Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

PFKBC - 9 New Books Purchased; One a Mystery!

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 enjoywith 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:

Tim and Jillian with their Kindles!

Hi everyone!  

Hope this email finds everyone enjoying their Kindles.  You have been quite busy buying and reading books.  Jillian and Tim, pictured on the right, have found their Kindles especially fun these days.  Tim loves all the apps on his Kindle Fire.  And Jillian has been sick with the flu lately and found her Kindle a real boost to her morale.

Since I last wrote to you, we have purchased 9 new books and - thanks to Cheryl - have borrowed one.  This brings the number of titles in our archives to 1,114, including 950 book titles!  The new titles you've added to our collection are listed below.  Thanks everyone for keeping me posted on your purchases.

ONE MYSTERY BOOK - No, I'm not talking about a thriller.  I'm talking about a book purchased for $9.99 (not a cheapie!) and I don't know who bought it.  I've been asking around, but so far no one is claiming ownership.  Could you help me solve the mystery?  The title is I Used To Know That: Stuff You Forgot From School. If I don't hear from someone soon, I'm going to ask Amazon for a refund.  However, we're past our week's grace period on the book so I don't know if I can get it or not. 

I'm also thrilled to have purchased the Adventure Bible for our grandchildren.  I'm sure Grayden and Sicily will enjoy being able to read their Bibles on their Kindles.

Speaking of Sicily and her Kindle... she is well on her way!  Thanks all of you who have donated to the Sicily Kindle Can.  She is willing to do any small chores too to be able to earn the money.  I'm excited that my grandchildren AND children all love to read!

New Books.  Here are the books you have purchased over this past week.  Check out the list of what your fellow book clubbers have purchased.  You might find something you would like to read too!  If you want to purchase a book for yourself, go ahead and do it.  Just write me an email or send me a text message right away so I know who did it.  Thanks!

PFKBC Adds 8 Books; Jennifer & Grayden Reading LOTS!

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 enjoywith 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:

Hi everyone!  

Hope this email finds you all doing well.  Personally I've been struggling with some illness that I picked up from Mary Kay.  Bless her heart (as Cheryl would say), Mary Kay struggled and finally overcame her flu bug after two weeks.  I've been fighting it since last Thursday.  I'm hoping I hit bottom last night. I've been feeling a little better today - good enough to get this out to all of you.

Super Bowl - Super Kindles! We had a lot of the family over to our place last night during the Super Bowl.  Great Grandpa Pierce still loves playing with the great grandkids.  He taught Cohen a magic trick.  In this photo (to the right) you can see that he and Grayden have just put down their Kindles to talk about the importance of lighting.  Grandpa Walt shows off his homemade solution of a light that wraps around his head.  Lincoln gets into the act by taking the light and putting it on "blink" mode, and then trying to find dark rooms and closets.

Jennifer Leads The Way! We purchased 8 new books this past week.  Jennifer has really been in a reading mood lately!  She's responsible for half of our purchases this week.  She tells me she is loving the two books by Beth Revis.  Check out the descriptions below.  Jennifer recommends them highly - if you like the kind of books that she does.  She also has added some practical books, including an outstanding "Declutter Your House and Your Life" book.  Mary Kay suggests that we get the entire PFKBC together on one of Jennifer's days off and help her with a major decluttering project.  Ha!  Good luck with that one Jennifer and Mary Kay!

Grayden Reads 4 Books! I met with Grayden this past Friday night.  Because one of you generously (and anonymously) donated $10 to his reading fund, he had some money available to buy a book or two.  Grayden recently won a reading medal (you can see it on him to the left) for how many books he has been reading from the "book list" at school.  So as Grayden and I were searching for a book, we had two primary objectives.  #1 - it had to be a book that Grayden wanted to read.  #2 - it had to be a book that was on the reading list at school so he could get credit for reading it.  We found a 4-book collection in  series of books by Dan Gutman.  Mr Gutman, on his Amazon bio, says he aims to write for kids who don't like to read and hopefully reaches kids, like Grayden, who do like to read.  Sounds this author has found his mojo, because there are 20 "Weird School" books out there.  Most sell for $3.99 each for Kindle.  Grayden bought the first 4 books for $9.99, pretty much shooting his wad!  And here's the rest of the story.  Grayden bought the 4 books on Friday.  By Sunday night he had finished reading them all!  So - if you have a young reader in your life, know that these books are available (like Sicily!) And if you ever wonder what Grayden likes to read - "Weird School" books are currently his fav!

To the one who gave the $10 gift to Grayden: He thanks you very much.  He wants you to know how much your gift meant to him.  And how much he enjoyed reading these books.  If he knew who you were, he would write you a thank you note!

Sicily's Kindle Fund Started! I received several donations this weekend for Sicily's new Kindle Fund Can.  I haven't seen Sicily for a week, but will make sure she receives the money.  I've been instructed to tell her that if she counts out the change and dollar bills in one particular bag - and writes to Great Grandpa Pierce with the calculation of how much money was in the bag - that there will probably be more money on the way!

New Books.  Here are the books you have purchased over this past week.  Check out the list of what your fellow book clubbers have purchased.  You might find something you would like to read too!  If you want to purchase a book for yourself, go ahead and do it.  Just write me an email or send me a text message right away so I know who did it.  Thanks!

PFKBC Adds 9 New Books; Starts Sicily Kindle Fund

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 enjoywith one another.  Here is this week's email.

