History Thru the Lens of Fiction: New Historical Novels for the Kindle

Blending historical fact with fiction, a novel set in other times and places can transport you into the past more convincingly than a dry historical treatise - and entertain you in the bargain.

What I look for in historical fiction are books by authors who, after reading the histories and doing the research, create stories based in the past that include characters I want to know better and a plot that keeps me turning pages - books like Peter Ackroyd's The Clerkenwell Tales, Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom, and Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth.

Now you can spend less time searching and more time reading as I watch for new historical fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. New on the historical fiction shelves:

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks. Viking, 2011. Print Length: 320 p. TIME FRAME: Mid-17th century Massachusetts. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (51 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $15.43. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"...Geraldine Brooks takes a remarkable shard of history and brings it to vivid life. In 1665, a young man from Martha's Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. Upon this slender factual scaffold, Brooks has created a luminous tale of love and faith, magic and adventure. The narrator of Caleb's Crossing is Bethia Mayfield, growing up in the tiny settlement of Great Harbor amid a small band of pioneers and Puritans. Restless and curious, she yearns after an education that is closed to her by her sex. As often as she can, she slips away to explore the island's glistening beaches and observe its native Wampanoag inhabitants. At twelve, she encounters Caleb, the young son of a chieftain, and the two forge a tentative secret friendship that draws each into the alien world of the other. Bethia's minister father tries to convert the Wampanoag... One of his projects becomes the education of Caleb, and a year later, Caleb is in Cambridge, studying Latin and Greek among the colonial elite. There, Bethia finds herself reluctantly indentured as a housekeeper and can closely observe Caleb's crossing of cultures." - The Author's Website

The Judges of the Secret Court: A Novel About John Wilkes Booth by David Stacton. Introduction by John Crowley. NYRB Classics, 2011. Print Length: 272 p. TIME FRAME: 19th century U.S. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $10.85. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Classic historical fiction, The Judges of the Secret Court was first published in 1961 and is now available in a Kindle edition.

"...a long-lost triumph of American fiction as well as one of the finest books ever written about the Civil War. Stacton’s gripping and atmospheric story revolves around the brothers Edwin and John Wilkes Booth, members of a famous theatrical family. Edwin is a great actor, himself a Hamlet-like character whose performance as Hamlet will make him an international sensation. Wilkes is a blustering mediocrity on stage who is determined, however, to be an actor in history, and whose assassination of Abraham Lincoln will change America. Stacton’s novel about how the roles we play become, for better or for worse, the lives we lead, takes us back to the day of the assassination, immersing us in the farrago of bombast that fills Wilkes’s head while following his footsteps up to the fatal encounter at Ford’s Theatre. The political maneuvering around Lincoln’s deathbed and Wilkes’s desperate flight and ignominious capture then set the stage for a political show trial that will condemn not only the guilty but the - at least relatively - innocent." - Amazon.

Children and Fire by Ursula Hegi. Scribner, 2011. Print Length: 288 p. TIME FRAME: 1930s Germany. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (8 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99; Hardcover $14.17. Text-to-Speech: Disabled. This is the 4th novel in Hegi's Burgdorf Cycle which began with Floating in My Mother's Palm.

"...set in Burgdorf, Germany, Hegi’s Children and Fire tells the story of a single day that will forever transform the lives of the townspeople. At the core of this remarkable novel is the question of how one teacher - gifted and joyful, passionate and inventive - can become seduced by propaganda during the early months of Hitler’s regime and encourage her ten-year-old students to join the 'Hitler-Jugend'...Hegi funnels pivotal moments in history through the experiences of individual characters: Thekla’s mother, who works as a housekeeper for a Jewish family; her employers, Michel and Ilse Abramowitz; Thekla’s mentally ill father; Trudi Montag and her father, Leo Montag; Fräulein Siderova, midwife to the dying; and the students who adore their young teacher..." - Amazon.

Rise to Rebellion: A Novel of the American Revolution by Jeff Shaara. Ballantine Books, 2011. Print Length: 576 p. TIME FRAME: British North American colonies from 1770 (The Boston Massacre) to 1776 (The Declaration of Independence). Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (168 reviews). Kindle edition $6.99; Paperback $10.85. Text-to-Speech: Disabled. First published in 2001, Rise to Rebellion is now available in a Kindle edition, along with Shaara's second novel, The Glorious Cause, which completes his epic two volume series about the American Revolution.
"...brings a fresh perspective to some of the familiar figures associated with the Revolutionary War. Making excellent use of a you-are-there approach, Shaara focuses on a handful of prominent historical figures, including Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John and Abigail Adams, and British general Thomas Gage. We witness the American colonies experiencing growth pains and an increasing desire for independence and the corresponding British insensitivity to the needs and wants of the colonists... As in all good historical fiction, Shaara's novel gives historical figures flesh-and-blood viability. At nearly 500 pages, this novel requires a major investment in reading time, yet it is an investment painlessly made for it pays profitable dividends. Brad Hooper for Booklist.

Before Versailles: A Novel of Louis XIV by Karleen Koen. Crown, 2011. Print Length: 480 p. TIME FRAME: 1661 France. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $15.30. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Louis XIV is one of the best-known monarchs ever to grace the French throne. But what was he like as a young man - the man before Versailles? After the death of his prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, twenty-two-year-old Louis steps into governing France. He’s still a young man, but one who, as king, willfully takes everything he can get - including his brother’s wife. As the love affair between Louis and Princess Henriette burns, it sets the kingdom on the road toward unmistakable scandal and conflict with the Vatican. But there are other problems lurking outside the chateau of Fontainebleau: a boy in an iron mask has been seen in the woods, and the king’s finance minister, Nicolas Fouquet, has proven to be more powerful than Louis ever thought..." - from the hardcover edition.

The Reservoir by John Milliken Thompson. Other Press, 2011. Print Length: 368 p. TIME FRAME: 1885 Virginia. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (17 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $10.85. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"On an early spring morning in Richmond, Virginia, in the year 1885, a young pregnant woman is found floating in the city reservoir. It appears that she has committed suicide, but there are curious clues at the scene that suggest foul play. The case attracts local attention, and an eccentric group of men collaborate to solve the crime. Detective Jack Wren lurks in the shadows, weaseling his way into the investigation and intimidating witnesses. Policeman Daniel Cincinnatus Richardson, on the brink of retirement, catches the case and relentlessly pursues it to its sorrowful conclusion. As the identity of the girl, Lillie, is revealed, her dark family history comes to light..." - Amazon.

Ellis Island by Kate Kerrigan. Harper, 2011. Print Length: 368 p. TIME FRAME: 1920s Ireland and New York. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $10.54. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Sweethearts since childhood, Ellie Hogan and her husband, John, are content on their farm in Ireland—until John, a soldier for the Irish Republican Army, receives an injury that leaves him unable to work. Forced to take drastic measures in order to survive, Ellie does what so many Irish women in the 1920s have done and sails across a vast ocean to New York City to work as a maid for a wealthy socialite. Once there, Ellie is introduced to a world of opulence and sophistication, tempted by the allure of grand parties and fine clothes, money and mansions . . . and by the attentions of a charming suitor..." - Amazon.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.


