Kindle Daily Post

May's Kindle Books for $3.99 or Less

From great literature to inspiring cookbooks, May's selection of 100 Kindle Books for $3.99 or Less has something for everybody. Here are a few of our favorites:

 

Literature & Fiction

Curses! by J.A. Kazimer, $3.99

This hilarious and witty romp through the twisted fairy-tale world of New Never City follows "ugly stepsister" princess Asia as she tries to figure out who killed her sister, Cinderella. Asia enlists the help of the villainous R.J., a.k.a. Rumplestiltskin, who's suffering from a curse to only do good deeds.

 

Mystery & Thrillers

Kaleidoscope by Darryl Wimberley, $1.99

Jack Romaine's addiction to speakeasies and cards turns him into an unwilling recruit for a Cincinnati gangster wanting to recover his stolen cash and railroad bonds. The trail leads south to Kaleidoscope, a "beddy" for freaks when carnival season over. Unfortunately, Jack's competition is a sadistic killer.

 

Biographies & Memoirs

As Seen On TV by Lucy Grealy, $2.99

Whether she's discussing promiscuity, The New Testament, or learning to tango, Lucy Grealy's writing seduces and surprises at every turn. Wit, unflinching honesty, and peerless intelligence are the hallmarks of this essay collection.

 

History

Holy Wars: 3000 Years of Battles in the Holy Land by Gary L. Rashba, $3.99 

Today's Arab-Israeli conflict is merely the latest iteration of violence in the Holy Land. Gary L. Rashba sheds light on this unending history of conflict by focusing on pivotal battles to describe the region's 3,000 years of war, from the Israelites' capture of Jericho to Israel’s assault against Lebanon.

 

Kids & Teens

What Color Is My World? by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, $3.99

Basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar champions a lineup of little-known African-American inventors in this lively, kid-friendly book. Filled with engaging profiles, Abdul-Jabbar gives a nod to the inventors whose perseverance made our world safer, better, and brighter.

 

More Great Deals

Fast, Fresh, and Green by Susie Middleton, $3.99

This go-to reference for all things vegetable holds more than 100 recipes for appetizers, snacks, entrees, and side dishes. Perfect for vegetarians, vegans, and omnivores alike, the book also features a veggie shopping guide.

 

Be sure to browse May's entire selection of 100 Kindle Books for $3.99 or Less to discover great fiction and nonfiction titles catering to all ages.

 

Note: Deals expire on the last day of each month. Individual books may have additional territory restrictions, and not all deals are available in all territories.

April's Kindle Books for $3.99 or Less

 

Spring has arrived, and so has this month's selection of 100 Kindle Books for $3.99 or Less. Here are a few of our top picks we're excited to share with you:

 

Russell Wiley Is Out to Lunch by Richard Hine, $1.99

Media executive Russell Wiley's career is about to collapse along with his struggling daily paper and his sexless marriage. Sardonic, humorous, and true to life, this gripping novel offers an insider’s view into a newspaper's inner sanctum.

 

The Pistoleer: A Novel of John Wesley Hardin by James Carlos Blake, $1.99

This stunning portrayal of Texas outlaw John Wesley Hardin exposes the many different sides of the legendary man. From his blood-soaked youth to his time in prison where he studied law, Blake masterfully retells the story of Hardin's life.

 

The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey, $2.99

Set in the canyon lands of the Southwest, a mismatched group of preservation-minded misfits set out to destroy the eyesores that threaten their desert environment's natural beauty. This wildly funny novel is among Abbey's most famous works of fiction.

 

I Wish I Were Engulfed in Flames by Jeni Decker, $1.99

Jeni Decker's brash, personal, and shocking memoir chronicles her effort to raise two healthy kids with autism is an eye-opening read. Her surreal anecdotes will have you either shaking your head in disbelief or nodding with recognition.

