Guilty Pleasures: Young Adult Fiction That Adults Will Love Too

When I was in the seventh grade, I volunteered to help shelve books in our small town library. There books were stored in separate children's and adult sections. Only twelve years old at the time, I was confined to the children's section in picking books to check out for myself, but longed to read the adult books I was shelving.

Then, on one momentous day, the librarian decided that I was mature enough to check books out from the Adult Section. From then on, I figured that since I was "grown up" I would only read adult books - as befitting my new station in life. In high school I still remember carrying a copy of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment proudly into study hall to read instead of doing homework.

Fast forward through many, many years of adult reading. Then one day a clerk in Barnes and Noble convinced me to try Eragon. It was, he said, an exciting book about a boy and his dragon. He assured me that although it was a "young adult" title, it was also quite popular with adults. I devoured Eragon in one day and shortly thereafter moved on to try that Harry Potter book everyone was talking about. Seven Potter books later, I have decided that maybe these young whipper snappers know enjoyable reading when they experience it. And that is, after all, what The Kindle Reader blog is all about.

If you're up for some highly entertaining reading, here is a selection of recent young adult novels you may enjoy:

The Undrowned Child, by Michelle Lovric. Delacorte Books, 2011. Print Length: 464 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (12 reviews). Kindle edition $10.99; Hardcover $13.49. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Teodora has always longed to visit Venice, and at last she has her chance. But strange and sinister things are afoot in the beautiful floating city. Teo is quickly subsumed into a secret world in which salty-tongued mermaids run subversive printing presses, ghosts good and bad patrol the streets, statues speak, rats read, and librarians fluidly turn into cats. And where a book, The Key to the Secret City, leads Teo straight into the heart of the danger that threatens to destroy the city to which she feels she belongs." - Publisher.

Agency: A Spy in the House, by Y. S. Lee. Candlewick, 2010. Print Length: 352 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (40 reviews). Kindle edition $6.29; Paperback $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"She was sentenced to the gallows at age 12. Pickpocket Mary Quinn doesn’t care. Her life, nasty and brutish, will also be blessedly short. Then, shockingly, she’s rescued and ensconced at Miss Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls. When readers meet Mary after this prologue, she is 17 and bored with her teaching job at the Academy. Happily, there’s more going on there than learning. Mary is recruited into the Agency, a secret band of women investigators. Her first job is ostensibly to be a lady’s companion. Actually, she’s at the Thorold home to observe and discover what she can about the mysterious sinking of Thorold’s ships." - Ilene Cooper for Booklist.

The Gathering, by Kelley Armstrong. Harper Collins, 2011. Print Length: 368 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (85 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $8.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Strange things are happening in Maya's tiny Vancouver Island town. First, her friend Serena, the captain of the swim team, drowns mysteriously in the middle of a calm lake. Then, one year later, mountain lions are spotted rather frequently around Maya's home - and her reactions to them are somewhat...unexpected. Her best friend, Daniel, has also been experiencing unexplainable premonitions about certain people and situations. It doesn't help that the new bad boy in town, Rafe, has a dangerous secret, and he's interested in one special part of Maya's anatomy - her paw-print birthmark." - Publisher.

Michael Vey, by Richard Paul Evans. Simon Pulse/Mercury Ink, 2011. Print Length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (202 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Hardcover $10.58. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"To everyone at Meridian High School, Michael Vey is an ordinary fourteen-year-old. In fact, the only thing that seems to set him apart is the fact that he has Tourette’s syndrome. But Michael is anything but ordinary. Michael has special powers. Electric powers. Michael thinks he's unique until he discovers that a cheerleader named Taylor also has special powers. With the help of Michael’s friend, Ostin, the three of them set out to discover how Michael and Taylor ended up this way, but their investigation brings them to the attention of a powerful group who wants to control the electric children – and through them the world..." - Publisher.

The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman. Harper Collins, 2009. Print Length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (477 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99; Paperback $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"In this ingenious and captivating reimagining of Rudyard Kipling’s classic adventure The Jungle Book, Neil Gaiman tells the unforgettable story of Nobody Owens, a living, breathing boy whose home is a graveyard, raised by a guardian who belongs neither to the mortal world nor the realm of the dead. Among the mausoleums and headstones of his home, Bod experiences things most mortals can barely imagine. But real, flesh-and-blood danger waits just outside the cemetery walls: the man who murdered the infant Bod’s family will not rest until he finds Nobody Owens and finishes the job he began many years ago." - Publisher.

Touch of Frost, by Jennifer Estep. Kensington Books, 2011. Print Length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (42 reviews). Kindle edition $6.80; Paperback $9.95. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"My name is Gwen Frost, and I go to Mythos Academy - a school of myths, magic and warrior whiz kids, where even the lowliest geek knows how to chop off somebody's head with a sword and Logan Quinn, the hottest Spartan guy in school, also happens to be the deadliest. But lately, things have been weird, even for Mythos. First, mean girl Jasmine Ashton was murdered in the Library of Antiquities. Then, someone stole the Bowl of Tears, a magical artifact that can be used to bring about the second Chaos War. You know, death, destruction and lots of other bad, bad things. Freaky stuff like this goes on all the time at Mythos, but I'm determined to find out who killed Jasmine and why - especially since I should have been the one who died..." - Publisher.

The Power of Six, by Pittacus Lore. Harper Collins, 2011. Print Length: 416 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (28 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Hardcover $8.98. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is book two in the Lorien Legacies series, following I Am Number Four.

"I've seen him on the news. Followed the stories about what happened in Ohio. John Smith, out there, on the run. To the world, he's a mystery. But to me...he's one of us. Nine of us came here, but sometimes I wonder if time has changed us - if we all still believe in our mission. How can I know? There are six of us left. We're hiding, blending in, avoiding contact with one another...but our Legacies are developing, and soon we'll be equipped to fight. Is John Number Four, and is his appearance the sign I've been waiting for? And what about Number Five and Six? They caught Number One in Malaysia. Number Two in England. And Number Three in Kenya. They tried to catch Number Four in Ohio - and failed. I am Number Seven. One of six still alive. And I'm ready to fight." - Publisher.