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What People Magazine is Reading This Week (June 27th Issue)

For those Kindle readers who, like me, read for entertainment, scanning the book reviews in People magazine is good way to check out new people-related books - celebrity bios, popular novels, absorbing nonfiction - just hitting bookstore shelves. Featured in the June 27th issue of People:

Silver Girl, by Elin Hilderbrand. Reagan Arthur Books, 2011. Print Length: 416 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (9 reviews). People's slant: "What if Ruth Madoff headed for Nantucket and got a second chance at love? Silver Girl is great fun." Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $14.59. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Meredith Martin Delinn just lost everything: her friends, her homes, her social standing - because her husband Freddy cheated rich investors out of billions of dollars. Desperate and facing homelessness, Meredith receives a call from her old best friend, Constance Flute. Connie's had recent worries of her own, and the two depart for a summer on Nantucket in an attempt to heal. But the island can't offer complete escape, and they're plagued by new and old troubles alike. When Connie's brother Toby - Meredith's high school boyfriend - arrives, Meredith must reconcile the differences between the life she is leading and the life she could have had." - Amazon.

White Shotgun: An FBI Special Agent Ana Grey Novel, by April Smith. Random House, 2011. Print Length: 320 p. THRILLER. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (1 review). People's slant: "Her FBI training defines a disaster as 'anything that overwhelms you,' and Special Agent Ana Grey gets plenty of that in this thriller." Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $17.13. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
This is book four of Smith's Ana Grey thriller series, following North of Montana, Good Morning, Killer, and Judas Horse.
"Even on leave from the FBI, Ana can’t kick old habits: when she witnesses a drive-by shooting at an Italian restaurant in London, she helps the injured and gives testimony to the police. Still, it comes as a shock when, soon after, the Bureau contacts her - not because they want her to investigate the shooting, but because they want her to investigate the half sister she never knew she had, Cecilia, who lives in Siena and is married to Nicosa, a coffee mogul with some suspicious connections..." - from the hardcover edition.

Dog Sense: How the New Science of Dog Behavior Can Make You A Better Friend to Your Pet, by John Bradshaw. Basic Books, 2011. Print Length: 352 p. NONFICTION. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (13 reviews). People's slant: "...urges understanding, not dominance, as the key to human-canine relations." Kindle edition $9.99; Hardcover $15.59. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Renowned anthrozoologist Dr. John Bradshaw has made a career of studying human-animal interactions, and in Dog Sense he uses the latest scientific research to show how humans can live in harmony with - not just dominion over - their four-legged friends. From explaining why positive reinforcement is a more effective (and less damaging) way to control dogs' behavior than punishment to demonstrating the importance of weighing a dog's unique personality against stereotypes about its breed, Bradshaw offers extraordinary insight into the question of how we really ought to treat our dogs." - Amazon.

Thank You Notes, by Jimmy Fallon, with The Writers of Late Night. Grand Central Publishing, 2011. Print Length: 176 p. HUMOR. Optimized for reading on devices with larger screens such as Kindle DX, Kindle for PC/Mac, and Kindle for iPad. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (46 reviews). People's slant: "...a very small, very successful book." Kindle edition $8.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Jimmy Fallon is very thankful. And in this first book to come from his TV show, he expresses his gratitude for everything from the light bulb he's too lazy to replace to the F12 button on his computer's keyboard. He thanks microbreweries for making his alcoholism seem like a neat hobby. He thanks the name 'Lloyd' for having two L's. Otherwise it would just sound like 'Loyd.' He's thankful to you, the person reading this right now. It means you're considering buying this book. You should do it. You will be thankful that you did." - Amazon.

The Storm at the Door, by Stefan Merrill Block. Random House, 2011. Print Length: 368 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (7 reviews). People's slant: "...a richly imagined, haunting account of how the mind can betray the heart, and vice-versa." Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $14.88. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"The past is not past for Katharine Merrill. Even after two decades of volatile marriage, Katharine still believes she can have the life that she felt promised to her by those first exhilarating days with her husband, Frederick. Increasingly, Frederick’s erratic behavior, amplified by alcohol, distresses Katharine and their four daughters and gives his friends and family cause to worry for his sanity. When, in the summer of 1962, a cocktail party ends with her husband in handcuffs, Katharine makes a fateful decision: She commits Frederick to Mayflower Home, America’s most revered mental asylum. There, on the grounds of the opulent hospital populated by great poets, intellectuals, and madmen, Frederick tries to transform his incarceration into a creative exercise, to take each meaningless passing moment and find the art within it. Meanwhile, as she struggles to raise four young daughters, Katharine tries to find her way back to Frederick through her own ambiguities, delusions, and the damages done by her rose-colored belief in a life she no longer lives. Inspired by elements of the lives of the author’s grandparents, this haunting love story shifts through time and reaches across generations." - from the hardcover edition.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

Kindle Genre Watch: New in Fantasy and Science Fiction

Spend less time searching for new genre fiction and more time reading it as I watch for newly-released genre fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. Recommended new releases in fantasy and science fiction include:

Fantasy

Unnatural Issue by Mercedes Lackey. Daw, 2011. Print Length: 368 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (8 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $15.82. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
Unnatural Issue is book seven in Lackey's Elemental Masters series set in an alternate early 20th century version of our world - one in which magic exists. The novels in this series are loosely based on familiar fairy tales. The Elemental Masters' books (in order of publication) are The Fire Rose, The Serpent's Shadow, The Gates of Sleep, Phoenix and Ashes, Wizard of London, Reserved for the Cat, and Unnatural Issue.

"Richard Whitestone is an Elemental Earth Master. Blaming himself for the death of his beloved wife in childbirth, he has sworn never to set eyes on his daughter, Suzanne. But when he finally sees her, a dark plan takes shape in his twisted mind - to use his daughter's body to bring back the spirit of his long-dead wife." - http://us.penguingroup.com/

American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition by Neil Gaiman. 4th Estate, 2011. Print Length: 560 p. Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $16.58. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Locked behind bars for three years, Shadow did his time, quietly waiting for the magic day when he could return to Eagle Point, Indiana. A man no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, all he wanted was to be with Laura, the wife he deeply loved, and start a new life. But just days before his release, Laura and Shadow’s best friend are killed in an accident. With his life in pieces and nothing to keep him tethered, Shadow accepts a job from a beguiling stranger he meets on the way home, an enigmatic man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. Life as Wednesday’s bodyguard, driver, and errand boy is far more interesting and dangerous than Shadow ever imagined - it is a job that takes him on a dark and strange road trip and introduces him to a host of eccentric characters whose fates are mysteriously intertwined with his own. Along the way Shadow will learn that the past never dies; that everyone, including his beloved Laura, harbors secrets; and that dreams, totems, legends, and myths are more real than we know..." - Amazon.

Hexed: The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne. Del Rey, 2011. Print Length: 320 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (15 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99; Paperback $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is book two in Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles series, following Hounded

"Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, doesn’t care much for witches. Still, he’s about to make nice with the local coven by signing a mutually beneficial nonaggression treaty - when suddenly the witch population in modern-day Tempe, Arizona, quadruples overnight. And the new girls are not just bad, they’re badasses with a dark history on the German side of World War II. With a fallen angel feasting on local high school students, a horde of Bacchants blowing in from Vegas with their special brand of deadly decadence, and a dangerously sexy Celtic goddess of fire vying for his attention, Atticus is having trouble scheduling the witch hunt. But aided by his magical sword, his neighbor’s rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and his vampire attorney, Atticus is ready to sweep the town and show the witchy women they picked the wrong Druid to hex." - from the paperback edition.

Science Fiction

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey. Orbit, 2011. Print Length: 592 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (15 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Please note: This e-book edition of Leviathan Wakes includes a free copy of The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham.

