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A Year with Aslan: Daily Reflections from The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis (HarperCollins) is $2.99

Book Description:

“Lewis combines a novelist’s insights into motives with a profound religious understanding.” —New York Times Book Review

In the tradition of A Year with C.S. Lewis, get your daily dose of inspiration from this one-of-a-kind devotional collecting 365 readings from the beloved Chronicles of Narnia.

C.S. Lewis channeled his profound spiritual understanding into The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and the other books in his seminal fantasy series. This enthralling anthology (with lavish illustrations by Pauline Baynes) is the perfect gift for fans of the beloved children’s books, and a peerless set of meditations for anyone looking to step through that secret door to their own world of devotion.

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by John Gray (HarperCollins) is $2.99

Book Description:

Once upon a time Martians and Venusians met, fell in love, and had happy relationships together because they respected and accepted their differences. Then they came to Earth and amnesia set in: they forgot they were from different planets.

Based on years of successful counseling of couples and individuals, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus has helped millions of couples transform their relationships. Now viewed as a modern classic, this phenomenal book has helped men and women realize how different they really are and how to communicate their needs in such a way that conflict doesn’t arise and intimacy is given every chance to grow.

Mars and Venus Starting Over by John Gray (HarperCollins) is $3.79

Book Description:

Is it possible to find love again after a breakup, death, or divorce?

At the end of a relationship, it can sometimes feel like the end of the world. Devastation, loneliness, and bitterness are some emotions that exist due to a breakup, divorce, or the loss of a loved one. But with the help of this compassionate guide, Dr. John Gray expresses that you will survive and tells you how to find love again.

While the process of healing is similar with both sexes, there are distinct differences between the ways men and women heal their bruised hearts. In Mars and Venus Starting Over, Dr. Gray offers gender-specific advice on how to:

Deal with pain
Find forgiveness
Discover the strength to let go
Rebuild confidence
Rise to the challenge of finding fulfillment again

Filled with gentle guidance, healing practices, and compassionate wisdom, Mars and Venus Starting Over will help men and women explore the meaning of loss, find their way through the healing process, and discover the secret to moving on.

Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery by Eric Metaxas (HarperCollins) is $2.99

Book Description:

Amazing Grace tells the story of the remarkable life of the British abolitionist William Wilberforce (1759-1833). This accessible biography chronicles Wilberforce’s extraordinary role as a human rights activist, cultural reformer, and member of Parliament.

At the center of this heroic life was a passionate twenty-year fight to abolish the British slave trade, a battle Wilberforce won in 1807, as well as efforts to abolish slavery itself in the British colonies, a victory achieved just three days before his death in 1833.

Metaxas discovers in this unsung hero a man of whom it can truly be said: he changed the world. Before Wilberforce, few thought slavery was wrong. After Wilberforce, most societies in the world came to see it as a great moral wrong.

To mark the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the British slave trade, HarperSanFrancisco and Bristol Bay Productions have joined together to commemorate the life of William Wilberforce with the feature-length film Amazing Grace and this companion biography, which provides a fuller account of the amazing life of this great man than can be captured on film.

This account of Wilberforce’s life will help many become acquainted with an exceptional man who was a hero to Abraham Lincoln and an inspiration to the anti-slavery movement in America.

A Year with John Paul II: Daily Meditations from His Writings and Prayers by Pope John Paul II (HarperCollins) is $3.79

Book Description:

Called the Pilgrim Pope, a pope of the people, John Paul II connected with his flock from the highest to the lowest. He was one of history’s most beloved popes among Catholics and non-Catholics alike, a man whose indomitable spirit touched and taught us all. A Year with John Paul II showcases his most important teachings as well as his inspirational writings, in a daily devotional format that will inspire readers and deepen their reflections and meditations.

With a foreword by Cardinal William W. Baum, head of the Holy See’s Major Penitentiary and former archbishop of Washington DC, an introduction by Bishop William Murphy, and a moving eulogy composed for the pope’s funeral by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), A Year with John Paul II will take readers on a year-long spiritual journey with this deeply religious and inspiring man.

Karol Wojyla was born on May 18, 1920, in Wadowice, Poland. He survived the Nazi occupation during World War II and was ordained to the priesthood in 1946. He was appointed archbishop of Krakow by Pope Paul VI. On October 16, 1978, he ascended to the papacy, taking the name John Paul II. During his papacy he greeted an estimated sixteen million pilgrims at the Vatican’s general audiences. Pope John Paul II died in April 2005.

Once-A-Day 40 Days to Easter Devotional by Kenneth D. Boa (Zondervan) is $1.99

Book Description:

As you read this powerful booklet during the Lenten season, you will experience spiritual growth through interaction with Scripture from both the Old and New Testaments. The readings culminate in the Passion Week and Easter Sunday, and you will gain a greater understanding of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus as you examine critical passion narratives in the Gospels. Through your interaction with these Lenten readings, you will be a joyful witness of God’s carefully orchestrated plan to redeem the world through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

These 40 devotions will allow you to gain a more complete perspective on your personal relationship with Jesus and the power of his work in your life today. Written by Dr. Kenneth Boa, president of Reflections Ministries, each devotion provides thoughts for meditation along with a prayer for each day, making this the perfect devotional for personal, family or small-group use.

