Kindle Book Tips: A book on The New Yorker cartoonists is one of the Kindle Daily Deals today + a recommended book for history buffs ("Exodus Lost")

Unusual Kindle Daily Deal book today

I don't check the Kindle Daily Deal every day but did look just now and saw one in today's batch that New Yorker Cartoon fans might not want to miss.

"I Only Read It for the Cartoons: The New Yorker's Most Brilliantly Twisted Artists"
is $1.99 today.  Published October 2014.


  From editorial reviews:

“Everyone who's ever had their mind blown by a New Yorker cartoon has wondered about the twisted, perforated, skewed, and fizzy geniuses that create them. This book is our Rosetta Stone. It explains who these wonderful weirdos are, how they acquire their odd, delicious ideas, and how those ideas migrate fantastically to paper and then press. We are in enormous debt to Richard Gehr for tracking these artists down, for charming them, disarming them, and translating their lives and work into wise and elegant prose. Books like this should cost a fortune.” —David Shenk, author of The Genius in All of Us

"A great New Yorker cartoon goes deeper than it looks, and Richard Gehr's masterful profiles of the magazine's artists reveal the rich weirdness and intense craft behind their doodly bursts of wit." —Douglas Wolk, author of Reading Comics

“[Gehr’s] knowledge of the history and culture of the magazine, and his incisive, revealing interviews, make for great reading…When Roz Chast, George Booth, Ed Koren, and all the rest read this book, I think they will be delighted—as will you.” —Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, from the foreword

A favorite non-fiction book

I'm adding a favorite book of mine that some readers of the New Yorker might like:

Exodus Lost [Kindle Edition] by S. C. Compton
  As with the first book above, Amazon's editors picked this for their "Best Books of 2014" feature.

It's an extensively-researched, in-depth look into the origins of Mexican and Western civilizations, with intriguing parallels noted with the history of other areas of the world.  What's unusual is how very readable it is, although that will be so mainly for history buffs.

The author, Stephen Compton, "dedicated 14 years to the research and writing of Exodus Lost, including travels to archaeological sites in Egypt, Mexico, Greece, Israel, and Turkey and to relevant museum and library holdings across Mexico, Europe, and America.
  He currently edits academic journals in the fields of history and literature for Oxford University Press.

  From editorial reviews:
"Exodus Lost is a first-rate intellectual adventure.  Its fresh perspective and new revelations make for a thoughtful and captivating journey into the roots of Mesoamerican and Western civilizations. I highly recommend this thought-provoking new book."
—Dr. Jonathan Fanton, eminent historian, leading human rights advocate, former President of the New School for Social Research, and retired President of the MacArthur Foundation

"Exodus Lost is a page-turner... I highly recommend this fascinating, educational read by a scholar refreshingly willing to think "out of the box."
—Dr. David Kaufman, Linguistic Anthropologist

The well-illustrated book includes 126 photos, maps, and engravings and, as a result. may take somewhat longer than usual to download.  Both books offer the "Look Inside" feature.

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button


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Amazon Alert - Today Only, Prime program 25% off, at lowest price, to celebrate Golden Globe awards. Also, free today -- full 10-half-hour series "Transparent"... And, reminder: The Big Deal Kindle book sale ends Sunday.

From Amazon's Press Release about Saturday's celebration of Golden Globes with ONE-day offer of PRIME Free 2-day Shipping program at $72 for 1 year (rather than $99 - for new Prime customers only, US) plus Free viewing of all 10 episodes of Transparent for ALL customers today.

---

"In Celebration of Golden Globe Wins, Amazon is Making All Ten Transparent Episodes Free to Watch This Saturday Only—No Membership Required

This Saturday, starting at 12:01 a.m. ET and concluding at 11:59 p.m. PT, everyone can watch Transparent using the Amazon Instant Video app for TVs, connected devices and mobile devices, or online at Amazon.com/Transparent Also in celebration of Transparent and the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards, customers can sign up for Amazon Prime for just $72 this Saturday"

---

As said, NO Prime membership is required for the one day free viewing of all episodes.
  Variety says that this can be viewed for free in the UK and Germany as well.