 

Daring the Highlander (The Legacy of MacLeod) by Laurin Wittig, $1.99

The sweeping Scottish saga that began with Charming the Shrew continues in this page-turning sequel where Ailig MacLeod returns to Castle Assynt after his brother was killed for plotting against the king. Can the beautiful widow Morainn MacRailt help rebuild his family's legacy.

 

A Matter of Honor by Jeffrey Archer, $2.99

A British colonel bequeaths a mysterious letter to his only son, Adam Scott. Soon after opening the yellowing envelope, Scott's pursued through Europe by the KGB, the CIA and his own countrymen. They intend to kill him before the letter's truth comes out.

 

Check out April's entire selection of 100 Kindle Books for $3.99 or Less. We've created a diverse list for all tastes, whether you're interested in explorations of contemporary culture, imaginative young-adult fantasies, innovative cookbooks, or intense thrillers.

 

Note: Deals expire on the last day of each month. Individual books may have additional territory restrictions, and not all deals are available in all territories.

March's Kindle Books for $3.99 or Less

It's time to celebrate the change of seasons with a fresh list of 100 Kindle Books for $3.99 or Less. Here are some of our favorites from this month's selection:

 

Under the March Sun: The Story of Spring Training by Charles Fountain, $1.99

Spring training, baseball's annual six-week ritual, dates back nearly 150 years. In this fascinating history, the full history of spring training is revealed for the first time: from its start as a shoestring-budget road trip to burn off winter calories to today's billion-dollar-a-year business surrounding the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues of Florida and Arizona.

 

A Little Death In Dixie by Lisa Turner, $2.99

Rich with the atmosphere of the American South, this expertly plotted suspense novel tracks Detective Billy Able as he works to uncover why one of Memphis' most seductive and notorious socialites has vanished. What starts as ordinary procedural work for Able soon morphs into a twisted trail of corruption, tragedy, and disturbing truths.

 

The Crossroads Café by Deborah Smith, $1.99

This sophisticated and poignant romance follows a beautiful Hollywood actress's escape to a secluded mountain cabin in North Carolina. A car accident has left her severely scarred, but in the Appalachians she finds unexpected love with a man who lost his family in 9-11.

 

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi, $2.24

Written with refreshing irreverence, Ramit Sethi's six-week personal finance program takes a practical approach with a nonjudgmental style. The book's core centers around the four pillars of personal finance—banking, saving, budgeting, and investing—as well as the wealth-building ideas of entrepreneurship.

 

Born at Midnight (Shadow Falls) by C. C. Hunter, $2.99

After mixing with the wrong crowd, Kylie Galen gets sent to Shadow Falls camp by her mother. Kylie discovers her fellow campers aren't just "troubled," they're supernatural. The first book of this richly imagined young-adult fantasy series is filled with humor, teen angst, and a good dose of romance.

 

Be sure to browse through March's complete list of 100 Kindle Books for $3.99 or Less. We've taken care to select something for everybody, including taut thrillers, engaging romances, inspiring biographies, well-crafted cookbooks, and histories covering everything from Abraham Lincoln to the legendary punk band Black Flag.

 

Note: Deals expire on the last day of each month. Individual books may have additional territory restrictions, and not all deals are available in all territories.

Guest Blogger: Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis is the best-selling author of Moneyball, The Blind Side, The Big Short, and the forthcoming Boomerang, among other works. Here, he talks about Mike Leach--former Texas Tech football coach and author of Swing Your Sword: Leading the Charge in Football and Life. Michael Lewis wrote the foreward.

A few years ago I flew to Lubbock to write an article about the Texas Tech football coach, Mike Leach. At the time Texas Tech was beating teams with whom it had no business being on the same field. It was hard to see how Leach was doing what he was doing, but it was clear that he was ignoring a lot of football’s conventional wisdom. Leach spread his linemen across the field and didn’t fully distinguish between the running game and the passing game. Fourth down deep in one’s own territory wasn’t a problem, but an opportunity to go for it. On the sidelines, Leach didn’t hide behind one of those giant laminated play charts, all he needed was a scrap of paper with some plays scrawled on it.