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. Knopf, 2007. Print Length: 576 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (1210 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Hardcover $10.22. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery... Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist - books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement..an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.." - Publisher.
_______________________

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.

What People Magazine is Reading This Week (August 22nd and 29th Issues)

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 August 22nd and 29th issues of People:

Angelina's Bachelors, by Brian O'Reilly. Gallery, 2011. Print Length: 384 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (7 reviews). People's slant: "The characters are Capraesque...Luckily this debut from O'Reilly (creator of Food Network's Dinner: Impossible) includes his wife Virginia's appealing recipes." - Moira Bailey. Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $10.09. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"Far too young to be a widow, Angelina D’Angelo suddenly finds herself facing a life without her beloved husband, Frank. Late one night shortly after the funeral, she makes her way down to the kitchen and pours all of her grief and anger into the only outlet she has left - her passion for cooking. In a frenzy of concentration and swift precision, she builds layer upon layer of thick, rich lasagna, braids loaves of yeasty bread, roasts plump herb-rubbed chicken; she makes so much food that she winds up delivering the spoils to the neighbors in her tight-knit Italian community in South Philadelphia. Retiree Basil Cupertino, who has just moved in with his kindly sister across the street, is positively smitten with Angelina’s food. In a stroke of good fortune, Basil offers Angelina (not only husbandless but unemployed) a job cooking for him - two meals a day, six days a week, in exchange for a handsome salary. Soon, word of her irresistible culinary prowess spreads and she finds herself cooking for seven bachelors..." - Publisher.

The Call, by Yannick Murphy. Harper Collins, 2011. Print Length: 240 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (2 reviews). People's slant: "...this is no make my day revenge fantasy. Instead, true heroism is revealed in the humanity of a taciturn and decent man." - Ellen Shapiro. Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $9.92. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"The daily rhythm of a veterinarian’s family in rural New England is shaken when a hunting accident leaves their eldest son in a coma. With the lives of his loved ones unhinged, the veterinarian struggles to maintain stability while searching for the man responsible. But in the midst of their great trial an unexpected visitor arrives, requesting a favor that will have profound consequences - testing a loving father’s patience, humor, and resolve and forcing husband and wife to come to terms with what 'family' truly means." - Publisher.

Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein, by Julie Salamon. The Penguin Press, 2011. Print Length: NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (9 reviews). People's slant: "...intriguing biography..." - Kim Hubbard. Kindle edition $14.99; Hardcover $19.19. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"...bestselling author Julie Salamon explores the life of playwright Wendy Wasserstein's most expertly crafted character: herself. The first woman playwright to win a Tony Award, Wendy Wasserstein was a Broadway titan. But with her high-pitched giggle and unkempt curls, she projected an image of warmth and familiarity. Everyone knew Wendy Wasserstein. Or thought they did. Born on October 18, 1950, in Brooklyn, New York, to Polish Jewish immigrant parents, Wendy was the youngest of Lola and Morris Wasserstein's five children. Lola had big dreams for her children. They didn't disappoint: Sandra, Wendy's glamorous sister, became a high-ranking corporate executive at a time when Fortune 500 companies were an impenetrable boys club. Their brother Bruce became a billionaire superstar of the investment banking world. Yet behind the family's remarkable success was a fiercely guarded world of private tragedies... In Wendy and the Lost Boys, Salamon assembles the fractured pieces, revealing Wendy in full. Though she lived an uncommon life, she spoke to a generation of women during an era of vast change." - Publisher.
_______________________

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.

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:

Acceptable Loss by Anne Perry. Ballantine Books, 2011. Print Length: 320 p. TIME FRAME: Victorian London. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $17.16. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"...Perry’s new William and Hester Monk story, a mesmerizing masterpiece of innocence and evil on London’s docks, outshines all her previous novels in this successful and beloved series. When the body of a small-time crook named Mickey Parfitt washes up on the tide, no one grieves; far from it. But William Monk, commander of the River Police, is puzzled by the expensive silk cravat used to strangle Parfitt. How did this elegant scarf - whose original owner was obviously a man of substance - end up imbedded in the neck of a wharf rat who richly deserved his sordid end? ...colorful characters, a memorable portrait of waterfront life, and a story that achieves its most thrilling moments in a transfixed London courtroom, where Monk faces his old friend Oliver Rathbone in a trial of nearly unbearable tension - in sum, every delectable drop of the rich pleasure that readers expect from an Anne Perry novel." - Publisher.

Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey. Ballantine Books, 2011. Print Length: 480 p. TIME FRAME: 18th century Austria and France. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (31 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $10.20. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Raised alongside her numerous brothers and sisters by the formidable empress of Austria, ten-year-old Maria Antonia knew that her idyllic existence would one day be sacrificed to her mother’s political ambitions. What she never anticipated was that the day in question would come so soon. Before she can journey from sunlit picnics with her sisters in Vienna to the glitter, glamour, and gossip of Versailles, Antonia must change everything about herself in order to be accepted as dauphine of France and the wife of the awkward teenage boy who will one day be Louis XVI. Yet nothing can prepare her for the ingenuity and influence it will take to become queen. Filled with smart history, treacherous rivalries, lavish clothes, and sparkling jewels, Becoming Marie Antoinette will utterly captivate fiction and history lovers alike." - from the trade paperback edition.

Russka: The Novel of Russia by Edward Rutherfurd. Ballantine Books, 2011. Print Length: 960 p. TIME FRAME: Russia - 2nd century A.D. through 20th century. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (74 reviews). Kindle edition $8.99; Paperback $8.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. First published in 1991, Russka is newly available in a Kindle edition. Two more of the author's sweeping historical novels - London and Sarum: The Novel of England - are scheduled for Kindle publication in September 2011.

