Poet, novelist and dramatist Victor Marie Hugo is a giant among French Romantic writers. In France he is best known for his poetry, but elsewhere he is famous for his novels Notre-Dame de Paris, 1831, commonly known as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and 1862’s Les Misérables, which tops today’s Buffet and is regarded as Hugo’s masterpiece.
It’s one of the greatest novels of the 19th century, and remains a classic. In English, the title means The Miserables, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, or The Victims. The story, culminating in the June Rebellion in Paris, follows the lives of several characters, including convict Jean Valjean, who steals a loaf of bread to help feed his sister’s hungry children, and his ultimate redemption.
The novel explores the history of France, the urban design of Paris, politics, justice, morals, religion, and romantic and familial love. If you can make it through the first 100 pages of this book, you’ll be richly rewarded. The book includes what has been cited many times (incorrectly) as the longest sentence in a published novel. Hugo fills many pages with his thoughts on religion, politics, and society, including several lengthy digressions, such as a discussion on enclosed religious orders, the Paris sewers, and his retelling of the Battle of Waterloo.
Fear not, the countless threads combine for a single effect.
Without doubt, Hugo is one of the most gifted and influential authors of all time. He promoted the virtues of liberty, individualism, spirit and nature in rebellion of the conservative political and religious establishments of Imperial France. Everyone was miserable — the rich looked down upon the poor, and the poor looked down upon convicts, and the convicts viewed the rich with contempt — for treating them like dirt.
The story endures in popular culture through countless adaptations for stage, television, and film, including a musical first produced in the late 1980s, and a 2012 film version of that musical. The movie has received mixed reviews, but won the Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Actor (Hugh Jackman) and Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture (Anne Hathaway).
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Les Misérables (English language)
Classic Fiction
Author: Victor Hugo
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In this story of the trials of the peasant Jean Valjean — a man unjustly imprisoned, baffled by destiny, and hounded by his nemesis, the magnificently realized, ambiguously malevolent police detective Javert — Hugo achieves the sort of rare imaginative resonance that allows a work of art to transcend its genre.
Trying to forget his past and live an honest life, Valjean risks his freedom to take care of a motherless young girl during a period of political unrest in Paris.
The story is historical fiction because it contains factual and historic events. Contrary to what some believe, it does not use the French Revolution as a backdrop. The French Revolution took place in the eighteenth century; Les Miserables takes place in the nineteenth century. The only “revolution” depicted is the June Rebellion, a student uprising.
Les Misérables contains many plots, but the main thread is the story of Valjean (known by his prison number, 24601), who becomes a force for good in the world, but cannot escape his dark past.
As usual, each book listed here has gone FREE within the past 24 hours (except for the “Kindle Daily Deals” on page 3). Warning: Kindle book promotions can end without notice, so before downloading click the link “See Kindle price at Amazon” to verify that the book is still free. (Prices and availability may differ outside USA.)
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Double Trouble (The Coxwells)
Romance
Author: Deborah Cooke, Claire Cross
Two sisters. One disaster.
First things first: I’m the bad twin. While my sister, Marcia, has the perfect family in the perfect suburb, I’ve been making my living as an Internet advice columnist and designing Web sites in my downtown loft. I always thought I had the right answer – and hair color – for any occasion. That is, until Marcia ran up loads of debt and ran out on her husband and kids, and I was left helping to pick up the pieces. Her husband, James, is a lawyer who I hate on principle alone.
But for a guy who’s just lost his job, his marriage, and his expensive toys, he’s keeping it together – and making me rethink my feelings toward him. It’s not that he’s traded in his conservative suits for sexy jeans. It’s that he’s not giving up what’s important to him, and oh baby, I’m a sucker for a guy who hangs tough.
That doesn’t mean I’m ready to step into Marcia’s designer shoes now that she’s gone AWOL. And it doesn’t mean I’m going to fall for James’s easy charm…not again, anyhow.
Adventures of Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles
Westerns
Author: Edward A. Grainger
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A short story collection spotlighting the thrilling tales of two deputy U.S. Marshals working in 1880s Wyoming Territory. Cash Laramie, raised by Native Americans, is known as the outlaw marshal for his unorthodox way of dealing with criminals and his cavalier approach to life. Gideon Miles is one of the first African American marshals in the service and has skills with guns, knives, and tracking that are unrivaled. This collection broaches issues like racism, child abuse, and morality.
The Diet Dropout’s Guide to Natural Weight Loss: Find Your Easiest Path to Naturally Thin
Advice & How-to
Author: Stan Spencer
This book isn’t about the latest celebrity diet, wonder food, or miracle supplement. It’s about creating a personalized weight loss plan—your own easiest path to naturally thin. While you can lose weight with almost any diet, keeping the weight off is much more difficult, requiring permanent changes in eating and exercise habits. This book provides a science-based approach for making those changes in a way that works best for you, without wasting time, money, or effort.