Sicily reading Mom's Kindle

Dear Dad, Jillian, Tim, Jessica, Dave, Jennifer, Mike, Nancy, Patty, Cheryl, Grayden, Mary Kay, Kimberly and Riley:

It's been a fast two weeks since I last wrote to you.  As always, there's been lots happening within our PFKBC - the Pierce Family Kindle Book Club.  Five different members of our club purchased 9 new books.  This brings our total archives to 932 ebook titles.  Everybody should be able to find something they enjoy reading!  I've included a description of all the new books at the bottom.

Sicily Reading! I've mentioned to you before how exciting it is to see my grandchildren developing a love for reading.  Sicily has now read 4 different chapter books on her mom's Kindle.  This has happened at about the same time that Jennifer has been reading a lot more herself.  So they constantly vie for their time with THE Kindle. 

Sicily's Kindle Collection Can

Sicily's Kindle Collection Can. Following Grayden's lead, Sicily has come up with her own collection can for money she can earn to buy her own Kindle. However, Sicily has added her own fancy approach and applied some artwork to her "Kindle Can."  Check out the photo at the left to see what Sicily's Kindle Collection Can looks like.  Or... if you're feeling particularly generous... you can slip her a little money toward her own new Kindle!  Let's fill that can!

Grayden - Top of His Class! Saturday morning I ate breakfast with Jonathan, Grayden and Cohen.  Grayden was sporting a brand new T-shirt he had received at school the day before.  I asked him about it. Grayden is a participant in his school's reading program.  Every couple of weeks he takes comprehension tests to see how much of what he's reading he remembers. When the student has earned 150 points, he receives a brand new yellow T-shirt.  Grayden was the first in his class to receive his T-shirt!  Yay Grayden! Keep on reading!

Subscribe To Kindle Daily Deal Email. Two weeks ago I mentioned several different sources for where you could find great prices on Kindle books.  You took notice! Three of our new books came from the Kindle Daily Deal.  If you're like me, though, sometimes you will forget to go check every day.  If you will click here, you will be given the opportunity to subscribe to a daily email sent to you telling you about each day's great deal.  Make sure to check the email address on the top right hand side of the page - so it is your email and not mine.

Kindle Owners Lending Library. Because of my Prime membership we have access to thousands of books which we can borrow FOR FREE  with no due dates! However, we are limited to one free loan per month.  I am so far behind in my own reading that I won't be using this benefit in February personally.  So far, I haven't received any requests from any of you.  That means the first one of you to tell me you want to borrow a book - it's yours! No waiting!  No cost!  Here's the details.  Please let me know if you want to do this so I can keep track and be fair the next time someone wants to use this benefit.

New Books.  Here are the books you have purchased over the last two weeks.  Check out the list of what your fellow book clubbers have purchased.  You might find something you would like to read too!

PFKBC Purchase 7 New Books For Kindle Archives

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:  

PFKBC Busy 1st Week - 11 New Books!

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: 

This first week of 2012 you have been quite active in buying... and I hope, reading... your Kindle ebooks.  This past week the PFKBC (Pierce Family Kindle Book Club) purchased 12 new books!  These purchases were made by 6 different members of our family!  I don't always send out an email every week, but some of these purchases were so spectacular, I just knew you would want to know about it. I figured some of you would want to start reading what your other family members have purchased. The new books are listed below.

How It Works. I haven't explained this for awhile, so it's worth reminding you here.  Amazon permits us to have as many devices as we want on one account.  The individual publishers determine how many books may be out on the various devices at a time.  Some books have no limit.  However, most books limit the number of books out on devices to six at a time.  Therefore, when you finish reading your book, delete it from your device.  It won't be deleted from our archived library; it just will be deleted from your device.  That way you'll free up another copy for someone else to read.

Jennifer's New Kindle 3.  Jennifer (pictured above right) was our most active buyer and reader this past week.  She had actually "misplaced" her Kindle.  As Jennifer explained it to me, it was never lost.  She just wasn't exactly sure where it was.  Apparently there is a world of difference between "misplaced" and "lost." Ha!  She found it stuck down her couch. Unfortunately the screen, while not fractured, was fragmented - meaning that the entire screen was not refreshing.  Since she was still within her warranty period she figured she had nothing to lose by calling the great Amazon customer service folks.  She confessed all - exactly what happened - and the nice CSR from Amazon told her that a fragmented screen is covered by warranty.  Jennifer received her new K3 the next day!!! This is why Amazon was rated #1 in customer service last year!

Sicily Becoming Kindle Reader. Jennifer told me something else this morning that was so cool to hear.  Sicily is becoming a Kindle reading fan also!  As grandpa in this family I love that my grandchildren are loving to read.  Jennifer invested in a 3-book collection of books named Ivy and the Bean.  She tells me that Sicily is loving reading these books.  I'm thinking that we may want to do the same thing for Sicily that we did for Grayden last year.  Because of your generosity, Grayden was able to buy his own Kindle last year.  Why don't we do the same thing for Sicily?  When you see her, slip her some change or a dollar or two.  Give her some work to do and pay her for it.  Let her know the joy of saving for something special.  Let her know how much this family loves reading and loves her!  Just my thoughts... admittedly I'm biased!

New Books.  Here are the new books you all have purchased this week. Thanks for purchasing and sharing these with your family.  Let me know if I got any wrong.  Sometimes I have to guess.  Last week I gave Cheryl credit for buying the Mouse poem, then later found out it was really Jennifer who picked up the free poem.  Write me an email or text message when you pick up a book, even if it's free. That way I can include who picked it up in this newsletter.  Thanks!