When I went to Lubbock I thought I was writing a piece mainly about football. Pretty quickly it became clear that I was writing a piece about an endlessly innovative and original character, who happened to coach football. If you want to think originally, it helps to actually be original, and Leach was. At some level he knew it, too, and so did his players—who adored him. They adored him because he helped them to win, but they adored him also because they knew he was acting in their best interests—and making their lives more interesting in the bargain.

It borders on a sin that Mike Leach isn’t coaching football right now. But he’ll be back, and in the meantime we have this book to remind us that he simply isn’t like other football coaches, or other people. Few other coaches, or anyone else, would respond to an aggressive dog that insists on peeing on his possessions by peeing on the dog. But if you want to live your life the way it needs to be lived, peeing on the dog is sometimes just what you have to do. The trick is to think of it.

Guest Post: Jordan Conn on Manute Bol and "The Defender"

Jordan Conn is the author of The Defender, a new Kindle Single that chronicles the life of Manute Bol.

When I arrived in the remote village of Turalei, Sudan, this April, I quickly realized I'd crashed a party. The first sign was the chanting. I could hear it as I approached the center of town, erupting in attempted unison, the villagers punctuating their screams with "Oyee!" a word meant to celebrate whichever phrase precedes it.

On this night, they cheered a man who was no longer alive and a country that did not yet exist. I was there to learn about both.

The man was Manute Bol, the NBA's first African-born player and the tallest in league history. But in Turalei, his native village, Manute was most famous for his philanthropy and his tireless political activism on behalf of his people. As I walked around, some revelers paused to ask why I was there. When I mentioned I'd come to research Manute's history, many responded with "That's my cousin!" or "That's my uncle!" Familial titles, I would learn, have looser definitions among the Dinka tribe. But related or not, soon everyone drummed and danced and sang. "Manute Bol Oyee!"

The country that did not exist was the Republic of South Sudan, at the time still a few months from being born. On July 9, the region would declare its independence, and stake its claim to freedom after decades of nearly incessant war. In years gone by, they'd dodged bombs and survived disease. But now they were ready to celebrate a new future, and Manute Bol was one of the reasons why. That night they chanted and sang, celebrating peace and impending freedom well into the morning.

A month after I returned to the U.S., as I sat down to write the remarkable story of Manute's life in The Defender, I learned that violence had found Turalei again. A renegade militia attacked. Eleven people died. When I reached my contact in the village, I was told that that two were Manute's cousins. Yet the villagers pushed forward with the rest of their countrymen, and last week, they had another reason to celebrate. South Sudan declared its independence, becoming the world's 193rd country. For the national motto, officials chose the same words that rang through Turalei's streets on that dusty night in April.

"South Sudan Oyee!"

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The Defender is available now for $1.99. Highly recommended.

     --Jason Kirk

Guest Blogger: Don Van Natta, author of "Wonder Girl"

Don Van Natta is an investigative correspondent for the New York Times, and has been a member of three Pulitzer Prize-winning teams.

Ruth. Ali. Jordan… Didrikson?

When Sports Illustrated named its Top 10 Athletes of the Twentieth Century, only one woman was included -- Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias. In writing Wonder Girl, I came to believe that Babe, whose birthday centennial was June 26, deserves to be crowned the greatest all-sport athlete of all-time.

Babe was an all-American basketball player, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in track and field, an outstanding softball and baseball player, swimmer, driver, bowler, tennis player.

She had to overcome ridicule from sexist male sportswriters, who wondered whether she was a she, he or an “it.” “It would be much better if she and her ilk stated at home, got themselves prettied up and waited for the phone to ring,” a sports columnist named Joe Williams wrote.

She did not put the troubles behind her until she took up golf.

In 1946-47, Babe won 14 consecutive tournaments--a record among male and female golfers that still stands. She was the first woman to play and win money in a PGA Tour event. The LPGA tour was literally created to showcase Babe’s long drives and the effortless way she entertained the crowds.

“I just loosen my girdle and let the ball have it,” Babe liked to say.