"With his second sprawling historical novel, Rutherfurd moves from his hometown of Salisbury, England, the site of the bestselling Sarum , to the rich foreign soil of Russia. Though the structure and style mirror that of his first saga, Rutherfurd's close observation of Russia's religious and ethnic diversity give this epic a distinctive flavor. Focusing on the changing fortunes of the small town of Russka and its controlling families, Rutherfurd moves from the tribes of the steppes in the second century A.D. through Cossacks, Tatars, Tsars, revolution and Stalin to touch on a contemporary Russian emigre community near New York City..." - Publishers Weekly.

To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn by Sandra Byrd. Howard Books, 2011. Print Length: 352 p. TIME FRAME: 16th century England. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (16 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"To Die For is the story of Meg Wyatt, pledged forever as the best friend to Anne Boleyn since their childhoods on neighboring manors in Kent. When Anne’s star begins to ascend, of course she takes her best friend Meg along for the ride. Life in the court of Henry VIII is thrilling at first, but as Anne’s favor rises and falls, so does Meg’s. And though she’s pledged her loyalty to Anne no matter what the test, Meg just might lose her greatest love - and her own life - because of it. Though much of Meg’s story is fictionalized, it is drawn from known facts. The Wyatt family and the Boleyn family were neighbors and friends, and perhaps even distant cousins. Meg’s brother, Thomas Wyatt, wooed Anne Boleyn and ultimately came very close to the axe blade for it. Two Wyatt sisters attended Anne at her death, and at her death, she gave one of them her jeweled prayer book... " - Publisher.

City of Promise, by Beverly Swerling. Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print length: 432 p. TIME FRAME: New York City in the 1860s. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $17.16. Text-to-Speech: Disabled. Following City of Dreams, City of Glory, and City of God, this is the fourth novel in Swerling's sweeping saga of two Manhattan family dynasties - the Turners and the Devreys.

"It is 1864. The South’s surrender is inevitable, and Manhattan is at the heart of the recovering nation’s surge to prosperity...Joshua Turner returns home from the War with only one leg, but his ambition intact, and sees opportunity in the exponential growth of vital city workers - the managers and clerks who churn New York’s economic life. He aspires to build the city’s first apartment houses for everyman, a daring vision that will make him New York's first true real estate titan but will also attract the dangerous attention of a shadowy figure from Josh’s days in a notorious Confederate prison. Meanwhile, the irresistible and clever Mollie Brannigan, raised by her extraordinary Auntie Eileen in perhaps the toniest bordello in town, is resigned at age twenty-two to spinsterhood...till Joshua finds her at Macy’s, the city’s largest emporium, and takes her coaching in Central Park... Vividly imagined and awash in period detail and the unforgettable characters that only Beverly Swerling can conjure, City of Promise delivers a historical adventure of suspense and intrigue, daring plot twists and bitter rivalries, and the captivating love story of two people struggling to forge their own destiny. " - Publisher.

Ride the Wind by Lucia St. Clair Robson. Ballantine Books, 2011. Print Length: 608 p. TIME FRAME: 19th century Texas. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (142 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99; Paperback $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Ride the Wind was first published in 1982 and is newly available in a Kindle edition.

"In 1836, when she was nine years old, Cynthia Ann Parker was kidnapped by Comanche Indians. This is the story of how she grew up with them, mastered their ways, married one of their leaders, and became, in every way, a Comanche woman. It is also the story of a proud and innocent people whose lives pulsed with the very heartbeat of the land. It is the story of a way of life that is gone forever..." - Publisher.

Holy Warrior: A Novel of Robin Hood by Angus Donald. St. Martin's Griffin, 2011. Print Length: 400 p. TIME FRAME: 12th century England and the route to Jerusalem. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $10.87. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is a continuation of the story begun in the author's Outlaw.

"In 1190 A.D. Richard the Lionheart, the new King of England, has launched his epic crusade to seize Jerusalem from the Saracens. Marching with the vast royal army is Britain’s most famous, most feared, most ferocious warrior: the Outlaw of Nottingham, the Earl of Locksley - Robin Hood himself. With his band of loyal men at his side, Robin cuts a bloody swath on the brutal journey east. Daring and dangerous, he can outwit and outlast any foe - but the battlefields of the Holy Land are the ultimate proving ground. And within Robin’s camp lurks a traitor - a hidden enemy determined to assassinate England’s most dangerous rogue. Richly imagined and furiously paced, featuring a cast of unforgettable characters, Holy Warrior is adventure, history and legend at its finest." - Publisher.

Charlie Mike by Leonard B. Scott. Ballantine Books, 2011. Print Length: 432 p. TIME FRAME: Vietnam War. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (37 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99; Paperback $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"If war may be said to bring out the worst in governments, it frequently brings out the best in people. This is a novel about some of the very best. Some led. Some followed. Some died. Meet Sergeant David Grady, Sarah Boyce, Major John Colven, Lieutenant Le Be Son...in the great Vietnam war novel, Charlie Mike." - Publisher
_______________________

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 August 19th/26th Issue

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the August 16th/26 double issue include:

The Lantern, by Deborah Lawrenson. Harper, 2011. Print length: 400 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "Lawrenson's poetic prose vibrantly conjures up both the beauty of southern France and the ghosts, real or imagined, from different eras." - Beth Johnson. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (52 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $17.15. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"When Eve falls for the secretive, charming Dom in Switzerland, their whirlwind relationship leads them to Les GenÉvriers, an abandoned house set among the fragrant lavender fields of the South of France. Each enchanting day delivers happy discoveries: hidden chambers, secret vaults, a beautiful wrought-iron lantern. Deeply in love and surrounded by music, books, and the heady summer scents of the French countryside, Eve has never felt more alive. But with autumn’s arrival the days begin to cool, and so, too, does Dom. Though Eve knows he bears the emotional scars of a failed marriage - one he refuses to talk about - his silence arouses suspicion and uncertainty. The more reticent Dom is to explain, the more Eve becomes obsessed with finding answers - and with unraveling the mystery of his absent, beautiful ex-wife, Rachel..." - Publisher.