Dr. Spencer explains why we gain weight and why the fat lost by dieting almost always comes back. He then presents an array of practical weight loss tools for controlling emotional eating, calming cravings, boosting metabolism, and improving nutrition and exercise. In the final chapter he has you create a natural weight loss plan based on your unique set of needs, abilities, and preferences. Simple recipes are provided for weight loss foods that reduce cravings and prolong satisfaction.
Pies and Mini Pies
Cookbooks, Food & Wine
Author: Bonnie Scott
You’ll soon be baking pies with confidence with over 100 great pie and mini pie recipes. From homey fruit pies, custard and cream pies to pies with unusual ingredients, there are pies for every occasion. You’ll find chapters for tarts and toppings, crusts and refrigerated pies. You will also find great hints and tips for preparing a perfect pie that even your grandmother would be proud to serve.
Join the mini pie explosion! Bite size mini pies are all the rage.
The teeny tiny pies are so easy to eat and portion control is built in. These little baked goods are cute displayed in cupcake racks or put together into a shape like a Christmas tree for holiday parties. They make perfect party hors-d’oeuvres since they are finger food. And they are fun to make and can be made in advance of your get together.
Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a beginning baker, you’ll find recipes your family will be asking for again and again. You’ll also learn how to create mini pies from your standard pie recipes. Mini pies are a great way to serve a crowd and are perfect gifts for the holidays.
Bundle of Joy
Romance
Author: Barbara Bretton
Everyone in town knew Caroline and Charlie just weren’t meant for each other. Like oil and water or chalk and cheese, the ex-Navy cook and the beautiful shop owner were a bad match, and although the small New Jersey town was filled with inveterate matchmakers, even the most determined of the lot had to admit this was one match that would never happen.
But nobody had figured on Caroline and Charlie getting locked in a storage vault with an automatic timer set for the next morning . . .
And Caroline and Charlie definitely hadn’t figured on the little surprise they got a few months later when they discovered there was a baby on the way. Caroline is sure she can handle everything alone but Charlie has other ideas: a modern marriage of convenience. At first there isn’t anything convenient about living with the all-male Charlie Donohue but before long Caroline’s defenses are down and her husband-in-name-only is sharing her bed.
Billy: Messenger of Powers (The Billy Saga)
Children’s eBooks
Author: Michaelbrent Collings
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Billy was only 14 years old the first time he died.
Billy, like many of us, leads what he believes is a fairly normal life: trying to get through school, trying to deal with his first crush, and trying to avoid the bullies who seem intent on trying to prove he can be flushed down a toilet. But all that changes (or at least some of it) when Billy discovers that Powers walk among us.
These Powers (what you or I would call witches or warlocks) have divided into two camps: the Dawnwalkers, dedicated to the protection of humanity and the secrecy of the world of the Powers; and the Darksiders, who want nothing more or less than complete control of the world and the enslavement of all humanity. For years the Darksiders and Dawnwalkers have lived in a state of uneasy truce: ever since the last War of the Powers, when the evil Darksider Wolfen was defeated and banished, cast out of the world of the Powers and ordered never to return.
But now there are whispers. There are stirrings. Portents. Wolfen has returned. The Darksiders are on the rise. And Billy is the only one who can save the world.
The Soulmate Experience: A Practical Guide to Creating Extraordinary Relationships
Advice & How-to
Author: Joe Dunn, Mali Apple
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This revolutionary guide will help you create and sustain a relationship that is intimately connected on all levels–emotional, intellectual, sexual, and spiritual–and a continual source of love, inspiration, and joy.
Whether you’re on a quest for your soulmate, looking for deeper connection in the relationship you have right now, or just want to experience much more love in your life, the ground-breaking ideas in this book–and the many stories of real people putting them into practice–will fill you with love, inspiration, and possibility.
Happy Hour
Contemporary Fiction
Author: Michele Scott
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Every woman has that group of friends in her life, her “go to girls.” The friends that she can turn to who “get it.” The ones who are there for you no matter what. The ones who laugh with you and cry with you. The ones that will always be there. These are the women of Napa Valley.
Jamie is the editor-in-chief of Wine Lover’s Magazine, a single mother and caretaker to her senile mother-in-law — a woman who thinks her daily caregiver is Dean Martin. Jamie is still recovering, financially and emotionally from the death of her husband several years earlier. And when she finds what could be the key to happiness, can she open the door and let it in? Or will her feelings of guilt and betrayal hold her back?
