families. If it isn't price matched on Kindle by evening, I'll probably go ahead and get this one from B&N, as there are starred reviews from BookList and School Library Journal. I've reported the lower price to Amazon and hopefully enough other people will do so to get it to drop.

Book Description
Finnikin was only a child during the five days of the unspeakable, when the royal family of Lumatere were brutally murdered, and an imposter seized the throne. Now a curse binds all who remain inside Lumatere’s walls, and those who escaped roam the surrounding lands as exiles, persecuted and despairing, dying by the thousands in fever camps. In a narrative crackling with the tension of an imminent storm, Finnikin, now on the cusp on manhood, is compelled to join forces with an arrogant and enigmatic young novice named Evanjalin, who claims that her dark dreams will lead the exiles to a surviving royal child and a way to pierce the cursed barrier and regain the land of Lumatere. But Evanjalin’s unpredictable behavior suggests that she is not what she seems—and the startling truth will test Finnikin’s faith not only in her, but in all he knows to be true about himself and his destiny.

Kindle Big Deal Returns!

The Kindle Big Deal is back, with hundreds of books priced at $0.99, $1.99, $2.99, and $3.99 thru June 24, 2012.

I've picked out a few of the books to highlight that looked interesting or were especially good deals.

Arnold Palmer: A Personal Journey ($0.99), by Arnold Palmer and Thomas Hauser, is the full text that the free Reflections on the Game is the teaser for.

Book Description
This eBook edition includes a foreword from Golf Channel’s Rich Lerner, a new afterword from the author and an original essay by Arnold Palmer, “Reflections on the Game.”

With the possible exception of Babe Ruth, no athlete has ever done as much for a sport as Arnold Palmer has done for golf. During the course of his professional career he won 92 tournaments, 62 of them on the PGA tour. He is the first golfer to reach the million-dollar mark in tour earnings, and the first four-time winner of the coveted Masters championship. To fans around the world he isn’t just the most exciting personality in the history of golf, he is golf.

Palmer’s impact on the sport extends far beyond the green. He is the first athlete to parlay success on the field into lucrative endorsement contracts—and in the process, he revolutionized the economics of sports, paving the way for Tiger Woods, Annika Sorenstam, Yani Tseng, and Rory Mcllroy.

Yet for all his time in the spotlight, the true Arnold Palmer has remained largely unknown. With unprecedented access to Palmer, his family, his friends and his business associates, acclaimed sports writer Thomas Hauser provides a behind-the-scenes look at the “King of Golf” who has come to exemplify the American Dream. Packed with stunning photographs from Palmer’s own archives, Arnold Palmer: A Personal Journey is both a tribute to an American hero and the most intimate portrait ever of the man behind the legend.

“I have always thought that, of all the books I have done, A Personal Journey was a particularly good one with its wonderful selection of pictures and the excellent text that accompanied the photos. I enjoyed working with Tom Hauser on the book and felt we created an interesting chronicle of my golfing career and my life.”
—Arnold Palmer

To Walk the Night ($2.99), is the first title in E.S. Moore's Kat Redding urban fantasy series from Kensington Books.

Book Description
Even a vampire has to face her inner demons. . .

Kat Redding is the very thing she hunts: a vampire, thirsting for blood, capable of killing any creature unlucky enough to get in her path. The difference is, Kat kills her own kind in order to protect human Purebloods. She's good at what she does. Good enough to earn the nickname Lady Death--and the enmity of every bloodthirsty being around. But now a vampire Count is intent on merging his House with a werewolf cult to create a force of terrifying power.

Kat can't allow that to happen. Even if it means taking on a den of weres and a vampire more ruthless than any she's encountered before. She has the weapons, the skill, and a few allies. But that may not be enough to eliminate the Count before her own dark nature rises to the surface--and costs her whatever is left of her humanity. . .

It's already hot enough here that I'm can't wait try out the recipes in Perfect Pops: The 50 Best Classic and Cool Treats ($0.99), by Charity Ferreira and Leigh Beisch.

Book Description
Pops are summer's freshest frozen treats, and they're showing up in all the best places, from farmers markets to fine dining restaurants. The perfect way to make the most of ripe fruit is by suspending it in sweet ice, but Perfect Pops takes popsicles beyond fruit and juice. With 50 recipes for popsicles in creative, of-the-moment flavors, this book includes creamy pops, fancy pops reminiscent of nostalgic, luscious desserts such as chocolate pudding, and alcohol-spiked pops for adults. Techniques for making striped, swirled, layered and creamy-centered pops dipped in chocolate make this book a charming resource for mothers and crafters looking for easy kitchen projects with delicious results!