Yossarian Slept Here, by Erica Heller. Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print length: 288 p. MEMOIR. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (8 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99; Hardcover $15.83. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"...when people learned that Joseph Heller was her father, they often remarked, 'How terrific!' But was there a catch? Yossarian Slept Here is Erica Heller’s wickedly funny but also poignant and incisive memoir about growing up in a family - her iconic father; her wry, beautiful mother, Shirley; her younger brother, Ted; her relentlessly inventive grandmother Dottie - that could be by turns caring, infuriating, and exasperating, though anything but dull. From the forbidden pleasures of ordering shrimp cocktail when it was beyond the family’s budget to spending a summer, as her father’s fame grew, at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Erica details the Hellers’ charmed - and charmingly turbulent— - trajectory. She offers a rare glimpse of meetings with the Gourmet Club, where her father would dine weekly with Mel Brooks, Zero Mostel, and Mario Puzo, among others (and from which all wives and children were strictly verboten). She introduces us to many extraordinary residents of the Apthorp, some famous—George Balanchine, Sidney Poitier, and Lena Horne, to name a few—and some not famous, but all quite memorable...It is a story about achieving a dream; about fame and its aftermath; about lasting love, squandered opportunities, and how to have the best meal in Chinatown." - Publisher.

The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. Ballantine Books, 2011. Print length: 336 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "Diffenbaugh effortlessly spins this enchanting tale, making even her prickly protagonist impossible not to love." - Sara Vilkomerson. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (43 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $13.15. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating grief, mistrust, and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen and emancipated from the system, Victoria has nowhere to go and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. Soon a local florist discovers her talents, and Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them..." - from the hardcover edition.

Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, by Alexandra Fuller. Penguin Press, 2011. Print length: 256 p. MEMOIR. EW's slant: "This is a memoir that a mother could love - which is good, since the author's own mum hated her last one...both hilarious and tragic." - Melissa Maerz. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $14.27. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"A sardonic follow-up to her first memoir about growing up in Rhodesia circa the 1970s, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, this work traces in wry, poignant fashion the lives of her intrepid British parents, determined to stake a life on their farm despite the raging African civil war around them. Fuller's mother is the central figure, Nicola Fuller of Central, as she is known, born 'one million percent Highland Scottish'; she grew up mostly in Kenya in the 1950s, was schooled harshly by the nuns in Eldoret, learned to ride horses masterfully, and married a dashing Englishman before settling down on their own farm, first in Kenya, then Rhodesia, where the author (known as Bobo) and her elder sister, Vanessa, were born in the late 1960s. The outbreak of civil war in the mid-1970s resolved the family to dig in deeper on their farm in Robandi, rather than flee, to order to preserve a life of colonial privilege and engrained racism that was progressively vanishing... another beautifully wrought memoir." - Publishers Weekly.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Crown, 2011. Print Length: 384 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...give Cline credit for crafting a fresh and imaginative world from our old toy box and finding significance in there among the collectibles." - Anthony Breznican. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (71 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99; Hardcover $12.70. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place. Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune - and remarkable power - to whoever can unlock them. For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved - that of the late twentieth century. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig. And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.Suddenly the whole world is watching..." - Publisher.
_______________________

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.

Paws for Murder: Kindle Mysteries for Cat Lovers

Take a curious cat. Add a death shrouded in mystery. What better combination for a whodunit - especially if the cat turns detective or somehow aids in solving the crime? Here for your reading pleasure is a selection of the best feline sleuth mysteries. I'm including only one book by each author, but many have written a series of novels featuring cats and murder. Reading one will lead you to a whole slew of additional reading possibilities, whether you prefer a cat that takes an active role in solving the crime or the pet cat who hangs out with a human crime buster.

Curiosity Thrilled the Cat, by Sofie Kelly. NAL, 2011. Print Length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (31 reviews). Kindle edition $6.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"When librarian Kathleen Paulson moved to Mayville Heights, Minnesota, she had no idea that two strays would nuzzle their way into her life. Owen is a tabby with a catnip addiction and Hercules is a stocky tuxedo cat who shares Kathleen's fondness for Barry Manilow. But beyond all the fur and purrs, there's something more to these felines. When murder interrupts Mayville's Music Festival, Kathleen finds herself the prime suspect. More stunning is her realization that Owen and Hercules are magical - and she's relying on their skills to solve a purr-fect murder." - Publisher.

Only the Cat Knows, by Marian Babson. Minotaur Books, 2010. Print Length: 224 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $6.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Vanessa and her twin brother Vance are very close. So when someone pushes Vanessa down a flight of stairs and puts her into a coma, Vance wants revenge. He decides that masquerading as Vanessa will lead him to the villain. With her clothes, her makeup, and what he knows about his beloved sister, he pulls it off very well and is on the verge of learning what he needs to know...Until he discovers a serious threat that might destroy all his efforts. There is one pair of eyes he can’t pull the wool over: Gloriana, Vanessa’s beautiful Angora cat who regards her 'mistress' with a dark suspicion. If the cat can’t be won over, then the whole deadly charade is likely to fall apart..." - from the back cover.

A Cat With No Clue, by Lydia Adamson. Signet, 2001. Print Length: 203 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (3 reviews). Kindle edition $5.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"For an anniversary present, actress and amateur sleuth Alice Nestleton gifts elderly actor friends Alex and Lila with a meal that is exactly like the one they shared on their first date. But the next day the couple is dead from food poisoning. The only witnesses are the couple's two kittens, so Alice becomes the prime suspect!" - Publisher.

The Cat Who Tailed a Thief, by Lilian Jackson Braun. Jove, 1998. Print Length: 272 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (32 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Winter in Moose County, 400 miles north of everywhere, begins with a disagreement between the local weatherman, who predicts a normal arctic winter, and the fuzzy caterpillar, whose behavior forecasts abnormally mild conditions. (The latter wins when grandiose plans for an Ice Festival are flooded out by an unprecedented mid-February thaw.) The residents of Pickax are even more concerned, however, with a series of petty larcenies and the Pleasant Street historic houses restoration project. It's up to the town's leading citizen - semiretired journalist/philanthropist Jim Qwilleran, assisted by his Siamese sleuths Koko and Yum Yum, to discover the connection between these events and two murders committed Down Below..." - Barbara Duree for Booklist.

