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The Dinner Diaries: Raising Whole Wheat Kids in a White Bread World by Betsy Block from Algonquin Books is $1.99 (US Kindle)

Book Description:

“I’d always thought food was pretty straightforward: you’re hungry, you eat; you’re not, you don’t. Then I became a mother.”

So begins Betsy Block’s humorous, life-changing book on the ultimate of all makeovers: improving the family meal. But how is her plan even possible when eleven-year old Zack’s favorite food is Halloween candy; little Maya is so picky that she’ll only eat cut squares of white bread; and her husband’s idea of a gift is an electric fryer?

Determined not to give up the good-food fight, Betsy comes up with a creative ten-step makeover plan. She consults experts, visits farms, and shows how she and her family manage the pitfalls, struggles, and triumphs of eating well when busy schedules, surreptitious lunch trades, snack machines, permissive grandparents, and willful temptations intervene. With helpful charts, food lists, recipes, tips, and suggested culinary and farm programs for kids, The Dinner Diaries chronicles one family’s intrepid ten-month challenge to change the way they eat—one forkful at a time.

A Simple Act of Gratitude: How Learning to Say Thank You Changed My Life by John Kralik from Hyperion is $3.99 (US Kindle)

Book Description:

One recent December, at age 53, John Kralik found his life at a terrible, frightening low: his small law firm was failing; he was struggling through a painful second divorce; he had grown distant from his two older children and was afraid he might lose contact with his young daughter; he was living in a tiny apartment where he froze in the winter and baked in the summer; he was 40 pounds overweight; his girlfriend had just broken up with him; and overall, his dearest life dreams—including hopes of upholding idealistic legal principles and of becoming a judge—seemed to have slipped beyond his reach.

Then, during a desperate walk in the hills on New Year’s Day, John was struck by the belief that his life might become at least tolerable if, instead of focusing on what he didn’t have, he could find some way to be grateful for what he had.

Inspired by a beautiful, simple note his ex-girlfriend had sent to thank him for his Christmas gift, John imagined that he might find a way to feel grateful by writing thank-you notes. To keep himself going, he set himself a goal—come what may—of writing 365 thank-you notes in the coming year.

One by one, day after day, he began to handwrite thank yous—for gifts or kindnesses he’d received from loved ones and coworkers, from past business associates and current foes, from college friends and doctors and store clerks and handymen and neighbors, and anyone, really, absolutely anyone, who’d done him a good turn, however large or small. Immediately after he’d sent his very first notes, significant and surprising benefits began to come John’s way—from financial gain to true friendship, from weight loss to inner peace. While John wrote his notes, the economy collapsed, the bank across the street from his office failed, but thank-you note by thank-you note, John’s whole life turned around.

Swinging from My Heels: Confessions of an LPGA Star by Alan Shipnuck and Christina Kim from Bloomsbury USA is $2.16 (US Kindle)

Book Description:

Christina Kim is the brashest, bawdiest, funniest player on the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour. Golf fans know her for her colorful wardrobe, even more colorful on-course antics, and an explosive game. But in this rollicking account of the 2009 season, Kim invites readers deep into her life, providing an intimate diary of a young woman’s struggles on and off the golf course, and revealing the glory and heartbreak of life on the tour.

Once known as a prodigy who shot a 62 in her first LPGA event some six years ago, Kim has newly rededicated herself to realizing her potential, and she takes readers between the ropes for all the action, including her nail-biting near misses at two major championships. She also goes inside the team room at the Solheim Cup, revealing the hijinks and late-night gab sessions that bonded the victorious U.S. team. Along the way we get intimate portraits of her close friends on tour, including tour leaders such as Michelle Wie, Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel, and Natalie Gulbis.

In this courageous telling, no topic is out-of-bounds, as Kim dishes about the LPGA’s sexual mores, the culture clash of an American-based tour increasingly dominated by Koreans, the tumultuous economic forces squeezing the players, and her own battles with body image and her traditional upbringing. Winsome and good-natured, but never afraid of a laugh line or choice profanity, Christina Kim provides a must-read for anyone who loves golf or has wondered about the inner self of a professional athlete.

Bringing Up Oscar: The Story of the Men and Women Who Founded the Academy by Debra Ann Pawlak from Pegasus is $3.48 (US Kindle)

Book Description:

The untold story of the innovative pioneers who helped make movies the preeminent art form of the twentieth century by founding the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The founders of the now infamous Academy were a motley crewas individuals, but when they first converged in Hollywood, then just a small town with dirt roads, sparks flew and fueled a commondream: to bring artistic validity to their beloved new medium.

Today, movies are so ingrained in our culture it is hard to imagine a time when former cowpunchers, prospectors, vaudevillians,even junk dealers made up the rules as they went along. Prohibition and the Great Depression were keeping everyone on edge, and the business was rife with murders and drug scandals. Something had to happen. And so on January 11th, 1927, thirty-six members of Hollywood’s elite and not-so-elite came together at the behest of MGM chief Louis B. Mayer. From Cecil B. DeMille toMary Pickford, Harry M. Warner, who owned a bike shop before launching the revolutionary “talkie” The Jazz Singer, even Joseph M. Schenck, freed from jail just in time to discover Marilyn Monroe—each guest was more colorful than the last. Although they didn’t know it yet, these thirty-six achievers and dreamers gave birth to a golden child.

Who were these movers and shakers who would change moviesforever? And what about Oscar, their famous son? He is fast approaching his 100th birthday, and is still the undisputed king of Hollywood. Yet with such dynamic parents, what else could weexpect?