Weekend books reminder: free, lowcost, and $ - Update3

Something a bit different for this (late) weekend-reminder pon mostly free and low-cost books. This week I'm including the 4-1/2 to 5-star rated books (customer-rating system) which have made it to the 25 Amazon Bestsellers of the current hour (this does change hourly).

  Most are free, but some aren't.  If the few $-ones are doing that well against the free books, they're probably worth a look.

  The usual free- or low-cost book links will follow this new listing (mainly for newcomers who may not have checked the bestseller lists yet  The Lost Symbol isn't on this particular list although it's selling best.  This just lists the ones with more than 4 stars average received.


Urge To Kill, by John Lutz
(3 customer reviews)

Kindle Price: $0.00

According To Jane, by Marilyn Brant
(12 customer reviews)

Kindle Price: $0.00


The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, by Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790
(4 customer reviews)

Kindle Price: $0.00


The Help, by KATHRYN STOCKETT
(911 customer reviews)

Kindle Price: $9.99



The Last Song, by Nicholas Sparks
 (27 customer reviews)

Kindle Price: $9.99


Say You're One of Them (Oprah's Book Club), by Uwem Akpan
 (39 customer reviews)

Kindle Price: $6.99


The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan, Sir Doyle
 (55 customer reviews)

Kindle Price: $0.00


Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
 (881 customer reviews)

Kindle Price: $0.00



The Girl Who Played with Fire, by Stieg Larsson
 (229 customer reviews)

Kindle Price: $9.99


The Art of War, by 6th cent. B.C. Sunzi
 (8 customer reviews)

Kindle Price: $0.00


MetaGame, by Sam Landstrom
 (18 customer reviews)

Kindle Price: $0.01


The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights, by Sir James, Knowles 1831-1908
 (3 customer reviews)

Kindle Price: $0.00


Here are Mobile Reference Kindle books:
. sorted by bestselling
. sorted by "low to high" price
. sorted by avg. customer review
. sorted by most recently published
. sorted by relevance


As ever, the weekend reminder highlights the "Free [or low-cost] Kindle books box from this page's right-side-column.


For Kindle newcomers especially:  In addition to the usual new $$$-books, we can enjoy Classics for free, both from Amazon and from other book sites, many directly downloadable to the Kindle.  A few are promotional and free for only a while.

1.  Amazon's 7,000+ free books, sorted by:
        "Bestselling" or by "Avg Customer Review"

2.  Amazon's currently free  Non-Classics - This one changes.

    a. That link above is to Non-Classics sorted by BESTSELLERS.
    b. Here are Non-Classics sorted by NEWEST books first.

3.  "Big Deals on Kindle" - This one doesn't change enough.

4.  Project Gutenberg e-books (MOBI ed) catalog for Kindles.  You can search the catalog on your Kindle and click on one to have it downloaded to your Kindle from the site.  There are no Amazon charges on a download from this site.

5.  A long Amazon Forum thread on a million or so books readable on the Kindle - How to get them (mostly free)

ALSO, previously featured free non-fiction books that are free or under $1.00
1. (Recommended under-$1 books)

2. Amazon's most popular free books.

  Michael Rubin is still offering, for an unspecified time, the full text of his $35 "Droidmaker" book on George Lucas and Lucasfilm via a set of 3 PDFs.  The photos from the book are included.

Some of this will be redundant, but at least there are a lot of choices for people on a budget.

Weekend books reminder: free and under $1 ones - Update2

UPDATE 9/4/09 - Two featured free books 8/29 are back to $9.60 as of today.
  So, if at all interested in a newer free book, download it while you can.
  I'll look for other interesting ones this weekend.

REGULAR UPDATE: 8/29/09 - Original posting was 7/26/09.
    These two books were free but now cost $9.99.  They're here for the record.

I'm not around much on the weekends - so, for the many new readers who visit each day and for those who don't usually have time to explore the right-hand column of more permanent links to useful tips and information, I'll highlight the "Free [or low-cost] Kindle books box from that side-column.

The book above is Raising Jake by Charlie Carillo, and the book on the left is The Sari Shop Widow by Shobhan Bantwal.

  Click on the images to get the details for each book.
      Both are $0.00 currently. As of 9/4/09, these are both $9.60 now. The free books that are newer ones are often temporary promotional items by Amazon, and it's hard to know which ones are.


Besides the usual new $$$-books, we can enjoy Classics for free, both from Amazon and from other book sites, many directly downloadable to the Kindle.  A few are promotional and free for only a while.