Features:

* 40 daily devotions with multiple Scripture readings
* A meditation that amplifies the Scripture passages
* Each daily reading ends with a prayer
* Scripture text from the clear, accessible New International Version (NIV) Bible

The Science of Kissing: What Our Lips Are Telling Us by Sheril Kirshenbaum (Grand Central Publishing) is $2.99

Book Description:

From a noted science journalist comes a wonderfully witty and fascinating exploration of how and why we kiss.

When did humans begin to kiss? Why is kissing integral to some cultures and alien to others? Do good kissers make the best lovers? And is that expensive lip-plumping gloss worth it? Sheril Kirshenbaum, a biologist and science journalist, tackles these questions and more in THE SCIENCE OF KISSING.

It’s everything you always wanted to know about kissing but either haven’t asked, couldn’t find out, or didn’t realize you should understand. The book is informed by the latest studies and theories, but Kirshenbaum’s engaging voice gives the information a light touch. Topics range from the kind of kissing men like to do (as distinct from women) to what animals can teach us about the kiss to whether or not the true art of kissing was lost sometime in the Dark Ages. Drawing upon classical history, evolutionary biology, psychology, popular culture, and more, Kirshenbaum’s winning book will appeal to romantics and armchair scientists alike.

Craft, Inc.: Turn Your Creative Hobby into a Business by Meg Mateo Ilasco (Chronicle Books) is $2.99

Book Description:

Craft, Inc. is the hipster business primer for entrepreneurial crafters to turn what they do for fun into what they do for money. Pro crafter Meg Mateo Ilasco offers a step-by-step guide to everything from developing products and naming the company to writing a business plan, applying for licenses, and paying taxes. Chapters on sales, marketing, trade shows, and publicity round out the mix. Plus, in-depth interviews with such craft luminaries as Jonathan Adler, Lotta Jansdotter, Denyse Schmidt, and Jill Bliss provide inspiration and practical advice.

Accessible, informative, and more than a little spunky, Craft, Inc. paves the way for today’s creative minds to become tomorrow’s trendsetters.

How the French Invented Love: Nine Hundred Years of Passion and Romance by Marilyn Yalom (Harper) is $2.99

Book Description:

“[An] enchanting tour of French literature—from Abelard and Heloise in the 12th century to Marguerite Duras in the 20th and Philippe Sollers in the 21st.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

How the French Invented Love is an entertaining and masterful history of love à la française by acclaimed scholar Marilyn Yalom. Spanning the Middle Ages to the present, Yalom explores a love-obsessed culture through its great works of literature — from Moliere’s comic love to the tragic love of Racine, from the existential love of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre to the romanticism of George Sand and Alfred de Musset.

A thoroughly engaging homage to French culture and literature interlaced with the author’s delicious personal anecdotes, How the French Invented Love is ideal for fans of Alain de Botton, Adam Gopnik, and Simon Schama.

The World in a City: Traveling the Globe Through the Neighborhoods of the New New York by Joseph Berger (Ballantine Books) is $2.99

Book Description:

Fifty years ago, New York City had only a handful of ethnic groups. Today, the whole world can be found within the city’s five boroughs–and celebrated New York Times reporter Joseph Berger sets out to discover it, bringing alive the sights, smells, tastes, and people of the globe while taking readers on an intimate tour of the world’s most cosmopolitan city.

For urban enthusiasts and armchair explorers alike, The World in a City is a look at today’s polyglot and polychrome, cosmopolitan and culturally rich New York and the lessons it holds for the rest of the United States as immigration changes the face of the nation. With three out of five of the city’s residents either foreign-born or second-generation Americans, New York has become more than ever a collection of villages–virtually self-reliant hamlets, each exquisitely textured by its particular ethnicities, history, and politics. For the price of a subway ride, you can visit Ghana, the Philippines, Ecuador, Uzbekistan, and Bangladesh.

As Berger shows us in this absorbing and enlightening tour, New York is an endlessly fascinating crossroads. Naturally, tears exist in this colorful social fabric: the controversy over Korean-language shop signs in tony Douglaston, Queens; the uneasy proximity of traditional cottages and new McMansions built by recently arrived Russian residents of Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn. Yet in spite of the tensions among neighbors, what Berger has found most miraculous about New York is how the city and its more than eight million denizens can adapt to–and even embrace–change like no other place on earth, from the former pushcart knish vendor on the Lower East Side who now caters to his customers via the Internet, to the recent émigrés from former Soviet republics to Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach and Midwood whose arrival saved New York’s furrier trade from certain extinction.

Like the place it chronicles, The World in a City is an engaging hybrid. Blending elements of sociology, pop culture, and travel writing, this is the rare book that enlightens readers while imbuing them with the hope that even in this increasingly fractious and polarized world, we can indeed co-exist in harmony.