Books Recommended by Our Members (September 2010)

[Betsy the Quilter]

For the list of recommendations in August, look here:

http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,31052.0.html

If you are an author or publisher, please do not 'recommend' your own books.  Instead you may start a discussion/promotion thread in the Book Bazaar.  Please see Forum Decorum for guidelines: http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,36.0.html

[911jason]

I figured I'd start off the month with a rare gem, but even though few have heard of this obscure author, I just know that everyone will love it.



All kidding aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. If you like a good mystery, I think you'll enjoy it. Don't believe all the negative hype!

[Jazzys Mom]

That book is one at the top of my list to read! I heard it was wonderful!

[Toshmain]

I just finished reading this hardcover book and just saw that that it's been released as a Kindle book for $2.99!  Shoot!

It's called, "The Problem With Being Perfect" by Wayne Chan.  I'd post a picture of the cover but haven't figured out how to do it yet!

http://amzn.com/1449093558

It's a very easy read.  If you like Jerry Seinfeld or Dave Barry, you would like this book.  

[intinst]

Out of Time: A Paranormal Romance by KindleBoard author Monique Martin
I really liked the characters and the premise of this book, the first in a series.
 A time travel book with a twist. $2.99

[MLPMom]

http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Lust-Preternaturals-ebook/dp/B004183MZM/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1283465559&sr=8-5

I just finished Claimed and Mated by Zoe Winters. I had already read the first in the series Kept and really enjoyed it but I must say, the next two were even better!

And right now you can get all three together for only $.99. I would gladly have paid way more than that for just one of them, definitely well worth the cost and them some.

[CNDudley]

Just in time for the playoffs (if your team hasn't already been eliminated, like mine has!):



Fascinating mix of baseball, Paige lore, and American history.

[intinst]

Trish Lamoree's book, Poor Unfortunate Souls was my last read, another in the PSI Consulting series.
All are quite good.

[Imogen Rose]

NO GOOD DEED by Mary McDonald:



http://www.amazon.com/NO-GOOD-DEED-ebook/dp/B003PPDB8K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1283948991&sr=1-1

MY REVIEW:

Imagine suddenly being taken from you everyday life, being thrown into a cell and interrogated-mercilessly-for almost a year. Mark Taylor, a Chicago photographer, finds himself in this infuriatingly helpless position. All because he was trying to do a good deed-a good deed that could have saved thousands of lives. A good deed that was misinterpreted and he was held as a suspect, questioned about the very incident he was trying to prevent.

Mary McDonald immediately holds us captive along with Mark, we feel his hopelessness, his pain and frustrations. I could not put this book down, my life stopped while I was reading it. Thank you for an amazing read!

[Imogen Rose]

HUSH MONEY BY SUSAN BISCHOFF



http://www.amazon.com/Hush-Money-Talent-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B003YCPGOG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1283953059&sr=1-1

My Review:

For Fairview High School students, Joss and Dylan, living with a secret has become second nature. In fact, it's a way of life for a number of families in their town. They hide their individual secrets, their Talent (special powers), from the National Institute of Ability Control (NIAC), which seems to sequester children with Talents at a special State school, where goodness knows what goes on! High school politics and keeping one's Talent hidden seems to be an impossible task.

Susan Bischoff takes us on a nail-biting journey as Joss and Dylan try to keep themselves and their friends safe from the NIAC while battling Marcus, another teen with a Talent, who seems bent on causing trouble and exposing Joss and her friends. We witness the beginning of a sweet romance between Joss and Dylan. The story is far from over, with a lot of questions still to be answered. I look forward, with great anticipation, to the next book in the Talent Chronicles. Get writing, Susan!