PFKBC Welcomes 3 NEW Members: Mary Kay, Kimberly, Riley

Every couple weeks 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:

This is our first Pierce Family Kindle Book Club (PFKBK) Newsletter of 2012.  Happy New Year! May your reading be extensive in this new year.  The past year, 2011, has the distinction for me of the year when I read the most books of any year in my life.  I hope to read even more in 2012.  I hope this is your goal as well.

New Members. We welcome three new members to our happy club.  Mary Kay Pierce is now on board with her iPad 2. As I was showing her the new device, we came to the Kindle app.  She looked up at me excitedly and said, "You mean I'm in the club now too?" Cheryl, you should know that her first read is one of the grief books that you have purchased for us.  Thank you!

Kimberly Marietta, our best friend - part of our family really - is now on board with her own new Kindle Touch.  Roc, the second best husband in the world (next to me!), bought the Kindle Touch for her birthday.  Coincidentally, both Kim's and Mary Kay's birthday are on the same date - December 27th.  We've share many a birthday celebration together.  Now we can share Kindle books too!

Riley Boggs, my nephew, also is on board with his iPhone Kindle app.  Smart fellow, that Riley Boggs. He knows how to maximize value.  He has now turned his phone into a electronic reader complete with 903 books available at the touch of a button.  Welcome Riley!  I'm sure you and your Grandpa Pierce will share a few books with one another.

Patty Chappie, Mary Kay's sister, has been a member of the PFKBC for a few months.  However, her reading has been limited to the Kindle app on her Droid phone.  Her smart husband, Mike, invested into a Kindle Fire for Patty.  I know Patty will love her new device for the reading, movies and many games available.  We have already started playing Words With Friends together.

New Totals.  So how many people do we have in the club now? 15 altogether, counting both Dave and Jessica separately, while they share one Kindle together.  You can see the list in the salutation above. We have 13 Kindle devices plus 9 Kindle apps.  Specifically we have 6 Kindle 3s (Mark, Jennifer, Jessica, Mike, Nancy and Walt), 4 Kindle Fires (Cheryl, Mark, Patty, and Tim), 2 Kindle Touches (Jillian and Kimberly), and one of the new Kindles (Grayden). Our PFKBC archive now boasts 903 books, 112 Audible books, 11 games for the E-ink Kindles, and 45 apps for the Kindle Fires.  

Grandson Grayden Joins Pierce Kindle Club!

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 and Grayden (Jon):

After almost a full year of saving money, my grandson Grayden finally bought his own Kindle! Many family members - mostly members of this club - have been "helping" over this past year, slipping a dollar or two to Grayden whenever they got the chance.  Just about the time when he had enough saved to buy the $139 Kindle 3, Amazon came out with the new models and simultaneously dropped the price to $79 for the least expensive model.  

I was present with my son, Jonathan, and grandson when they went to Target to pick out the Kindle.  Jonathan was rooting for Grayden to pick out the $99 Kindle Touch, but Grayden liked the buttons on the bottom.  And he liked that extra 20 bucks for buying books!  He's a boy after his grandfather's heart!!!

Here's one more "Grayden Kindle Story" that will warm your hearts.  At church we have been promoting the YouVersion Bible app with Bible stickers that our church members can put on the back of all their electronic Bibles.  The first thing Grayden did was put a YouVersion Bible sticker on the back of his new Kindle.  The other night I was over at his house with my own Kindle Flame. Right away Grayden noticed that I didn't have a Bible app sticker on the back of my Kindle.  "Why not Grandpa?" Yep, he's a boy after his grandfather's heart!

Ten New Books - Our newest club member, Cheryl has been a busy girl these past two weeks picking out seven of the ten books added since my last message to you.  I love some of the books she has added, including Children's picture books that look great on the Kindle Flame or the iPad.  Grandparents will love showing off these books to their youngest grandkids!  Tim picked up a classic cheese making how-to.  Dad added a history book on the Scots-Irish culture.  And I added one middle-grader book for Grayden's new Kindle.  All the new books are listed in detail below.  This brings our total ebooks in our Kindle Family Bookclub to 897 book titless, not including 112 Audible books, also available on your Kindles.

Two New Members - We have two new members joining our bookclub in the next week or so.  I have been sworn to secrecy because of the Santa Surprise factor.  But suffice to say, I've been a very busy little elf lately making it possible for two new members to join our merry band!

Kindle 3 Software Update - Make sure your Kindle has the most up-to-date software.  Click Home-Menu-Settings and then look at the bottom right hand side of your screen.  It should say "Version: Kindle 3.3."  If it doesn't just turn on your Wifi and connect to an available Wi-fi network.  Then click Menu and select "Sync and Check for Items."  More information about version 3.3, what's new, and how to update can be found here.  

Long Overdue Pierce Family Kindle Club Update

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.

Dear Dad, Jillian, Tim, Jessica, Dave, Jennifer, Mike, Nancy, Patty, and Cheryl:

Yep.  It's been two months since I last sent you all an update. You're wondering if I've given up on this wonderful thing we have going here.  All the ebooks. All the audiobooks. And now with the K Fires, the music, movies and even more fun interactions.  Short answer.  Nope.  Not given up.  Just way behind. Sorry.  Not big on apologies for what should be a fun experience (I won't let it get so far behind again), so let's get on to the fun stuff!

Since I last wrote you at the beginning of October, lots of fun things have happened.  Tim and I received our Kindle Fires.  Jillian received her Kindle Touch.  (And I got my K3 back from Jillian!) Cheryl officially joined in on the family fun with her own purchase of a Kindle Fire!  Officially we are now up to 10 Kindle devices among us.  Plus several of us use the Kindle apps on various mobile devices.

