New Fiction November 8

Is it the publisher or is is Amazon? Why are some of the best novels coming out in hardback today and not available for download on our Kindle? I don't have the answer. One entity blames the other. We lose.

What we can do is download the a books in question - this time The Prague Cemetery from the itunes book store and read them on our iphones or ipads. I absolutely hate to recommend this to you. And, not just because this is a kindle blog. I am not a fan of the ibooks user interface, it stinks. If you are a kindle user and use the ibooks user interface you will immediately know what I mean. Pages are harder to turn, there isn't an easy way to keep the page stable if you turn your device - a real problem if you read while in bed. It is slllooooowwww. It always goes back to the bookshelf when you make a purchase. ...Wow, I sound like a whiner and I could go on and on. It is very sad because I am a big apple fan. I love my iphone. It is constantly attached to me, just with my kindle app as my ereader of choice!

But, either big publisher guys or Amazon are not giving us a choice when it comes to release dates. We want to be able to download and read our books on the day they are released. We are kindle lovers. We are not caught up in some 'save the printed book' protest. We just love to read. Anyway, ebooks have made it possible for so many more people to have access to more books than ever before...you don't even want me to get on my soapbox as a mom of a special ed child who used a kindle to improve his reading by amazing stretches!

Okay...I am stepping down. I have to tell you about a book that available on your kindle for download today. A Train in Winter is sure to become one of the next classics in Holocaust literature. It is a magnificant novel. It is sometimes hard to read, sometimes lovely, other times so moving you wonder why you never heard this story before.

I am just going to give you amazon's description of the novel because I am reading it right now and do want to give you any spoilers...oh, it would be so easy to do so:

They were teachers, students, chemists, writers, and housewives; a singer at the Paris Opera, a midwife, a dental surgeon. They distributed anti-Nazi leaflets, printed subversive newspapers, hid resisters, secreted Jews to safety, transported weapons, and conveyed clandestine messages. The youngest was a schoolgirl of fifteen who scrawled "V" for victory on the walls of her lycÉe; the eldest, a farmer's wife in her sixties who harbored escaped Allied airmen. Strangers to each other, hailing from villages and cities from across France, these brave women were united in hatred and defiance of their Nazi occupiers.

Eventually, the Gestapo hunted down 230 of these women and imprisoned them in a fort outside Paris. Separated from home and loved ones, these disparate individuals turned to one another, their common experience conquering divisions of age, education, profession, and class, as they found solace and strength in their deep affection and camaraderie.

In January 1943, they were sent to their final destination: Auschwitz. Only forty-nine would return to France.

A Train in Winter draws on interviews with these women and their families; German, French, and Polish archives; and documents held by World War II resistance organizations to uncover a dark chapter of history that offers an inspiring portrait of ordinary people, of bravery and survival—and of the remarkable, enduring power of female friendship.


The Sisters is another new novel coming out today and available for download to your kindle. It is getting mixed reviews. I love a southern novel as you know so it is on my to read list. It is set in rural Kentucky beginning during the great depression. It follows two sisters, Bertie and Mabel, close until one creates a breach in their relationship, through WWII and Vietnam. Sena Jeter Naslund who I love, love, love said it was hard to put down and would become a classic!

Many of you have long told me to read Edna Buchanan. Well, I am starting with her new one... A Dark and Lonely Place sounds like a book I won't be able to put down. I have cleared the weekend and it will probably be my #fridayread for twitter. The story begins over a hundred years ago in Florida with alligators and swamps and the criminals who called Miami home. It is a Bonnie and Clyde that is said to out do Bonnie and Clyde and follows the family to the present day.... if this writer is as good as ya'll say I will be engrossed in this book. I can't wait. Especially because then I will have a long backlist to read!

If you love a good foo novel White Truffles in Winter will get you salivating and dusting off your old Escoffier cookbook. It is about the man and his two great loves and the dishes he created for them and other famous people.