The Inner Voice of Trading: Eliminate the Noise, and Profit from the Strategies That Are Right for You
Business & Investing
Author: Michael Martin
Want to be a successful trader? It’s not enough to master generic trading strategies: you must first know yourself. You must understand your own emotional predilections and psychological tendencies. You must learn how to match your strategies to your own personality. You must choose strategies that are sustainable over the long haul, that you can tolerate–and execute.
This book explains why deep self-knowledge is so crucial to successful trading, helps you gain that self-knowledge, and guides you in applying it. Drawing on interviews and discussions with great traders like Michael Marcus and Ed Seykota, it shows how to quiet your mind, develop an “inner voice” you can rely on, and make it your most important trading ally.
Leaving Story Avenue, My journey from the projects to the front page
Biographies & Memoirs
Author: Paul LaRosa
Emmy-Award winning CBS News producer Paul LaRosa’s evocative memoir of his days growing up in a Bronx housing project and working as a reporter at The New York Daily News in the late 1970s.
Paul was a clueless kid growing up in a Bronx housing project when he discovered there might be more to life. As the projects went from idyllic to dangerous, Paul made his way to The New York Daily News where he became a copyboy and later a reporter. The News was still the largest circulating newspaper in the country but it was in the last, outrageous and often hilarious, gasp of The Front Page era. Reporters wallowed in a swirl of alcohol, hookers and bad behavior, but none of it stopped them from delivering an electric and engaging paper every day. Paul, an innocent trapped in a Tabloid World, quickly adapted.
As a reporter, Paul had a front row seat to one of the most harrowing five-year periods in New York City history: the city s brush with bankruptcy, the terror reign of Son of Sam, the blackout riots, and the murder of John Lennon. Read what it was like to be in the center of it all.
Snapping: America’s Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change
Psychology & Counseling
Author: Flo Conway, Jim Siegelman
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In June, 1978, six months before the Jonestown cult mass suicide, this groundbreaking book examined the epidemic of sudden, drastic personality changes that was bringing a frightening new era of personal loss and horrific human tragedies. It sold 100,000 hardcover and trade paperback copies and become a required text in high school and college classes in psychology, sociology, persuasion, mass communication, criminology, and comparative religion.
Now updated and expanded for the Kindle, the book chronicles the rise of Snapping worldwide in the 21st Century — among zealous cult members, born-again Christians, anti-government ideologues, participants in popular self-help, professional training and “stress reduction” programs–and, increasingly, among people in everyday life situations.
Conway and Siegelman cover the history of snapping, from the 1969 Manson Family murders, to the 1978 Peoples Temple massacre, to the disastrous 1993 siege and conflagration at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, and include a special postscript on the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the Aum Shinrikyo poison gas attack in the Tokyo subway, and the global rise of extremist “terror cells” of many persuasions.
Simon’s Choice
Family Life
Author: Charlotte Castle
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Doctor Simon Bailey has everything a man could ever want. Then his beautiful daughter is diagnosed with Leukemia. He can almost accept her impending death. He can almost accept the fact that he will have to live without her. But he cannot stand the thought of his little girl having to face death alone.
He answers her innocent question in a moment of desperation, testing his marriage, his professional judgment and his sanity to the limit. As cracks form in Simon’s previously perfect family, we wonder, as do his loved ones … will he really make the ultimate sacrifice?
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
History
Author: Charles Mackay
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This is the often-quoted classic exposition of the “madness of crowds.” It covers history’s most infamous speculative investment bubbles — the Tulipmania, the South Sea Bubble, and more. And it debunks popular delusions including alchemy, witch-hunts, The Crusades and duels.
Why do otherwise intelligent individuals form seething masses of idiocy when they engage in collective action? Why do financially sensible people jump lemming-like into hare-brained speculative frenzies–only to jump broker-like out of windows when their fantasies dissolve? We may think that the Great Crash of 1929, junk bonds of the ’80s, and over-valued high-tech stocks of the ’90s are peculiarly 20th century aberrations, but Mackay’s classic–first published in 1841–shows that the madness and confusion of crowds knows no limits, and has no temporal bounds. These are extraordinarily illuminating,and, unfortunately, entertaining tales of chicanery, greed and naivete. Essential reading for any student of human nature or the transmission of ideas.
Sliding on the Snow Stone
Biographies & Memoirs
Author: Andy Szpuk
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Stefan grows up in the grip of a raging famine. Stalin’s Five Year Plan brings genocide to Ukraine – millions of people starve to death. To free themselves from the daily terrors of Soviet rule, Stefan and his friends fight imaginary battles in nearby woods to defend their land. The games they play are their only escape.