I didn't see Quick & Easy Mexican Cooking: More Than 80 Everyday Recipes ($2.99) when looking thru the sale, but found it looking to see what else Leigh Beisch had written. It actually appears that she is the photographer and Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee is the author, according to the hardcover info.

Book Description
-íEs verdad! You can cook Mexican food on a weeknight in under one hour. Using readily available ingredients and familiar techniques, this easy-to-use cookbook makes Mexican cuisine doable for cooks at any skill level. Tacos, taquitos, flautas, burritos, and even classic Mexican desserts like Churros and cinnamon-scented Arroz con Leche (rice pudding) are just a taste of the more than 80 straightforward recipes. With dishes for every meal of the dayGÇöplus refreshing drinks such as agua frescas and potent margaritas—Quick & Easy Mexican Cooking adds spice to any kitchen.

The Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook ($3.99), by Susie Cushner, Sara Corpening Whiteford and Mary Corpening Barber, is one of the pricier choices, but a considerable discount from the $28 list price. Even if you aren't loading it onto a Kindle to give as a wedding gift, it appears to be a good choice for the beginning cook or if you are looking for a few new, easy and fast recipes.

Book Description
Here is the perfect gift for the happy couple--the first and only cookbook they will ever need. Best-selling authors Sara Corpening Whiteford and Mary Corpening Barber start the bride and groom off right with essential information on the equipment they'll need to begin cooking in their new home, as well as invaluable tips on getting the pantry stocked. Then they offer 125 recipes--those special dishes to turn to again and again. Ready to entertain the new in-laws? A weekend brunch featuring Sausage and Cheddar Cheese Strata comes together in a snap and is certain to impress. If something a little more romantic is in order, Brie and Champagne Fondue for Two shared in front of a roaring fire is as cozy as it gets. Everyday favorites like Classic Lasagna, Grilled Chicken with Roasted Red Pepper Salsa, and the impossible-to-resist Silken Chocolate Tart will have even inexperienced cooks looking like pros in the kitchen. Whether cooking on the fly with Dinners in a Dash-a meal on the table in 30 minutes or less: perfect for the working couple!--or hosting that first-ever holiday dinner, this is the cookbook newlyweds need to chop, peel, saute, and roast in harmony in the kitchen. Complete with beautiful photographs and menu ideas for special occasions (including the first anniversary), the Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook will have the happy couple-and their family and friends--eating well from this day forward.

Nathalie Dupree's Shrimp and Grits ($0.99), by Nathalie Dupree, obviously contains more recipes than just the one from the title. At this price, though, just one or two recipes would be enough to justify the purchase (and not all of them have shrimp in them, I'd bet, since there are promises of dessert!). I will have to agree with on reviewer, though: we never served shrimp in the shell (uncleaned), except in a boil, when I lived in SC. Only restaurants served shrimp this way (and in vastly lower quantities), to save the labor involved in cleaning.

Book Description
"Breakfast shrimp and grits" has long been a staple of the South Carolina Lowcountry, the favored morning repast during the busy summer shrimp season. Now, renowned Southern cuisine maven and author Nathalie Dupree is pleased to offer an entire cookbook dedicated to this famed Southern dish that will inspire people around the world to discover its appeal and versatility for any meal!

Shrimp and grits have emerged from their humble origins to become a signature for sophisticated Southern dining. The magical combination of shrimp and grits, whether for pre-dawn breakfast on a shrimp boat or as an entrée in the finest New York restaurant can be deliriously wonderful. Nathalie Dupree, along with Marion Sullivan, present the most cherished and famous recipes for this lowcountry classic. Their colorful recipes and no-nonsense approach share essential tips about how much and what liquid to use, what kind of pan, and how long to cook grits, along with information about how to catch, clean, freeze and cook shrimp.
Recipes include:

• BLT Shrimp and Grits
• Short-Cook Shrimp and Grits
• New Orleans-Style Grits Cakes with Shrimp and Tasso

Plus a section of recipes for using grits in breads, crackers and desserts!

The Mayo Clinic Diet: Eat Well, Enjoy Life, Lose Weight ($2.99)

Book Description
Here at last is the last diet you should ever need. Get a quick and gratifying start with Lose It!, the phase of the diet designed to help you lose up to six to ten pounds in just two weeks. Eat the foods you love in moderation in the Live It! phase, which is designed to help you continue to lose one to two pounds per week and keep them off.

Here is the diet that helps you accomplish real and lasting weight loss. It is no fad, but a solid, common-sense approach brought to you by an award-winning health organization. More, The Mayo Clinic Diet does not require expensive ingredients (which can make a diet difficult to maintain in the long run.)

Through simple, healthy adjustments to your lifestyle, The Mayo Clinic Diet gives you the tools you need to achieve the success you want. In two easy phases, The Mayo Clinic Diet helps you lose weight and keep it off for life.

