Every week or so 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.
Dear Dad, Jillian, Tim, Jessica, Dave, Jennifer, Mike, Nancy, Patty, Cheryl, Grayden, Mary Kay, Kimberly and Riley:
It's been a busy week for 4 members of our PFKBC - Pierce Family Kindle Book Club. Dad, Cheryl, Jennifer and Jillian were responsible for picking up 8 new books for our Kindle archives. This brings the total number of books to 923 titles. This doesn't include our audiobooks and magazines. What a wonderful resource!
I'm also thrilled because my grandchildren are also learning to love reading. Grayden has read more books than anyone else in his very large 2nd grade class. Now Sicily also has picked up the reading habit - reading Jennifer's Kindle every chance she gets. My nephew Riley also told me this weekend he is enjoying reading about Coach Tressel using his Kindle app on his iPhone.
Kindle Owners Lending Library. One of the great benefits of being an Amazon Prime member is that each month we are entitled to one free borrowed book. Because we all share this privilege together let me know if you would like to make use of this feature for the next month. I will try to be fair is sharing this benefit with all of us who wish to use it. You say you didn't know we had this feature? Click here to learn more. The only thing I would add to this excellent explanation is that you should check with me via email or text first to see if there is anyone else in our club waiting for a book before click on the "Borrow For Free" button.
Other Ways to Find eBook Deals. Quite often I send an email to one of you suggesting bargain books I've found that you might be interested in reading. Dad wrote me back this week and wondered where I find the good bargains. I have lots of sources. Here are a few:
- The Kindle Daily Deal - I have bookmarked this excellent link in my browser and suggest you do the same. Every day Amazon takes a popular book and knocks it down to $0.99 to $2.99. Usually the price is 80% less than the normal asking price. If you check this every day I'd be surprised that you wouldn't find something you like inside of a week or two.
- Pixel of Ink - Sharon Rosen has done an outstanding job since October 2010 of getting the word out on all the free and bargain books from Amazon. I check her blog out every day to see if I've missed anything.
- Free Kindle Books and Tips - Michael Gallegher describes himself as an obese, gray-haired, desk-bound guy in Texas... but his work on his blog is outstanding. He posts many great Kindle deals and tricks every day.
- 100 Books for $3.99 or Less - Amazon's own editors go through and pick out what they think are the best books in the Kindle Store available at the most reasonable prices.
- Top 100 Free Books - Just to make sure I haven't missed anything, about once a week or so I'll click on the tab for the top 100 free Kindle books. It's easy to do and you can check this from any of your Kindles in the store as well.
New Books Added This Week:
Morgue Drawer Four by Erik J. Maki
Price $0.99 (normally $9.99)
Purchased by Walt
Crime, Mystery, Thrillers, Fantasy
This entertaining mix of thriller and fantasy, which was shortlisted for Germany's Friedrich Glauser Prize, works a nice twist on a familiar theme. Car thief Pascha Lerchenberg is handed a couple of really big surprises: first, he’s murdered; then he awakens in the morgue to see his body being autopsied. As if that isn’t enough to drive a recently dead man around the bend, Pascha discovers that he can communicate with the coroner, Martin Gansewein (who is understandably gob-smacked when the dead man on his table begins talking to him). The nimbly translated tale follows Pascha and Martin—a decidedly mismatched pair—as they try to solve Pascha’s murder. Pascha's first-person narration, including jaunty commentary on his post-death existence and his relationship with Martin, gives the novel an appealing extra dimension. Stories told by dead people tend to be either YA fiction or high-end literary fare—Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones comes to mind—but it’s rare to find a thriller using the technique. Fans of crime novels and out-of-body fantasies should have a very good time with this one. — David Pitt
The Family Crucible by Augustus Napier and Carl Whitaker
Price $10.99
Purchased by Jillian
Nonfiction, Psychiatry
This extraordinary book presents scenarios of one family's therapy experience and explains what underlies each encounter. You will discover the general patterns that are common to all families-stress, polarization and escalation, scapegoating, triangulation, blaming, and the diffusion of identity--and you will gain a vivid understanding of the intriguing field of family therapy.
