| Politics and War seem to be on our minds these days; makes romance and thrillers more important than ever! Remember to use coupon BAS27 at checkout to get your 10% discount. |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
| Our guarantee: If you have bought one of these titles from eBooks About in the last 15 days -- we will gladly offer you a rebate on the book; just contact us. |
The plot is pretty simple -- a bull-riding cowboy goes to Paris to get his stolen belt buckle back. Within hours he finds himself up to his neck (or maybe somewhere slightly loser) in a plot to destroy both McDonalds and Starbucks. The execution is much more complex.
This is a delightful romp in typical Sandlin style. Offbeat characters, spicy dialogue and great satire. I found my self laughing (out loud) every few pages.
Sandlin takes great delight in poking fun at pretty much everyone -- the French, the Americans, cowboys, poets, spies, intellectuals and women. And so what if it stretches credulity to the breaking point? I'm more than willing to suspend belief for a good laugh!
This is a fun read. And if you haven't read his earlier books this is an intro that will leave you wanting more.
The publishers says:
A rollicking comic romp by the author of Skipped Parts and Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty. Rowdy Talbot isn't the world's greatest bull rider. Not even close. But he lives by the cowboy code, and he never forgets to take off his cowboy hat during the national anthem. When Rowdy wins the rodeo in Crockett County, Colorado, he celebrates his triumph with two young Frenchwomen he meets in a local bar. The next morning, when he discovers that the two have left for Paris with the championship belt buckle he won, Rowdy does what any true cowboy would: He hops on a plane to the City of Light to retrieve it.
What follows is a comic collision of cultures and personalities. In Rowdy in Paris, Tim Sandlin has concocted an unlikely but engaging m¿lange of characters: disaffected French revolutionaries, a turquoise-peddling CIA operative, and a middle-aged courtesan, all caught in a plot to destroy an American fast-food chain.
At the center of the chaos is Rowdy himself, who finds as he searches for the belt buckle that there's another world beyond the back of a bull. By turns smart and satirical, biting and engaging, Rowdy in Paris is a surprisingly moving story about what it means to broaden one's horizons by opening one's heart.
This week Adobe announced that the Beta version of Digital Editions 1.5 is available for download.
This release will fix some of the annoying DRM problems and FINALLY support the Mac Leopard operating system. The Adobe Blog has a long list of features and improvements.
I was very exited when I read about this and rushed over to the Adobe site to find out more. I followed the (broken)link with the intention of downloading and testing it. I'm an old beta tester. I was ready, willing and able. And then I saw the follow notice:
You should be aware that this beta release includes a new version of DRM (Digital Rights Management) protection. If you plan on using Digital Editions for mission critical work, we recommend that, if possible, you continue to use Digital Editions 1.0 until Digital Editions version 1.5 has reached commercial release status (at which time existing Digital Editions users will be automatically prompted to update).
Important: If you have already downloaded Digital Editions 1.0, you must first uninstall the application prior to installing the beta release. Running Digital Editions 1.0 and 1.5 simultaneously will cause issues with accessing and managing your content.
Oh well -- Never Mind!!
The Standard had an eye catching report about eBooks in education and the Chinese government. It seems that "the government decided to supply 165 million students with an e-reader in order to avoid all the physical costs associated with textbooks."
That should save a couple million trees!
And if that's not enough, here is a way to save a couple million more.
Buy the new scanner from Atiz called the BookSnap aka as the "book ripper". For a mere $1,600 you can purchase a book that will "let users convert physical books into ebooks at a blazing speed of 500 pages per hour. The magic of BookSnap includes unique V-shaped book cradle and V-shaped transparent platen that operate together like a V-shaped sandwich. It is extra easy on your books and ensure you always get scanned results with no page curvature."
Celebrate Valentines Day with a Romance eBook.
ALL Romance Titles are 14% off for the next week (until February 20).
Use code BeMine at check out to receive this discount.
New titles for your consideration include:
Go to the New Releases Page and take a look. They come up randomly. Hit F5 to rotate the selections and see new ones.
Enjoy!
Last week I got a very strange email. It came from Jenny at Guerrilla PR and said:
If you are interested in covering the “Plant a Tree” drive, or reviewing iChapters, then please let me know, and I can send you a $5.00 gift certificate to use on iChapters.com, in addition to an exclusive “Plant a Tree” badge for your site.