Pawing Through the Past, by Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown. Bantam, 2004. Print Length: 368 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (30 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"You'll never get old. Each member of the class of 1980 has received the letter. Mary Minor 'Harry' Haristeen, who is on the organizing committee for Crozet High's twentieth reunion, decides to take it as a compliment. Others think it's a joke. But Mrs. Murphy senses trouble. And the sly tiger cat is soon proven right...when the class womanizer turns up dead with a bullet between his eyes. Then another note followed by another murder makes it clear that someone has waited twenty years to take revenge. While Harry tries to piece together the puzzle, it's up to Mrs. Murphy and her animal pals to sniff out the truth." - from the paperback edition.

Murder Past Due, by Miranda James. Berkley, 2010. Print Length: 304 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (36 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Everyone in Athena, Mississippi, knows librarian Charlie Harris - and his Maine coon cat named Diesel that he walks on a leash. They also know his former classmate-turned-famous bestselling novelist, Godfrey Priest. But someone in Athena took Godfrey off the bestseller lists - permanently, and with extreme prejudice. Now, Charlie and Diesel must browse through the history section of the town's past to find a killer." - Publisher.

Cat in a Vegas Gold Vendetta, by Carole Nelson Douglas. Forge Books, 2011. Print Length: 384 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Temple Barr is an ace P.R. wizard when it comes to promoting Las Vegas’ hottest clients. She’s also an amateur sleuth who has caught her share of bad guys. B-movie actress Savannah Ashleigh begs Temple to investigate the suspicious death of her rich aunt’s handyman. Temple happily takes the case, if for no other reason than to take her mind off her chaotic private life. Her ex-fiancé, the Mystifying Max, is back - minus his memory. And current fiancé Matt Devine has shown up from a stint in Chicago with the promise of a surprising future. Which may or may not include Temple. As Temple digs into the man’s untimely demise she finds plenty of suspect and greedy humans swarming around the ailing Aunt Violet, who means to leave her estate to her resident cats. Temple thinks she’s close to solving the case, but it becomes clear to Midnight Louie, Temple’s roommate and ace feline detective, that there are more deaths both human and feline coming..." - Publisher.

Cat in the Dark, by Shirley Rousseau Murphy. Harper Collins, 2009. Print Length: 320 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (9 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Cat lovers have long acknowledged the special qualities of felines, even those that don't speak, read, open locks, or act like private investigators. Joe Grey and Dulcie can do all of the above and more. While making a nighttime stroll around the quiet village of Molena Point, Joe and Dulcie witness a cat and a slovenly dressed man committing a robbery. The strange cat, Azrael, appears to be as evil as his name implies, and turns out to share the same unique abilities of Joe and Dulcie. The man turns out to be the brother of Mavity Flowers, one of the hard-working older women in the village. The two resident cats, faced with identifying the culprit, come across an investment scam, three deaths, and significant twisting of the plot. Human characters provide the realism in this mysterious fantasy that includes romantic interests and small-town squabbles..." - Pam Johnson for School Library Journal.

The Cat, The Quilt and the Corpse, by Leann Sweeney. NAL, 2009. Print Length: 288 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (43 reviews). Kindle edition $6.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Jillian Hart is content making and selling cat quilts and living quietly in Mercy, S.C., with her three cats, Syrah, Chablis and Merlot. When Syrah is catnapped, Jillian finds not only the thief - thanks to a state-of-the-art alarm system installed by charming PI Tom Stewart - but also a murder mystery to solve..." - Publishers Weekly.
_______________________

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.


see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

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:

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker, by Kevin Mitnick. With foreword by Steve Wozniak. Little, Brown and Company, 2011. Print Length: 432 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (20 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $14.29. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Kevin Mitnick was the most elusive computer break-in artist in history. He accessed computers and networks at the world's biggest companies - and however fast the authorities were, Mitnick was faster, sprinting through phone switches, computer systems, and cellular networks. ...Mitnick bypassed security systems and blazed into major organizations including Motorola, Sun Microsystems, and Pacific Bell. But as the FBI's net began to tighten, Kevin went on the run, engaging in an increasingly sophisticated cat and mouse game that led through false identities, a host of cities, plenty of close shaves, and an ultimate showdown with the Feds, who would stop at nothing to bring him down....a thrilling true story of intrigue, suspense, and unbelievable escape, and a portrait of a visionary whose creativity, skills, and persistence forced the authorities to rethink the way they pursued him, inspiring ripples that brought permanent changes in the way people and companies protect their most sensitive information." - Publisher.

The Long Night: William L. Shirer and the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by Steve Wick. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Print Length: 288 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (7 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $15.00. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"When William L. Shirer started up the Berlin bureau of Edward R. Murrow’s CBS News in the 1930s, he quickly became the most trusted reporter in all of Europe. Shirer hit the streets to talk to both the everyman and the disenfranchised, yet he gained the trust of the Nazi elite and through these contacts obtained a unique perspective of the party’s rise to power. Unlike some of his esteemed colleagues, he did not fall for Nazi propaganda and warned early of the consequences if the Third Reich was not stopped. When the Germans swept into Austria in 1938 Shirer was the only American reporter in Vienna, and he broadcast an eyewitness account of the annexation. In 1940 he was embedded with the invading German army as it stormed into France and occupied Paris. His life at risk, Shirer had to escape from Berlin early in the war. When he returned in 1946 to cover the Nuremberg trials, Shirer had seen the full arc of the Nazi menace...Drawing on never-before-seen journals and letters from Shirer’s time in Germany, award-winning reporter Steve Wick brings to life the maverick journalist as he watched history unfold and first shared it with the world." - Publisher.