In two simple phases you'll be on the road to a healthy weight for the rest of your life. Packed with lots of encouragement--meal planners, recipes, tips for overcoming challenges, starting an exercise plan, and much more--Mayo Clinic delivers everything you need in one book. It's time to toss the scales and calculators and pick up the foods you've always loved. At last the diet you've been waiting for.

The Mayo Clinic Diabetes Diet ($2.99)

Book Description
From Mayo Clinic, a leading authority in health and nutrition, comes The Mayo Clinic Diabetes Diet, adapted here for people with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes from the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Mayo Clinic Diet. Here is a reliable plan to help you lose weight to control your blood sugar.

The specialists at Mayo Clinic have created a special diet, a two-phase plan, to help at-risk individuals to prevent and control diabetes by losing weight quickly and safely, then maintaining that weight loss.

Health and weight management can seem overwhelming to the more than 23 million Americans who suffer from type 2 diabetes as ell as the 79 million pre-diabetic adults. The Mayo Clinic Diabetes Diet presents two easy-to-follow phases that work--Lose it! and Live It! The diet is based on principles of The Mayo Clinic Diet, which is designed to help people safely lose 6-10 pounds in two weeks then continue to lose weight until they achieve a healthy weight that can be maintained.

The Lose It! phase of the diet is a simple, straight-forward two-week plan that encourages quick but safe weight loss that can help lower blood sugar. The Live It! phase offers basic and manageable steps and lifestyle changes that are designed to help participants lose one to two pounds each week until a healthy weight is reached and can be maintained.

This book is packed with meal plans, practical solutions, specific tips on how to lose weight safely. More, The Mayo Clinic Diet tackles the familiar obstacles that get in the way of weight loss--dislike of exercise, distaste of healthy food, too little time to cook well, a too hectic schedule, struggles with cravings, minimal support from family and friends and more.

"This diabetes diet isn't a fad: it's about changing your habits for the better," says Donald Hensrud, M.D., Mayo Clinic specialist in nutrition and internal medicine and medical editor-in-chief.

Farmer Jane ($0.99), by Temra Costa

Book Description
Farmer Jane profiles thirty women in the sustainable food industry, describing their agriculture and business models and illustrating the amazing changes they are making in how we connect with food. These advocates for creating a more holistic and nurturing food and agriculture system also answer questions on starting a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program, how to get involved in policy at local and national levels, and how to address the different types of renewable energy and finance them.

Temra Costa has been working with the Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) in California for the past five years through the programs of Farm to School and Buy Fresh Buy Local in the Sacramento Valley and Bay Area. She is currently director of Buy Fresh Buy Local and lives in Sacramento.

A hands-on guide for getting involved in the sustainable food movement.

Sacred Land: Intuitive Gardening for Personal, Political and Environmental Change ($0.99), by Clea Danaan

Book Description
Clea Danaan breaks new ground with Sacred Land—a fresh approach to sacred gardening that goes beyond your own backyard.

In this positive and practical handbook, Danaan shows how organic gardening can germinate environmental awareness and political change while feeding your spirit. You'll learn how to plan and plant your garden, create compost, save seeds, conserve and transmute water, connect with garden goddesses, and incorporate planetary energy in your garden.

Sacred Land explores the benefits of native plants, organic food and agriculture, buying locally, and eating seasonally. It suggests simple yet effective ways of spreading the message of ecology and sustainability to your community. You'll discover how to get along with ants, bats, bees, butterflies, fairies, frogs, gnomes, worms, and other creatures who share our gardens. This one-of-a-kind gardening guidebook also includes inspiring stories of women activists, farmers, artists, and healers who are making a difference in the world.

I bought Small Space Organizing: A Room by Room Guide to Maximizing Your Space ($2.99), by Kathryn Bechen, last Spring when it was on sale.

Book Description
While we may admire the spacious rooms in large homes we see in magazines or on TV, let's face it: most of us don't live in rambling estates. Instead, we live in homes, apartments, or condos with small rooms and even smaller closets. But you can enjoy an organized, beauty-filled life no matter what the size of your space. In this practical book, readers will learn how to-perform a room-by-room audit of their space to see if it's functioning at its best-make the most of existing storage space and find clever ways to add more-find creative ways to arrange furnishings and accessories that maximize space and bring harmony and style to the home.

Whether empty nesters who are downsizing, newlyweds who are setting up their first nest, or anyone who needs creative new ideas, readers will love these strategies, tips, and solutions to maximize their space and enhance their quality of life.