Okay, I have jabbered enough, her are some samples of new releases for today, remember, some books, like Eco's The Prague Cemetery, are not yet available for Kindle. I just had to put them on for you in case you wanted to order a hard copy or stop by your local bookstore.



11/22/63 by Stephen King
The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson
Battle of the Crater by Newt Gingrich
Blink of an Eye by William Cohen
The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol
A burial at Sea Charles Finch
Coffin Man by James Doss
A dark and Lonely Place by Edna Buchanan
Endurance by Jay Lake
Hot Water by Erin Brockovich
The Ionia Sanction Gary Corby
Love and Shame and Love by Peter Orner
The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco
Rain Falls Like Mercy by Jack Todd
Scholar by L E Modesitt
The Sisters by Nancy Jensen
The Templar Magician P C Doherty
The Time in Between by Maria Duenas
White Truffles in Winter by N M Kelby

If you know of a book I left off pleas let me know and I will add it...
Plus, if you enjoy this site remember my so called kindle life kares....every dollar you donate goes to purchase books for children and kindles for classrooms along with amazon gift cards for teachers to use with the kindles. We spend approximately 30 to 40 hours in the schools each week working with 'our kids'. They love books. They love to read. They love you - our sponsors who help put new books in their hands. Some librarians in these schools are forced to spend money allocated to the them on 'other things' such as computer software or even textbooks. We we able to bring the Hunger Games to one of our schools two weeks ago and almost the whole school are now fanatics, making up their mini-plays in the class. No reason to wait for a movie up here in southern Appalachia!

Thank you all so much who have already helped!

New Amazon Kindle $114: How Do You Feel?

How do feel about the new Kindle Amazon will begin shipping in May that retails for $114? To get the low price point buyers will agree to advertisements and promotions on the Kindle's homescreen and screensaver. I am still not sure...I always want to share the Kindle love so I am glad more people will be able to afford the new Kindle. However, will the ads be distracting? Amazon promises they will not be placed on book pages - they will be only on screen savers and the homescreen. I could deal with that.

Here is what Matt Hamblen has to say about the new Kindle, to be shipped on May 3, 2011:

Amazon.com announced a new Kindle with "special offers" for $114, priced $25 less than the bestselling $139 Kindle but still above the magic $100 price tag that analysts say will make e-readers affordable to most consumers.

The $114 model is the same as the $139 Kindle, except users will see ads and sponsored screensavers. It's available for pre-order now and will be shipped on May 3. This type of deal is not new: It's not uncommon for on-screen advertising and promotions to be used as trade-offs for lower prices on consumer wireless products.

Several analysts last year predicted that the prices of black-and-white e-readers, including the Kindle, would drop below $100 by now. Amazon seems to be moving in that direction, while some of its competitors are adding color displays and other new features to their devices but keeping their prices roughly the same.

"We're working hard to make sure that anyone who wants a Kindle can afford one," said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

The "special offers" that Amazon is touting will likely be promotions from advertisers that appear on screensavers or at the bottom of the home screen. Buick, Olay, Visa and Chase's Amazon.com Rewards Visa card are the first sponsors. Amazon said that examples of the promotions include an offer of a $20 Amazon.com gift card for $10 and a deal through which customers will receive a $100 Amazon.com gift card when they get an Amazon Rewards Visa Card.

Amazon seems confident that its new advertising model will generate interest among potential customers. In addition to the new Kindle, the online retailer introduced a free Kindle app and a website where customers will vote to choose the most attractive display advertisements that will later become Kindle screensavers. The app is called AdMash.

------------

I guess we will have to wait until the Kindle is in the hands of Kindle owners to see how it actually operates. Let's get ready to welcome a whole new slew of Kindle lovers to joy of ereading! Mandy

Kindle Lending - What Will You Be Reading In 2011 Thanks to Amazon's New Lending Program?

