Kindle Korner... Let There Be Light (at least on the page I'm reading!)

Let There Be Light...

Kindle and Nook owners... Let there be light! If you're looking for the perfect eReader light, look no further. The Solis eReader light by Octovo is my favorite light, and they just came out with the Solis for the latest generation of Kindles! With an arm that swings the light out,the coverage is remarkable from the top of the page to the bottom and with virtually no glare. (Check out the Solis eReader on the Octovo website to see for yourself). Plus, the light is a single LED so Octovo says the Solis "can be expected to light your Kindle pages for up to 40 years" (I don't think they're referring to the battery life here, just the life of the LED). The base of the light rests on top of your Kindle at a slight angle, which helps to eliminate glare on the reading page. Now, the Solis lights for the Kindle 2's fit snugly on the top of the Kindle, and I haven't gotten to actually try the new Solis lights yet, so I'm not sure how snug they are as the description on the website says "rests on top". But I did order one and will let you know when I finally get to read in the dark with it! Also, the base of the Solis for the latest generation Kindles is dark to match the graphite color of the new graphite Kindles. If you have the "classic" Kindle color (white) you'll have to settle for the same one because Octovo only made the new Solis lights with a dark base. I emailed Octovo today to ask about if they would be coming out with a Solis eReader light to match the "classic" Kindle color of white for the new Kindles, and was told that there are no plans to produce them right now.

Solis eReader lights for the Kindle 2 are made to match the "classic" color though. And Nook owners, you are not left out because the Solis eReader is available for Nooks now too! The Solis eReader light retails for $29.99 for either the Kindle versions or the Nook version. Oh, and the original Solis eReader light for the Kindle 2 operated on 2 AA batteries. I'm assuming that the new Solis eReader for the Kindle 3 and the Nook also need 2 AA batteries, although the website doesn't say.

There are plenty of eReader lights available at all different prices. In a previous Kindle Korner post, I talked about the Kandle eReader light for Kindle (now available in black for $25 or white for $21.50), which clips on the top of the Kindle and is a nice choice, and the Mighty Bright Lights, which are your basic "goose neck" eReader lights that also clip on any eReader and sell for about $15.oo. Click on the Kindle Korner link above to check out the previous reviews!

Do you read in the dark? Which eReader light are you using? Do you find the coverage to be adequate? Share what you're doing for your "after hour" reading!

The Sunday Salon... Books with Buzz!

Good Morning! It's been a busy week planning my blogoversary, so there was a lot going on behind the scenes of Chick with Books, but not much posting. Not to worry though, I'm going to make it up to you in a few weeks time, with some exciting things going on for the celebration! In the meantime, I did get in a bit of reading- I started and finished The Help by Kathryn Stockett and really enjoyed it! The characters came alive to me and I found that when I had to put the book down, I eagerly went back for more! If you haven't cracked the spine on this one yet, let me say YOU SHOULD! I'll be reviewing it this week, so I'll talk more about it more then. This coming week I've also got a few great reviews with giveaways coming up, including a couple of audiobooks! And Kindle fans, I've got a cute little gadget review coming up in a Kindle Korner post this week too! But on to the Sunday Salon, and some great books with buzz! I've got a little of everything today, including a medical miracle...

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot... "Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the effects of the atom bomb; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions... Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave. Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia—a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo—to East Baltimore today. Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. Henriettas Daughter Deborah wonders, if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance?" Rebecca Skloot is an award winning science writer, but The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is not suppose to be some dry piece of research, but a story of a woman, her family, her legacy and scientific research. This book has gotten a lot of praise and just seemed so interesting to me. I never knew about "immortal" human cells or what they could be used for. Read an Excerpt of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks from O the Oprah Magazine, and learn more about the author and the book at her website, Rebeccaskloot.com.

Burn by Ted Dekker and Erin Healy..."Years ago, the Gypsy Kumpania (c0mmunity) where Janeal Mikkado lived was attacked by outsiders. With her best friend about to be consumed by a fire, Janeal had two options: try to save her friend--at serious risk to her own life--or disappear with the million dollars that she had just discovered... But the past is quickly coming back to haunt her. Both the best friend and the boyfriend that she was sure were dead have reappeared in her life, as has someone who knows about the money. There's a debt to be paid for the money she found, but there's an even greater debt she must face--and if the chaff isn't burned from her own heart, it will consume her." Thrill writer Ted Dekker is back along with Erin Healy with another page turner. Lots of buzz on this one, and sure to be another Ted Dekker best seller. So if you'd like a little more terror in your winter reading, check out Burn!