From the same press release:

"Anyone can watch the Transparent series at no cost on Saturday using the Amazon Instant Video app for TVs, connected devices and mobile devices, or online at Amazon.com/Transparent."

Amazon's press release points out that this series has been "the no. 1 ranked series on Prime Instant Video since the show’s launch.  Also proving popular among critics, the show clocked in a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes with a 98 percent critic rating, and a 91 Metascore on Metacritic."

  "Also on Saturday and in celebration of the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards, Amazon Prime will be available for just $72 - a more than 25 percent savings.  New members can sign up for this limited-time Prime offer at Amazon.com/TransparentPrime. '

That $72/yr rate - Why?
Amazon has never offered Prime at this low an annual rate, which works out to $6 per month for a year.  (It started almost a decade ago at $79/yr and is now $99/yr normally.)  It's partly whimsical, as Amazon's series is the first Online Series ever to win "Top Series" and it happened at the 72nd Annual awards show.
  (After 1 yr, it would be renewable at $99 but can be cancelled.)

 A reminder of what the Prime shipping program includes:

1. FREE Two-Day Shipping on millions of items
   
2. Unlimited, ad-free access to over a million songs, with scrolling display of lyrics
   
3. Instant streaming of over 17,000 movies and TV shows with Prime Instant Video (many are downloadable)
   
4. Free unlimited photo storage in Amazon Cloud Drive (each photo file can be up to 2 GB each)
   
5. Read free books each month through Kindle First and the Kindle Owners' Lending Library
       No Waiting Period. No Due Dates.

Reminder Alert: The Big Deal -- up to 85% off Kindle books ends Sunday January 25 at 11:59pm
MORE KINDLE BOOKS TO BROWSE   Amazon's The Big Deal ends Sunday. - 413 Kindle books at up to 85% off

It's effective through January 25, and the page carries the usual disclaimer re varying selection and pricing of books offered outside the U.S.

For those who didn't read about this feature, which started January 9   The Big Deal page is organized this time by:
  . Mystery and Thrillers
  . Romance
  . Science Fiction & Fantasy Deals
  . Contemporary Fiction
  . Biography & Memoir Deals
  . Teen Book Deals
  . Children's Books
  . Religion & Spirituality Deals

On the right of the page is a list of the Top 10 Best Sellers of the group and
  an option to "See all Best Sellers in The Big Deal..."
  That latter is the top selling 100 out of the 413 offered.

" These lists, updated hourly, contain bestselling items. Here you can discover the best The Big Deal in Amazon Best Sellers ... For non-U.S. customers, Kindle content availability and pricing will vary. "

The bottom of that page is a scrolling list of the currently 413 books, one by one, with a default sort of "New and Popular" and alternate sorts:
  16 per page, if you choose (inside the gray strip bar above the list) the Orange grid for "Detail"
      OR
  60 per page, if you choose the 4-cell, gray icon for "Image" which will show mainly book covers and basic info.
  The shortcut, if you type it on an eReader or tablet: bit.ly/thebigdeal-jan2015



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Kindle Fire and Android Tip: Interesting Mars news story today plus Amazon's Free App of the Day: Exploration Mars (normally $2.99)

 
First photo is from a news story received today on the possibility of ancient life existing on Mars.
This is a very interesting article on correspondences between formations seen there under varying conditions and those we know of here.

Second photo is from Amazon's Free Android App of the Day, normally $2.99 and one that many families (and schools) will want to explore. Some beautiful work was put in on this, and it's very informative.

I'm just sending off this alert, as there are only 5-1/2 hours left, after I noticed it, and those who are tuning in might want to take advantage of it.






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Quick Alert - Amazon Echo appears actually orderable now (by those requesting notices), with a similar product-page display, so availability could be missed. Updated to add video explanation-demo-discussion

Amazon's Echo appears to be available for pre-order by those who had signed up for alerts.

