Every week I update our family members on their Kindle books. We each keep our own Kindle, but we share an Amazon account together. I keep track of who buys what. The cool part is that we can share the books with one another. Not only does it save us money, but it gives us something to enjoy with one another. Here is this week's email.
Hello Dad, Jillian, Tim, Jessica, Dave, Jennifer, Mike, Nancy, Cheryl and Patty!
(with cc to Mary Kay, Jonathan and Kimberly - for Riley's sake! <grin>)
Lots happening this week with the Pierce Family Kindle Book Club. We've added yet another new member. We've purchased 11 new books. Four different people purchased books in our account this week. Three of us are reading the same book at the same time. Grayden raised $4 more towards his goal of his own Kindle. Here's the details:
Welcome Patty! Patty Chappie is Mary Kay's sister. She was at our home this weekend to celebrate Jessica's graduation from NCSC. The topic of the Pierce Family Kindle Club came up and, of course, Patty wanted in! Who could blame her? With the 11 new books added this week our family Kindle archives now total 743 volumes (not including Audible titles)! Patty is starting out the same way Nancy did: she downloaded the free Kindle app for her Android phone. This prompted me to compare the free Kindle app to a gateway drug. "You get started with the app but before long you can't wait to buy your own Kindle!" Patty - we're glad to have you on board and we look forward to sharing our books with you.
New Kindle and Cover for Nancy. Nancy received her new Special Offers Kindle last week. This week she bought herself a new Built Sleeve. I really love my Kindle sleeve. There is no zipper so the Kindle slides in and out quickly and easily, yet is built in such a way as to not slide out when you don't want it to. I demonstrated my polka dot version this weekend by shaking it up and down - showing that the Kindle wouldn't come out accidentally. (This was performed to Dave's consternation: "One of these days that Kindle is going to come out when you shake it like that," he warned me. Hopefully not!) Anyway Nancy's sleeve is classic black with a beautiful white French vine pattern on the outside and pink on the inside (pictured on the right). Congrats Nancy!
Grayden $4 Closer! The family gathering this weekend proved to be a gold mine... er, Kindle mine for 6-year old Grayden, who is saving for his own Kindle. He loves to read, grabbing Grandma Debbie's or Grandpa Mark's Kindle anytime he gets the chance. I grabbed this picture of him reading to his younger brother a couple weeks ago. Jon and Bethany would love for Grayden to earn the money... so if anyone has some work for the young man, don't forget him. In the meantime, grandparents love to give presents to their grandchildren! At last count Grayden has $65 saved now.
Only 2 Days Left For Sunshine Deals! Don't forget that we only have two days left on the Sunshine Deals available for Kindle. If you missed it last week, Amazon is offering over 600 books for a price of either $0.99, $1.99, or $2.99. If you scroll down you'll see that our family picked up some great bargains this past week. I picked up 4 new books for my pastor's library this morning. The Sunshine page has genre categories on the left of the page so you can easily look at just the kind of books you're interested in purchasing. These include the kind of books you tend to buy, such as mystery & thrillers, science fiction, childrens' ebooks, parenting & families, cooking, food & wine, politics & current events, and religion & spirituality.
11 New Books Added This Week. We added books in the Christian living, Christian fiction, Humor/essay, science fiction/romance, and one historical fiction. Thanks for your purchases. Happy reading this week!
Click "Continue Reading" below to see all the books we've purchased this past week!
The Shelter of God's Promises by Sheila Walsh
Purchased by Mark
$1.99 - Sunshine Deal 88% off regular price
Christian Nonfiction, Christian Living, Inspirational
In a world of uncertainty, pain, and struggle, where do you find solid assurance and unshakeable truth?
Gifted Bible teacher and inspiring Women of Faith speaker Sheila Walsh offers powerful, heart-filled teaching on ten bedrock promises of God, providing the foundation for daily confidence, joy, and hope.
In The Shelter of God’s Promises, Sheila searches Scripture for what God has promised us, what God's promises mean, and how encounters with Christ are the eternal fulfillment of His unrelenting commitment to us. In this riveting walk through some of the Bible's most compelling stories, Walsh unveils ten foundational promises of God that secure our lives during even the most difficult times. Sheila weaves her hallmark storytelling, inspiring personal experience, and Scripture to help readers gain a trust in God that will sustain them for a lifetime.
Church Planter by Darrin Patrick
Purchased by Mark
Price $2.99, Sunshine Deal 81% off regular
Christian Nonfiction, Church Planting
Much of what is written about church planting aims at methodology and strategy for facing such challenges, but specific strategies do not apply to every context. What lies deeper, at the heart ofevery church plant? The most critical human component of every church plant is the planter.
Darrin Patrick, vice president of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network, looks at what Scripture teaches about this man’s character, his teaching, and the aim of his church. Offering guidance and wisdom from years of experience, Patrick reminds us that ultimately no church will succeed apart from a man with a message who leads a church on a mission.