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake... "Weaving together the stories of three very different women loosely tied to each other, debut novelist Blake takes readers back and forth between small town America and war-torn Europe in 1940. Single, 40-year-old postmistress Iris James and young newlywed Emma Trask are both new arrivals to Franklin, Mass., on Cape Cod. While Iris and Emma go about their daily lives, they follow American reporter Frankie Bard on the radio as she delivers powerful and personal accounts from the London Blitz and elsewhere in Europe. While Trask waits for the return of her husband—a volunteer doctor stationed in England—James comes across a letter with valuable information that she chooses to hide. Blake captures two different worlds—a naïve nation in denial and, across the ocean, a continent wracked with terror—with a deft sense of character and plot, and a perfect willingness to take on big, complex questions, such as the merits of truth and truth-telling in wartime." The Postmistress by Sarah Blake is due in stores this coming week and it has gotten so much positive praise for the writing and the story. WWII has been a favorite among authors this past year, (I'm thinking The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society), but there's always room for another great book and this promises to be one! This is suppose to be a big hit this year! Read the first chapter of The Postmistress by Sarah Blake and see what you think! (and here's a little sneak peek at a surprise for a lucky "follower" of my blog... a copy The Postmistress is part of a wonderful bundle of books up for grabs as part of my blogoversary and courtesy of G.P.Putnam's Sons!)

Hope you've found something to peak your interest today! Less than 2 weeks before the One year anniversary of the blog celebration! And in the meantime... Happy reading! Suzanne

Kindle Korner... Kindle goes International, Chick with Books is on Kindle Now!, and some Great Kindle Book Bargains!

The Kindle Leaves U.S. for a European Vacation...

Like Reading this Blog? It's Kindle Ready!

And a few great bargains in the Kindle Store....

The Day we've allbeen waiting for happens this coming Monday Oct. 19th... Kindle goes International with the release of the Kindle 2 U.S. and International Wireless version! This new version for our international friends is priced at $279. With the Kindle 2 (non-international version) price lowering to $259 from it's original $299! What does all this mean for you? It means that all of us traveling abroad can take our Kindle with us and have the ability to download books ! U.S. Kindle owners with the new Kindle 2 international traveling abroad will have to pay a $1.99 fee to download books wirelessly and pay a $4.99 weekly fee for subscriptions to periodical, blogs etc., but there is no fee for downloading books via your computer and then transferring to your Kindle with the USB. Amazon has a page devoted to information related to traveling with your Kindle HERE. Would you like to see if there's coverage where you live? Here's a link to Amazon's coverage map . So, have you still been waiting to buy that Kindle? I'd like to know if you live in the U.S. if you're going to buy the Kindle 2 International? If you travel outside the U.S. then the Kindle international version is a definite choice, but what if... What if you're swept off your feet to Paris, or Madrid, or Florence and you don't have an international version Kindle 2? What are you going to do then?! Let me know...

Now a little Kindle news from home... Chick with Books is Kindle Ready! That's right, you can now subscribe to my blog thru Amazon and read it on your Kindle! With a few tweaks, and lot's of encouragement, I officially launched it Sept. 13th! With the official announcement by Len Edgerly on his Oct. 2nd podcast of The Kindle Chronicles. What's nice about having the blog on Kindle is each post is listed as an article, and you can scroll thru the list of articles to find the Sunday Salon book recommendations, a particular review, or any other post you'll like to find easily. If you take your Kindle with you, like my husband does when I drag him to the bookstore, you have all those book recommendations at the click of a button. If you see something you'd like to remember while reading the blog on the Kindle, you can click on my "Kindle Ready" link and you're able to add the book to your Amazon.com wishlist. It would be great to have a link right to the first chapter, but you have to actually go into the Kindle store to be able to do that. After subscribing you'll automatically get an archive of the previous months posts too. PLUS, the first 2 weeks of your subscription is FREE! SO, let me know what you think! Subscribe for the 2 weeks for free and try it out! It's easy to subscribe! (It's also easy to cancel, but would love it if you like it enough to keep!) Right now it's priced at $1.99 a month, but you won't be charged until after the 2 week trial period ends... Here's the LINK! And if you do subscribe, let me know what you like and don't like about the blog on Kindle!

Now, some great Kindle bargains...

The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry... For all of you that enjoyed the Da Vinci Code comes Steve Berry's take on ancient religious secrets. Ex-U.S. Justice Department agent Cotton Malone is intrigued when he sees a purse snatcher fling himself from a Copenhagen tower to avoid capture, slitting his own throat on the way down for good measure. Further snooping introduces him to the medieval religious order of the Knights Templar and the fervid subculture searching for the Great Devise, an ancient Templar archive that supposedly disproves the Resurrection and demolishes traditional Christian dogma. The trail leads to a French village replete with arcane clues to the archive's whereabouts, and to an oddball cast of scholar-sleuths, including Cassiopeia Vitt, a rich Muslim woman whose special-ops chops rival Malone's. The Templar Legacy is Free until Dec. 1st! Here is the Kindle Ready Link.

The Keeper by Sarah Langan... A little Horror for the month of Halloween! Some believe Bedford, Maine, is cursed. Its bloody past, endless rain, and the decay of its downtown portend a hopeless future. With the death of its paper mill, Bedford's unemployed residents soon find themselves with far toomuch time to dwell on thoughts of Susan Marley. Once the local beauty, she's now the local whore. Silently prowling the muddy streets, she watches eerily from the shadows, waiting for . . . something. And haunting the sleep of everyone in town with monstrous visions of violence and horror. Those who are able will leave Bedford before the darkness fully ascends. But those who are trapped here—from Susan Marley's long-suffering mother and younger sister to her guilt-ridden, alcoholic ex-lover to the destitute and faithless with nowhere else to go—will soon know the fullest and most terrible meaning of nightmare. The Keeper is Free right now! Here is the Kindle Ready link!

