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Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut from RosettaBooks ($1.99) is the Kindle Deal of the Day (September 6) *Wait for price to reflect discount before 1-clicking
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Customer review: "Many of Vonnegut's themes have remained in my consciousness, continuing to dispense nuggets of thought to my often-addled brain. If that isn't the mark of a memorable novel, I don't know what is."
Breakfast of Champions (1973) provides frantic, scattershot satire and a collage of Vonnegut's obsessions. His recurring cast of characters and American landscape was perhaps the most controversial of his canon; it was felt by many at the time to be a disappointing successor to Slaughterhouse-Five, which had made Vonnegut's literary reputation.
The core of the novel is Kilgore Trout, a familiar character very deliberately modeled on the science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon (1918-1985), a fact which Vonnegut conceded frequently in interviews and which was based upon his own occasional relationship with Sturgeon. Here Kilgore Trout is an itinerant wandering from one science fiction convention to another; he intersects with the protagonist, Dwayne Hoover (one of Vonnegut's typically boosterish, lost and stupid mid-American characters) and their intersection is the excuse for the evocation of many others, familiar and unfamiliar, dredged from Vonnegut's gallery.
The central issue is concerned with intersecting and apposite views of reality, and much of the narrative is filtered through Trout who is neither certifiably insane nor a visionary writer but can pass for either depending upon Dwayne Hoover's (and Vonnegut's) view of the situation. America, when this novel was published, was in the throes of Nixon, Watergate and the unraveling of our intervention in Vietnam; the nation was beginning to fragment ideologically and geographically, and Vonnegut sought to cram all of this dysfunction (and a goofy, desperate kind of hope, the irrational comfort given through the genre of science fiction) into a sprawling narrative whose sense, if any, is situational, not conceptual.
Reviews were polarized; the novel was celebrated for its bizarre aspects, became the basis of a Bruce Willis movie adaptation whose reviews were not nearly so polarized. (Most critics hated it.) This novel in its freewheeling and deliberately fragmented sequentiality may be the quintessential Vonnegut novel, not necessarily his best, but the work which most truly embodies the range of his talent, cartooned alienation and despair.
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The 'Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel' series by Jennifer Bernard ($0.99 each) from Avon/HarperCollins is the Kindle Romance Deal of the Day (September 6)
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Here's the link on Amazon CA for the Deals of the Day!
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Today only, the 'Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel' series by Jennifer Bernard are $0.99 Each.
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The Big Trip up Yonder by Kurt Vonnegut from RosettaBooks ($0.99) is the Kindle Sci-Fi / Fantasy Deal of the Day (September 6) *Wait for price to reflect discount before 1-clicking
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Customer review: "This is a not-too-distant reflection of the future with a lot of humor and wit."
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was known for blending satire, black comedy, and science fiction, and that is exactly what he does in this story. It was written in 1954 and first appeared in Galaxy Science Fitcion. In the chronology of his works, it came between Player Piano and The Sirens of Titan.
The story takes place in a future in which the population has grown so huge, due to an anti-aging product, that generations are forced to live together in crowded apartments. The family in this story is ruled by a dictitorial grandfather, the owner of the apartment and oldest of the clan.
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Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage by Kay Bratt from Lake Union Publishing ($1.99) is the Kindle Politics & Social Sciences Deal of the Day (September 6) *Wait for price to reflect discount before 1-clicking
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Customer review: " Kay Bratt gives an amazing look into the lives of children who reside in orphanages in China."
Irrepressible memories. Vacant eyes. A child being dangled from a third story window. A boy tied to a chair. Children sleeping in layers of clothing to fight off the bitter cold. An infant dying from starvation. Some things your mind will never allow you to forget.
Silent Tears is the true story of the adversity and triumphs one woman faced as she fought against the Chinese bureaucracy to help that country’s orphaned children.
In 2003, Kay Bratt’s life changed dramatically. A wife and mother of two girls in South Carolina, Bratt relocated her family to rural China to support her husband as he took on a new management position for his American employer. Seeking a way to fill her days and overcome the isolation she experienced upon arriving in a foreign country, Bratt began volunteering at the local orphanage. Within months, her simple desire to make use of her time transformed into a heroic crusade to improve the living conditions and minimize the unnecessary deaths of Chinese orphans.
Silent Tears traces the emotional hurdles and daily frustrations faced by Ms. Bratt as she tried to change the social conditions for these marginalized children. The memoir vividly illustrates how she was able to pull from reservoirs of inner strength to pursue her mission day after day, leaving the reader with the resounding message that everyone really can make a difference.
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Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul: Stories of Changes, Choices and Growing Up for Kids Ages 9-13 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Hansen and Irene Dunlap from Chicken Soup for the Soul ($1.99) is the Kindle Kids Deal of the Day (September 6) *Wait for price to reflect discount before 1-clicking
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Customer review: "The stories were riveting. They touched my heart and made me want to cry."
From remembering their own life experience or to watching their own children grow, most people recognize that the preteen years, ages nine to thirteen, can be one of the most awkward times in life—a period of tremendous physical and emotional change. At this age, youngsters are eager to leave the “kid” stage, yet are uncertain about what adolescence will bring; they’d rather listen to peers over parents, and hear all too often to “wait until you're older.” Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul will guide kids through this transition.
Written by and for preteens, this uplifting collection of stories touches on the emotions and situations they experience every day: making and losing friends, fitting in while keeping their personal identity, discovering the opposite sex, dealing with pressures at school including violence, and coping with family issues such as divorce.
Chapters include: On Love, On Family, On Friendship, On Choices, On Changes, On Overcoming Obstacles, Eclectic Wisdom, Tough Stuff, Attitude and Perspective, and Achieving Dreams. Contributors include: *NSYNC, Mia Hamm, Beverley Mitchell, and Karl Malone.
Whether first-time Chicken Soup readers or “graduates” of the bestselling Chicken Soup for the Kid’s Soul, preteens are sure to include this in their backpacks and book bags.
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