"Humanity has colonized the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond - but the stars are still out of our reach. Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for - and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why. Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything. Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations - and the odds are against them." - Amazon.

Temporary Duty by Ric Locke. Self-Published, 2011. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (15 reviews). Kindle edition $2.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"A pair of enlisted sailors are assigned to an alien spaceship, to clean and prepare quarters for the real human delegation. Once there, they find that there's a little more to it... Alien worlds, exploding spaceships, IRS agents, derring-do, and a little sex. Oh, and mops, brooms, and dustpans. Truly there are wonders Out There." - Amazon.

The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi. Tor Books, 2011. Print Length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (36 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99; Hardcover $16.15. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Jean le Flambeur is a post-human criminal, mind burglar, confidence artist, and trickster. His origins are shrouded in mystery, but his exploits are known throughout the Heterarchy - from breaking into the vast Zeusbrains of the Inner System to stealing rare Earth antiques from the aristocrats of Mars. Now he’s confined inside the Dilemma Prison, where every day he has to get up and kill himself before his other self can kill him. Rescued by the mysterious Mieli and her flirtatious spacecraft, Jean is taken to the Oubliette, the Moving City of Mars, where time is currency, memories are treasures, and a moon-turned singularity lights the night. What Mieli offers is the chance to win back his freedom and the powers of his old self—in exchange for finishing the one heist he never quite managed. The Quantum Thief is a crazy joyride through the solar system several centuries hence...it is also a story powered by very human motives of betrayal, revenge, and jealousy." - Amazon.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.



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A Week of Entertainment: Kindle Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly's June 24th Issue

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the June 24th issue include:

A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion, by Ron Hansen. Scribner, 2011. Print length: 272 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...a case that has inspired novels and films for decades." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Based on a real case whose lurid details scandalized Americans in 1927 and sold millions of newspapers, acclaimed novelist Ron Hansen’s latest work is a tour de force of erotic tension and looming violence. Trapped in a loveless marriage, Ruth Snyder is a voluptuous, reckless, and altogether irresistible woman who wishes not only to escape her husband but that he die - and the sooner the better. No less miserable in his own tedious marriage is Judd Gray, a dapper corset-and-brassiere salesman who travels the Northeast peddling his wares. He meets Ruth in a Manhattan diner, and soon they are conducting a white-hot affair involving hotel rooms, secret letters, clandestine travels, and above all, Ruth’s increasing insistence that Judd kill her husband..." - Amazon.

Movie fans will remember that the Ruth Snyder story has been filmed numerous times over the years, first in 1944 (Double Indemnity starring Barbara Stanwyk and Fred MacMurray) and later in 1946 (The Postman Always Rings Twice, with Lana Turner and John Garfield). Postman was remade in 1981, featuring Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange and - also in 1981 - sizzled on the silver screen as Body Heat, with Kathleen Turner and William Hurt.

"There Are Things I Want You to Know" about Stieg Larsson and Me, by Eva Gabrielsson, with Marie-Francoise Colombani. Translated by Linda Coverdale. Seven Stories Press, 2011. Print length: 224 p. MEMOIR. EW's slant: "At some point while reading Stieg Larsson's mega-selling mystery The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, perhaps your mind wandered and you paused to ponder a heretofore unanswered question: How did the late author make his coffee? Well, wonder no more..." Amazon customer rating: 3 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Eva Gabrielsson and Stieg Larsson shared everything, starting when they were both eighteen until his untimely death thirty-two years later at the age of fifty. In “There Are Things I Want You to Know” about Stieg Larsson and Me, Eva Gabrielsson accepts the daunting challenge of telling the story of their shared life steeped in love and sharpened in the struggle for justice and human rights. She chooses to tell it in short, spare, lyrical chapters, like snapshots, regaling Larsson’s readers with the inside account of how he wrote, why he wrote, who the sources were for Lisbeth and his other characters - graciously answering Stieg Larsson’s readers’ most pressing questions - and at the same time telling us the things we didn’t know we wanted to know - about love and loss, death, betrayal, and the mistreatment of women." - Amazon.

Daughters of the Revolution, by Carolyn Cooke. Knopf, 2011. Print length: 192 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...exquisitely hewn sentences and fiercely original characters brilliantly capture a moment of social change..." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"It’s 1968. The prestigious but cash-strapped Goode School in the town of Cape Wilde is run by its aging, philandering headmaster, Goddard Byrd, known to both his friends and his enemies as God. With Cape Wilde engulfed by the social and political storms of integration, coeducation and the sexual revolution, God has confidently promised coeducation 'over my dead body.' And then, through a clerical error, the Goode School admits its first female student: Carole Faust, a brilliant, intractable fifteen-year-old black girl..." - from the hardcover edition.

Witches of East End, by Melissa de la Cruz. Hyperion, 2011. Print length: 288 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "De la Cruz balances the supernatural high-jinkery with unpredictable twists and a conclusion that nicely sets up book 2." Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (43 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"The three Beauchamp women - Joanna and her daughters Freya and Ingrid - live in North Hampton, out on the tip of Long Island. Their beautiful, mist-shrouded town seems almost stuck in time, and all three women lead seemingly quiet, uneventful existences. But they are harboring a mighty secret - they are powerful witches banned from using their magic. For centuries, all three women have been forced to suppress their abilities. But then Freya, who is about to get married to the wealthy and mysterious Bran Gardiner, finds that her increasingly complicated romantic life makes it more difficult than ever to hide her secret...this is a page-turning, deliciously fun, magical summer read fraught with love affairs, witchcraft, and an unforgettable battle between good and evil." - Amazon.

Untold Story, by Monica Ali. Scribner, 2011. Print length: 272 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "Noted British writer Monica Ali entertains the fantasy...with an empathetic energy that puts a literary gloss on a beach-read subject." Amazon customer rating: 3 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"When Princess Diana died in Paris’s Alma tunnel, she was thirty-seven years old. Had she lived, she would turn fifty on July 1, 2011. Who would the beloved icon be if she were alive today? What would she be doing? And where? One of the most versatile and bold writers of our time, Monica Ali has imagined a different fate for Diana in her spectacular new novel...Fast forward a decade after the (averted) Paris tragedy, and an Englishwoman named Lydia is living in a small, nondescript town somewhere in the American Midwest. She has a circle of friends: one owns a dress shop; one is a Realtor; another is a frenzied stay-at-home mom. Lydia volunteers at an animal shelter, and swims a lot. Her lover, who adores her, feels she won’t let him know her. Who is she? Untold Story is about the cost of celebrity, the meaning of identity, and the possibility - or impossibility - of reinventing a life." - Amazon.

Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West, by Dorothy Wickenden. Scribner, 2011. Print length: 304 p. HISTORY. EW's slant: "Wickenden's talents for research, observation, description, and narrative flow turn this unfaded snapshot of these early-20th-century women in the West into something even more resonant - a brightly painted mural of American under construction a century ago..." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (3 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"In the summer of 1916, Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood, close friends from childhood and graduates of Smith College, left home in Auburn, New York, for the wilds of northwestern Colorado. Bored by their society luncheons, charity work, and the effete young men who courted them, they learned that two teaching jobs were available in a remote mountaintop schoolhouse and applied - shocking their families and friends. They took the new railroad over the Continental Divide and made their way by spring wagon to the tiny settlement of Elkhead, where they lived with a family of homesteaders. They rode several miles to school each day on horseback, sometimes in blinding blizzards. The man who had lured them out west was Ferry Carpenter, a witty, idealistic, and occasionally outrageous young lawyer and cattle rancher. He had promised them the adventure of a lifetime and the most modern schoolhouse in Routt County; he hadn’t let on that the teachers would be considered dazzling prospective brides for the locals. In their buoyant letters home, the two women captured the voices and stories of the pioneer women, the children, and the other memorable people they got to know. Nearly a hundred years later, New Yorker executive editor Dorothy Wickenden - the granddaughter of Dorothy Woodruff - found the letters and began to reconstruct the women’s journey. Enhancing the story with interviews with descendants, research about these vanished communities, and trips to the region, Wickenden creates an exhilarating saga about two intrepid young women and the 'settling up' of the West. " - Amazon.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

Let Someone Else Rough It: Vicarious Adventure Travel for Kindle Readers

Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything. - Charles Kuralt.

The great thing about traveling vicariously is that you can go wherever you like without worrying about passports, airport security checks, pre-trip vaccinations, or struggling to find the words in another language when you really, really need to find a bathroom fast. When security is not an issue, why not travel to Kazakhstan instead of Kansas or to Medieval England instead of today's Britain? The world can be your oyster when you read about it on your Kindle. Here are some places to start:

Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven, by Susan Jane Gilman. Grand Central Publishing, 2009. Print Length: 320 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (128 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"In 1986, fresh out of college, Gilman and her friend Claire yearned to do something daring and original that did not involve getting a job. Inspired by a place mat at the International House of Pancakes, they decided to embark on an ambitious trip around the globe, starting in the People's Republic of China. At that point, China had been open to independent travelers for roughly ten minutes. Armed only with the collected works of Nietzsche, an astrological love guide, and an arsenal of bravado, the two friends plunged into the dusty streets of Shanghai. Unsurprisingly, they quickly found themselves in over their heads. What began as a journey full of humor, eroticism, and enlightenment grew increasingly sinister - becoming a real-life international thriller that transformed them forever." - Amazon.

Apples Are From Kazakhstan: The Land That Disappeared, by Christopher Robbins. Atlas, 2010. Print Length: 304 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (21 reviews). Kindle edition $8.25. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Robbins’ engaging travelogue is an educational antidote to misperceptions about the country spread by the movie Borat (2006). Robbins...intermingles tales of his own adventures in Kazakhstan with stories of the country’s Soviet history and various rulers. Over the course of his travels, Robbins speaks with a local philosopher, fends off a prostitute, and, of course, visits the country’s apple orchards. He learns that tales of King Arthur may well come from Kazakh legends, and he journeys through the country with Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev. From describing his visits to Kazakhstan’s wealth of oil fields to hearing a perfect John Lennon impersonation during his explorations, Robbins brings to light a complex and fascinating Kazakhstan unknown to most Westerners." - Katherine Boyle for Booklist.

Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide, by Peter Allison. Lyons Press, 2007. Print Length: 264 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (93 reviews). Kindle edition $5.78. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"At age 19, Australian-born Allison headed to Africa for challenge and adventure, planning to stay no more than a year; having found work as a safari guide, he's still there some 13 years later. In this fun, fearless memoir, Allison shares his experiences taking 'guests' through the African wilderness, trips that often don't go quite as planned - due especially to the unpredictability of the animals around them. Allison is a skilled, funny and vibrant storyteller, dishing arcane bits of wisdom like an expatriate Alligator Hunter...Along the way, Allison examines his fellow guides, the struggle with exhaustion, getting lost and the temptation to make frequently visiting animals into pets, as well as some poignant asides on love and death." - Publishers Weekly.

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar, by Paul Theroux. Houghton Mifflin, 2008. Print Length: 512 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (82 reviews). Kindle edition $5.41. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Realizing that many travel writers never retrace their steps, Theroux decides to travel as he did in his landmark book The Great Railway Bazaar (1975): east, across Europe and Asia, by train. Taking detours due to political unrest - Iran refuses a visa, and Afghanistan seems risky - he still manages a reasonable approximation: Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan, and, finally, back across Russia, on the Trans-Siberian Express. Some places are hardly recognizable, while others seem not to have changed at all. (In the former USSR, he sees scenes that look authentic to czarist times.) As thoughtful and observant as ever - his unerring skill as an interviewer despite the somewhat difficult personality he presents to readers remains a fascinating paradox..." - Keir Graff for Booklist.

Into Thick Air: Biking to the Bellybutton of Six Continents, by Jim Malusa. Sierra Club/Counterpoint, 2010. Print Length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (10 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"With plenty of sunscreen and a cold beer swaddled in his sleeping bag, writer and botanist Jim Malusa bicycled alone to the lowest point on each of six continents, a six-year series of 'anti-expeditions' to the 'anti-summits.' His journeys took him to Lake Eyre in the arid heart of Australia, along Moses’ route to the Dead Sea, and from Moscow to the Caspian Sea. He pedaled across the Andes to Patagonia, around tiny Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, and from Tucson to Death Valley. With a scientist’s eye, he vividly observes local landscapes and creatures. As a lone man, he is overfed by grandmothers, courted by ladies of the night in Volgograd, invited into a mosque by Africa’s most feared tribe, chased by sandstorms and hurricanes — yet Malusa keeps riding. A large-hearted narrative of what happens when a friendly, perceptive American puts himself at the mercy of strange landscapes and their denizens..." - Amazon.

Searching in South America: A Backpacker's Pursuit of Learning and Adventure, by Uri Pomerantz. Createspace, 2009. Print Length: 218 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $0.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"...the inspirational story of one man's journey to better understand the world - and ultimately himself – through challenging adventures and chance encounters across six countries in South America. From finding himself lost amidst the chaos of a midnight journey in the favelas of Rio, to reflecting on life while exploring the Amazon with a group of eighty year-olds, to tasting the bitterness of circumstance with Bolivian miners in the world’s highest city..." - Amazon.

Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World, by Rita Golden Gelman. Broadway, 2007. Print Length: 320 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (154 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"When Rita Golden Gelman traveled to Mexico during a two-month separation from her husband, she hoped to satisfy an old craving for adventure and, in the process, rejuvenate herself and her marriage. Little did she know it was the beginning of a new life, not just as a divorcée, but as a nomad of the world. Since 1986, Gelman has had no permanent address and no possessions except those she can carry. She travels without a plan, guided by instinct, serendipitous opportunities, and a remarkable ability to connect with people. We know Gelman is not your typical middle-aged housewife from LA when, on that first trip to Mexico, she randomly picks a Zapotec village and decides to live there for a month, knowing nothing about the culture or the language. When she arrives, the villagers run away from her, terrified. By the time she leaves, there are hugs and tears. From there she travels to Guatemala and Nicaragua, Israel and the Galapagos Islands. But the heart of the book - and her 15-year journey - is Indonesia, where she lives for eight years...Gelmen's secret is her passion for people. That being the case, the book is short on descriptions of place, but long on the rarer inside view of the peoples and customs of those places." - Lesley Reed for Amazon.com Review.

Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service - A Year Spent Riding across America, by James McCommons. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2009. Print Length: 304 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (46 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"During the tumultuous year of 2008 - when gas prices reached $4 a gallon, Amtrak set ridership records, and a commuter train collided with a freight train in California - journalist James McCommons spent a year on America's trains, talking to the people who ride and work the rails throughout much of the Amtrak system. Organized around these rail journeys, Waiting on a Train is equal parts travel narrative, personal memoir, and investigative journalism. Readers meet the historians, railroad executives, transportation officials, politicians, government regulators, railroad lobbyists, and passenger-rail advocates who are rallying around a simple question: Why has the greatest railroad nation in the world turned its back on the very form of transportation that made modern life and mobility possible?." - Amazon.

The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England, by Ian Mortimer. Touchstone, 2009. Print Length: 352 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (39 reviews). Kindle edition $17.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"In this compelling volume, Medieval history expert Mortimer...transports readers to jolly, squalid old England for a thorough survey of everyday 14th century life. Going beyond the 'nasty, brutish and short' of it, Mortimer's immersive visitor's-guide approach to popular history gives readers a seamless sense of being there. The population is young - 'Half of the population is aged twenty-one or less' - but incredibly diverse. The idea that social classes were distinct and few - fighters, prayers, and farmers - gets exploded in Mortimer's examination society and the Medieval character, including everything from humor and juggling to mariners to doctors...Mortimer's tongue-in-cheek vistor's guide is an impressive accomplishment, turning 600 years of history transparent to give 21st century audiences a clear view on Medieval life." - Publishers Weekly.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.


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What People Magazine is Reading This Week (June 20th Issue)

For those Kindle readers who, like me, read for entertainment, scanning the book reviews in People magazine is good way to check out new people-related books - celebrity bios, popular novels, absorbing nonfiction - just hitting bookstore shelves. Featured in the June 20th issue of People is a selection of recommended summer beach reads - recently-published novels and thrillers - available in Kindle editions. So instead of lugging a heavy suitcase full of books on your vacation, just tuck your Kindle into your luggage and take off for summer adventures!

The First Husband, by Laura Dave. Viking, 2011. Print Length: 256 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (12 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $15.39. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Annie Adams is days away from her thirty-second birthday and thinks she has finally found some happiness. She visits the world's most interesting places for her syndicated travel column and she's happily cohabiting with her movie director boyfriend Nick in Los Angeles. But when Nick comes home from a meeting with his therapist (aka 'futures counselor') and announces that he's taking a break from their relationship so he can pursue a woman from his past, the place Annie had come to call home is shattered. Reeling, Annie stumbles into her neighborhood bar and finds Griffin - a grounded, charming chef who seems to be everything Annie didn't know she was looking for..." - Penguin.com.

Long Gone, by Alafair Burke. Harper Collins, 2011. Print Length: 368 p. THRILLER. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (24 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99; Hardcover $13.74. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"After a layoff and months of struggling, Alice Humphrey finally lands her dream job managing a new art gallery in Manhattan’s trendy Meatpacking District. According to Drew Campbell, the well-suited corporate representative who hires her, the gallery is a passion project for its anonymous, wealthy, and eccentric owner. Drew assures Alice that the owner will be hands off, allowing her to run the gallery on her own. Her friends think it sounds too good to be true, but Alice sees a perfect opportunity to make a name for herself beyond the shadow of her famous father, an award-winning and controversial film maker. Everything is perfect until the morning Alice arrives at work to find the gallery gone - the space stripped bare as if it had never existed - and Drew Campbell’s dead body on the floor..." - Amazon.

Marriage Confidential: Love in the Post-Romantic Age, by Pamela Haag. Harper Collins, 2011. Print Length: 352 p. NONFICTION. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (12 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $14.76. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Meticulously researched and injected with insightful firsthand accounts and welcome doses of humor, Marriage Confidential articulates for a generation that grew up believing they would 'have it all' why they have ended up disenchanted. Haag introduces us to contemporary marriages where spouses act more like life partners than lovers; children occupy an uncontested position at the center of the marital relationship; and even the romantic staples of sexual fidelity and passion are assailed from all sides - so much so that spouses can end up having affairs online almost by accident. Blending tales from the front lines of matrimony with cultural history, surveys, and research covert-ops (such as joining an online affair-finding site and posting a personal ad in the New York Review of Books), Haag paints a detailed picture of the state of marriage today. And to show what's possible as well as what's melancholy in our post-romantic age, Haag seeks out marriages with a twist - rebels who are quietly brainstorming and evolving the scripts around career, money, social life, child rearing, and sex." - Amazon.

The Hypnotist, by Lars Kepler. Translated by Ann Long. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011. Print Length: 512 p. THRILLER. Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $14.86. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"In the frigid clime of Tumba, Sweden, a gruesome triple homicide attracts the interest of Detective Inspector Joona Linna, who demands to investigate the murders. The killer is still at large, and there’s only one surviving witness - the boy whose family was killed before his eyes. Whoever committed the crimes wanted this boy to die: he’s suffered more than one hundred knife wounds and lapsed into a state of shock. Desperate for information, Linna sees only one option: hypnotism. He enlists Dr. Erik Maria Bark to mesmerize the boy, hoping to discover the killer through his eyes. It’s the sort of work that Bark has sworn he would never do again..." - Amazon.

Escape, by Barbara Delinsky. Doubleday, 2011. Print Length: 368 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $14.78. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
Annotation.
"Emily Aulenbach is thirty, a lawyer married to a lawyer, working in Manhattan. An idealist, she had once dreamed of representing victims of corporate abuse, but she spends her days in a cubicle talking on the phone with vic­tims of tainted bottled water - and she is on the bottler’s side. And it isn’t only work. It’s her sister, her friends, even her husband, Tim, with whom she doesn’t connect the way she used to. She doesn’t connect to much in her life, period, with the exception of three things - her computer, her BlackBerry, and her watch. Acting on impulse, Emily leaves work early one day, goes home, packs her bag, and takes off..." - from the hardcover edition.

The Ghost of Greenwich Village, by Lorna Graham. Ballantine Books, 2011. Print Length: 352 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (17 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $9.04. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"For Eve Weldon, moving to Greenwich Village is a dream come true. She’s following in the bohemian footsteps of her mother, who lived there during the early sixties among a lively community of Beat artists and writers. But when Eve arrives, the only scribe she meets is a grumpy ghost named Donald, and the only writing she manages to do is for chirpy segments on a morning news program, Smell the Coffee. The hyper-competitive network environment is a far cry from the genial camaraderie of her mother’s literary scene, and Eve begins to wonder if the world she sought has faded from existence. But as she struggles to balance her new job, demands from Donald to help him complete his life’s work, a budding friendship with a legendary fashion designer, and a search for clues to her mother’s past, Eve begins to realize that community comes in many forms..." - from the paperback edition.

What Alice Forgot, by Liane Moriarty. Putnam, 2011. Print Length: 432 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (20 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99; Hardcover $14.67. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Alice Love is twenty-nine years old, madly in love with her husband, and pregnant with their first child. So imagine her surprise when, after a fall, she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! she HATES the gym!) and discovers that she's actually thirty-nine, has three children, and is in the midst of an acrimonious divorce. A knock on the head has misplaced ten years of her life, and Alice isn't sure she likes who she's become. It turns out, though, that forgetting might be the most memorable thing that has ever happened to Alice..." - Amazon.