New Books - Since October 4th, we have purchased 28 new books (see the list below).  I'm not sure I can do the normal job I do providing all the info.  But I'll give you titles, authors and who bought the books (as best as I can reconstruct).  If you see a book you have purchased and I didn't know - please write me back and let me know so I can account for them correctly. (There are 4 new books that I couldn't account for.  All were purchased at super low prices so kudos to whoever bought the bargains!)

Grand Totals - With these new purchases listed above, we now own 875 Kindle ebooks and 112 Audible titles in our Pierce Family Kindle Book Club.

Kindle Fires Coming to Pierce Family Book Club

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.

Dear Dad, Jillian, Tim, Jessica, Dave, Jennifer, Mike, Nancy, Patty, and Cheryl:

Wow! What a week for the Kindlesphere as well as for our own little Pierce Family BookClub. Three new Kindles have been made available to us by Amazon - at surprisingly low prices.  So far our little band has ordered 3 of them!  Patty and Cheryl, no excuses now for both of you not to have your own Kindle device.  We've also added 8 new titles (or 13 - depending on how we count them) to our Kindle archives - Read below for details!  

New Kindles. This weekly email to you doesn't have room to tell you all the details about the new Kindles that are available.  Go to the Amazon website to view all the new info.  I'm hoping that Grayden, Patty and Cheryl will now be able to have their own Kindles.  Here's the short story on each.  #1) The Kindle 3's, which most of our club owns, is now redubbed the Kindle Keyboard.  That makes sense because it's the only Kindle now with a physical keyboard.  What is new is that the special offers version - the one with the ads as screensavers - have been knocked down in price to $99.  You'll still pay $139 for the WiFi version is you don't want commercials on your Kindle.

#2) The Kindle. Plain, straightforward reading device. And priced at the low, low price of $79!  Nothing fancy here. Just the beautiful E-Ink screen we've all come to know and love. No keyboard. No touchscreen. You read and move around with a 5-way controller at the bottom of the device.  You won't want to do much typing with this one, but for reading on a budget it will be a thing of beauty. One more thing this basic Kindle won't have is any audio or speakers.  If you want to listen to your books, which I love, this one won't do.  The storage on the $79 version is half the others at 2 gigabytes, enough to store 1,400 books.  Using the free WiFi you will also be able to download free books from the library.  This one is shipping right now.  The $79 is for the Special Offers version.  You'll pay another $30 for one without commercials.

Len Edgerly's Insight of Amazon's Jeff Bezos

My good friend and fellow podcaster, Len Edgerly, received the golden ticket invitation to attend the Amazon press conference this past Wednesday.  Len is the author of The Kindle Chronicles, self described as "the Friday podcast all about your Kindle."  I love The Kindle Chronicles, or TKC as those who listen every week have come to know it.  Len does a marvelous job of keeping Kindle lovers up to speed on all things Kindle with news, tech tips, content, and interviews with interesting guests.  I've even been a guest a time or two.

This week's edition of TKC is all about the big news from Amazon regarding the new E-Ink Kindles as well as the brand new tablet, dubbed Fire.  Over the past few days I've read all about first impressions of the red-hot Fire, comparisons to the iPad, as well as the marvels of new Silk technology, and the concerns about privacy.

No where, though, have I read about Jeff Bezos and his performance and straight-forward confidence while giving his presentation Wednesday.  No where, that is, except in this week's edition of The Kindle Chronicles.  Len, with his front row seat, had perhaps the best view of everything happening with the CEO of Amazon.  As always Len carefully crafted his spoken prose into his microphone.  Sadly, I fear none of it will see print.  That's the nature of a podcast, of course. And Len is just too modest to trump his own horn.  So I've taken it on myself to do it for him.  Here's his recollections of Jeff Bezos walking out onto the stage:

This bald guy wearing jeans, a white shirt, no tie, and a dark sports coat strolled in from the darkness of stage right.  There was no announcer's voice booming an introduction and there was a ripple of uncertain applause greeting him. They didn't know if they were supposed to applaud or wait for him to start speaking.

The first thing he said was, "Welcome and thank you very much for taking the time to be here this morning.  It is very much appreciated by the whole team." He never said who he was, but of course that wasn't necessary. It was Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon.com.

Len goes on to describe Bezos recalling the skeptics who at one time thought the Kindle would be a flop. With a simple chart Bezos demonstrated the huge succcess of the Kindle in these past 4 years.  After this, Len begins his more personal thoughts of Jeff Bezos:

I'm going to switch here to calling Bezos "Jeff" because his remarks made me feel as if I knew him, even though I've never had a chance to shake his hand. It felt like he was revealing a fairly personal story. From the front row I thought I saw his eyes glistening with moisture - not quite tears maybe - but a show of intensity and perhaps pride. He spoke deliberately like a man giving a testimony in church instead of a triumphant CEO making a pitch to investors or Bloomberg.

Len couldn't resist making the comparisons between Steve Jobs of Apple unveiling the first iPhone in 2007 with Jeff Bezos's performance this week.  While not seated in the front row, Len tells us that he was there at the MacWorld Expo when Jobs took the stage.

I don't remember a similar feeling of approachability or self-revelation in Job's presence. Dynamic, charismatic, trans-inducing, yes! And it was great fun to be a part of it. But Jeff Bezos talking about the Kindle is an entirely different way of being in the world. What I saw was partly an evident humility, but it was mixed with a fierceness for the vision he's been pursuing.

This is the kind of quality insight from Len Edgerly that makes his The Kindle Chronicles so worthwhile week in and week out.  The rest of the tech world is filled with the technical specifications of the newest gadgetry. And Len covers this tech talk with the best of them.  But it is Len's intuitive perception of the human element of the Kindle phenomenon that makes me want to listen.  Thanks Len for your weekly work of love.