[Imogen Rose]

FAILING TEST by J.M. PIERCE




http://www.amazon.com/Failing-Test-ebook/dp/B003LSSRDA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1283953143&sr=1-1

MY REVIEW:

Just as teenager Test Davis delves into a blossoming romance with his long time crush, Nicole, he discovers that he has supernatural abilities. His powers are so intense that he struggles to control them, exploding his life into turmoil, violence and angst with the result that he becomes a fugitive running from the authorities while coming to terms with his powers. Will his romance with Nicole survive? Will he be able to come to terms with his powers and learn to control them? Will the world be able to accept him?

JM Pierce has written an engaging story told by two voices, by Test and by Nicole. Both characters are well fleshed. Test's frustrations and angst left me rooting for him. I felt Nicole's pain as she tried to decide whether to lead a fugitive's life with Test or give him up. The story is far from over and I look forward to the sequel.... Get writing, JM!

[Betsy the Quilter]

Imogen (and others)--

We'd love to hear what it was about these books that make you recommend them.  We can find the Amazon description on line, we'd love to hear from you.  Thanks!

Betsy

[Imogen Rose]

Imogen (and others)--

We'd love to hear what it was about these books that make you recommend them.  We can find the Amazon description on line, we'd love to hear from you.  Thanks!

Betsy

May I add my reviews to the above posts?

[Jeff]

I was prepared to dislike Map of Bones by James Rollins because it looked like another attempt to blend Dan Brown with Tom Clancy. However, after overcoming my initial prejudice I found myself enjoying the mixture. I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.



Currently $1.99 on Amazon.

[Betsy the Quilter]

May I add my reviews to the above posts?

That would be great, Imogen, in fact it would be great for the users of this thread.  I'd suggest replacing the synopis with your reviews.

Betsy

[tonyaplank]

I highly recommend ROOM by Emma Donoghue: http://www.amazon.com/Room-A-Novel-ebook/dp/B003YFIUW8/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1284007083&sr=8-1

It will be available for purchase on Sept. 13.

I snatched an advance copy at Book Expo America this year and read it three months ago and still can't stop thinking about it. It's haunting but beautiful, and you'll be on the edge of your seat at certain points. It's narrated by a young boy and is about his life with his mother. They live in a single room. I don't want to say any more and ruin it!

[Imogen Rose]

I highly recommend ROOM by Emma Donoghue: http://www.amazon.com/Room-A-Novel-ebook/dp/B003YFIUW8/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1284007083&sr=8-1

It will be available for purchase on Sept. 13.

I snatched an advance copy at Book Expo America this year and read it three months ago and still can't stop thinking about it. It's haunting but beautiful, and you'll be on the edge of your seat at certain points. It's narrated by a young boy and is about his life with his mother. They live in a single room. I don't want to say any more and ruin it!

Tonya, is this the book based on the Elisabeth Fritzl case?

[arshield]

I just finished Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty by Roger Thurow and Scott Kilman.  I admit there were a few sections that were a little dry. But it is told in a fairly narrative way.  It is primarily about Africa.  It starts with the story of the agricultural Green Revolution in the 1950s to the 1970s in Asia and South America and why it did not spread to Africa.  But it spends most of the time talking about the history of the past 20 years.  It is somewhat depressing how many bad decisions have been made over the past 20 years in regard to Africa.  But it is not entirely negative.  It traces a lot of good that individuals and groups are doing in areas of micro-credit, grant making organizations, researchers, etc.  I listened to it as an audiobook from Audible (about 12 hours) but the link is for the Kindle version.

[RangerXenos]

Just finished this last night, paper version as I refuse to pay more than $9.99 for an electronic copy.  Excellent fantasy, and very original premise.  The sequel comes out next month, it's part of a trilogy.

Gilman is one of my favorite authors, I've read a lot of her other stuff.  If you like Urban Fantasy, check out her Retrievers series of books as well.

[cagnes]

Great read!

[MikeMcShane]

just finished "6001 Things You Won't Miss When You're Dead".  about as easy reading as you can get but oh so funny!