Below is the regular reference set on this blog for what Amazon's Echo is said to do, plus beta-run customers' discussions of that, and an early news-site review when Amazon had generally not been sending out review copies of the device, while they gathered info on what the more or less paying beta-testing customers wanted from it.  Amazon's been adding features daily, as reported in the forum threads.


Amazon Echo - $99 for Prime

    Echo-tests video + discussions 1, 2

    ZDNet review + What's inside?

[Added 1/15/15]
    Explained in video by fast-talkers
    The taller guy talks so fast that I had to turn Youtube's Closed Captions ON. Alexa understood him better than I did.


Note: If you decide to go ahead and buy it after having gotten a notice or 'invite' (if you had signed up for a notice), it'll say $199, but after going through the Cart process, they apply the PRIME member discount of $100, for a total of $99 before tax.
  Another household Amazon account under your Prime acct gets the $99 Prime price also.

Note 2: Availability is 4-6 months.

More on this later, but the discussions linked to will help.


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Kindle Tip: Hundreds of educational books up to 75% off today only. Amazon Studios signs Woody Allen to write and direct a TV series

Today's Kindle Daily Deal (today only is an unusual one.

I was seeing a lot of books showing up today in the Kindle Forum's customer-recommended large discounts thread, which were largely historical or very popular older books, and wondered why there were so many.  So I checked the Kindle Daily Deal and saw that today's deal involves, as you can see in the banner screenshot,
"Hundreds of Educational Books, Up to 75% off."

Worth a look for those interested in non-fiction, not often seen in the larger-discounted sales.

Ends tonight, 1/13/15.


New York Times article on the announcement today from Amazon Studios, after their big win at the Golden Globes the other night:
Woody Allen will write and direct TV Series for Amazon

  And here are a A myriad of other news takes on this by major news sites like Daily Beast, TIME, People, etc.



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Amazon Studios' TV series "Transparent" makes history at the Golden Globes as the first online show to ever win the top series prize, comedy or drama. Ir took a best actor award also.

Amazon makes history at the Golden Globes Awards show

I completely missed the Golden Globes last night - forgot it was on and forgot Amazon Studios' dark comedy series, Transparent, had been nominated, although I did post about the historic nomination when it happened.

Who wudda thunk??

Bear in mind that Prime shipping program members are able to watch TV shows like this at no added cost (40,000 video episodes are included).

The first story, late last night, by Variety - "Amazon, ‘Transparent’ Make History at Golden Globes" - included the following:

' Transparent” won the Golden Globe for best TV series, musical or comedy and star Jeffrey Tambor won best actor.

On the red carpet prior to the ceremony, creator Jill Soloway admitted she considered other homes for the series, but Amazon ended up being a perfect fit. “You want to be somewhere where they’re passionate about you,” she noted. “And they’ve been wonderful.”
. . .
A visibly choked up Tambor thanked Soloway for the opportunity, noting, “I’m 70 years old, these (roles) don’t come along.” He added that he was grateful, “Not for the reviews or for awards…just to get it right. I’m just honored.” '

Variety's second story, this afternoon - "Golden Globes Winner Amazon Is Hollywood’s ‘New Best Friend’" - made these points.

' With two major wins at the Golden Globes, Amazon Studios is now a contender in Hollywood.

The digital network earned its bona fides as a competitive force in TV by landing trophies for best comedy for its critically praised “Transparent” and actor for series star Jeffrey Tambor.
. . .
“Transparent,” which bowed as a series in September after its pilot debuted in February, has been the most talked-about and critically praised entry from Amazon so far...
. . .
Not only was it Amazon’s first-ever Golden Globe award, “Transparent” also became the first online show to ever win a top series prize, comedy or drama, at the annual fete.

Amazon Studios topper Roy Price called the Globe wins “a thrilling dream come true” for the studio and the “Transparent” team.
. . .
Amazon takes the unusual approach of posting its pilots online and making pickup decisions in part based on feedback from viewers.
. . .
... Series creator Jill Soloway and Tambor heaped praise on Amazon for taking the chance on an unconventional story. In “Transparent,” Tambor plays a 70-year-old father who comes out as transgender to his adult children.

