Bargains from Houghton Mifflin:
Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles is $2.52 at the US Kindle store ($9.99 at B&N)
Quote:
Product Description
Sometimes the planes don't fly on time.
Bennie Ford, a fifty-three-year-old failed poet turned translator, is traveling to his estranged daughter’s wedding when his flight is canceled. Stuck with thousands of fuming passengers in the purgatory of O’Hare International Airport, he watches the clock tick and realizes that he will miss the ceremony. Frustrated, irate, and helpless, Bennie does the only thing he can: he starts to write a letter. But what begins as a hilariously excoriating demand for a refund soon becomes a lament for a life gone awry, for years misspent, talent wasted, and happiness lost. Bennie’s writing is infused with a sense of remorse for the actions of a lifetime—and made all the more urgent by the fading hope that if he can just make it to the wedding, he might have a chance to do something right.
A margarita blend of outrage, humor, vulnerability, intelligence, and regret, Dear American Airlines gives new meaning to the term "airport novel" and announces the emergence of a major new talent in American fiction.
|
Curious George Takes a Trip (CGTV Reader) (Curious George Early Readers) by H. A. Rey is $1.65 at the US Kindle store
Quote:
Product Description
Curious George and his friend are going on vacation on an airplane. At check-in, the ticket clerk gives George a toy airplane to play with, but he soon loses it and has a few adventures trying to find it again. What an exciting start to his vacation! Learning concepts: modes of transportation Level one in Houghton's new Curious George reader line means that the text is minimal and simple, perfect for readers learning to sound out words while looking at the art for visual clues.
|
The Gift of Thanks: The Roots and Rituals of Gratitude by Margaret Visser is $1.84 at the US Kindle store ($14.85 at B&N)
Quote:
Product Description
Known as an ‘anthropologist of everyday life,’ Margaret Visser has, in five award-winning books, uncovered and illuminated the intriguing and unexpected meanings of everyday objects and habits. Now she turns her keen eye to another custom so frequently encountered that it often escapes notice: saying ‘Thank you.’ What do we really mean by these two simple words?
This fascinating inquiry into all aspects of gratitude ranges from the unusual determination with which parents teach their children to thank, to the difference between speaking the words and feeling them, to the ways different cultures handle the complex matters of giving, receiving, and returning favors and presents. Visser illuminates the fundamental opposition in our own culture between gift-giving and commodity exchange, and the similarities between gratitude and its opposite, vengefulness. The Gift of Thanks considers cultural history, including the modern battle of social scientists to pin down the notion of thankfulness and account for it, and the newly awakened scientific interest in the biological and evolutionary roots of emotions.
With her engaging combination of curiosity and erudition, Visser once again reveals the extraordinary in the everyday.
|