[Roger E. Craig - novelist]

Debra L. Martin
David W. Small
THE PATH TO WAR

A short Novella

Nuclear bombs destroy the infrastructure and technology of developed countries leading to chaos in America and all over the world.  America’s population and armed forces are depleted.  Its power generation and manufacturing infrastructure are in ruins, and with it the ability to replace weaponry.  The USA is at the mercy of the bigger populations of less developed nations and also terrorists.  To defend themselves, countries revert to hand-to-hand fighting with swords and ancient weapons.  The more numerous survivors from the south surge northward to plunder a weakened North America.  Scattered US citizenry do not feel adequately protected by the armed forces.  They create their own medieval defenses by walling-in their towns.

General Smith, leader of the remnants of the American Forces, now confronts mutiny by one of his drug- augmented battalion, led by the unbalanced and devious Commander Hurley.  Hurley believes he can save America with his methods fair or foul.  He despises Smith as a weak moralist. His men are the most powerful warriors in Smith’s army, and they want to go-it-alone without Smith’s constraints.  Their first moves in this direction are ominous and frightening enough to bring this novella to a close.  We have to wait for the next novella in this series to read what they do next.  Can General Smith control Hurley’s mutinous battalion?

The character of General Smith is not well defined but the authors give us a few clues: Smith appears to be easily frightened.  He also appears to be naïve and easily manipulated.  His unseemly behavior with Tiffany, a tough, attractive battalion commander seems to indicate he is not as moral as the image he portrays.  And Tiffany is not above using her beauty to manipulate either Smith or Hurley to further her agenda.

Hurley is a patriot, but the drugs he and his men were given have made them mentally unstable and vicious.  But perhaps he and others like him will be the savior of America?  An enigma in the form of a Samurai warrior and his sword lends an interesting twist to the story.

The story is quite creative and believable and the authors unfold it naturally and with good use of the English language. 
 

[DianneS.]

Swan Song by Lee Hanson and Eli Blydon

Swan Song

[Carolyn A]

I"m currently reading "The Gargoyle" by Andrew Davidson. Beautifully written and not at all what I expected. Really draws the reader in. http://www.amazon.com/The-Gargoyle-ebook/dp/B001DOHZBY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284647312&sr=1-1

[JimC1946]

I just finished reading Nazi Werewoofs by Karl Larew. It's a follow-up book to Bad Vampires.

"Nazi Werewoofs" is even funnier than "Bad Vampires." It's "the Three Stooges meet the Marx Brothers" kind of zany action.

[scififan]

I know this is going to sound strange (especially considering I call myself scififan)  but I just finished Dune.   I never got around to reading it.  If you have never read it, You MUST!  It was brilliant!

[MariaESchneider]

Just finished "Learn Me Good" by John Pearson.

http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Me-Good-ebook/dp/B002C75GXK/ref=sr_1_3?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1284996112&sr=8-3

It's nice light reading; I enjoyed it a lot.  Engineer turned teacher of 8 year olds in a public school.  Great format of emailing an old colleague about his various "adventures" as he learned to teach.  This was my pick for a plane read because of the nice short entries.  I didn't have to fear being interrupted.  Funny, sad (sometimes the truth hurts), funny.

[JohnJGaynard]

THE PURGE by Sofi Oksanen

My Review

I finished reading this a few days ago. Although it is not presented as a mystery novel the final few pieces of the puzzle don't fall into place until the last couple of pages.  It tells the stories of three generations of Estonian women and the different manifestations of political evil they have managed to survive through.

The novel starts off with the sex trafficking of a young Russian-Estonian girl, Zara, at the beginning of the 1990s and her escape from the men who have been selling and torturing her in Germany. Zara's mother and grandmother were exiled by Soviet collaborators from Estonia to Vladivostok after WWII (so that other people in the village could steal their farm). Her Great Aunt still lives in Estonia.  Zara seizes the opportunity to escape from the men who exploit her when they drive her briefly through Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia.   With nothing in her possession except the clothes she stands up in and a black and white photograph, she manages to find the small village where her great aunt lives, but she is frightened to tell her who she is. The men from whom Zara escaped are desperate to track her down and she knows it is only a matter of time before they arrive in the village...