Review Part 7: YouVersion Bookmarks, Part One

Bookmarks.  You know what those are, right?  It's the little ribbon that helps you save your place in your physical Bible.  Most Bibles have one bookmark.  Really fancy, expensive ones might have 2. When it comes to the YouVersion bookmark (and with apologies to the 1988 Oldsmobile commerical), this isn't your father's bookmark!  This past June, YouVersion's blog posted this infographic stating that registered YouVersion readers had already posted over 20 million bookmarks!  

This amazing stat doesn't begin to express the enormity of this bookmarking phenomenon because these 20 million bookmarks are only from the registered users, which as of this past June totaled just over a million.  The number of downloaded YV apps approached 22 million at this same time (June, 2011.) This tells me the vast majority of people who download their Bible app don't register it.  They aren't required to do so.  Therefore, the number of bookmarks could be more than 400 million!  That's about a hundred million more Bible bookmarks than the number of people who live in the U.S.!

According to the good folks at YouVersion, one person has bookmarked his or her Bible over 40 thousand times. Since there are only about 31,000 total verses in the Bible, some of these verses must be bookmarked multiple times! What is it about the YouVersion bookmark that it so addictive?

Simplicity. Functionality, Need.  These 3 factors make the YV bookmark something that is used every day by thousands of users.  Let's talk about each in turn, and maybe along the way help you find how YV bookmarks could be helpful to you too.

Adding a bookmark to your YouVersion mobile Bible is ridiculously simple.  On my Android phone I simply long-press a verse that I'm reading that I think I might want to remember.  Two things happen simultaneously,  First the verse is temporarily highlighted.  Second a pop-up dialog box lifts up from the bottom of my screen with 5 choices, the first of which is to bookmark.  You have the option to give the bookmark a title and a label, but you don't need to do that.  Just save and you're done!  Easy. Simple.  Brilliant!

I use an Android phone like the one above on the left.  The Blackberry and iPhone work very similarly. Because the operating system is different, each one has a different way of getting to the same end result. In all 3 cases, YouVersion has kept creating bookmarks a simple and easy thing to do.  If you'd like to watch how to make a bookmark in your mobile Bible, YouVersion has posted some great short YouTube videos.  Check out your particular flavor of smartphone:

• Creating Notes and Bookmarks on Android
• Creating Notes and Bookmarks on Blackberry
• Creating Notes and Bookmarks on iPhone

This post has grown a tad long for our purposes, so we'll wrap it up tomorrow with a discussion of both the functionality and the need Bible users have for this bookmark function.  Come back to hear a real-life example of someone new to the Bible who uses the bookmark functions all the time!

Have you missed any of the other YouVersion Review posts?  Here are your quick links:

• Read Part 1:  Intro
• Read Part 2:  Downloading
• Read Part 3:  Getting Started
• Read Part 4:  Personalize Your Settings
• Read Part 5:  The Miracle of Versions
• Read Part 6:  Reading the Bible
• Read Part 7:  Bookmarks, Part One

Library Card Comes to Kindle for Pierce Family Club

Every week so often 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 and Cheryl:

The picture on the right is of Jillian with her brand spankin new Kindle 3 WiFi.  Sadly her Kindle 2 met its demise while she was babysitting.  The K2 sat helpless next to a glass of milk and Jillian's young client.  This quote direct from Kindle Heaven: "I could see my life flash before my eyes as I laid there looking up at that tall glass of cow juice. It was like a bad dream.  I couldn't mooove!"

So much has happened in our family book club as well as with Kindle over the last 12 days since I last wrote to you.  First, let's quickly update some key stats for the Pierce Family Kindle Library.  We've added 18 eBooks and one Audible book to our archives.  You can check them out below.  We are now up to 833 eBooks and 110 Audible titles.

Library Lending for Kindle is Now Available! Before we look at the new books in our archives, we should review the big news this past week.  We've been waiting for this moment - especially Jonathan on Grayden's behalf.  It will now be possible to borrow books from your local library and read them on your Kindles!  According to Amazon more than 11,000 libraries are participating.  All good news.  

The few negatives I have heard about is that there sometimes is only one copy of a title in Kindle format with a long line of waiting patrons.  You may not be able to get the latest release and read it right away.  But then that's always been the case with libraries, right?  

The way it will work is that you will need your local library card and your Kindle Account information to borrow a book.  It will then be placed in our archives for whatever lending period the library will allow.  (These lending periods differ from library to library.)  You will then need to let me know so that I can go into our Manage Your Kindle account page and forward the book to your Kindle.  The next time you turn on your WiFi on your Kindle (doesn't work over 3G), your book will be waiting for you.  Cool!  

I haven't had time this week to try this out yet. However, I have collected the most important news releases and commentary and put them in one place for you (and me later) to read.  Here are the top reads on the new Kindle Library Lending Feature from this past week:

• The official Library Lending Page from Amazon.  All the details are here.
• The official HELP page for Library Lending from Amazon.  Even more details.
• Where and how to find libraries from the Kindle World Blog.
• The 8 Biggest Advantages of Library Lending from Beyond Black Friday.
• Personal experiences of borrowing books by Bufo Calvin, from I Love My Kindle.
• Finally this week's Kindle Chronicles Podcast - audio discussion by Len Edgerly

Big News From Amazon Next Week! Amazon has invited many bloggers and tech writers to NYC for a press conference next Wednesday.  Speculation is great that they will talk about their new Kindle tablet.  I hope we also hear about their plans for a new e-Ink reader as well.  This could be the banner week Grayden has been waiting for.  He has over $100 collected for his new Kindle.  My 7-year-old grandson has been waiting for 2 things: Library Lending and the new Kindle.  Inside of a 7-day period of time he may have received all the news he's been wating for! 