“They have guts and they have taste,” said Tambor of Amazon. He also called the streaming service his “new best friend” in his acceptance speech. '

Soloway talks about her own parent's story having inspired her.   Read the rest of the article here.

Other points made
CNBC writes:
"Amazon is debuting four original series in 2015 backed by high profile Hollywood names such as Marc Foster, the director of action blockbuster World War Z and James Bond movie Quantam of Solace.
. . .
Seattle-based Amazon spent around $2 billion on content for its streaming services in 2014, while Netflix splashed out $3 billion. This includes securing the rights for other shows as well as bankrolling original content. Both companies have indicated that they plan to spend more on original productions."

Businessweek writes:
"...winning a Golden Globe for best television comedy for Transparent instantly afforded its Prime Instant Video platform newfound credibility as a venue for first-rate original programming.
  The win for best TV comedy, in fact, let Amazon surpass Netflix in the race for streaming-video awards: House of Cards has so far won Golden Globes only for its stars, including last night's win by Kevin Spacey.
. . .
"... Laura Martin, a media analyst for Needham & Co....says Amazon’s Golden Globe has given it “a positive halo effect on all original programming they’re creating.”  An award is “the best marketing you can buy because it’s free and it’s about quality.”

FT.com reports:
"The online retailer launched its studio division in 2010 and has steadily increased its output every year since, offering its streaming service to Amazon Prime delivery programme subscribers.

  It struck a three-year deal worth about $300m with HBO in 2014 to stream old episodes of hit shows such as The Sopranos and has invested millions of dollars more on its line-up of original shows, which includes Transparent and Alpha House, a political comedy.
. . .
  Amazon and Netflix have led the charge in original production, using streaming technology to take their programming direct to consumers. Streaming has upended the traditional TV model, with many younger people “cutting the cord” on expensive cable or satellite packages."


  Here's the page to view Transparent
  Remember that there's no added cost for Prime shipping members.



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Kindle tips: The Big Deal is back - Over 400 Kindle books at up to 85% off - through Jan. 25. Also, Amazon Editors' January "Must Read" list of 10 books

MORE KINDLE BOOKS TO BROWSE

Well, it's back. I'm repeating Amazon's now and then announcement that their The Big Deal is here again
- 413 Kindle books at up to 85% off

This special feature page discounts are effective through January 25, and the page carries the usual disclaimer re varying selection and pricing of books offered outside the U.S.

  The Big Deal page is organized this time by:

  . Mystery and Thrillers
  . Romance
  . Science Fiction & Fantasy Deals
  . Contemporary Fiction
  . Biography & Memoir Deals
  . Teen Book Deals
  . Children's Books
  . Religion & Spirituality Deals

On the right of the page is a list of the Top 10 Best Sellers of the group and
  an option to "See all Best Sellers in The Big Deal..."

  That latter is the top selling 100 out of the 413 offered.

" These lists, updated hourly, contain bestselling items. Here you can discover the best The Big Deal in Amazon Best Sellers ... For non-U.S. customers, Kindle content availability and pricing will vary. "

The bottom of the page is a scrolling list of the currently 413 books, one by one, with a default sort of "New and Popular" and alternate sorts:
  16 per page, if you choose (inside the gray strip bar above the list) the Orange grid for "Detail"
      OR
  60 per page, if you choose the 4-cell, gray icon for "Image" which will show mainly book covers and basic info.