The Edible Front Yard, by Ivette Soler. Timber Press, 2011. Print Length: 216 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (7 reviews). Kindle edition $8.99; Paperback $13.57. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"People everywhere are turning patches of soil into bountiful vegetable gardens, and each spring a new crop of beginners pick up trowels and plant seeds for the first time. They're planting tomatoes in raised beds, runner beans in small plots, and strawberries in containers. But there is one place that has, until now, been woefully neglected - the front yard. Soler offers step-by-step instructions for converting all or part of a lawn into an edible paradise; specific guidelines for selecting and planting the most attractive edible plants; and design advice and plans for the best placement and for combining edibles with ornamentals in pleasing ways. ...a one-stop resource for a front-and-center edible garden that is both beautiful and bountiful year-round." - Publisher.

Becoming a Doctor: From Student to Specialist, Doctor-Writers Share Their Experiences, edited by Lee Gutkind. W. W. Norton & Company, 2011. Print Length: 240 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $9.57; Paperback $10.63. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"...Gutkind assembles a chorus of 19 doctors who voice as many diverse features and phases of being or becoming a doctor. From pediatrician to professor, physician to psychoanalyst, the characteristics of each person’s story are at once unique to the medical profession... The authors hail from every corner of the country, and while all can legitimately claim that writing is at least a serious avocation, several are already published and even award-winning writers. Two things are distinctive here. One is that these insights embody a number of generally unvoiced challenges drawn from incidents within the trenches of the medical profession. The other is that the essay format forces pithy, laser-like exposure of self-analytical and thought-provoking perspectives that are certain to engage prospective medical practitioners as well as medically curious lay readers." - Donna Chavez for Booklist.

Lobsters Scream When You Boil Them and 100 Other Myths About Food and Cooking, by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough. Gallery, 2011. Print Length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $10.88. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"In this entertaining and informative reference guide, award-winning cookbook authors Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough take on more than one hundred popular kitchen myths and dish up answers to all your burning questions about food science and lore. No longer must you wait for your butter to reach room temperature before you bake or panic because you forgot to soak your dried beans for dinner. This handy book explains how knowing the truth behind these urban legends can help you be a better chef in your own home...essential countertop reading and a whole lot of fun." - Publisher.

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, by Charles C. Mann. Knopf, 2011. Print Length: 560 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (18 reviews). Kindle edition $14.99; Hardcover $16.77. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. Isolated from each other, the two halves of the world developed radically different suites of plants and animals. When Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas, he ended that separation at a stroke. Driven by the economic goal of establishing trade with China, he accidentally set off an ecological convulsion as European vessels carried thousands of species to new homes across the oceans. The Columbian Exchange, as researchers call it, is the reason there are tomatoes in Italy, oranges in Florida, chocolates in Switzerland, and chili peppers in Thailand. More important, creatures the colonists knew nothing about hitched along for the ride. Earthworms, mosquitoes, and cockroaches; honeybees, dandelions, and African grasses; bacteria, fungi, and viruses; rats of every description - all of them rushed like eager tourists into lands that had never seen their like before, changing lives and landscapes across the planet... Presenting the latest research by ecologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, Mann shows how the creation of this worldwide network of ecological and economic exchange fostered the rise of Europe, devastated imperial China, convulsed Africa, and for two centuries made Mexico City - where Asia, Europe, and the new frontier of the Americas dynamically interacted - the center of the world..." - from the hardcover edition.

Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life, by Martin E. Seligman. Vintage, 2011. Print Length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (138 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $8.98. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Known as the father of the new science of positive psychology, Martin E.P. Seligman draws on more than twenty years of clinical research to demonstrate how optimism enchances the quality of life, and how anyone can learn to practice it. Offering many simple techniques, Dr. Seligman explains how to break an 'I—give-up' habit, develop a more constructive explanatory style for interpreting your behavior, and experience the benefits of a more positive interior dialogue. These skills can help break up depression, boost your immune system, better develop your potential, and make you happier.. With generous additional advice on how to encourage optimistic behavior at school, at work and in children, Learned Optimism is both profound and practical–and valuable for every phase of life." - from the paperback edition.
_______________________

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.

What People Magazine is Reading This Week (August 15th 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 August 15th issue of People:

The Nightmare Thief, by Meg Gardiner. Dutton, 2011. Print Length: 368 p. THRILLER. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (1 review). People's slant: "...even loopy plot twists can't hold back Thief's tidal wave of adrenaline." Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $15.63. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Autumn Reiniger expects something special for her twenty-first birthday. Daddy's already bought her the sports car, the apartment, and admission to the private college... Now she wants excitement, and she's going to get it. Her father signs up Autumn and five friends for an 'ultimate urban reality' game: a simulated drug deal, manhunt, and jailbreak. It's a high-priced version of cops and robbers, played with fake guns and fast cars on the streets of San Francisco. Edge Adventures alerts the SFPD ahead of time that a 'crime situation' is underway, so the authorities can ignore the squealing tires and desperate cries for help. Which is convenient for the gang of real kidnappers zeroing in on their target and a mammoth payday...Working on a case nearby is forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett and her partner, Gabe Quintana. When the pair encounters a suspicious group of men carting six sullen college kids to the woods for a supposed wilderness adventure, alarm bells ring." - Publisher.

The Rules of the Tunnel: A Brief Period of Madness, by Ned Zeman. Gotham Books, 2011. Print Length: 320 p. MEMOIR. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (6 reviews). People's slant: "...sobering, laugh-out-loud memoir..." Kindle edition $12.99; $14.94. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Thirty-five million Americans suffer from clinical depression. But Ned Zeman never thought he'd be one of them... Then, at age thirty-two, anxiety and depression gripped Zeman with increasing violence and consequences. He experimented with therapist after therapist, medication after medication, hospital after hospital... Zeman eventually went further, by trying electroconvulsive therapy, aka shock treatment... By the time it was over, Zeman had lost nearly two years' worth of memory. He was a reporter with amnesia. He had no choice but to start from scratch, to reassemble the pieces of a life he didn't remember and, increasingly, didn't want to. His girlfriend was gone; friends weren't speaking to him. His life lay in ruins. And the biggest question remained, 'What the hell did I do?' By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, profane and hopeful, The Rules of the Tunnel is a blistering account of Zeman's twisted ride to hell and back... It's a guttural shout of a book, one that defies conventional notions about those with mood disorders, unlocks mysteries within mysteries, and proves that sometimes everything you're looking for is right in front of you." - Publisher.
Zeman is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and has also written for Newsweek, Spy, GQ, Outside, and Sports Illustrated.