Books Update and Sneak Peak at New Kindle Tablet

Every week so often 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 and Cheryl:

The picture on the right is the back of Dad's Kindle.  I love his Naval theme!

We've added six new books since my last email to you, four from the Kindle Daily Deals along with one new freebie, and one new book from Jennifer.  I'm pretty excited about the new purchases (see below), especially the Bonhoeffer biography picked up for $1.99!  And I can't wait to start reading the next book in the Fire and Ice epic (Thanks Jenn!)  I'm halfway through the thousand-page book #2 in the series.  Maybe by this coming weekend I'll be ready for the new book.  Jennifer clearly reads faster than me.

Our book content in our archives now total 815 titles.  In addition we also share 109 Audible book titles you to which you can listen.  Speaking of Audible  I haven't purchased anything new there for a while.  I've accumulated 3 credits so let me know if there is a book you'd like to hear.  Call or write me first before you buy an Audible book so I can decide whether the better deal for us would be to use a credit or to pay the cash.  (That's only true on the Audible side of things.  Go ahead and buy any Kindle eBook you want right from your device.)

New Kindle Tablet.  Those of you who are waiting to buy a new Kindle book reader will have some interesting choices this fall.  I'm sure there will be a new e-ink screen Kindle available sometime soon and that the price will be in the same price range as now or better.  (A Wi-Fi, ad-supported Kindle can now be picked up for $114.)

This week we heard news from a popular tech blogger, MG Siegler posted this past Friday that the Kindle tablet is "very real. I've seen it. I've played with it."  And then he wrote about it - in great detail! While no one outside of Amazon has actually taken any pictures of the new 7" tablet, here are what people think it will look like based on MG Siegler's description:

Kindle Daily Deal a Big Deal for Pierce Book Club

Every week so often 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 and Cheryl:

806 Books in Our Library! We've passed another milestone this past week!  With the addional purchases and rentals of Mark, Walt, Nancy and Jillian this past week, we now have over 800 eBooks in our archives! Read below for the 14 new books we have in our library.  Before we get to the new content, however, allow me to bring you up to speed on some new Kindle developments.

Jillian rents textbooks.  I've always believed my children were on the cutting edge of things.  Jillian, pictured above, proved it once again with the rental of two textbooks for her graduate studies.  College textbooks are ridiculously expensive!  The print cost of one of Jillian's textbooks was almost $200!  Traditionally college students have purchased used books and then sold them again when they were finished.  Amazon now offers a way to rent the textbook just for the period of time needed - in Jillian's case, for 120 days.  Sounds brilliant to me.  Yet surprisingly, college ebooks represent only 2.5% of college textbooks sales.  Congrats to Jillian and Tim for figuring out a way to save money and use the Kindle at the same time!

Dad is addicted.  However, in this case it's a good additiction.  This past week in Dad's blog, he admitted that he is hooked on Kindle and doesn't like reading Dead Tree Books.  Here's what he wrote when his Internet connection at the lake went down.  "I found out, however, just how addicted I am to the computer and the Kindle.  I tried reading a book after eight months with a Kindle.  It was awful!" Welcome to the 21st century, Dad!

I'm being more selective with the addition of free eBooks.  There was a time not so long ago when I bought most of the free books for our Kindle devices.  Not so much anymore.  The truth is that there are just too many freebies out there to do this!  Bufo Calvin, one of the Kindle bloggers I follow, noted this past week that the number of free Kindle ebooks  has exploded with more than 1,000 titles in August -  and this is not even counting public domain books!  So, I'm still watching for the freebies.  But I only pick them up when I think they will fit the profile of our reading habits.  For example I picked up an Agatha Christie novel (with the kind of woman sleuth that Dad likes) and an interesting new free book titled Untouchable.

The big news this week: Kindle Daily Deals!  I love the fact that Amazon is not sitting on it's collective behind with its massive lead in eBook marketing.  They've come up with yet another marketing winner, in my opinion. Every day for a period of only 24 hours, Kindle Daily Deals will offer a new book with a substantial markdown, usually 75% or more, from its standard price.  USA Today and others covered the news about it. 

Here is my take. I've noticed that most of these Daily Deal titles have hundreds of favorable reviews - these are not books no one has ever heard of!  This is really great news for anyone desiring to build a library like we are!  Every day I'm checking out the daily deal and asking the question: "Would anyone in our family like to own a copy of this?"  If so, I don't think we can afford to let the deal go by without taking advantage of the daily deal.  Some of these are priced as low as a buck, with the most expensive being $2.99.  I won't buy every one.  But if the book has been rated highly by many people and the savings are right, I'll add it .  You can see below how much we have saved by these purchases.  (No pressure on anyone here, but if you feel so inclined to send a little extra green my way to help with these bargain basement additions, I won't turn you down!  We all come out the winner!)

Here are the books we added this past week:

Kindle Cloud Reader Recommended for Book Club

Every week so often 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 and Cheryl:

I love the pics you send me of how you use your Kindles.  The picture on the right was sent to me by Jennifer who gave her Kindle to my oldest two grandchildren, Grayden and Sicily, to read while on a recent trip to Celina.  It won't be long until Grayden gets his own Kindle. 