  The shortcut, if you type it on an eReader or tablet: bit.ly/thebigdeal-jan2015


Amazon announced its "Must-Read" January picks of the month
  These are NOT discounted books but I thought some might want to see what they are.,

Amazon Books Editors' January Picks of the Month

See How Small: A Novel		Scott Blackwood
West of Sunset		Stewart O'Nan
Sweetland: A Novel		Michael Crummey
Leaving Before the Rains Come		Alexandra Fuller
Black River		S. M. Hulse
The Train to Crystal City: FDR's Secret   Prisoner Exchange Program    America's Only Family Internment    Camp During World War II		Jan Jarboe Russell
The Girl on the Train: A Novel		Paula Hawkins
The First Bad Man: A Novel		Miranda July
It Was Me All Along: A Memoir		Andie Mitchell
Golden Son: Book II of the Red Rising   Trilogy		Pierce Brown
The Secret Wisdom of the Earth		Christopher Scotton

Source: I received an email about the "Must-reads," but they're also featured on the their web page for Best of Month



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Kindle Book Discounts Alert: Some Large Discounts by Big 5 publishers reported yesterday and still discounted tonight (Jan. 11). These usually end in 1-2 days.

Unusually large discounts on books by Big 5 publishers - reported yesterday, still on sale today, Jan. 11, 2015.

Some of the discounted books posted on January 10 are no longer discounted tonight, so the ones below won't likely last long.

Although this is late reporting for yesterday, those of you reading the blog entry today who are interested in sudden and short-term discounted prices like these can try these tonight and maybe tomorrow (but they rarely last more than 1-2 days if the discounts are by the Big 5 publishers.

Thought it was worth noting, however, as most of the sales have not been as interesting the last few days.
  I included some non-Big5 because they were put on temporary discount and have good reviews.

Temporarily reduced - still available at reported prices as of 7pm PST Sunday night

' Reported by Caroline Chan
  [Not a Big5 publisher title but one that became free and seems well-regarded.]
Tight Budget, Tight Stomach: The Top 50 Foods for Busting Belly Fat on a Budget
by Nicholas J. Meyer
4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
Was $2.99 - Free today

=======
Reported by Bookish
The Blue Zones, Second Edition: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest
Dan Buettner
NatGeo Publisher
4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (103 customer reviews)
Prior price (not given) - $2.99 today

+++
Commentary on the Torah [Kindle Edition]
Richard Elliott Friedman (Author)
HarperCollins Publishers
Prior price (not given) - $3.99

=======
Reported by KAragon
Snow Angels: A Novel [Kindle Edition]
Stewart O'Nan (Author)
Sold by: Macmillan
3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
Was $7.99 $2.99 today

+++
Vaclav & Lena: A Novel [Kindle Edition]
Haley Tanner (Author)
Sold by: Random House LLC
4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
Was $9.99 $1.99 Today

+++
The Art Restorer: A Novel [Kindle Edition]
Julián Sánchez (Author)
Barcelona eBooks
4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
Was $7.99 - $1.99 today

+++
The Heavens Are Empty: Discovering the Lost Town of Trochenbrod [Kindle Edition]
Avrom Bendavid-Val (Author), Jonathan Safran Foer (Preface)
Pegasus
4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
Was $11.99 - $1.99 Today

=======
Reported by luv2read
Last Chants: A Willa Jansson Mystery [Kindle Edition]
Lia Matera (Author)
Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales In
3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
Was: $13.99 - $0.99 today

+++
Star Witness: A Willa Jansson Mystery
Lia Matera (Author)
Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
Was $13.99 - $0.99 today

+++
Havana Twist: An Earl Swagger Novel
Lia Matera
Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
Was: $11.12 - $0.99 today

+++
Who is Conrad Hirst?: A Novel
Kevin Wignall (Author)
Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
(Whispersync audio $3.99 with purchase)
Finalist 2008 Edgar Award for Best Paperback
Was $10.99 - $0.99 today

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Free and low-cost Kindle books: Search-link options for January for contemporary, non-classics + other bargain pages (US, UK, Canada), w/ 2 New pages + Kindle discount-alerts by customers + Kindle Unlimited Audible w/ Whispersync. Updated.

January 8, 2015 - This includes a quick reminder that the free Kindle book search options in the reference section (right-column of blog) were updated for January.

Regular readers of the blog are aware of the following links, but I repost them (and often add new ones) each month or two, for those who are new to the blog or are looking for a refresher on what's available.