The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields... This book is a favorite Book Group Read! In 1995 The Stone Diaries won the Pulitzer Prize. This fictionalized autobiography of Daisy Goodwill Flett is a subtle but affecting portrait of an everywoman reflecting on an unconventional life. What transforms this seemingly ordinary tale is the richness of Daisy's vividly described inner life—from her earliest memories of her adoptive mother to her awareness of impending death. The problem that Carol Shields addresses in The Stone Diaries: how do small lives, the kind most women were once assumed to lead, assume significance and coherence? How closely do our versions of those lives correspond to objective facts? Can facts be said to exist at all in the context of something as changeable and arbitrary as a life? To what extent do "our" stories really belong to us, considering the tendency that other people - parents, spouses, children - have to intrude in them, interpret them, claim them? This book is a bargain at $3.74! Here is the Kindle Ready link!

And last but not least, a free pre-order at the Kindle Store...

Witch and Wizard by James Patterson... The world is changing—the government has seized control of almost everything and kids are disappeari

ng. For 15 year-old Wisty and her older brother Whit, life turns upside-down when they are hauled out of bed one night, separated from their parents, and thrown into a secret compound for no reason they can comprehend, except that the new government is clearly trying to suppress Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Imprisoned together in a decrepit cell, Wisty and Whit cling to the only things they have left—a blank book, a drum stick, and each other. While searching for ways to escape, both begin exhibiting strange abilities. Maybe there is a reason they were singled out! Can Wisty and Whit, a witch and a wizard, master their skills in time to save themselves, their parents—and maybe the world? From James Patterson, the creator of the bestselling Maximum Ride and Daniel X novels, comes WITCH & WIZARD, his most terrifying and awe-inspiring series yet. This is book 1 of the new series. Amazon is calling this a free preview, but from what I can find on the internet this will be the full book. The Book comes out October 26th, so download your free copy now while you still can! Here is the Kindle Ready link.

Hope you find something interesting here! If you've found any other great Kindle bargains, please share them here! And if you've read any of this Kindle Korners recommendations, share what you thought!

Happy reading...

Suzanne

The Kindle Korner and a Literary Kindle Treat...

The Sari Shop Widow

Pungent curry…sweet fried onions…incense…colorful beads…lush fabrics

In October Shobhan Bantwal will be a guest here at Chick with Books! It's going to be such a treat because I've been looking forward to reading her newest book, The Sari Shop Widow, and it's always nice to have the author visit... In the meantime, this past tuesday was the official release date of The Sari Shop Widow by Shobhan Bantwal and if you own a Kindle you are in for a treat!! Until August 31st you can download The Sari Shop Widow for FREE!

About the Book...

Shobhan Bantwal’s compelling new novel is set on the streets of Edison, New Jersey’s Little India, where a young businesswoman rediscovers the magic of love and family…

Since becoming a widow at age twenty-seven, Anjali Kapadia has devoted herself to transforming her parents' sari shop into a chic boutique, brimming with exquisite jewelry and clothing. Now, ten years later, it stands out like a proud maharani amid Edison’s bustling Little India. But when Anjali learns the shop is on the brink of bankruptcy, she feels her world unraveling…

To the rescue comes Anjali’s wealthy, dictatorial Uncle Jeevan and his business partner, Rishi Shah—a mysterious Londoner, complete with British accent, cool gray eyes, and skin so fair it makes it hard to believe he’s Indian. Rishi’s cool, foreign demeanor triggers distrust in Anjali and her mother. But for Anjali, he also stirs something else, a powerful attraction she hasn’t felt in a decade. And the feeling is mutual…

Love disappointed Anjali once before and she’s vowed to live without it—though Rishi is slowly melting her resolve and, as the shop regains its footing, gaining her trust. But when a secret from Rishi’s past is revealed, Anjali must turn to her family and her strong cultural upbringing to guide her in finding the truth…

So until Shobhan stops by here for a visit, and until I post my review, we all can enjoy reading this on our Kindles! Here's the LINK to The Sari Shop Widow by Shobhan Bantwal. Remember you only have until August 31st!

Happy Reading...

Suzanne

Kindle Korner

Hi Everyone! Just a quick reminder that today August 3rd between 11 am EST and Wed. Aug. 5th 10:59am EST you can download a FREE PDF copy of Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann... "It's 1974, and a man is dancing on a tightrope between the towers of the World Trade Center—risky business, but as Colum McCann reveals in Let the Great World Spin (Random House), so is simply living day to day."

It's a free download for Oprah.com members, but you can still register to join. And joining Oprah.com is free too! Here's the link to Oprah.com . Once you register you can download the book! Easy put on your Kindle DX ! You can also put it on your Kindle 2! No Kindle? Thats OK, you can still download the book and read it off your computer!

**Just a note here I tried to put the PDF on my Kindle DX and the book won't open past page 4! Have been trying to see if anyone else was having similar problems.... Anyone here having any problems opening the PDF?

Happy Reading...

Suzanne