This book is for every Christian leader. Church Planter is an essential resource for those considering planting a church or already in such a plant, and maybe even more important for those leading an established church. It has wide-ranging application for elders and leadership teams seeking to better understand how the gospel must take root in their church. Avoiding an over-emphasis on particular models or methods, Patrick lays out biblical principles and sound wisdom as he urges the church to return to biblical criteria for determining the man, the message, and the mission God uses to build his church.
Affirming the Apostles' Creed by J. I. Packer
Purchased by Mark
Price $0.99, Sunshine Deal 90% off regular
Christian Nonfiction, Theology
The Apostles’ Creed is the oldest, most beautiful succinct summary of Christian beliefs. Though often recited in unison during worship services, the creed begins with the phrase “I believe,” making it a deeply personal profession of faith. But when was the last time you examined it closely? In Affirming the Apostles’ Creed, an excerpt from Growing in Christ, noted Bible scholar and author J. I. Packer explains the meaning and implications of each phrase of this great creed. Each concise chapter serves as an invitation to dive further into the creed—and as a result, into the essentials of the Christian faith—by concluding with discussion questions and Bible passages for further study.
J. I. PACKER is a Board of Governors' professor of theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has authored the classic best-seller Knowing God, as well as a number of other titles. He served as General Editor for the English Standard Version Bible, published by Crossway Bibles.
Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper
Purchased by Mark
Price $1.99, Sunshine Deal 80% off regular
Christian Nonfiction, Christian Living, Inspirational
John Piper writes, "I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider this story from the February 1998 Reader's Digest: A couple 'took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball and collect shells. . . .' Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: 'Look, Lord. See my shells.' That is a tragedy.
"God created us to live with a single passion: to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives."
Most people slip by in life without a passion for God, spending their lives on trivial diversions, living for comfort and pleasure, and perhaps trying to avoid sin. This book will warn you not to get caught up in a life that counts for nothing. It will challenge you to live and die boasting in the cross of Christ and making the glory of God your singular passion. If you believe that to live is Christ and to die is gain, read this book, learn to live for Christ, and don’t waste your life!
Choosing To SEE: A Journey of Struggle and Hope by Mary Beth and Steven Curtis Chapman
Purchased by Nancy
Price $2.99, Sunshine Deal
Christian Nonfiction, Christian Living
Chapman, wife to singer/songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman, tells the story of her life and loss in this tender memoir. Chapman discloses how unsuited she is to be the public figure spouse to a charismatic and outgoing husband. Marrying him totally upset her orderly mental image of a quiet life in the suburbs with a 9 to 5 working husband. Instead, she discovered that God gave her a life she didn't expect that has taken her places she didn't want to go. As Chapman tells it, fame, travel, and adoption of children took this quiet woman out of her comfort zone more times than she cares to remember. In 2008, the tragic death of their five-year-old daughter, Maria, led to still more inner heartache. The Chapmans' story is harrowing and deeply sorrowful, yet the author finds a way to communicate their hope, faith, and love for a faithful God in every moment by grace-infused moment.
The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin
Purchased by Nancy
Price $10.99
Christian Fiction
From the author of Where the River Ends, comes this page-turning story of love and survival.
On a stormy winter night, two strangers wait for a flight at the Salt Lake City airport. Ashley Knox is an attractive, successful writer, who is flying East for her much anticipated wedding. Dr. Ben Payne has just wrapped up a medical conference and is also eager to get back East for a slate of surgeries he has scheduled for the following day. When the last outgoing flight is cancelled due to a broken de-icer and a forthcoming storm, Ben finds a charter plane that can take him around the storm and drop him in Denver to catch a connection. And when the pilot says the single engine prop plane can fit one more, if barely, Ben offers the seat to Ashley knowing that she needs to get back just as urgently. And then the unthinkable happens. The pilot has a heart attack mid-flight and the plane crashes into the High Uintas Wilderness-- one of the largest stretches of harsh and remote land in the United States.
Ben, who has broken ribs and Ashley, who suffers a terrible leg fracture, along with the pilot's dog, are faced with an incredibly harrowing battle to survive. Fortunately, Ben is a medical professional and avid climber (and in a lucky break, has his gear from a climb earlier in the week). With little hope for rescue, he must nurse Ashley back to health and figure out how they are going to get off the mountain, where the temperature hovers in the teens. Meanwhile, Ashley soon realizes that the very private Ben has some serious emotional wounds to heal as well. He explains to Ashley that he is separated from his beloved wife, but in a long standing tradition, he faithfully records messages for her on his voice recorder reflecting on their love affair. As Ashley eavesdrops on Ben's tender words to his estranged wife she comes to fear that when it comes to her own love story, she's just settling. And what's more: she begins to realize that the man she is really attracted to, the man she may love, is Ben.
As the days on the mountains become weeks, their survival become increasingly perilous. How will they make it out of the wilderness and if they do, how will this experience change them forever?
Both a tender and page-turning read, The Mountain Between Us will reaffirm your belief in the power of love to sustain us.