Happy New Year! As a New Year's Eve gift, Amazon's Kindle began it's promised lending program on New Year's Eve. Thousands of Kindle users are thrilled to have the oppurtunity to read more - and share their books.

Have you ever read a great book and just had to tell a friend about it? Are you always recomending books to friends? Kindle finally recognized this and made book sharing possible on the Kindle device.

There are plenty of Kindle books that are available for lending. However, not every book you own will be 'lendable'. This is out of Amazon's hands - it is up to the publisher and has to do with complicated copyright laws.

As it stands now, you can loan any 'loanable' book in your Kindle library once for a period of 14 days. The loan has to be set up using a computer. Amazon will probably tweak this and allow the process to work via your Kindle device in the future.

The Amazon Kindle site has an in-depth explanation of the lending process. Let's look at a simplified version:

1.Determine if a book is lendable. If a book can be loaned out it will be marked 'enabled' under the ASIN code. For books already in your library, a yellow indicator will appear at the top with the words "loan this book to anyone you choose".

Click on the 'Loan this book' link to initiate the lending process. You will be directed to page and fill out the requested info. The recipient will get an email from Amazon which includes the link to accept the book.

Warnings:
There are a few things that have come to my attention right off the bat - I think the lending program is going to be great and I am very excited, but with anything there are kinks that need to be worked out.

One of the biggest kinks is the inability of the book owner to access the book when it is on loan. This makes little sense - are we being punished? But - if I am honest with myself I have to admit I cannot read my traditional books when I loan them to friends. Even so...I would still like to have access - what if we want to discuss?

The other warnings are just things you need to keep in mind. As stated earlier, each book can only be lent once. So, you can lend 'A Confederacy of Dunces' to Aunt Slyvia, but your cousin May will have to buy her own Kindle copy.

Also, books are only on loan for 14 days. This is a fairly decent time to read almost any book. But keep it in mind if you are borrowing books. Do not go crazy and borrow so many books at one time that you cannot read them all in the alloted time.

Now, for the exciting part of the Kindle lending program...What are reading and what is in your library? I have close to 300 books on my Kindle and will be posting lendable titles on this site for anyone interested in borrowing a book. I hope readers and Kindle lovers will do the same - a wonderful community of readers and a great collection of books - what could be better? You will come away with new and exciting reads and new friends.

Where have you been reading your Kindle? Where will you be reading your Kindle in the New Year? Post your answers and let us know!

New Kindle Announcements From Amazon

Amazon made 2 groundbreaking announcements on October 22. First, Kindle magazines and newspapers will soon be availble across devices. For example, if you purchase a Kindle magazine you can read it on your Kindle and read it on your iphone Kindle app. This is great news for all of us who enjoy reading newspapers and mags on our Kindles. The philoshpy from Amazon is 'buy once, read everywhere'!
The new technology will be available in the coming weeks. To begin with, the technology will be availble on iphones, ipads, and the ipod touch. Next, Amazon will work to get the Android on board along with other formats.
The second major annoucement is no less exciting...
Kindle owners will soon have the power to loan ebooks! Kindle owners can loan Kindle books to other Kindle owners via a Kindle device or app. The loan takes place for 14 days. Each book can be loaned only once and the lender cannot read the book during the period it is on loan.
Not all ebooks will be availble for lending. The option is dependent on the publisher and/or the person who owns the rights to the book.
I think this is one of the most exciting things to come out of the Kindle world in some time. I know other Kindle users I would love to trade books with for a short time. I think people might even buy a Kindle if they realize they have this new option.
No word from Amazon if the new lending option requires the Kindle owner to download a software update. Stay tuned for more information. It will be posted as it becomes availble!
Where did you read your Kindle today? It was a gorgeous fall day here. I got to sit on my front porch, enjoy the changing leaves, and read in the gentle breeze. What was I reading? A book I downloaded some time ago but never got around to reading...Elizabeth Street. Anybody read this book?