The Astral, by Kate Christensen. Doubleday, 2011. Print Length: 320 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $15.76. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Like the rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn of its setting, Christensen's unremittingly wonderful latest...is populated by an odd but captivating mix of characters. At the center is Harry Quirk, a middle-aged poet whose comfortable life is upended one winter day when his wife, Luz, convinced he's having an affair, destroys his notebooks, throws his laptop from the window, and kicks him out. Things, Harry has to admit, are not going well: their idealistic Dumpster-diving daughter, Karina, is lonely and lovelorn, and their son, Hector, is in the grip of a messianic cult. Taking in a much-changed Greenpoint, Brooklyn, while working at a lumberyard and hoping to recover his poetic spark, Harry must come to terms with the demands of starting anew at 57..." - Publishers Weekly.

Summer Rental, by Mary Kay Andrews. St Martin's Press, 2011. Print Length: 416 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (39 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $13.97. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Ellis, Julia, and Dorie. Best friends since Catholic grade school, they now find themselves, in their mid-thirties, at the crossroads of life and love. Ellis, recently fired from a job she gave everything to, is rudderless and now beginning to question the choices she's made over the past decade of her life. Julia - whose caustic wit covers up her wounds - has a man who loves her and is offering her the world, but she can't hide from how deeply insecure she feels about her looks, her brains, her life. And Dorie has just been shockingly betrayed by the man she loved and trusted the most in the world...though this is just the tip of the iceberg of her problems and secrets. A month in North Carolina's Outer Banks is just what they each of them needs." - Amazon.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.


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Just Out: Recent and Readable Nonfiction for the Kindle

What I like about non-fiction is that it covers such a huge territory. The best non-fiction is also creative. - Tracy Kidder.

Nonfiction encompasses a wealth of reading possibilities - history, essays, memoirs, scientific research, travel guides, cookbooks - essentially everything that is based on fact, real events and real people. Recent nonfiction titles for the Kindle that you might have missed:

The I Love Trader Joe's College Cookbook: 150 Cheap and Easy Gourmet Recipes, by Andrea Lynn. Ulysses Press, 2011. Print Length: 180 p. Optimized for reading on larger screens such as Kindle DX, Kindle for PC/Mac, and Kindle for iPad. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (7 reviews). Kindle edition $9.87. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Even if you’ve never cooked before, this book shows how quick and easy it is to turn Trader Joe’s tasty and affordable groceries into delicious dishes:
• Pulled Pork Sandwiches
• Fish Tacos
• Sweet Chili Wings
• Homemade Pizza
• Chicken Masala
• Pad Thai
• Eggplant Lasagna
• Raspberry Brownies
• Greek Pasta Salad
• Tortilla Soup
• Caramel Popcorn
These recipes are super easy to make, and you don’t need a bunch of pots and pans. Best of all, since every ingredient in every recipe is available at Trader Joe’s, you can get all your shopping done with one quick stop." - Amazon.

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction, by Alan Jacobs. Oxford University Press, 2011. Print Length: 176 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $13.57. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In recent years, cultural commentators have sounded the alarm about the dire state of reading in America. Americans are not reading enough, they say, or reading the right books, in the right way. In this book, Alan Jacobs argues that, contrary to the doomsayers, reading is alive and well in America. There are millions of devoted readers supporting hundreds of enormous bookstores and online booksellers. Oprah's Book Club is hugely influential, and a recent NEA survey reveals an actual uptick in the reading of literary fiction. Jacobs's interactions with his students and the readers of his own books, however, suggest that many readers lack confidence; they wonder whether they are reading well, with proper focus and attentiveness, with due discretion and discernment. Many have absorbed the puritanical message that reading is, first and foremost, good for you - the intellectual equivalent of eating your Brussels sprouts. For such people, indeed for all readers, Jacobs offers some simple, powerful, and much needed advice...an insightful, accessible, and playfully irreverent guide for aspiring readers. Each chapter focuses on one aspect of approaching literary fiction, poetry, or nonfiction, and the book explores everything from the invention of silent reading, reading responsively, rereading, and reading on electronic devices." - Amazon.

Hesitation Kills: A Female Marine Officer's Combat Experience in Iraq , by Jane Blair. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2011. Print Length: 296 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $14.82; Hardcover $16.47. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"This riveting memoir is the first book written by a female Marine about the war in Iraq and one of the only books written by a woman who has experienced combat firsthand. Deploying to Iraq in 2003, Jane Blair's aerial reconnaissance unit was assigned to travel ahead of and alongside combat units throughout the initial phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Throughout her deployment, Jane kept a journal of her and her fellow lieutenants' combat experiences, which she draws on to convey the immediacy of life in the military, not just for a woman but for all Marines. Weaving her story together with the experiences of the ordinary people of Iraq, this book offers compelling insights into the profound impact of the war on the lives of soldiers and civilians alike. Her unforgettable narrative bridges the gap between those who have experienced the Iraq War firsthand and those in America who could only follow its life-altering events from a distance." - Amazon.

In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives, by Steven Levy. Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print Length: 432 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (22 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $15.47. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"The contradictions of the Internet search behemoth are teased apart in this engaging, slightly starry-eyed business history. Wired magazine writer Levy (Hackers) insightfully recaps Google's groundbreaking search engine and fabulously profitable online ad–brokering business, and elucidates the cutting-edge research and hard-nosed cost-efficiencies underlying them. He also regales readers with the "Googley" corporate culture of hip techno-capitalism: the elitist focus on braininess, the campus game rooms, the countercultural rectitude of billionaire founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin..." - Publishers Weekly.

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading, by Nina Sankovitch. Harper Collins, 2011. Print Length: 256 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (36 reviews). Kindle edition $10.99; Hardcover $14.27. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Nina Sankovitch has always been a reader. As a child, she discovered that a trip to the local bookmobile with her sisters was more exhilarating than a ride at the carnival. Books were the glue that held her immigrant family together. When Nina's eldest sister died at the age of forty-six, Nina turned to books for comfort, escape, and introspection. In her beloved purple chair, she rediscovered the magic of such writers as Toni Morrison, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ian McEwan, Edith Wharton, and, of course, Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair also tells the story of the Sankovitch family: Nina's father, who barely escaped death in Belarus during World War II; her four rambunctious children, who offer up their own book recommendations while helping out with the cooking and cleaning; and Anne-Marie, her oldest sister and idol, with whom Nina shared the pleasure of books, even in her last moments of life." - Amazon.

Warren Buffett Invests Like a Girl - and Why You Should Too, by Louann Lofton. With a foreward by Tom Gardner, Co-founder of The Motley Fool. Avon, 2011. Print Length: 272 p. Amazon customer rating: none yet. To be published on June 21, 2011 Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $16.45. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Investing isn't a man's world anymore - and that's a good thing for individual portfolios, Wall Street, and the world's financial system. Warren Buffett and the women of the world have one thing in common: They are better investors than the average man. Psychologists and scientists have shown that women have the kind of temperaments that help them achieve long-term success in the market. This book shows that women, with their patience and good decision making, epitomize the Foolish investment philosophy, as well as the investment temperament of the most successful investor in history: Warren Buffett. While men may be brash, compulsive, and overly daring, women tend to be more studious, skeptical, and reasonable. The book will empower and educate women - and the men smart enough to embrace a 'feminine' investing style - on how to strengthen their portfolios and find success in the market." - Amazon.