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Purchased by Jennifer
Price $12.99
Essays, Humor
Amazon Best Books of the Month, April 2011: Tina Fey’s new book Bossypants is short, messy, and impossibly funny (an apt description of the comedian herself). From her humble roots growing up in Pennsylvania to her days doing amateur improv in Chicago to her early sketches on Saturday Night Live, Fey gives us a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of modern comedy with equal doses of wit, candor, and self-deprecation. Some of the funniest chapters feature the differences between male and female comedy writers ("men urinate in cups"), her cruise ship honeymoon ("it’s very Poseidon Adventure"), and advice about breastfeeding ("I had an obligation to my child to pretend to try"). But the chaos of Fey’s life is best detailed when she’s dividing her efforts equally between rehearsing her Sarah Palin impression, trying to get Oprah to appear on 30 Rock, and planning her daughter’s Peter Pan-themed birthday. Bossypants gets to the heart of why Tina Fey remains universally adored: she embodies the hectic, too-many-things-to-juggle lifestyle we all have, but instead of complaining about it, she can just laugh it off. --Kevin Nguyen
Grey Eyes (Book One, The Forever Trilogy) by Brandon Alston & Quinteria Ramey
Purchased by Jessica
Price $0.99
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Love & Romance
15 year old Anastasia Adams has spent her entire life on run. She and her mother have never spent more than 18 months in any one location, often times leaving with just the clothes on their backs. Despite the havoc that this is wreaking on Ana's social and academic life, her mother offers no explanation as to why it is they're constantly moving, or even what it is they're running from. But that all changes one night in the woods of Pelion, SC--the night the terror catches up with them.
Fearing her mother dead, and having barely escaped with her own life, Ana is whisked away to world of privilege and tradition. It's a fairytale come to life. The poor girl used to living out of a suitcase is now a resident of one of the most exclusive addresses in the world. The people there adore her and she catches the eye of a young guardian who sees her as a refreshing change to the girls he's grown up with.
If only they could find her mother. If only she knew the consequences of being born a "conjurer." If only she knew who that green eyed stranger was, the stranger who'll tell her about a past too romantic, and too tragic to be real. In the end, she'll have to choose between the boy who has captured her heart and the stranger she can feel down in her soul, assuring at least one of them an almost certain death.
The Fort by Bernard Cornwell
Purchased by Mark
Price $0.00
Historical Fiction
In a slight departure from his usual sword and musket epics, Cornwell (Agincourt) delivers a straightforward fictionalized account of a disastrous 1779 American military campaign in today's Maine (then Massachusetts) that's heavy on historical figures and tense battle scenes. After the British establish a fort on the Penobscot River, the Massachusetts patriots mount an expedition to oust the redcoats. Unfortunately, the campaign is poorly planned and ineptly executed, pitting an ill-trained and undisciplined force against experienced British soldiers and the Royal Navy. The commander of the American land force is Gen. Solomon Lovell, a useless and dithering Boston politician, and the American navy is led by Cmdr. Dudley Saltonstall, an obstinate officer who refuses to risk his ships. Then there's Paul Revere, artillery commander and shameful yellow belly. In fact, the only American officer with any spirit for a fight is a former schoolteacher, Gen. Peleg Wadsworth. This is a rousing yarn of clashing personalities, crashing cannons, and lively musket and bayonet work, along with spies, cowardice, and moments of incredible bravery. Cornwell presents a fascinating, accurate, and exciting history lesson enlivened with a generous blast of gun smoke and grapeshot.
They Almost Always Come Home by Cynthia Ruchti
Purchased by Mark
Price $0.00, Paperback price $11.19
Christian Fiction
In Ruchti's debut faith-based novel, Libby and Greg's marriage is sputtering in the wake of their daughter's death. Libby's thinking about leaving—until she's faced with the prospect of becoming a widow when Greg fails to return from a solo trip to the Canadian wilderness. As Libby, her best friend Jen, and father-in-law Frank go after Greg to bring him back or learn his fate, Libby also learns about herself, family, and faith. It's a great premise, and Ruchti has enough energy to make the suspense last for just about the whole book, even as she unpacks the marriage troubles in the background and the character interplay among the searchers in the foreground. A lot of readers will like Libby, who is flawed enough to be humble and teachable; a few might find her brittle and defensive wit (rocks with bad toupees of lichen) a little much. Libby's friend Jen, however, is improbably saintly. Crisp dialogue propels the story forward unobtrusively. Ruchti shows imagination and promise.
Circle of Friends Cookbook - 25 Dip & Spread Recipes
Purchased by Mark
Price $0.00, Normally $0.99
Nonfiction, Cookbook
Includes recipes for 7-Lay Fiesta Dip, Always-Requested Spinach Dip, Apple-Cheese Fondue, Aunt Judy's Dill Dip, Baked Artichoke-Spinach Spread, Buffalo Chicken Dip, Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball, Jo Ann's Holiday Brie, Mom's Party Rye Spread, Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Spread, Sharon's Dried Beef Cheese Ball, Undefeated BAcon-Cheese Dip, Warm Gorgonzola Dip plus 12 more! Keep this handy for those special occasions!