Since I last wrote you two weeks ago (August 7th), we have added 13 new books to our collection.  This brings our eBook collection to 788 volumes!  The new editions include mysteries, fantasy, financial advice, and children's books.  Mark, Jillian, Nancy, and Walt all bought new books.  Scroll down to check out these new books along with your current balances.  Before we check out the new books, though, I want to discuss a significant new development for our Pierce Family Book Club.

Cloud Reader Advantage for Family.  Amazon has developed the Cloud Reader as a way of being able to offer an app-like link for iPads.  Most of the media has explained that Amazon has done this primarily because Apple no longer allows Amazon to offer it's Kindle store inside of the IOS Kindle app (without paying Apple its 30% cut.)  You may be wondering what this has to do with you as a member of the Pierce Family Book Club, especially if you don't use an iPhone or an iPad.  Stay with me grasshooper and you will see the BIG BENEFIT to you!

One of the biggest challenges to our book club members is knowing all the resources that are available to us.  Sure, you can access your archives on your Kindle.  But with almost 800 eBooks and over 100 Audible books, you are probably wading through more than 100 pages of of Archives.  Plus it's all in text and black and white.  It's not exactly the most browse-friendly.  Sometimes you just want to open up the archives and browse through to see if anything grabs your fancy.  

The Cloud Reader will do this for you!  It offers you a window to see all the books in color.  Just scroll down to find a book you'll love to read.  You can sort the library by most recent, by author, or by title.  You may not get this excited, but the Amazon Cloud Reader is still a beautiful thing for our club.  

Click on any book and you will be reading the book withing the Cloud Reader within seconds.  This could be a great advantage to you if you are anywhere without your Kindle but with a computer and an internet connection.  You can also access the Kindle Store from within this Cloud Reader.  Honestly though, I don't see reading books online or accessing the store as that much of an advantage to you Kindle Book Club affectionists.  The big deal for us is discovering the books within our archives.  I found that on my Macbook I was able to scroll quickly through the whole list.  That sure beats paging through a hundred pages on the Kindle!  Once you find a book you want to read on the Cloud Reader, go back to your Kindle and download it there to read.

Here's the bad news.  You can only do this using the Safari or the Chrome browsers right now.  In other words, this won't work on your Internet Explorer or Firefox browsers.  (Amazon tells us that these browsers will be supported in the future.)  So for the time being if you want to make this happen, you'll need to download a new browser for your computer.  This is no big deal and I'd be happy to help you.  Just give me a call.  In essence here are the steps you'll want to follow to get the Amazon Cloud Reader going for yourself:

1. Download Safari or Chrome if you don't already have it.  
   • Safari can be downloaded from http://www.apple.com/safari/download/
   • Chrome can be downloaded from http://www.google.com/chrome
2. Inside of either Safari or Chrome, enter the Cloud Reader web address: read.amazon.com (easy to remember!)
3. Download the Cloud Reader by clicking on the download button
4. Enter our account information. (Call me if you don't know it.)
5. Bookmark the Cloud Reader so you can quickly and easily go back anytime you'd like.

It sounds a lot more complicated than it is.  Once you are set up, you'll be able to browse our archive library from the comfort of your local computer anytime you'd like.  I'm more than happy to help you with this so call me if you want some help. 

13 New Books Added!  Here's the details:

Family Kindle Book Club Update

Every week so often 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 and Cheryl:

Jessica reminded me Friday that she "misses the Kindle update email."  I admit to being a bit behind.  The last email I sent was on July 12th.  Since then, we have added 9 new books to our collection... 10, if we count the audio book that Jennifer bought and then I cancelled.  Sigh.  More on that later.  (My oldest daughter, Jennifer, is pictured at the right with her new Van Gogh Kindle skin.)  

This brings our archives to 780 Kindle eBooks and 109 Audible titles.  The nine new titles added are listed below. First, here is some news that might interest you.

Speculation High on New Kindle Models.  I've read quite a bit over the last couple of weeks regarding the liklihood of Amazon bringing out a new Kindle soon.  Based on the time between the release of Kindle 2 and Kindle 3, the Kindle 4 should be out within the next 2 months.  So should you wait to get the newer model?  Probably.  Though Len Edgerly reminds us in his most recent podcast that if you should buy a new Kindle and a new one comes out within 30 days, you can return the old one for a full refund.  There is one advantage to buying now... the price of a refurbished WiFi Kindle is down to the lowest price ever - $99!

New Free Sci-Fi Magazine.  A new "digest-version" subscription of the monthly Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine is being made available for FREE exclusively through Amazon.  Stephen King has called this magazine, "the best fiction magazine in America."  I have subscribed for our family.  You'll find it available in the archives.  It is especially attractive on the color screens of computers and smartphones.  (Of course the text reads perfectly well on the pearl ink screens of the Kindle itself.)

Harper Collins 99 cents sale.  Harper Collins is making dozens of its most popular titles available for the Kindle for only 99 cents.  The sale is on for August only.

Library Lending Available in September?  Amazon has publicly stated that the new library lending capability will be made available no later than year-end.  However, last week A Kindle World Blog reports that this new feature offering thousands of books on a lending basis could be available as soon as September.  I hope this proves to be true since Grayden will soon be coming on board with us and would love to borrow early reading materials from the library.  Personally, I think this makes sense as I can see how Amazon may announce their new Kindle models and their new lending features all at the same time.

14 New Books Plus Yahtzee for Pierce Family Kindles

Dear Dad, Jillian, Tim, Jessica, Dave, Jennifer, Mike, Nancy, Patty, and Cheryl:

It's been a couple weeks since I've sent you a Kindle update.  Over the past two weeks we have added 14 new Kindle books and one new game to the family's shared Kindle account.  Nine of the books were free.  $41.98 was invested in book content, including self-improvement, political, science fiction, and thriller genres.  Read below for details on the specific additions.  We also took advantage of a special $1 sale on games to add the Electronic Arts game, Yahtzee.