Aging Our Way: Lessons for Living from 85 and Beyond ($0.99), by Meika Loe

Book Description
In 1998, Hallmark unveiled their new "One-Hundredth-Birthday" cards, and by 2007 annual sales were at 85,000. America is rapidly graying: between now and 2030, the number of people in the U.S. over the age of 80 is expected to almost triple. But how long people live raises the question of how well they live. Aging Our Way follows the everyday lives of 30 elders (ages 85-102) living at home and mostly alone to understand how they create and maintain meaningful lives for themselves. Drawing on the latest interdisciplinary scholarship on aging and three years of interviews with the elders, Meika Loe explores how elders navigate the practical challenges of living as independently as possible while staying healthy, connected, and comfortable. While most books on the subject treat old age as a social problem and elders as simply diminished versions of their former selves, Aging Our Way views them as they really are: lively, complicated, engaging people finding creative ways to make their aging as meaningful and manageable as possible. In their own voices, elders describe how they manage everything from grocery shopping, doctor appointments, and disability, to creating networks of friends and maintaining their autonomy. In many ways, these elders can serve as role models. The lessons they have learned about living in moderation, taking time for themselves, asking for help, keeping a sense of humor, caring for others, and preparing for death provide an invaluable source of wisdom for anyone hoping to live a long and fulfilling life. Through their stories, Loe helps us to think about aging, well-being, and the value of human relationships in new ways. Written with remarkable warmth and depth of understanding, Aging Our Way offers a vivid look at a group of people who too often remain invisible--those who have lived the longest--and all they have to teach us.

Jazz Anecdotes: Second Time Around ($0.99), by Bill Crow

Book Description
When jazz musicians get together, they often delight one another with stories about the great, or merely remarkable, players and singers they've worked with. One good story leads to another until someone says, "Somebody ought to wrie these down!" With Jazz Anecdotes, somebody finally has. Drawing on a rich verbal tradition, bassist and jazz writer Bill Crow has culled stories from a wide variety of sources, including interviews, biographies and a remarkable oral history collection, which resides at the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University, to paint fascinating and very human portraits of jazz musicians. Organized around general topics--teaching and learning, life on the road, prejudice and discrimination, and the importance of a good nickname--Jazz Anecdotes shows the jazz world as it really is. In this fully updated edition, which contains over 150 new anecdotes and new topics like Hiring and Firing, Crow regales us with new stories of such jazz greats as Benny Goodman, Chet Baker, Ravi Coltrane, Buddy Rich and Paul Desmond. He offers extended sections on old favorites--Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young, and the fabulous Eddie Condon, who seems to have lived his entire life with the anecdotist in mind. With its unique blend of sparkling dialogue and historical and social insight, Jazz Anecdotes will delight anyone who loves a good story. It offers a fresh perspective on the joys and hardships of a musician's life as well as a rare glimpse of the personalities who created America's most distinctive music.

Listen to Bob Marley: The Man, the Music, the Revolution ($0.99), by Bob Marley

Book Description

An inspiring collection of poems, meditations, and lyrics by one of the world’s most revered musical legends

Bob Marley’s music defined a movement and forever changed a nation. Known worldwide for their message of peace and unity, Marley’s songs—from “One Love” to “Redemption Song” to “Three Little Birds”—have touched millions of lives. This collection is the best of Bob Marley presented in three parts: “The Man,” giving an in-depth look into the life of Bob Marley; “The Music,” comprising his most memorable lyrics as well as links to many of his songs on Amazon.com; and “The Revolution,” containing his meditations on social equality and the Rastafari movement. Enriched with iconic photographs, Listen to Bob Marley provides insight into a reggae legend, the inspirational man behind the music.

This ebook features an introduction by daughter Cedella Marley and an illustrated biography of Cedella including rare photographs from her personal collection.

One Love ($3.99), by Cedella Marley and Vanessa Newton(Author, Illustrator), is a children's book for grade level P and up.

Book Description
This heartwarming picture book adapted from one of Bob Marley's most beloved songs brings the joyful spirit and unforgettable lyrics of his music to life for a new generation. Readers will delight in dancing to the beat and feeling the positive groove of change when one girl enlists her friends, family, and community to help transform her neighborhood for the better.

Adapted by Cedella Marley, Bob Marley s first child, and gorgeously illustrated by the talented Vanessa Newton, One Love is a colorful and upbeat testament to the amazing things that can happen when we all get together with one love in our hearts.