When she was diagnosed with cancer in 1953, doctors declared she would never play professional golf again. Fifteen months after a colostomy, Babe won the U.S. Women’s Open by an incredible 12 strokes. She shared her victory with her doctors and the thousands of cancer patients who rooted for her.

Babe died 26 months later. President Eisenhower saluted her: “She was a woman who, in her athletic career, certainly won the admiration of every person in the United States, all sports people all over the world, and in her gallant fight against cancer, she put up one of the kind of fights that inspire us all.”

I hope Wonder Girl will leave you with those same feelings.

--Don Van Natta

 

New to Kindle: "Golf in the Kingdom"

Father’s-Day season could not be a better time to celebrate a new, exciting addition to Kindle: the cult classic novel, Golf in the Kingdom. The confluence of sports, sage wisdom, wandering and whiskey makes this book a fantastic gift; full of philosophy, instruction and myth, it’ll rivet sports fans and the spiritually inclined alike. (In the words of one Amazon reviewer, “if you golf, read this book. If you don’t golf and don’t understand why people golf, read this book.”)

When Golf in the Kingdom first came out in 1972, it was straightaway hailed as a classic, helping millions transform their swings--and their lives. Written by Michael Murphy, the bestselling author who is often called “the father of the human potential movement,” the tale traces the arc of just twenty-four hours, with a story of sports and undercurrent of self-expansion and growth.

It all starts with an American tourist on his layover in Scotland. To pass the time, he decides to play a game in golf on one of the most beautiful courses in Scotland, Links of Burningbrush. It is there that he meets the inimitable Shivas Irons, a mystical golf expert, who commences to change the tourist’s game, energy and spirit after a round and a night fueled by whiskey, wisdom and wandering. The two explore the essence of golf and examine a unique, unforgettable approach to the game, one that can be extracted from the novel and exercised in real life. (In fact, readers say that at its most minimal effect, the approach may help you improve your score; at its maximum, it can catapult you from your everyday existence into a version of you that is better, stronger, and more self-actualized.)

After reading Golf in the Kingdom, C. Grant Spaeth, the former President of the United States Golf Association, wrote: “Golf a mere game? A mirror of life? Something metaphysical and/or mystical? All of the above? Shivas Irons, a magical Scottish golf professional, puts those questions to all of us. Superb.” Nancy Weber of The New York Times Book Review said, “Murphy’s book is going to alter many visions. He’s written a mystical tale capable of winning a constituency. I totally believed it and loved it.” 

And, via the video below, get an inside glimpse into the mind that created this seminal classic, as author Michael Murphy talks golf and the game of life:

Edgar Award Winners 2011

The Mystery Writers of America annually present the Edgar® Awards for excellence in the genre. Each spring, these awards acknowledge prestigious works and people, and this year's announcements, released earlier today, mark the 65th anniversary of the awards, which are given for a play, a TV episode, a short story, and--of course--books. Ladies and gentlemen, the 2011 Edgar Award winners...

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Best Novel
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton
An Amazon Best Book of the Month from January, 2010, The Lock Artist is a "smart, inventive thriller... packed with a standout cast of characters, plus enough safe-cracking trade secrets to tempt you to dig up that old combination lock and test your newfound knowledge." --Daphne Durham

Best First Novel
Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva
Bestselling author Michael Connelly, a former Edgar winner himself, writes that "with genuine authority, a dose of cynical humor, and a squinting eye on the world, Bruce DeSilva delivers a newspaper story that ranks with the best of them."

Best Paperback Original
Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard
One helpful customer review proclaims, "Long Time Coming is no mere whodunit but a genuine novel of suspense, peopled by three-dimensional characters living in a moral universe painted in shades of gray."

Best Young Adult Novel
The Interrogation of Gabriel James by Charlie Price
I love this clip from Booklist's review: "Starting with the end result--two dead teens--and fleshing out details via an interrogation, this mystery-thriller maintains its momentum by keeping the carrot ever one step ahead of the reader."