Through a series of flashbacks the plot builds by ranging over the lives of three generations of Estonian women (well, two and a half generations, the mother is rarely mentioned, all the focus is on Zara and the generation of her grandparents), and what they lived through  over a period of about 50-60 years, during the (short) Nazi occupation of the country, the (long) Soviet occupation and, for some of them, exile to the furthest reaches of the Soviet Union.  It is a BLEAK page turner.  But I have the feeling that even the worst descriptions don't go as far as the terrible reality Estonian women, and women in other Nazi or Soviet-occupied countries, lived through in the 20th century.

I am not surprised that this novel by a 32-year old writer has already been translated into 28 foreign languages.

The Kindle Version can be found at :
http://www.amazon.com/Purge-ebook/dp/B003XVYZ8G/ref=sr_1_1_oe_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285012947&sr=1-1

[billieh]

A couple of wonderful reads to recommend here:

Dawn Deanna Wilson's Welcome To Shangri-La, North Carolina, which is an ebook of connected stories - great writing, zany characters, a really good read.

and

Susan Henderson's Up From The Blue, just out today, a novel that is very well written and getting a lot of attention from reviewers.

[Basil Sands]

If you like Historical fiction, then Bernard Cornwell is an author to look to. His books range through history from the building of prehistoric Stonehenge to the Viking Saxons and Britain's King Alfred in the 800's, and through the American Civil War of the 1860's. In particular my favourites of Cornwells are:

Stonehenge
The Saxon Stories Series
Agincourt
and
The Sharpe Series (Napoleanic Wars through the eyes of an illiterate private who grows to famous officer)

Cornwells stories are written in such a manner as to give one the sense that we are living in the period of time. His knowledge of daily life, the hardships of surviving in the old ways, the common feelings of humans as we travel through life regardless of the era, is incredible.

Highly recommnded.

http://bernardcornwell.net/index.cfm

[pidgeon92]

Just finished this mystery.... One of the best novels I've read this year...

[Steven L. Hawk]

I just finished K.C. May's book, The Kinshield Legacy.  Very good book that I'd rate as 4.5 stars. 

Here's the review I posted on Amazon:

I don't read a lot of Fantasy books. Science fiction, zombies, and adventure books are my usual fare. But I was intrigued by the blurb for The Kinshield Legacy and downloaded a sample of the book to my Kindle last week. Upon reading, I was immediately absorbed in the story. I didn't make it halfway through the sample before downloading the full version for $2.99.

K.C. May does an excellent job of story telling as she relates the story of Gavin Kinshield, a reluctant hero in search of answers to his past, present and future. While Gavin is the central character, May's writing abilities bring all of the book's supporting cast to life. The broad cast of players, and the world in which they live, are vivid, delicately flawed and wholly believable.

One of my favorite passages describes the blacksmithing process by which an enchanted sword is hammered into being for Gavin's use. The details of the smithing process, and of the sword itself as it unfolds, are described wonderfully. Through May's literary stylings, the sword is born and becomes a character in its own right. And, as a reader, I felt honored to watch it happen.

I heartily recommend The Kinshield Legacy and rate it as 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 for Amazon! It is a great book for lovers of the fantasy genre or for those who simply love a good story.

Amazon Link:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003XT5IYI/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img

[Neekeebee]

This was a very good start to a cozy series set in post-Civil War Boston: .  And currently a bargain at $2.99.

N

[CNDudley]

Just finishing this one. If you read The Worst Hard Time, you know Egan is a great writer. This book combines history (with the scene-stealing Teddy Roosevelt) and apocalyptic disaster. Which is just about one of my favorite combos.

A wildfire the size of Connecticut burns out of control in the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho/Montana, threatening resources, people, and the fledgling U.S. Forest Service.

[Ann in Arlington]

This thread is locked.

For October recommendations look here:  http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,38084.msg681752.html#msg681752