She included a link to a press release which explains that the I Planted a Tree drive is "a month-long green campaign aimed at emphasizing conservation, supporting reforestation efforts, and reducing the company’s environmental impact by plan
This is a great idea! Anyone in the market for textbooks can buy a book or eBook from iChapter and save both money and trees.
The thing I have trouble understanding is why the company thinks it needs to resort to "bribery" to get noticed.
And even more curious is that there is no mention in the press release or email of the tree drawing contest. I found out by accident when I stumbled on to their Facebook page.
I guess I expect a little more class from iChapters. This company is an innovator. They lease textbooks or chapters of textbooks to use over a six month period. You can use the book online, download a .pdf version and print pages as needed. Oh, and did I mention, that the cost for a text book is about half what you would pay for the printed version?
This is a demonstratively innovative company. So why the dumb PR campaign?
It is particularly absurd when you consider the name of the PR firm: Guerilla PR. Since when is handing out $5.00 gift certificates a guerilla tactic? It is my considered opinion that Guerilla PR needs to rethink their name.
I applaud iChapters for it's social consciousness and effort to help the environment. The Plant a Tree campaign is a marvelous idea and stands on its own merit. Why dilute the message with lame publicity stunts?
For the record: I am NOT accepting the $5.00 gift certificate.
It seems kinda silly to read a couple of hundred pages about something as simple as food. But I did! And Michael Pollan made it worthwhile.
In Defense of Food is an engaging look at food and the food industry. Pollan is a good writer and I was captivated within minutes. For the record, I never intended to do anything more than skim, but I ended up engrossed and read every single word. It was a journey that alternatively amused and enraged me.
Pollan takes on the modern idea of diet with a full scale attack on what we call food and put in our mouths. He exposes Agri-business, pseudo-science and "Big Food." He doesn't spare anyone starting with the USDA and General Mills and ending with the consumer who would rather grab an attractive package of prepared "healthy" food than cook.
Pollan effectively argues that
Believe it or not adding "nutrients" to sugary, processed (starchy) cereal will not magically make it healthy. Additives are not food. Who knew?
Seriously, before you decide to go on a diet, read this book. It is not only informative but interesting.
Like many good ideas, it is pretty simple. Your body is only going to be as healthy as the fuel you provide it. Cut the sugar and white flour. Pick fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grain. Eat small meals. Eat often. Don't gorge yourself; stop when you feel 80% full. Take time to enjoy what you eat.
The writing is lively although the book could use some graphics. Even if you don't learn anything new (which is doubtful), this is an entertaining reminder that food choices are more art than science.
Bon appetite!
The Publisher says:
What to eat, what not to eat, and how to think about health: a manifesto for our times ""Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."" These simple words go to the heart of Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, the well-considered answers he provides to the questions posed in the bestselling The Omnivore's Dilemma. Humans used to know how to eat well, Pollan argues. But the balanced dietary lessons that were once passed down through generations have been confused, complicated, and distorted by food industry marketers, nutritional scientists, and journalists-all of whom have much to gain from our dietary confusion. As a result, we face today a complex culinary landscape dense with bad advice and foods that are not ""real."" These ""edible foodlike substances"" are often packaged with labels bearing health claims that are typically false or misleading. Indeed, real food is fast disappearing from the marketplace, to be replaced by ""nutrients,"" and plain old eating by an obsession with nutrition that is, paradoxically, ruining our health, not to mention our meals. Michael Pollan's sensible and decidedly counterintuitive advice is: ""Don't eat anything that your great-great grandmother would not recognize as food.""
This photo of the new Sony Machine is in the New York Times. If you live in Atlanta, Boston or Santa Rosa you can check it out personally.
BTW -- this is not a vending machine. Oh no! It is "robotic store." Funny, it looks like a vending machine to me, but what do I know?
OK, back to this thing, whatever you call it, that sells Sony Products: batteries, cameras, cassette taps, CDs, DVDs, memory sticks, and MP3 players. It seems obvious that eBooks will be offered as well.
Get that credit/debit card ready. Pick the product, swipe the card and wait for the robotic arm to put it in the tray for you.