Best Fact Crime
Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime and Complicity by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry
Scoreboard expands on a story that debuted in Seattle Times, detailing two dozen University of Washington football players' alleged crimes and the collusion of university officials, local law enforcement, the media, and even the victims themselves in covering them up.

Best Critical Biographical
Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and his Rendezvous with American History
by Yunte Huang
Poet Yunte Huang's complexly humorous book--part biography, part rumination on racial stereotypes--packs intelligence and no small helping of irony into a compelling portrayal of the many faces (and facets) of the legendary Chan.

Mary Higgins Clark Award (for Suspense Fiction)
The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths
In a short piece she wrote for Amazon, the author herself explains, "The Crossing Places is set on desolate marshland in Norfolk... My story is fictional but there have been many real-life archaeological discoveries on the Norfolk coast. At Holme-next-the-Sea, a wooden henge was discovered, believed to date from the Bronze Age. At the center of the henge circle was a tree, planted upside down. Was this Yggdrasil, the world tree of Norse legend? The tree on which Odin was sacrificed for the good of mankind? Again, no one knows. As Ruth, the forensic archaeologist in my book, says, 'the questions are more important than the answers.'"

And finally, a tip of the fedora to the newly named Grand Master Sara Paretsky, author of the famous (infamous? notorious?) V.I. Warshawski novels and short stories.

Check back soon for more dicussion of past Edgar Winners. Meanwhile, have a thrilling weekend.

     --Jason Kirk

MLB.com Daily on Kindle

Just in time for opening day, we’ve launched MLB.com Daily on Kindle. This is a daily periodical focused on Major League Baseball, and we think you’re going to like it. MLB.com provides in-depth coverage of the entire league, including breaking news, game previews and box scores. Get your baseball fix every day for just $2.99 per month.

MLB.com Daily can be read on your Kindle device or Kindle for Android (Version 2.0 or later). Batter up!

Why You Should Quit Running if You Want to Lose Weight

Guest post by Charlotte Andersen, author of The Great Fitness Experiment

Running is the gold standard of fitness. Not only is it touted as the ultimate fat burner, but you get bragging rights at every social function from fiestas to Facebook. If you're looking to get fit, the first thing you do is strap on those running shoes and hit the pavement, right? That's what we've all been taught, anyhow. Friends, we were taught wrong.

Up until a year ago, I was the cardio queen. I've never met an aerobics class or a road race that I didn't love. Oh sure, I did some weight-lifting, but only because people told me I was supposed to. Yet despite doing 12+ hours a week of exercise, my body still didn't look like I wanted it to. Let's be honest, after five kids, my body will probably never look like I want it to, but a belly that doesn't look like an uncooked bagel would be nice.

Unfortunately there’s a lot of contradictory and confusing fitness advice out there. So I decided the only way to figure it out would be to try everything. In my book, The Great Fitness Experiment: One Year of Trying Everything, I do exactly that, testing out a new workout or diet every month and discovering what works, what doesn't, and what makes onlookers laugh so hard they get a free ab workout. CrossFit, kettlebells, the Primal Blueprint, the Monkey Bar Gym, Rachel Cosgrove -- I tried them all!

One of the first things I tried was the idea of "lifting heavy." The theory goes that if weight loss and fat loss is your goal, then chronic cardio is not the fastest way to get there. I took a leap of faith and tried lifting heavy weights.

I'll cut the suspense and give you my results. Despite lifting like a dude, I did not end up looking like a dude. Instead, I lost inches everywhere and 7% body fat. The jeans I am wearing today are a full two sizes smaller. And I'm pretty sure I don't look like any of those muscle-bound gals in the body-building competitions. At least, no one has said the word "bulky" in my presence. (Although maybe they're afraid I'll punch them with my new muscles?) Now when I run races, not only do I look better in my spandex pants, but I run faster too!

This combination of heavy lifting and high-intensity intervals is the closest thing to a fitness miracle I've ever found. 

How do you feel about weight lifting? Do you have a favorite workout?