Bargain @ $2.99 in the US-only as part of Kobo's Black Friday sale (may be matched in other stores):
Blindness by the late 1998 Nobel Prize-winning Portuguese author José Saramago (
Wikipedia), his 1995 sfnal literary fiction novel exploring the personal and societal effects of a sudden unexplained city-wide occurrence of Exactly What It Says In The Title, and one of his best-known novels, according to its
Wikipedia entry. Apparently I own the film version (
IMDB,
Wikipedia) of this, which was made by Canadians, on Blu-Ray, which I should someday watch.
This edition is out from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and appears to be only discounted in the US, but is couponable (I know what I'm going to be using my otherwise too-low-value Kobo contest codes upon).
ETA: there's a
The Collected Novels of José Saramago omnibus edition, containing 12 of his works, including
Blindness, with a new introduction by noted sf/fantasy author Ursula K. Le Guin (
ISFDB,
Wikipedia), which seems to be available @
Amazon &
B&N (geo-restricted to US-only, it would seem), which probably provides better value for money at its current price of $20.99 USD, if you've a compatible account.
ETA 2: Huh. Apparently the omnibus edition used to be available via Kobo but is no longer, was dirt-cheap for $7 at some points, had its contents futzed with and then restored, and generally had a surprising amount of drama surrounding it, according to its long-running
dedicated MR bargain thread. I think I'll set a price-watch alert and see if it drops back down again (or HMH decide to withdraw it entirely).
A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and raping women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers-among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears-through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation and a vivid evocation of the horrors of the twentieth century, Blindness has swept the reading public with its powerful portrayal of man's worst appetites and weaknesses-and man's ultimately exhilarating spirit. The stunningly powerful novel of man's will to survive against all odds, by the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature.
The Golden Notebook by the late 2007 Nobel Prize-winning British author Doris Lessing (
Wikipedia), her 1962 literary mid-20th-century historical period-spanning personal/psychological/political journey of self-discovery novel (
Wikipedia), which the blurb calls her best-known and most influential novel.
This edition is out from Harper's Perennial imprint, is non-couponable, and appears geo-restricted to the US only.
Anna is a writer, author of one very successful novel, who now keeps four notebooks. In one, with a black cover, she reviews the African experience of her earlier years. In a red one she records her political life, her disillusionment with communism. In a yellow one she writes a novel in which the heroine relives part of her own experience. And in a blue one she keeps a personal diary. Finally, in love with an American writer and threatened with insanity, Anna resolves to bring the threads of all four books together in a golden notebook.