Going to Extremes: How Like Minds Unite and Divide ($1.99), by Cass R. Sunstein

Book Description
Why do people become extremists? What makes people become so dismissive of opposing views? Why is political and cultural polarization so pervasive in America? In Going to Extremes, renowned legal scholar and best-selling author Cass R. Sunstein offers startling insights into why and when people gravitate toward extremism. Sunstein marshals a wealth of evidence that shows that when like-minded people gather in groups, they tend to become more extreme in their views than they were before. Thus when liberals group get together to debate climate change, they end up more alarmed about climate change, while conservatives brought together to discuss same-sex unions become more set against same-sex unions. In courtrooms, radio stations, and chatrooms, enclaves of like-minded people are breeding ground for extreme movements. Indeed, Sunstein shows that a good way to create an extremist group, or a cult of any kind, is to separate members from the rest of society, either physically or psychologically. Sunstein's findings help to explain such diverse phenomena as political outrage on the Internet, unanticipated "blockbusters" in the film and music industry, the success of the disability rights movement, ethnic conflict in Iraq and former Yugoslavia, and Islamic terrorism. Providing a wealth of real-world examples--sometimes entertaining, sometimes alarming--Sunstein offers a fresh explanation of why partisanship has become so bitter and debate so rancorous in America and abroad.

I bought the YA novel Water Wars ($1.99), by Cameron Stracher, early last year and it was lost in my TBR list; I'm glad it was on this sale (even if it is less than I paid), as I've moved it back near the top.

Book Description
Would you risk everything for someone you just met?

What if he had a secret worth killing for?

Welcome to a future where water is more precious than oil or gold...

Hundreds of millions of people have already died, and millions more will soon fall—victims of disease, hunger, and dehydration. It is a time of drought and war. The rivers have dried up, the polar caps have melted, and drinkable water is now in the hands of the powerful few. There are fines for wasting it and prison sentences for exceeding the quotas.

But Kai didn’t seem to care about any of this. He stood in the open road drinking water from a plastic cup, then spilled the remaining drops into the dirt. He didn’t go to school, and he traveled with armed guards. Kai claimed he knew a secret—something the government is keeping from us...

And then he was gone. Vanished in the middle of the night. Was he kidnapped? Did he flee? Is he alive or dead? There are no clues, only questions. And no one can guess the lengths to which they will go to keep him silent. We have to find him—and the truth—before it is too late for all of us.

If the kids in your house aren't quite ready for Water Wars, they may want to check out The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Weird Junior Edition ($0.99), by David Borgenicht and Justin Heimberg, which concentrates on some of the more weird (and unlikely) situations one might need to survive.

Book Description
Vampires, zombies, aliens, mummies, dragons. Yes, even the weird, unexplained, and other-worldly need to be survived! The authors of the best-selling Worst-Case Scenario series are back with a hilarious (and helpful!) handbook that's a blast through space, time, history, and the imagination. Find out how to survive a Mars landing, fight a werewolf, deal with a Bigfoot sighting, outwit a leprechaun, prepare for time travel, and more. Peppered with historical and scientific facts, this book will amaze, amuse, and delight. Kids will get the scoop on how to handle the weirdest situations Worst-Case Scenario-style!

The Scouter's Companion ($0.99), by David Witt, can be read by scouts of all ages; although it it's mostly aimed at Scoutmasters, I suspect many who were Scouts in their younger years will enjoy revisiting the stories and song it contains. If your kids (or grandkids) are too young for any of the Scouting programs, though, you might want to pre-order A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee and Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee ($0.99 each), by Chris Van Dusen, which appears as if they will be quite cute, following Mr. Magee and his dog Dee thru their misadventures (grade level P and up).

Book Description
The Scoutmaster Companion Tips and Stories Celebrating 100 Years of Scouting

For the past 100 years, boys of all ages have explored the mountains, forests, streams, and seas in the quest of fun, exploration, and service that the Boy Scouts of America has offered. From campfire songs and survival skills, to classic quips from Boys' Life and sage advice, The Scoutmaster Companion is a must-have for campers of all ages.

Time-tested advice and skills for the outdoor enthusiast.

Today's Deals

The Fictionwise discount coupon for the weekend is 061512, good for 25% off for most books (no Samhain); newly released books, as always, are an extra 15% off.

Additional formats on free books:

• Dead Tease ((K/N)
• Shamrock Alley (N/E/I/P)

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is $0.99 Mysteries and Thrillers. You may recognize the authors, as they have placed various of their backlist books into the Kindle KDP Select program, offering them free or at low prices; however, I only have all of Walker's series in my library, which means the rest I've either missed it or they haven't been offered for free (or possibly even at this low a price point; at least, not often - I found one of Annechino's titles in my library, which I purchased for 99 cents).

Deal Description
Today only, all the novels in five acclaimed, page-turning mystery and thriller series are just $0.99 each. With settings ranging from Kusler's gritty, Great Recession-era Las Vegas to rural America and Nicholson's harrowing Monkey House drug trials, these suspenseful books promise to keep you reading into the night. Authors included:

• D.M. Annechino (Sami Rizzo series)
• Scott Nicholson (Fear series)
• Blair S. Walker (Darryl Billups Mystery series)
• Traci Hohenstein (Rachel Scott series)
• Rex Kusler (Las Vegas Mystery series)

Point Man ($2.00 / £1.29 UK), by Mark Townsend, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $13.69).

