Free Kindle Books

I'm not a huge Kindle user, but free books are always fun. Especially free classics.

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Amazon's Best Books of 2010

Editor's picks and customer favorites.


I've been in a bit of a book "drought" lately. This list might do the trick. (My personal favorite for this year is #5). 


Here are the choices for their Top Ten: 


1. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
2. Faithful Place by Tana French
3. Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
4. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
5. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
6. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
7. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
8. To the End of the Land by David Grossman
9. Just Kids by Patti Smith
10. The Big Short by Michael Lewis


Top 100 editor's picks. 
Top 100 customer favorites. 

Fingersmith

By Sarah Waters

Back in my college days, my best friend read Sarah Waters' debut novel Tipping the Velvet, and told me I had to read it. I never got around to reading that particular Sarah Waters novel, but I did just finish Fingersmith, and I'm happy to report I wasn't lead astray. Waters is a fantastic novelist, with a gift for bringing to life a particular time and place while building an enjoyable suspense novel. 

The novel takes place in Victorian England, and contains multiple Dickensian motifs: orphans, prisons, insane asylums, pickpockets, handsome villains and stolen fortunes. It seems to be the straightforward story of Sue Trinder, a small-time thief who is recruited by a family friend to help him seduce and marry the wealthy orphan of his employer. However, once Sue takes on the role of the young woman's maid her alliance begins to shift. Once the deed seems to be done the story takes a highly unexpected turn. 

Waters has an eye for detail, vividly bringing to life the slums of Victorian London, as well as the decaying country homes inhabited by the wealthy who spend their time in idle pursuits. Her intricate narrative mapping makes Fingersmith a gripping read right until the end of Sue's journey.

Mad Men in Books

  The fourth season of Mad Men ended last week, and while I'm sad to see it go, I've recently discovered some fun Mad Men inspired books to keep me going until next season. And with the holidays right around the corner these books make fantastic gifts for any Mad Men fanatics. 


The Fashion File: Advice, Tips, and Inspiration from the Costume Designer of Mad Men
By Janie Bryant

Janie Bryant is the immensely talented costume designer for Mad Men and she just released The Fashion File this past month. The book works more like a how-to reference for dressing yourself. She also gives behind the scenes peeks into the Mad Men world, as well as her process for creating the costumes. 

Mad Men: The Illustrated World

By Dyna Moe

Dyna Moe became famous when she began posting illustrated depictions of Mad Men on her Flickr stream (check it out here). AMC then used her considerable skill to create their Mad Men Yourself machine. The book isn't just illustrations, it includes a Sally Draper drink menu, Joan paper dolls, and instructions on how to create the perfect bouffant.

 

Freedom: A Novel

By Jonathan Franzen

I wish I had a post to do this novel justice. All I can say is Jonathan Franzen rocks and I'm pretty sure he's the greatest living writer of fiction in the U.S. Read this book right now!


And if you still haven't read it, pick up the The Corrections.

Never Let Me Go

By Kazuo Ishiguro 

I read Never Let Me Go a few years ago when it was first published. I was reminded of the book when I recently saw the trailer for the upcoming movie (featuring Keira Knightley and the lovely Carey Mulligan).  I never read Remains of the Day, Ishiguro's most famous novel, but I was impressed by the books' understated style. 


The book takes place in a dystopian Britain and revolves around the boarding school Hailsham, where the students are all taught they are special and not like other children. Slowly, the reader is given clues regarding the children's role in society, gradually unfolding until the deeply unsettling end. 


Ishiguro's prose has a simplicity I have always admired in writers. Every word and every sentence is a choice, and those choices are made with great care. Ishiguro manages to create an eerie distance between the reader and the characters, never fully stating what is happening, but all the while managing to mimic the half-lives they are forced to live for the good of society. 

Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks

By John Curran

For an Agatha Christie lover this book is a fantastic trove of information and insight into her writing process. Curran poured through over seventy notebooks in order to piece together Christie's plot developments, a task made even more challenging because Christie didn't record her musings in any sort of order.