5-Minutes Recipes by Instructables Authors
Price $0.00
Purchased by Jennifer
Food, Lifestyle and Home
5-Minute Recipes is a collection of fun and easy recipes that only take 5 minutes to make! Use your microwave to make cake or your food processor to make ice cream. But don't stop at dessert - check out the recipes for quick breakfasts, dips, and snacks too! With step-by-step pictures and instructions all from Instructables.com, you can't go wrong with these 5-minute recipes.
Margaret Thatcher: A Life by Editors of New Word City
Price $0.00 for Prime Members
Purchased by Walt
Biographies and Memoirs
Margaret Thatcher served as Britain’s Prime Minister for 11 years. She prevailed by the force of her ideas, her iron will, her whip-sharp wit, and the strength of her character. Here’s here inspiring story.
The Kill: A Hunt Country Suspense Novel by Jan Neuharth
Price $0.99 - though price back up to $7.99 now
Purchased by Walt
Mystery and Thrillers
When word reaches her in war-torn Afghanistan that her beloved Uncle Richard has been brutally murdered, globe-trotting photojournalist Abigale Portmann reluctantly abandons her assignment and returns to the rolling hills and rocky relationships of her past in the picturesque equestrian community of Middleburg, Virginia—a place she has painstakingly avoided for 17 years. While the sheriff thinks the murder is a random robbery gone bad, Abigale soon becomes convinced her uncle was slain by someone he knew. Suspicion swirls among colorful characters in the tweedy, foxhunting crowd, including a superficial nouveau riche social climber, the lazy heir to an old-money fortune, and, most painfully to Abigale, her former childhood sweetheart. As the gripping plot unfolds, friends become suspects and family ties are tested, until events spin out of control and the riveting tale races to a terrifying finish.
Garbage! Monster! Burp! by Tom Watson
Price $0.00
Purchased by Cheryl
Children's Books
A monster at the bottom of a hill eats all of the garbage generated by the town on top of the hill. This provides two important benefits: The monster is happy with plenty to eat and the town stays nice and clean. Unfortunately, as the town grows, so does the amount of garbage the monster must consume. He gets bigger - and he starts burping. This is, as you can probably guess, a bit unsightly and stinky. In the end, the kids figure out how to solve the problem - despite the nasty mayor's doubts and objections.
Honestly by Johnnie Moore
Price $2.99
Purchased by Cheryl
Christian Living
Johnnie Moore, vice president and campus pastor of Liberty University, inspires readers with an enthusiastic challenge to live out fully what they say they believe as Christians.
In his uniquely confessional tone, Johnnie takes readers on a journey of belief from the hilltop home of the Dalai Lama to a mass grave of more than 250,000 people in Rwanda. He dares to address the doubts and challenges that have turned many well-intentioned Christians into hypocrites. Like a good pastor, Moore helps heal the wounds he opens, and he leaves his reader with one curious question, "What could happen if the world's Christians actually began to live what they say they believe?"
Moonlighting in Vermont (The Bree MacGowen Series) by Kate George
Price $0.99
Purchased by Walt
Mystery, Thrillers, Women Sleuths
Meet Bella Bree MacGowan ... smart, sexy and wanted for murder. Bree is shocked that Lt. Miles Brooks thinks she's actually capable of murder. If he'd concentrate on finding clues, instead of trying to pin the death of her boss on Bree, he might actually catch the perp. If Brooks won't look for clues, then Bree will, regardless of the danger. Finding clues isn't as easy as it seems and Bree loses her boyfriend and her job while in the pursuit of justice. A lethal encounter with the creepy soap star Gunnar Ericson makes her wonder if she'll be able to discover the murderer's identity before she also loses her life... The first book in the Bree MacGowan Series.
Winner of the 2009 Daphne De Maurier Award for excellence in Mystery and Suspense, Mainstream division.
"... it was hard to put this one down! ...George’s heroine is a fictional treasure that is strong-willed, self sufficient, and not easily derailed!" - BJ Scott, Manchester Examiner
"A good fast-moving read for an evening's entertainment with lots of twists and surprises." - Suzanne Young, Author
" The protagonist, Bella Bree McGowan, is sharp and funny, she's tough but with a squishy vulnerable inside that she tries and (mostly)succeeds in keeping hidden. A satisfying murder mystery with some romantic sparks!" - Jennifer Duby