This Beautiful Life, by Helen Schulman. Harper, 2011. Print Length: 240 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (48 reviews). People's slant: "...topical, unsettling new novel, set in Manhattan's world of private-school privilege but chillingly relatable for parents anywhere." Kindle edition $11.99; Hardcover $15.77. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"When the Bergamots move from a comfortable upstate college town to New York City, they’re not quite sure how they’ll adapt - or what to make of the strange new world of well-to-do Manhattan. Soon, though, Richard is consumed by his executive role at a large New York university, and Liz, who has traded in her academic career to oversee the lives of their children, is hectically ferrying young Coco around town. Fifteen-year-old Jake is gratefully taken into the fold by a group of friends at Wildwood, an elite private school. But the upper-class cocoon in which they have enveloped themselves is ripped apart when Jake wakes up one morning after an unchaperoned party and finds an email in his in-box from an eighth-grade admirer. Attached is a sexually explicit video she has made for him. Shocked, stunned, maybe a little proud, and scared - a jumble of adolescent emotion - he forwards the video to a friend, who then forwards it to a friend. Within hours, it’s gone viral, all over the school, the city, the world..." - Publisher.

Briefly Mentioned: Thrillers for Vacation Reading

Back of Beyond, by C. J. Box. Minotaur Books, 2011. Print Length: 400 p. THRILLER. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (31 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $17.15. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Cody Hoyt, while a brilliant cop, is an alcoholic struggling with two months of sobriety when his mentor and AA sponsor Hank Winters is found burned to death in a remote mountain cabin. At first it looks like the suicide of a man who’s fallen off the wagon, but Cody knows Hank better than that. Sober for fourteen years, Hank took pride in his hard-won sobriety and never hesitated to drop whatever he was doing to talk Cody off a ledge. When Cody takes a closer look at the scene of his friend’s death, it becomes apparent that foul play is at hand... When clues found at the scene link the murderer to an outfitter leading tourists on a multi-day wilderness horseback trip into the remote corners of Yellowstone National Park - a pack trip that includes his son Justin - Cody is desperate to get on their trail and stop the killer before the group heads into the wild..." - Publisher.

The Woodcutter, by Reginald Hill. Harper, 2011. Print Length: 528 p. THRILLER. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (46 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $17.15. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Wolf Hadda’s life has been a fairy tale. From his humble origins as a Cumbrian woodcutter’s son, he has risen to become a hugely successful entrepreneur, happily married to the woman of his dreams. A knock on the door one morning ends it all. Universally reviled, thrown into prison while protesting his innocence, abandoned by friends and family, Wolf retreats into silence. Seven years later, prison psychiatrist Alva Ozigbo makes a breakthrough. Wolf begins to talk, and under her guidance he is paroled, returning to his family home in rural Cumbria. But there was a mysterious period in Wolf’s youth when he disappeared from home and was known to his employers as the Woodcutter. And now the Woodcutter is back, looking for the truth - and revenge." - Publisher.

Full Black, by Brad Thor. Atria Books, 2011. Print Length: 400 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (96 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $14.48. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"Born in the shadows and kept from heads of state, there are some missions so deadly, so sensitive, that they simply don’t exist. When one such mission goes horribly wrong, a wave of dramatic terrorist attacks is set in motion. Their goal: the complete and total collapse of the United States. With the CIA’s intelligence abilities hobbled, former Navy SEAL Team 6 member turned covert counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath launches an audacious plan to infiltrate the terrorists’ network and prevent one of the biggest threats the United States has ever faced. As the plots rocket to their pulse-pounding conclusion and the identities of the perpetrators are laid stunningly bare, Harvath will be left with only one means to save America. Unable to trust anyone, he will be forced to go Full Black." - Amazon.
_______________________

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 the best in newly-released genre fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to.  Recent genre fiction releases in fantasy and science fiction include:

Fantasy

Home Improvement: Undead Edition edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner. Ace, 2011. Print Length: 352 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $14.48. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"There's nothing like home renovation for finding skeletons in the closet or otherwordly portals in the attic. Now, for any homeowner who's ever wondered, What's that creaking sound? or fans of 'how to' television who'd like a little unreality mixed in with their reality shows, editors Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner return with an all-new collection of the paranormal perils of Do-It-Yourself. Sookie Stackhouse resides in these pages, in a never-before-published story... New York Times bestselling authors Patricia Briggs, James Grady, Heather Graham, Melissa Marr, and nine other outstanding writers have constructed more frightening and funny fixer-upper tales guaranteed to shake foundations and rattle readers' pipes." - Publisher.

The Measure of the Magic: Legends of Shannara by Terry Brooks. Del Rey, 2011. Print Length: 400 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $13.99; Hardcover $14.51. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is book two in the author's Legends of Shannara duology following Bearers of the Black Staff. If you're new to the Shannara series, you may want to consult the Wikipedia entry for the series. It lists all the books in the series in Terry Brooks' suggested reading order starting with The Sword of Shannara.