These include some less-known links for avid bargain Kindle book hunters

    December 2014  January 2015.
    Also, all currently free non-classics sorted by:
    Publication Date   Bestselling    High ratings

  There are only a few shown on the first few days of any month, and these include pre-orders due that month -- most of these are listed as "free preview" of whatever chapters chosen, some are short stories, and a few (overnight) not-entire-family-safe titles may show up. Since this is Jan. 8, the listing will include more already available, full books

    Highly rated, under $1

    In addition, Amazon still quietly carries: "Mostly 99c Kindle Books" page, which is a different Amazon listing from the one for highly rated Kindle books under $1.

    Amazon Top 100   (Also, UK-only)

    Amazon's own Limited Time Free Promos.

    NEWer are 50 Kindle Book Deals for $2 Each.  These appear to be selections from the Kindle Unlimited subscription set of 700,000+ Kindle books

    Also, there's a new umbrella page, Kindle Book Deals, for the many types of Kindle book deals available at any given time, so it's another good one to bookmark, along with the page you're reading :-)

    And Amazon has a reminder out today that for students (and their parents), there is a special page for eTextbooks you can "Rent, Buy or Try eTextbooks for Free."


Two ongoing pages you may want to bookmark
1. Free Kindle Non-Classics - includes the above bargain links among other ones and will be further updated this week
2. KINDLE SUPPORT info
  This has an "Often Asked" section which has a lot of good info in it. Updated 7/2/14.


Also for newcomers to the Kindle or to this blog, here are the special monthly book deals for January 2015 -- where to find them, etc.


JANUARY 2015's monthly Kindle Books deal, for $3.99 or less (See UK listing here.)

For those who want to quickly look first at only the ones that are star-rated at 4 or above, here is Amazon's page for that.

  On the main monthly Kindle book deals page, separate categories are highlighted, using Amazon's usual horizontally-scrolling pick-lists, for the following topics highlighted on the main page. They link to "See all" at the bottom of each horizontally-scrolled category row [ I'm adding direct links to the full category listings ]:

  1. History and by Avg Customer Rating
  2. Science Fiction & Fantasy and by Avg Customer Rating
  3. Biography and Memoirs and by Avg Customer Rating
  4. Literary Fiction Deals and by Avg Customer Rating
  5. Religion and Spirituality and by Avg Customer Rating

  6. Whispersync for Voice and by Avg Customer Rating     Audible book with Kindle book


        The Whispersync category has sometimes shown up with an explanation that the corresponding audio book is also sold at the monthly-deal price, if wanted.

  ' Now you can seamlessly switch between reading featured Kindle books and listening to them without ever losing your place...
  First, purchase the Kindle book for $3.99 or less. Then add the narration from Audible for $3.99 or less to enable the feature. '

  The Whispersync category is back on the main Monthly Deals page (there are about 59 of these Whispersync-ready books in January's deals).  They're also included in the overall scrolled monthly deals that can be sorted by several options at the bottom of that main page.

Note that the new Kindle Unlimited subscription program includes many of these as part of Kindle Unlimited so that there's no added charge for the Audible book.

The main monthly deals page also tends to show, on the right, two vertically-scrolling categories:
  1. A list of Bestsellers
  2. Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense highlighted + more in the linked full list w/ sorting options)
      Here's that fuller listing by Avg Customer Rating

THEN, at the bottom of the new main monthly Kindle book-deals page, they offer the FULL current monthly listing, defaulting to sorting by "New and Popular" and there are 108 in all, currently, but the number may vary.

  Here's a direct link to that Full-listing (US), sorted by "New and Popular" for the month, so
    it's a good one to bookmark if you just want to jump to that) and
    you can choose another sort option for this full listing, such as
        Avg Customer Rating or by Price: Low to High

These options should make it easier to find books of interest to you.

The pricing for January's group of Kindle books returns to including 99c books to $3.99 (there were no 99-cent ones for December's monthly deal.

  The Kindle books you'll see on this special monthly-deals page  (UK version here) are new for January.