Book Description
The point man leads the patrol into battle, looking for signs of danger. He is the first to face ambushes, hidden bombs and snipers. Few survive for long. Between 2007 and 2008, 20-year-old Kenny Meighan was the longest-serving point man in Helmand province. An exceptionally skilful and brave private, he was lucky to make it home alive. But in his hometown in Essex, where prospects are bleak and his father still suffers from the nightmares of his own war experience, Kenny's struggle is far from over.

Arnie and Jack: Palmer, Nicklaus, and Golf's Greatest Rivalry ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Ian O'Connor, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. Looks like a good Father's Day gift; if Dad is reading on a Kindle Fire, be sure to pick up today's free Android App, as well: Super Stickman Golf.

Book Description
Surprisingly, one of sport’s most contentious, complex, and defining clashes played out not in the boxing ring or at the line of scrimmage but on the genteel green fairways of the world’s finest golf courses. Arnie and Jack. Palmer and Nicklaus. Their fifty-year duel, in both the clubhouse and the boardroom, propelled each to the status of American icon and pushed modern golf to the heights and popularity it enjoys today.

Arnie was the cowboy, with rugged good looks, Popeye-like forearms, a flailing swing, and charm enough to win fans worldwide. Jack was scientific, precise, conservative, aloof, even fat and awkward. Ultimately, Nicklaus got the better of Palmer on the course, beating him in major victories 18-7. But Palmer bested Nicklaus almost everywhere else, especially in the hearts of the public and in endorsement dollars. By the end of this page-turning narrative, we see that each man wanted what the other had: Arnold wanted the trophies. Jack wanted the love.

In the tradition of John Feinstein and Mark Frost, Ian O’Connor has written a compelling account of one of the greatest rivalries in sports history.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again ($8.79 Kindle, $3.99 B&N), by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Joe Berger (Illustrator), is the Nook Daily Find for Families (can you believe the list price is $15.99?).

Book Description
Buckle your seatbelt for the first-ever follow up to Ian Fleming's only children's story. When the Tooting family finds an old engine and fits it to their camper van, they have no idea what kind of adventure lies ahead. The engine used to belong to an extraordinary car . . . and it wants its bodywork back! But as the Tootings hurtle across the world rebuilding the original Chitty, a sinister baddie is on their trail - one who will stop at nothing to get the magnificent car for himself. Fueled by wry humor , this much-anticipated sequel to the children's classic by Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond - featuring a contemporary family and a camper van with a mind of its own - is driven by best-selling, award-winning author Frank Cottrell Boyce and revved up by Joe Berger's black-and-white illustrations.

Grade Level: 4 and up

Today's Deals

Additional formats on free books:

• Shamrock Alley (N/E)
• If It's Not One Thing, It's a Murder (K/E)
• Rachel's Totem (K/N/E)
• Stopping Stress before It Stops You (K/N/E)

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is The Cold Dish ($2.99), the first novel in the Walt Longmire mystery series by Craig Johnson, which is now also a new drama series on A&E. It's a bit higher priced than most of the KDD selections have been, but this one is apparently a best-selling author and Amazon describes the book as "outstanding"; since it's published by Penguin, I doubt we'll see a lower price on it anytime soon.

Book Description
In this outstanding first novel, New York Times bestselling author Craig Johnson introduces Sheriff Walt Longmire of Wyoming’s Absaroka County. Johnson draws on his background in law enforcement and his deep attachment to the American West to produce a literary mystery of stunning authenticity, and full of memorable characters. Sheriff Walt Longmire knows he’s got trouble when Cody Pritchard is found dead. Two years earlier, Cody and three accomplices had been given suspended sentences for raping a Northern Cheyenne girl. Is someone seeking vengeance? Longmire faces the most volatile and challenging case in his twenty-four years as sheriff and means to see that revenge, a dish that is best served cold, is never served at all.

Mr China ($1.53 / £0.99 UK), by Tim Clissold, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition on Kindle).

Book Description
In the early 1990s China finally opened for business, and Wall Street wanted to get in on the act. When the investment bankers arrived from New York with their Harvard MBAs, pinstripes and tassled loafers, ready to negotiate with the Old Cadres, the stage was set for a collision between Wall Street’s billions and the world’s oldest culture.

This is the true story of a tough Wall Street banker who had reached the top and found that it wasn’t enough. Looking for glory, he came to China to surf the next new investment wave and teamed up with an ex-Red Guard and an Englishman living in Beijing. Together, they raised over $400 million and bought up factories all over China.

They thought the contracts were watertight. But then they began learning the hard way that China doesn’t play by anyone else’s rules. Left sitting in their boardrooms while their Chinese partners marched off in their own different directions, they watched their millions begin sliding towards the abyss. Faced with no option but to fight, they embarked on a series of desperate battles to regain control of their businesses.

