Recent Kindle Releases #10
It’s all about the books, right? So, here is a listing of some recent Kindle releases. You can see earlier posts in this series here.
I’m trying to show you some real variety. That’s one of the advantages of the Kindle…you don’t just have to read the tried and true (although you can, of course). I think I’m safe saying that there is at least one thing on here…that you’d never read in a million years. 😉
A few little caveats:
- Schedules change: books may be added or release dates changed.
- I don’t deliberately list books from companies that block text-to-speech, although it’s possible something will slip on to the list. I try to be pretty careful, but things do change
- I don’t list prices primarily because they can change (and do). However, I’ve gotten from very inexpensive up to more than fifty dollars
If you’d like to check yourself (we may not have the same parameters for book choices), you can use this search:
I list the author, the publisher (some people care about that), the number of device licenses, and the category or genre.
The number of device licenses is the number of devices on which you can simultaneously have the book for one purchase price. I actually have a question in to Amazon legal right now to pin down a question on that, but that’s the basics of it. If it says “unlimited”, it was probably published independently through Amazon’s Digital Text Platform.
I take the genre from the Amazon product page…books often have several categories listed, so I just pick the one I like best.
Oh, and of course, you can get a free sample first…that may be a good idea if it’s an author you haven’t read before.
You may also want to look at the size of the file…some of these may be quite short. You can figure a “normal length” book is somewhere around 800 KB.
Rajmahal
by Kamalini Sengupta
published by The Feminist Press at the City University of New York (a nonprofit literary publisher)
Device licenses: 6
Category: Literary fiction
This one sounds like it could be really good, although you might think it has an agenda. I’m just interpreting from what I’m reading about it.
Something Borrowed, Something Bleu
Home Crafting mystery #4
by Cricket McRae
published by Midnight Ink (a mystery publisher, part of Llewellyn)
Device licenses: 6
Category: mysteries
Yes, bleu…as in cheese. I could say that makes this a cheesy mystery, but I wouldn’t do that. 😉 Sophie Mae Reynolds, hero of the Home Crafting mysteries is getting ready for marriage. This book takes place in Colorado, giving the series some fresh scenery.
A Theology of Christian Counseling
by Jay E. Adams
published by Zondervan (a faith-based publisher)
Category: religion
Device licenses: 5
How to use theology to inform your counseling.
Third Class Superhero
by Charles Yu
Published by Houghton (?)
Device licenses: 6
Category: short stories
Well, when I saw the title, I figured this was a kid’s novel When I saw the cover, it looked like a graphic novel. Fortunately, I dug up a bit on the book. It’s a collection of “Kafka-esque” short stories, with a geeky twist. Well-reviewed. I’m not positive on the publisher. On the Kindle book, it just says Adult, but the paperbook is published by Mariner, which is part of Houghlin. Oh, and its only 164kb, which sounds quite short.
On the Ground: The Black Panther Party in Communities Across America
by Judson L. Jeffries
published by University Press of Mississippi
Device licenses: 6
category: social science
This sounds like an interesting read! I do have an image of the Black Panther party, but this book covers an actual oral history of all the other things they did and places they were. I vaguely knew that community service was part of the philosophy, but that’s not my first thought. Things are often worth a second thought…and a third…
The Path of a Christian Witch
by Adelina St. Clair
published by Llewellyn (a New Age publisher)
Device licenses: 6
category: Wicca/Christianity
Can you be a Christian and a Wiccan? There would be a lot of history you’d have to put behind you…and you’d have to forgive that whole “thou shalt not suffer” thing. The author shares her personal experience.
Pretzel
by H.A. Rey and Margaret Rey
published by HMH (?)
Device licenses: 6
category: children’s
The Reys are the folks behind Curious George. This one is about a dachshund, not a monkey, but it’s a classic going back to the 1940s, I think. Amusingly, it says it is optimized for larger screens…which makes sense with a dachshund. 😉 It’s also going to look better in color, I think…PC, Mac, iPad.
Quick Escapes from Philadelphia
by Marilyn Odesser-Torpey
published by GPP Travel
Device licenses: 6
category: travel
No, this is not the next Snake Plissken movie (although there is a new one in the works for 2013). 😉 It’s a travel book (for weekend getaways) and up the 4th edition, which is a good sign.
Illegal: Life and Death in Arizona’s Immigration War
by Terry Greene Sterling
published by Lyon’s Press
Device licenses: 6
Category: emigration and immigration
This appears to be solid, but human-focused reporting. The blurbs are impressive. This looks like a tough, but informative read.
The Great Match Race: When North Met South in America’s First Sports Spectacle
by John Eisenberg
published by Houghton (?)
Device licenses: 6
category: sports
Sports have been huge in America for a very long time. This was a horse race that took place in 1823 (decades before the Civil War) between the North and the South…and 60,000 people witnessed it.
Harlequin comics: Keeping Luke’s Secret (Hindi edition)
by Hinoto Mori, Carole Mortimer
published by Harlequin (a romance publisher)
Device licenses: 6
category: romance
Whew! I didn’t think I was going to get something unusual enough this time. 😉 It’s funny, a question just came up recently about Kindle books in Hindi, and their are a few. The Kindle doesn’t support the character set, of course, so these are done by using illustrations. This one is 7464kb…close to ten times the size of a typical novel. That works, though.
This looks like there are some really solid titles in this group. Maybe the mainstream is getting to be more onboard with Kindle publishing…could the stigma be fading?
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.
I Love My Kindle 
July 8, 2010 at 3:32 am |
Hey! I hope your enjoying the activities that are keeping you from full attention on the blog (everyone deserves a break).
One of the things I was wondering about was all of the formatting errors in many of the Kindle book downloads. Even those supplied by major publishers can’t seem to get it right.
I’m currently reading Wanna Get Lucky by Deborah Coonts. On each chapter break the first letter of the first word in the chapter appears on a separate page. This type of thing appears very common to me. It doesn’t destroy the reading experience, but like mispelled words from poor copyediting, it does disturb the process.
I imagine as e-books become more and more popular, these types of errors will be corrected, but i was wondering if you have noticed the same effect.
July 8, 2010 at 12:21 pm |
Thanks for writing, Paul!
I appreciate the concern…I snuck out to the business center while other people are sleeping. 😉
Yes, there can be a lot of errors…but there doesn’t have to be. The Twiller, for example, which I recently reviewed after having been sent a review copy, is as error free as any book I’ve read (including in paper).
The errors can arise in a number of ways, particularly in books that use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to convert a scanned book. My guess is that what happened with the book you describe is that they had used “drop caps”…that’s when the first letter of the first paragraph (typically) is three or so lines tall. It’s often done to make something look old-fashioned and fancy.
Of course, that could have (and should have) been corrected by the publisher. The proofing method is a little complicated by the fact that Amazon does the final format conversion, but they do let you review it.
I’d let Amazon and the publisher know. Amazon may (they have before) tell the publisher to fix it. Amazon can’t fix it themselves, typically.