(US Link: amzn.to/mkbooks-1to4,  UK Link: amzn.to/100kbooks-1to4uk)


The ongoing Kindle Daily Deals page
for any given day usually shows a lot of books since it includes children's books, a couple of genre-specific deals, and the monthly daily deals as well.  Today, January 8, they include 12 first-in-series books.

---

DISCOUNTED / Price Dropped Kindle eBooks III - the ongoing Kindle Forum message thread
  This is an ongoing message thread in which Kindle owners share information on recent drops in pricing on specific Kindle books, often with some added info by the person posting it.

  Here's a link to the thread, which includes many books with large price drops.  I'm starting at a January 4 posting page that includes books that are still on sale today, Jan. 8 (some are highly rated). The first posting is on "My Autobiography (Neversink)" by Charlie Chaplin, which was $9.99 but is $1.99 on Kindle today.

Edited article to add that today's listings in that thread include several books from Simon & Schuster at large discount and also a book that received rave reviews in 2012, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.

  The books discussed in this forum thread tend to be very short-term discounts.

  That forum topic link is to a specific post to start, in this case, a book alert on Jan. 4, as mentioned.  You can browse previous posts or days, or keep up with ongoing alerts after that, because Amazon keeps track of the last message# that you read, so that you can start from there next time.

  While many of the better deals seem to be around $1.99-$4.99, there usually are a decent number of larger-publishing house deals included (primarily price-matching) that tend to end in a DAY, so you'd need to double-check the current pricing of ANY Kindle books that interest you to see if the discounts are still active.

  Again, Kindle book prices are discounted for only a very short time, too often, and are promos, and that's another reason to watch the list.  Most of the large-publisher discounts last only one or two days even when they originate the discount.


DISCOUNTS ON ACCESSORIES Amazon's current pages (some, ongoing) on accessories for Kindle e-Reader and Kindle Fire
  1. Up to 50% (higher discount than usual) on cases for Kindle eReaders
  2. Up to 50% on cases for Kindle Fire (Gen 2) and Kindle Fire HD tablets but NOT HDX tablets
  3. Accessories for all Kindles, with some discounted.


For larger discounts, there are the ongoing pages:
  For US
Goldbox and Lightning Deals which sometimes include bigger one-day sales and
Select-Outlet Deals
Warehouse Deals
Other warehouse deals - more gift oriented
Your Amazon coupons


  For UK and Canada:
UK - Today's Deals
Seasonal Discounts and Sales - UK ('January Clearance')
Warehouse Deals - UK

Canada - The Deals Store


Recently-built Kindle Outlet Store - US
A few months ago, Amazon put together a Kindle Outlet Store to feature their certified refurbished Kindle devices at a somewhat lower cost.


Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

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(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
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Quick Note re update to article on How to Install non-Amazon Apps on Kindle Fire HD and HDX tablets + planned blog topics

Quick note to those reading news feeds

I updated the blog article on How to install non-Amazon apps on the Kindle Fire tablets - to cover newer tablets too, clarify some aspects, add a note about other methods, and to link to the revised articles on how to get Flash working on later Kindle Fire models.

The news feeds don't bring updated older blog articles to the top, so this is just an alert, which I may delete from the main page eventually, since this quick alert is mainly for newsfeed apps that don't "see" the updated blog entry otherwise.

With the New Year, some blog posts I'm planning to do in the coming weeks include:

New Photos+video Cloud storage at no added costs and new general backup features
  (for settings) of the new Fire OS
Update on the progress of Fire OS updates and retrofitting for that OS on older Kindle Fires,
  with software updates v4.1.1, v4.5.1, and v4.5.2 so far.
  Fixes that are starting to come for sound issues for some, missing dictionaries, and missing personal highlights
Collections feature changes...but that depends on whether or not they were intentional
Most recent iOS app update
Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and McMillan agreements and what they may or may not mean.
Small external speakers for tablets and even eInk Readers
New keyboard alternative(s) on the Kindle Fires
Whatever might be happening with Amazon Echo and its nearest competitor


If you've any requests for article topics, let me know at andrys [at] panix [dot] com or at the Comments area here. Thanks.



Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!