Their struggle reveals the human face of this vast and complex country that knows it must modernise but throughout history has always kept the advantage when dealing with outsiders.

Clissold tells his at times surreal story with amusement and affection, and the result is exhilarating, an eye-opening account of the arcane world of traditional Chinese business and an instructive insight into the limitations of Wall Street and western business-school training. He opens a window of understanding between East and West in a truly exciting human-interest story that is a mix of adventure, farce and high finance.

About the Author
After graduating from Cambridge, Tim Clissold set up Arthur Andersen's China Investment Services, learnt Mandarin and then co-founded a private equity group investing in China. He has lived and worked in the country for the last 20 years and since his early misadventures has negotiated deals worth over $1 billion. He lives in Beijing with his wife and children.

Chasing Perfect ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), the first title in Susan Mallery's Fool's Gold series, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Welcome to Fool's Gold, California, a charming community in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. There's lots to do and plenty of people to meet, especially women. Because there's just one tiny problem in Fool's Gold: the men don't seem to stick around. Maybe it's the lure of big-city life, or maybe it's plain old bad luck, but regardless of the reason, the problem has to be fixed, fast. And Charity Jones may be just the city planner to do it.

Charity's nomadic childhood has left her itching to settle down, and she immediately falls in love with all the storybook town has to offer--everything, that is, except its sexiest and most famous resident, former world-class cyclist Josh Golden. With her long list of romantic disasters, she's not about to take a chance on another bad boy, even if everyone else thinks he's perfect just the way he is. But maybe that's just what he needs--someone who knows the value of his flaws. Someone who knows that he's just chasing perfect.

Heavy Metal Mater ($1.99 B&N), a story in the Cars Toons children's series by Disney, is the Nook Daily Find for Families (requires NOOK Color, NOOK Tablet or NOOK Kids for iPad). There is no Kindle edition, but this story is just one in the anthology Heavy Metal Mater and Other Tall Tales ($7.99 Hardcover) (it's not a bad price at $1.99, but vastly overpriced at the regular $5.99 per single story - making the equivalent ebook nearly $18 or three times the price of the paper copy).

Book Description
Mater and Lightning McQueen are ready to rock! When Mater's garage band, Mater and the Gas Caps, records a hit song, Mater becomes a rock legend. Then Lightning joins Mater's band for the rock concert of the century!

In this NOOK Kids Read to Me book, children can choose to hear the story read aloud, tap to enlarge text and pinch & stretch to zoom in on pictures.

Kindle DX w/ Case $299

The Kindle DX, with free 3G and it's larger, 9.7" eInk screen keeps hanging in there and today's Deal is just as good as the $259 sale late last November. By putting Amazon's Kindle DX Leather Cover ($40) into your cart at the same time and using the checkout process, you'll automatically get $120 off the order. That's $299 total for the combo and a net price for the DX of $259, which is about the same as the lowest used price (from a 3rd party seller).

This model includes 3G cellular service at no charge, including web browsing (which has been limited to WiFi mode with the Kindle Touch and that trend will no doubt continue). The promotional price will continue thru Father's Day, June 17, 2012, or while supplies last (limit 50 per order!).

Want an even better deal? Grab any one of these 16 reading lights at 25% off, if on the same order (the DX cover qualifies you for the discount).

Description
With a large, easy-to-read 9.7" E Ink display that reads like real paper and adjustable font sizes Kindle DX is the ideal e-reader for Dad. With free 3G wireless (no monthly payments or annual contracts), Dad can shop, download, and read right out of the box--no need to worry about Wi-Fi connections, passwords, or internet charges.

High Contrast E Ink Pearl Screen: Our graphite Kindle DX display uses the latest generation E Ink Pearl technology with 50% better contrast for the clearest text and sharpest images

Beautiful Large Display: The 9.7" diagonal E Ink screen is ideal for a broad range of reading material, including graphic-rich books, PDFs, newspapers, magazines, and blogs

Read in Sunlight with No Glare: Unlike backlit computer or LCD screens, Kindle DX's display looks and reads like real paper, with no glare. Read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room

Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines

Books In Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered wirelessly in less than 60 seconds; no PC required

Free 3G Wireless: No monthly payments, no annual contracts. Download books anywhere, anytime

Today's Deals

New 25% off Kobo coupon for the weekend: jun1825FD (One time use; exp Jun 18). You might want to glance thru the list of picks for Father's Day that the coupon is supposed to work on (it may work on all non-Agency titles, but I haven't tested that).