Skins, skins and more skins:  I wrote you last time that I had added a skin to my Kindle.  Since then Jessica, Jennifer, Nancy and Dad have added skins to their Kindles as well.  This is a great way to personalize your Kindle.  Dad, for example, ordered a U.S. Navy theme for his Kindle.  While I spent hours looking over all the choices, Dad made his decision in about 60 seconds.

Dad: "Is there a Navy skin?"

Mark: "Yes."

Dad: "Order it."

I love to show off your newly skinned Kindles! The skin at the top right is from Nancy, ordered from DecalGirl.com and it titled "Beginning of the End."  The skin on the left is from Jessica's Kindle.  She ordered hers (through Amazon) from GelaSkins.  Her skin is titled, "Dusk 'til Dawn."  I'll try to include Dad's, Jennifer's and Jillian's good-looking Kindles in future editions.

I've enjoyed new popularity with my own "Cold Silence" skinned Kindle.  I've had several people stop me and wonder where someone orders a good looking device like that?  Skinned Kindles definitely stand out!

New Kindle Insides and Outsides This Week

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!

Lots of good stuff happening with our Kindle Book Club this week.  We've added a crossword puzzle game, another new audio book, along with new purchases by Dad, Nancy and Jessica.  You'll find mysteries, science fiction and some good old fashioned romance down below. 

Kindle Skins: Before we get to the new content added to the inside of our Kindles this past week, let me share some good news about the outsides.  I'm talking about skins.  Jennifer received one for her birthday.  Jessica ordered one and it should be in sometime this week.  And I purchased matching skins for all my devices, including my Kindle.  We ordered our skins from DecalGirl.com, the best place to buy in my opinion.  My brother Todd introduced me to the site.  The selection is superb - they have hundreds to choose from.  And they make them for practically every device.  I especially love the way it livens up my Kindle.  Pictured at the right are my Kindle and my iPad, both decorated with the very contemporary styled Cold Silence.  My Evo mobile phone and MacBook are similarly decorated.  If you should decide to skin your own Kindle, here are a couple pieces of advice.  Spend the extra couple of dollars for the matte finish.  You don't want your Kindle glaring in the light.  Also use the promo code Decal10 for an extra 10% off.  (This only works if you order directly from Decal Girl.  I tried it through the Amazon store to no avail.)  Finally the purpose of adding the skin is purely personalization.  There really is no additional protection from the skin.  It just adds some panache.

Have Something To Share?  It occurs to me that this would be even more fun if we shared our reading experiences with one another.  If you have a quick note you'd like me to share with the rest of the family about a book you've just read, send it to me and I'll include it in the next weekly mailing.  The more the merrier!  What was there about Murder on the Rocks that made Dad want to order the sequel?  What makes Nancy like Cross and Double Cross?  Your insights might help us make our next reading selection.   For example, I'll admit that this entire Outlander series is a complete surprise to me.  When I finished the first book I was glad to be done with it.  A bit too much romance for me.  But after a week I found myself wondering what happened to Jamie and Claire.  So I picked up the next audio book.  So far so good - and a bit of a lower temperature on the romance scale so far.

Update on Grayden:  He enjoyed all the presents last week for his 7th birthday.  The last I heard, he was up to $97 savings on his Kindle, but I also know someone who hasn't given him his birthday present yet.  That should put him pretty close to the new WiFi Kindle price.  I'll keep you posted.

New Content This Week:  As of this week we now own 757 eBooks, 109 Audible Books, and 10 games and puzzles - all of which can be experienced on your Kindles!  Here are the new books, audios and games added to our Kindle account this past week.  Enjoy!

Kindles and Birthdays... (And Father's Day!)

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!

Here is our weekly Kindle love email.  Scroll down to the bottom if you want to see the 6 new books added this week.  I'm sure that next week's list will be longer with all the Kindle love I received for Father's Day Sunday.  Thanks everyone for your kindness.  I love buying Kindle books!  I have a feeling my Dad will be on the buying spree again soon too! 

Speaking of Father's Day... 30 years ago was my first Father's Day.  Jennifer was born just a day before.  This year we celebrated both days together.  All the Kindle family has been in despair seeing the way Jennifer's Kindle bounces around in her purse.  So she received some Kindle love for her birthday.  She is pictured on the right with her new Kindle sleeve in her left hand.  Hopefully it will provide the needed protection IF Jennifer remembers to put the Kindle in it!  In Jennifer's right hand is her new Van Gogh Starry Night skin.  Probably not much protection, but it will style up her Kindle.  Nice gift from her sister, Jessica!

Speaking of birthdays, Grayden's 7th birthday is coming up on June 24th.   He was loving my Kindle again Sunday.  I downloaded a book for him to read and was amazed at how easily he read it (see the Junie B. Jones book below.)  He received $5 from Aunt Jennifer today, taking him to over $70.  I'm sure his birthday will take him very close to Kindle heaven!

Some good new books were added this week.  All the details are below.  In addition to the Junie B. Jones book, I also picked up a freebie humor book.  Nancy added another Charles Martin book.  Dad added a couple murder mysteries.  And Jessica picked up a book that defies exact genre classification.  Hope you're all enjoying your books!  Remember to email, text or call me when you pick up a book so I know who to charge.

Click "Continue Reading" below to see all the books we've purchased this past week!

Pierce Family Club Takes Advantage of Sunshine Deals

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!