The English Wordsmith: A Lexical Eclecsis - 8000 Important, Relevant, Obscure, Difficult, Unusual Words and Phrases from AA to Zymurgy, by David W. Andrews. The Great Wordsmith LLP, 2011. Print Length: 586 p. Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $22.44. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Whenever author David Andrews found a word or phrase he liked, but didn't quite understand, he jotted it down so that he could research and distil a precise meaning. He called his collection a "Lexical Eclecsis": lexical meaning to do with words, eclecsis meaning a compilation from various sources. Chosen words span the common, the not so common and include Latin, French and German imports. Definitions extend to words and expressions taken from specialist subject areas such as philosophies, religions, peoples, artists, myths, animals, plants, food, drink and the law. Explanations include the correct context for frequently misused words...a tubby tome for dipping into at leisure, for amusement, for learning, for excelling at word games, for enriching everyday language."
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.


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Kindle Genre Watch: New in Romance & Western Fiction

Spend less time searching for new fiction and more time reading it as I watch for newly-released genre fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. Recent genre fiction releases in romance and western fiction include:

Romance

Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn. Harper Collins, 2011. Print length: 384 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (86 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99; Paperback $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"...the dazzling first installment of a delightful quartet of Regency Era-set tales featuring the romantic exploits of the well-meaning but less-than-accomplished Smythe-Smith musicians - in this case, a beautiful violinist in the pitiful group who has her sights set on marrying the last unwed Bridgerton...unless her handsome, love-struck guardian has anything to say about it. Bridgerton fans will cry, Encore! - as will every reader who adores England’s Regency period and great love stories that are smart, witty, and lighthearted." - Publisher.

Beach Lane by Sherryl Woods. Mira, 2011. Print length: 368 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $5.38; Paperback $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In the close-knit community of Chesapeake Shores, Maryland, Susie O'Brien and Mack Franklin's 'not dating' claim befuddles everyone, especially since the two spend every spare minute together. Susie's thrilled when their friendship finally heats up. Then, just when happily-ever-after seems within reach, Mack loses the job he loves and Susie faces a devastating diagnosis. But O'Briens always unite in a crisis. Even her cousin Jess, Susie's rival for most of their lives, becomes her staunchest supporter - especially when Mack's former lover comes to town. The stakes are higher than ever before, but Susie's definitely up to the challenge...as long as Mack's right there by her side." - Amazon.

A Turn in the Road by Debbie Macomber. Mira, 2011. Print length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (39 reviews). Kindle edition $8.37; Hardcover $14.97. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"In the middle of the year, in the middle of her life, Bethanne Hamlin takes a road trip with her daughter, Annie, and her former mother-in-law, Ruth. They're driving to Florida for Ruth's 50th high-school reunion. A longtime widow, Ruth would like to reconnect with Royce, the love of her teenage life. She's heard he's alone, too…and, well, she's curious. Maybe even hopeful. Bethanne herself needs time to reflect, to ponder a decision she has to make. Her ex-husband, Grant - her children's father - wants to reconcile now that his second marriage has failed. Bethanne's considering it...Meanwhile, Annie's out to prove to her onetime boyfriend that she can live a brilliant life without him! ...three women driving across America. They have their maps and their directions - but even the best-planned journey can take you to a turn in the road. " - Amazon.

A Winter Ballad by Barbara Samuel. Originally published by Harper Collins in 1994; Kindle edition published 2011. Print length: 352 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (8 reviews). Kindle edition $0.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Anya of Winterbourne had suffered nothing but humiliation at the hands of men. And yet when she found a fallen knight in a still winter forest, she could not leave him to die. Weary of battle and pursued by assassins, Christian de Moreerx would have liked nothing more than to stay at Winterbourne and champion the elusive and beleaguered Lady Anya. But his past contained a secret he had to decipher if he was to live..." - author's web site.

Ryan's Return by Barbara Freethy. Originally published by Avon in 1996; Kindle edition published 2011. Print length: 374 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (29 reviews). Kindle edition $2.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Hoping to draw tourists to Serenity Springs' Centennial Celebration and boost the town's economy, chamber of commerce president Kara Delaney invites a famous former resident, photo-journalist Ryan Hunter, to be the guest of honor. But Ryan was something of a black sheep, and Kara's grand plan sours when Ryan's father threatens to boycott the festivities and torrential rains pelt the town. As Kara's Aunt Josephine says: When the river rises, the secrets of years past are washed ashore and brought to life. The town's secrets are the fiber that holds this tale together..." - Publishers Weekly.


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Westerns

Doc by Mary Doria Russell. Random House, 2011. Print Length: 400 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (58 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $15.60. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Beautifully educated, born to the life of a Southern gentleman, Dr. John Henry Holliday is given an awful choice at the age of twenty-two: die within months in Atlanta or leave everyone and everything he loves in the hope that the dry air and sunshine of the West will restore him to health. Young, scared, lonely, and sick, he arrives on the rawest edge of the Texas frontier just as an economic crash wrecks the dreams of a nation. Soon, with few alternatives open to him, Doc Holliday is gambling professionally; he is also living with Mária Katarina Harony, a high-strung Hungarian whore with dazzling turquoise eyes, who can quote Latin classics right back at him. Kate makes it her business to find Doc the high-stakes poker games that will support them both in high style. It is Kate who insists that the couple travel to Dodge City, because 'that’s where the money is.' And that is where the unlikely friendship of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp really begins..." - Amazon.

Payback at Morning Peak by Gene Hackman. Pocket, 2011. Print length: 400 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $7.99; Paperback $7.89. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Life, not death, drove Jubal Young...but memories of his ma and pa, and his beautiful, bright sister are all he has left. Memories of the peaceful days before Jubal stumbled home with his .22, his blood running cold with fear, terror, and anger. When it was over, the homestead was half burned to the ground. Someone had to bury the bodies. Someone had to set things right. Now, as Jubal rides west into New Mexico, he remembers his family’s laughter and love, his pa’s wisdom, ma’s thick books, and everything that was defiled by a band of drunken renegades towed along by one man’s murderous grudge..." - Amazon.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick Dewitt. Harper Collins, 2011. Print length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (17 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99; Hardcover 14.38. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"...a quirky and stylish revisionist western. When a frontier baron known as the Commodore orders Charlie and Eli Sisters, his hired gunslingers, to track down and kill a prospector named Herman Kermit Warm, the brothers journey from Oregon to San Francisco, and eventually to Warm's claim in the Sierra foothills, running into a witch, a bear, a dead Indian, a parlor of drunken floozies, and a gang of murderous fur trappers. Eli's deadpan narration is at times strangely funny (as when he discovers dental hygiene, thanks to a frontier dentist dispensing free samples of 'tooth powder that produced a minty foam') but maintains the power to stir heartbreak... With nods to Charles Portis and Frank Norris, DeWitt has produced a genre-bending frontier saga that is exciting, funny, and, perhaps unexpectedly, moving." - Publishers Weekly.

Massacre of Eagles by William W. Johnstone, with J. A. Johnstone. Pinnacle Books, 2011. Print length: 352 p. Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $4.76. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.
"A long way from Montana Territory, Falcon MacCallister is back east, visiting his family, with Buffalo Bill Cody by his side. When the government asks both men to take a break from being famous to get back to fighting, Falcon and Buffalo Bill head west - into a hornet's nest of trouble. A renegade Indian has followed his vision of bloodshed on a once peaceable territory. A land baron uses the slaughter as an excuse to clear out a valley. And the U.S. Army, trying to keep the peace, is backstabbed by a traitor. Now, Falcon and Cody are headed into this beautiful, vast and deadly land..." - Amazon.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

A Week of Entertainment: Kindle Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly's June 17th Issue

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the June 17th issue include:

Robopocalypse, by Daniel H. Wilson. Doubleday, 2011. Print length: 304 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "It's worth reading before Spielberg's version hits screens in 2013." Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (52 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $13.57. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In the not-too-distant future, robots have made our lives a lot easier: they help clean our kitchens, drive our cars, and fight our wars - until they are turned into efficient murderers by a sentient artificial intelligence buried miles below the surface of Alaska. Robopocalypse is a fast-paced sci-fi thriller that makes a strong case that mindless fun can also be wildly inventive. The war is told as an oral history, assembled from interviews, security camera footage, and first- and secondhand testimonies, similar to Max Brook's zombie epic World War Z. ...Robopocalypse may not be the most unique tale about the war between man and machine, but it's certainly one of the most fun." - Kevin Nguyen for Amazon.com Review.