You can relax about using that card because "remote sensors will confirm that the product has been retrieved by the kiosk's robotic arm and removed from the tray before the credit card is charged."
The only fly in the ointment is returns and repairs. . .you have to box and ship it to a 3rd party (Zoom). Will be very curious to see how that works.
I remember Kodak taking about something like this 15 years ago, and here it is. Not by Kodak (remember them) but by Sony.
Gadget junkie that I am, I can hardly wait to see and use one.
| Sex, Politics and Psychology top the non-fiction list while humor and bad boys are favorite fiction themes. Use coupon code A9JG4 at check out to get a 10% discount on any or all of these titles. Our guarantee: If you have bought one of these titles from eBooks About in the last 15 days -- we will gladly offer you a rebate on the book; just contact us. REMEMBER all Best Sellers and New Releases are always discounted by 10% -- no coupons needed (ever)! |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
Beacuse you asked for it: Biographies and Memoirs are in the Spotlight this month. |
Over the last couple of weeks I have come across these interesting factiods:
I use the word literacy often but if you asked me to define it I would probably stumble around and make a vague statement that about reading. I really think about it vague and somewhat academic terms.
On impulse I went to the dictionary and looked it up. My Dad would be so proud!. Here is what I found: Literacy is the ability to read, write, communicate, and comprehend words.
Interesting.
I don't see one word about reading books in that definition. What I see is that literacy is about communication.
There are millions of teen who text message every day. Even my aunt tells me that her eight year old granddaughter texts her so often that she has had to learn how text back.
These messages are written communications using words. If you think about it, the text messagers are by definition literate. Who knows, that might even be as literate as a PhD who writes a thousand page tome on Henry James.
Which brings me to the conclusion that the problem for publishers is not reading ability or lack of it. It is more simply a case that most of the books produced aren't doing the job of communicating.
The Middle Place is one of those books that will stay with me for a very long time. I identified at a deep level: I had a larger than life Father. I was a "Daddy's girl". My Dad had a long and lingering illness. During his last couple of years we got the chance to redefine our relationship.
Kelly Corrigan weaves together three compelling stories: her childhood, her fight with breast cancer, and her father's illness (cancer).
This is not a "disease of the month" memoir. This is a vital and honest account of family with all of it's divisions, loyalties and alliances. Over the course of the book you get to enjoy and know the entire family: Father, Mother, siblings, husband and children.
Kelly Corrigan is a graceful writer with a wonderful sense of the absurdity of life and family. After all who else can make you that mad even while you depend on them?
Corrigan captures the joy of childhood and the angst of the teen years. She expresses the frustration of watching your parent rely on the familiar and trusted when better medical help is available. The pain of being told to butt out after all the hard work of finding a new therapy, medication or physician. The anger at the "well spouse" (her Mother) as they try to hide how bad things really are.
Her story underlines the importance of family, friends and laughter in the process of acceptance and recovery.
Read this book! It doesn't matter if you are an Easterner from Philly, a Californian or an Irish Catholic. You don't have to come from a large family. You don't need to have cancer or have someone in your family who has cancer. This is a story with the universal themes of hope, healing and letting go.
The official book information:
"The thing you need to know about me is that I am George Corrigan's daughter, his only daughter." So begins this beautifully written memoir, in which Kelly Corrigan intertwines her own story with that of her larger-than-life, Irish-American, born-salesman father's, and illustrates both an unbelievably powerful and healing father/daughter relationship and the unbreakable bonds of family. Writing with candor and a surprising amount of graceful humor, Kelly alternates the tale of growing up Corrigan with her life and her father's today, as they each-successfully, for now-battle cancer. Throughout, she explores the framework of illness and what it means when the one person who has been your source of strength is in need of some himself. Uplifting without shying away from the realities of life with cancer, this highly personal story ultimately examines the universal theme of family, both those we create and those that created us. The Middle Place is about the bittersweet moment between childhood and adulthood-when you're a devoted wife and mother, but you'll always be daddy's girl. In fresh, insightful prose, Kelly explores and ultimately embraces that "middle place," bringing to light the wonderful opportunity of coming to know who you are and where you truly belong.
Technorati Tags: ebook,e-book,ebooks about medicine,cancer,The Middle Place,Kelly Corrigan,ebook review
|
| eBooks About ... |
| Visit this group |