"For five hundred years, the survivors of the Great Wars lived peacefully in a valley sanctuary shielded by powerful magic from the blighted and dangerous outside world. But the enchanted barriers have crumbled, the borders have been breached by predators, and the threat of annihilation looms large once more. Sider Ament, bearer of the last black staff and its profound power, devoted his life to protecting the valley and its inhabitants - and, in his final moments, gave stewardship of the black staff to the young tracker Panterra Qu. Now the newly anointed Knight of the Word must take up the battle against evil wherever it threatens: from without, where an army of bloodthirsty trolls is massing for invasion; and from within, where the Elf king of Arborlon has been murdered, his daughter, Princess Phryne Amarantyne, stands accused, and a heinous conspiracy is poised to subjugate the kingdom..." - from the hardcover edition.

Spell Bound by Kelley Armstrong. Dutton, 2011. Print Length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (34 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $16.29. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"It's been ten years since Bitten, the first novel in Kelley Armstrong's New York Times bestselling Otherworld series. In that time hundreds of thousands of fans have ravenously devoured the adventures of Armstrong's witches, demons, and werewolves. Now, in Spell Bound, she brings them all together for her most sweeping tale yet. Savannah Levine is in terrible danger, and for once she's powerless to help herself. At the heartbreaking conclusion of Waking the Witch, Savannah swore that she would give up her powers if it would prevent further pain for a young orphan. And now, witch-hunting assassins, necromancers, half-demons, and rogue witches all seem to be after her. The threat is not just for Savannah; every member of the Otherworld might be at risk. While most of her fellow supernaturals are circling the wagons at a gathering of the council in Miami, Savannah is caught on the road, isolated from those who can protect her and unable to use her vast spell-casting talent..." - Publisher.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Doubleday, 2011. Print Length: 400 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (58 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $15.68. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway - a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love - a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands..." - from the hardcover edition.

Basilisk by Rob Thurman. Penguin Publishing, 2011. Print Length: 352 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (12 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99; Paperback $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This book is a sequel to Thurman's 2010 novel Chimera.

"Stefan Korsak and his genetically-altered brother have evaded the Institute for three years. When they learn the new location of the secret lab, they plan to break in and save the remaining children there. But one of the little ones doesn't want to leave. She wants to kill..." - Publisher.

The Magician King by Lev Grossman. Viking, 2011. Print Length: 416 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $14.82. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"The Magicians was praised as a triumph by readers and critics of both mainstream and fantasy literature. Now Grossman takes us back to Fillory, where the Brakebills graduates have fled the sorrows of the mundane world, only to face terrifying new challenges. Quentin and his friends are now the kings and queens of Fillory, but the days and nights of royal luxury are starting to pall. After a morning hunt takes a sinister turn, Quentin and his old friend Julia charter a magical sailing ship and set out on an errand to the wild outer reaches of their kingdom. Their pleasure cruise becomes an adventure when the two are unceremoniously dumped back into the last place Quentin ever wants to see: his parent's house in Chesterton, Massachusetts..." - Publisher.

Science Fiction

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Crown, 2011. Print Length: 384 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (19 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99; Hardcover $13.80. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place. Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune - and remarkable power - to whoever can unlock them. For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved - that of the late twentieth century. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig. And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.Suddenly the whole world is watching..." - Publisher.

Legacy: An Event Group Thriller by David L. Golemon. Thomas Dunne Books, 2011. Print Length: 416 p. Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $16.28. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is book six in Golemon's Event Group series about an ultra-secret group whose mission is to uncover hidden truths behind the myths and legends of history. The earlier volumes - all available in Kindle editions - are Event, Legend, Ancients, Leviathan and Primeval.

"The United States is ready to make a triumphant return to the moon, striking out boldly into the solar system in an attempt to regain the confidence of the heady days of the Apollo program. The first of what are to be many missions to the lunar surface was designed to find the frozen water needed to prepare to build a base to launch an assault on Mars. But a shocking discovery at Shackleton Crater brings the first Prometheus mission to an abrupt halt. Remote robots uncover human skeletal remains and a base that had been destroyed countless millennia ago. The information is sent back to earth where forensic analysis at NASA reveals the corpse to be over seven hundred million years old. A secret this devastating cannot be kept forever, and the news is leaked to the world. Soon nations are thrown into a head-long collision, pitting governments against their own citizens as the flames of fundamentalism start a conflagration that threatens to engulf the world... The Event Group is tasked to unravel the mystery and to offer something that can either explain our ancient visitor or, at least, keep the world from descending into chaos. Colonel Jack Collins once again leads a team of the world's greatest scientists and philosophers on a journey that will take the Event Group to the airless world of space..." - Publisher.

Machine Man by Max Barry. Vintage, 2011. Print Length: 288 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (9 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $9.32. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Scientist Charles Neumann loses a leg in an industrial accident. It's not a tragedy. It's an opportunity. Charlie always thought his body could be better. He begins to explore a few ideas. To build parts. Better parts. Prosthetist Lola Shanks loves a good artificial limb. In Charlie, she sees a man on his way to becoming artificial everything. But others see a madman. Or a product. Or a weapon. ... a gruesomely funny unraveling of one man's quest for ultimate self-improvement." - from the paperback edition.

Cowboys & Aliens by Joan D. Vinge. Tor Books, 2011. Print Length: 384 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $7.99; Paperback $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is a novelization of the screenplay of the Cowboys & Aliens movie starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.

"1875. New Mexico Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don’t welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde. It’s a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he’s been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force." - Publisher.

Vortex by Robert Charles Wilson. Tor Books, 2011. Print Length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (12 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $17.15. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In the not-too-distant future, the Sun nears its end as an enigmatic alien race, the Hypotheticals, becomes responsible for enabling humanity's survival. Psychiatrist Sandra Cole works at an intake facility in Houston, assessing the mental states of people taken into custody for evaluation. The drudgery of her job is disrupted when a police officer brings in a seemingly-placid man who writes down things he doesn't understand. His journals present the story of Turk Findley, who returned to the world after 10,000 years, finding himself in the midst of warfare between those who seek direct communication with the aliens, and those who regard such a course as suicidal. Cole's initial view that the writings are simply a pointless joke is shaken when oversight of Cole's case is transferred on a pretext, to another doctor..." - Publishers Weekly.
_______________________

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.




see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!