Maine, by J. Courtney Sullivan. Knopf, 2011. Print length: 400 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...brisk storytelling, and the unfurling of its central mystery, still sweep readers along with gratifying sink-into-your-desk-chair ease." Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (22 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $14.78. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"For the Kellehers, Maine is a place where children run in packs, showers are taken outdoors, and old Irish songs are sung around a piano at night. Their beachfront property, won on a barroom bet after the war, sits on three acres of sand and pine nestled between stretches of rocky coast, with one tree bearing the initials A.H. At the cottage, built by Kelleher hands, cocktail hour follows morning mass, nosy grandchildren snoop in drawers, and decades-old grudges simmer beneath the surface. As three generations of Kelleher women descend on the property one summer, each brings her own hopes and fears. Maggie is thirty-two and pregnant, waiting for the perfect moment to tell her imperfect boyfriend the news; Ann Marie, a Kelleher by marriage, is channeling her domestic frustration into a dollhouse obsession and an ill-advised crush; Kathleen, the black sheep, never wanted to set foot in the cottage again; and Alice, the matriarch at the center of it all, would trade every floorboard for a chance to undo the events of one night, long ago..." - author's web site.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs. Quirk Books, 2011. Print length: 352 p. Optimized for larger screens. While this edition can be read on the standard Kindle, it features a number of photos and has been optimized for reading on devices with larger screens such as Kindle DX, Kindle for PC/Mac, and Kindle for iPad. NOVEL. EW's slant: "With its X-Men: First Class-meets-time-travel story line, David Lynchian imagery, and rich, eerie detail, it's no wonder Miss Peregrine's Home has been snapped up by Twentieth Century Fox." Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (29 reviews). Kindle edition $9.89; Hardcover $10.79. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here - one of whom was his own grandfather - were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason. And somehow - impossible though it seems - they may still be alive." - Amazon.

Sisterhood Everlasting, by Ann Brashares. Random House, 2011. Print length: 368 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...a deftly told narrative of finding one's adult self..." Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $13.44. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is book five in Brashares' Sisterhood Series which began with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
"Tibby, Lena, Carmen, and Bridget have grown up, starting their lives on their own. And though the jeans they shared are long gone, the sisterhood is everlasting. Despite having jobs and men that they love, each knows that something is missing: the closeness that once sustained them. Carmen is a successful actress in New York, engaged to be married, but misses her friends. Lena finds solace in her art, teaching in Rhode Island, but still thinks of Kostos and the road she didn’t take. Bridget lives with her longtime boyfriend, Eric, in San Francisco, and though a part of her wants to settle down, a bigger part can’t seem to shed her old restlessness. Then Tibby reaches out to bridge the distance, sending the others plane tickets for a reunion that they all breathlessly await. And indeed, it will change their lives forever..." - from the hardcover edition.

State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett. Harper Collins, 2011. Print Length: 368 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (44 reviews). EW's slant: "The book's dreamlike claustrophobia weaves a spell even when far-fetched plot twists tip toward absurdity...a trip well worth taking." Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $14.50. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Marina Singh gave up a career as a doctor after botching an emergency delivery as an intern, opting instead for the more orderly world of research for a pharmaceutical company. When office colleague Anders Eckman, sent to the Amazon to check on the work of a field team, is reported dead, Marina is asked by her company's CEO to complete Anders' task and to locate his body. What Marina finds in the sweltering, insect-infested jungles of the Amazon shakes her to her core. For the team is headed by esteemed scientist Annick Swenson, the woman who oversaw Marina's residency and who is now intent on keeping the team's progress on a miracle drug completely under wraps. Marina's jungle odyssey includes exotic encounters with cannibals and snakes, a knotty ethical dilemma about the basic tenets of scientific research, and joyous interactions with the exuberant people of the Lakashi tribe, who live on the compound." - Joanne Wilkinson for Booklist.

Briefly Mentioned

The Frozen Rabbi, by Steve Stern. Algonquin Books, 2010. Print length: 384 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (19 reviews). Kindle edition $9.48; Paperback $11.06. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Stern’s uproarious and trouncing romp through the anguish and ironies of the Jewish diaspora matches mysticism with mayhem, beatitude with organized crime, creativity with crassness. The madcap, at times, surreal action revolves around Rabbi Eliezer ben Zephyr, whose out-of-body journeys to the realm of the divine result in his being frozen in a block of ice in the Jewish Pale in 1889, a frigid relic that becomes one family’s problematic inheritance. In scenes of vivid drama and burlesque comedy on the same epic scale as Stern’s The Angel of Forgetfulness (2005), the rabbi-on-ice is transported through a pogrom and across the Atlantic under the guardianship of a raven-haired woman protectively disguised as a man, who finds sanctuary with the sweet-natured, hunchbacked inventor Shmerl Karp in the roiling Lower East Side. Finally, in 1999, the 'great thaw' brings the reanimated rabbi and misfit teen Bernie Karp together in a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee..." - Donna Seaman for Booklist.

The Taken: A Hazel Micallef Mystery, by Inger Ash Wolfe. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. Print length: 432 p. THRILLER. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (29 reviews). Kindle edition $10.04; Paperback $11.16. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Hazel Micallef is none too pleased to be recuperating from back surgery in the home of her ex-husband. But her mother Emily is too frail to care for her 62-year-old daughter, and Andrew Micallef's new wife Glynnis seems determined to be nerve-wrackingly kind to her invalid predecessor. So Hazel barely minds being called back to the Port Dundas OPS when DC James Wingate, who never really wanted to be in charge of the provincial Ontario outpost, gets a report of a body pulled from Lake Gannon by tourists. The 'body' turns out to be a mannequin, but a number stamped on the headless dummy's torso leads to a video feed of what looks like someone held captive in a basement. Meanwhile, The Port Dundas Record begins to publish chapters of a work by local writer Colin Eldwin, whose plot eerily tracks the Lake Gannon discovery..." - Amazon.

The Last Detective, by Peter Lovesey. Soho Crime, 2003. Print length: 336 p. MYSTERY. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (12 reviews). Kindle edition $8.59; Paperback $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Irascible, corpulent, cynical Chief Superintendent Peter Diamond of the Avon and Somerset murder squad attributes Britain's decline as a world power to the abolition of capital punishment in 1964. Spurning computer gadgetry, he sticks to common sense, index cards and gumshoeing: Knocking on doors. That's how we get results. The almost clueless case of the naked woman's body found floating in Chew Valley Lake poses a supreme challenge for the detective, who is anxious to clear his name of recent charges of brutality. The belated identification of the victim as actress Geraldine Snoo, written out of a BBC soap opera two years before, leads to one surprise after another..." - Publishers Weekly.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.


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