1.  Amazon's 7,000+ free books, sorted by:
        "Bestselling" or by "Avg Customer Review"

2.  Amazon's currently free  Non-Classics - This one changes.

    a. That link above is to Non-Classics sorted by BESTSELLERS.
    b. Here are Non-Classics sorted by NEWEST first.

3.  "Big Deals on Kindle" - This one doesn't change enough.

4.  Project Gutenberg e-books (MOBI ed) catalog for Kindles.  You can search the catalog on your Kindle and click on one to have it downloaded to your Kindle from the site.  There are no Amazon charges on a download from this site.

5.  A long Amazon Forum thread on a million or so books readable on the Kindle - How to get them (mostly free)

ALSO, previously featured free non-fiction books that are free or under $1.00
1. (Recommended under-$1 books)

2. Amazon's most popular free books.

AND remember Michael Rubin is offering, for a limited time, the full text of his $35 "Droidmaker" book on George Lucas and Lucasfilm via a set of 3 PDFs.  The photos from the book are included.

Some of this will be redundant, but at least there are a lot of choices for people on a budget.

---

Updated 8/29/09

Legacy: AmazonEncore Edition - Free this week

I'm not a Fantasy reader myself but the genre is huge these days, and most Kindle blogs have highlighted this book because (now that I've looked) the author's story is an inspiration and Amazon is featuring it in a big way.   Add that the Kindle edition is free until September 4, and that should be reason enough to download it.  But there's more.

This is Amazon's premiere title in the AmazonEncore program.  In their announcement, Amazon explains:

'...authors with great potential often struggle to connect with the larger audience they deserve to reach.  We’re fortunate at Amazon.com to have customers who know a good book when they read one...

AmazonEncore is a new program whereby Amazon will use information such as customer reviews on Amazon.com to identify exceptional, overlooked books and authors with more potential than their sales may indicate. Amazon will then partner with the authors to re-introduce their books to readers through marketing support and distribution into multiple channels and formats, such as the Amazon.com Books Store, Amazon Kindle Store, Audible.com, and national and independent bookstores via third-party wholesalers.

Our premiere AmazonEncore title, Legacy, written by 14-year-old Cayla Kluver (now 16), had review titles such as "loved it, loved it," "rich lyrical tapestry and story," and "breath-taking in scope and execution!"   In addition to raves from customers, Ms. Kluver has won several awards from literary groups. The new version of Legacy will be available in Fall 2009. '

And Fall 2009 is here.

On the book's main page: "Legacy was Bronze Medalist in Young Adult Fiction in the 2008 Moonbeam Children's Book Awards; Finalist in Young Adult Fiction in the National Best Books Awards 2008, sponsored by USA Book News."

Kluver started this novel, centering on the turmoil experienced by an 18-yr old heroine, when she was 14, but her 18-yr old sister was there with her world's experience :-) Here's a videoclip of the two sisters discussing her book and also an interview with young Kluver, who is 16 now.

The prologue and first chapter are available on the product page too.

It was interesting to me that some of the appreciative customer feedback was from people who had not realized the author was so young.

If you want the hard cover version after reading the Kindle edition, you can also get that here, though the hard-cover edition isn't free.

Kudos to Kayla Cluver!

As ever, other Kindle specials (free or low-priced) are here.

Lots of e-reader news.  I linked to some at twitter.com/kindleworld.

Amazon's most-popular free books and "big deals"

For those new to the Kindle or thinking of getting one, here is Amazon's listing of
the most popular free books at Amazon, both classic and non-classic, and about 7,000 other free books that are available there.

Here are their free non-classics, sorted by most popular titles and the same free non-classics, sorted by most relevant.

Earlier I recommended a few that I've downloaded, including a few others that were not free but which are less than $1, and recommended a forum thread where you can find out how to get books from other sites.

Don't miss their "Big Deals" page that highlights the latest (and often temporarily) "Free on Kindle" books.

Random House is offering a "free library" of books to download at no charge until October to introduce new readers to popular and acclaimed science fiction and fantasy series, including John Birmingham's Weapons of Choice, and Michael Moorcock's Elric: The Stealer of Souls.

Amazon's also currently featuring 16 books in the "Romance" genre.

It's a page you should check often, as they change the featured items regularly.

Also note they are featuring elsewhere another free book that explains how Green initiatives actually are a great way to cut costs in this economy - Green Cost Cutting: Five Ways to Get Lean Now