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is A Gay and Melancholy Sound ($0.99), by Merle Miller. This is the first book in nationally renowned librarian Nancy Pearl’s new Book Lust Rediscoveries series. On the book detail page, you'll find links to get a PDF introduction to the series from Ms. Pearl and a second PDF with discussions questions for the book, intended for reading groups.

Book Description
This lost literary classic is available for the first time in decades. As funny and entertaining as it is captivating and heartrending, A Gay and Melancholy Sound is a shattering depiction of modern disconnection and the tragic consequences of a life bereft of love.

Joshua Bland has lived the kind of life many would define as extraordinary. Born in a small Iowa town to a controlling, delusional mother who had always wanted a daughter rather than a son, her anger at him colors his life. His father, a compassionate drinker incapable of dealing with Joshua’s mother, walks out on his wife and son, leaving a vacuum in the family that is damagingly filled by his tutor-cum-stepfather Petrarch Pavan, scion of a wealthy New York family who has secrets of his own. Playing on Joshua’s brilliance, Petrarch trains him to win a nationwide knowledge competition, but Joshua’s disappointing results in the finals are met with anger and disbelief by both his mother and stepfather. If Petrarch was unsuccessful in teaching Joshua the information he needed to win the contest, he had more success in instilling Joshua with the cynicism, self-doubt, and self-hatred that fill his own soul.

Enlisting in the army during World War II, he serves first as an infantryman, where his irreverent letters home turn him into a best-selling author. Then, as a paratrooper, he meets the physical challenges he thought were beyond his reach and helps free the concentration camps before being wounded as the Allied forces free Buchenwald. Back home after the war, he becomes a wildly successful producer—and all of this by the age of thirty-seven. But when his production company flounders amid critical and financial woes, the reality of who he is becomes perfectly, depressingly clear: he has had a lifetime of extraordinary experiences—and no emotional connection to any of it.

Devil-Devil ($1.53 / £0.99 UK), the first title in the Sergeant Kella and Sister Conchita series by G.W. Kent, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.52). I don't see this one at Kobo, but they do have two of his novels (titles vary by region; in the US it's two editions of one novel) and they are coupon eligible. One Blood is an especially good deal, as it is $8.39 before coupon (the Kindle edition is $11.99), which you can reduce by as much as 50% using the coupon codes currently available.

Book Description
Sergeant Ben Kella of the Solomon Islands Police Force is only a few days into a routine patrol, yet already he has been cursed by a magic man, stumbled across evidence of a cargo cult uprising and failed to find an American anthropologist who has been scouring the mountainous jungle in search of a priceless pornographic icon.

To complicate matters further, at a local mission station Kella discovers the redoubtable Sister Conchita secretly trying to bury a skeleton -- then a mysterious gunman tries to kill her.

Kella already has enough problems. Mission-educated yet an aofia, the traditional peacemaker of the islands, reluctantly the sergeant is forced to link up with Sister Conchita, an independent and rebellious young American nun, to track down the perpetrators of a series of bizarre murders. The combination of the witch-doctor policeman and the Praying Mary, set against one of the most beautiful yet dangerous and primitive areas of the South Pacific in 1960, proves combative yet unexpectedly successful.

River's Song - The Inn at Shining Waters Series ($2.17 Kindle, $3.99 B&N), by Melody Carlson, is the Nook Daily Find, significantly better than price matched on Kindle. If you are a fan of Ms. Carlson, I'd grab it at this price (before it goes back to the $10 range), but be prepared to have a number of errors in the text (they may have been fixed, but I seen comments as late as April). Often these errors are corrected and you can get an updated edition of the book at no charge, though (at least, on Kindle).

Book Description
Sometimes when we look back, we are able to see ahead

Following her mother’s funeral, and on the verge of her own midlife crisis, widow Anna Larson returns to the home of her youth to sort out her parents’ belongings, as well as her own turbulent life.

For the first time since childhood, Anna embraces her native heritage, despite the disdain of her vicious mother-in-law.
By transforming her old family home on the banks of the Siuslaw River into The Inn at Shining Waters, Anna hopes to create a place of healing—a place where guests experience peace, grace, and new beginnings. Starting with her own family . . .

The Unusual Suspects (Sisters Grimm Series #2) ($5.69 Kindle, Kobo - coupon eligible; $1.99 B&N), the second title in the Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley, is the Nook Daily Find for Families.

Book Description
In book two of the series, the Sisters Grimm start school at Ferryport Landing Elementary. Daphne's lucky enough to get Snow White for a teacher-she loves little people-but poor Sabrina's stuck with Mr. Grumpner and a class of mildly psychotic sixth graders. When Mr. Grumpner is found hanging in a spider's web, it is up to the Grimms to find the Everafter who did it. If only Sabrina can get over her distrust of all fairy-tale folk. But how can she trust those who just might be responsible for the disappearance of her parents?