This is the true story of Stefan’s extraordinary journey across a landscape of hunger, fear and devastating loss. With Europe on the brink of World War Two, Stefan and his family pray they’ll survive in their uncertain world. They long to be free.
When World War II arrived on Ukraine’s doorstep, many people viewed the Nazis as liberators –- a view that was quickly proved wrong. This book is Stefan’s personal account of a historical period drenched in the blood of a nation, and of his yearning for freedom.
Damian’s Oracle (War of Gods)
Fantasy
Author: Lizzy Ford, Christine LePorte
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This book is the entree into the ongoing battle between good and evil over the fate of humanity. The White God, Damian, and his Guardians protect the world from the Black God and his monsters while rescuing Naturals – humans with extraordinary paranormal gifts – from the Black God, who would kill or convert them.
Caught in the middle is cool-headed Sofia, a Natural whose gift will tip the scales in the war. Sofia begins her transformation from human into oracle, the first in thousands of years. Damian rescues her from the Black God in time to complete a ceremony that will bind her to him for eternity. Sofia struggles with her new world and her role as an oracle and Damian’s mate while haunted by a mysterious man from Damian’s past who’s supposed to be dead. Unbeknownst to her, her link to the dead man may be all that saves Damian, his Guardians, and the fate of humanity.
this I know – Sarah’s Confession
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Author: Reba Ponder Weiss
A recluse emerges from the backwoods on the eve of his son’s romantic, southern wedding. Dinner spirals into chaos when the self-proclaimed prophet announces he hears spiritual messages straight from God. The voices tell him to prepare the way for the end of the world. His disturbing words find foothold in undeniable facts as disbelief dissolves into terror. Those who gathered to celebrate are suddenly faced with an unthinkable dilemma. They must follow him into a remote, secret sanctuary, prepared exclusively survival… or they can die. As apocalyptic events begin to unfold, the ancient battle of darkness and light quickly becomes a modern reality.
You Only Die Twice
Horror
Author: Christopher Smith, Brandi Doane (Illustrator)
In her past, Cheryl Dunning died once. A violent act killed her, but heroics brought her back. Now, if she can’t save herself from two serial killers hunting her in the Maine woods, she’s about to die again, this time from two men armed with a Bible, guns, a deep belief in God, and their twisted interpretation of his word.
Fueled by their righteous fury, they are determined to find Cheryl and murder her for what they perceive as her “life’s worth of sins.” What they don’t know is what Cheryl knows. She’s a Maine girl, born and raised–and she knows how to use these woods in ways that might, if she’s lucky, turn them against each man.
Zero Sum (Dr. Steven Cross Series #1)
Action & Adventure
Author: Russell Blake, Russell Blake
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Present Day Wall Street. Where intelligence agencies and the financial industry are strange bedfellows, and the two worlds are often intertwined in disturbing ways. The story pits Dr. Steven Archer Cross against powerful financier Nicholas Griffen in a conflict that raises troubling questions about our markets and our government. Racing against the clock in a chase that spans continents, one man’s battle to expose the Machiavellian machinations of a ruthless Wall Street marauder forces him into a financial jungle populated by every variety of unscrupulous sociopath – rogue intelligence agencies, Russian mafia oligarchs, drug cartels and terrorist networks.
As a white-collar game of chess transitions into a lethal real world cage-fight, Steven finds himself in a deadly showdown, where hunters can quickly become the hunted and blood is the ultimate currency.
Rico Slade Will F***ing Kill You
Action & Adventure
Author: Bradley Sands
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What the crap is Arnold Schwarzenegger doing on the cover of Rico Slade’s book? This is Rico Slade’s goddamn book. Rico Slade is not a body builder, an actor, or a governor. Rico Slade is an action hero.
Rico Slade doesn’t care about the political climate. Rico Slade has an advanced degree in badassery. Rico Slade’s favorite food is the honey-roasted peanut. Rico Slade can rip out a throat with his bare hands.
But Rico Slade has a problem. His arch-nemesis, Baron Mayhem, is threatening to drop a bomb on the Earth that will kill every human being except himself while leaving the world’s currency intact. To save the planet, Rico Slade must journey across Hollywood to find Baron Mayhem. Unfortunately, Rico Slade’s crime fighting style involves ripping out the throat of anyone who gets in his way, including grandmothers and Midwestern tourists.
As Rico Slade leaves Hollywood in ruins, the only person who can stop him from destroying the city is his Jewish psychologist, Harold Schwartzman. Until he does, Rico Slade will kill as many people as it takes to thwart Baron Mayhem’s evil scheme.
Hamfist Over The Trail: The Air Combat Adventures of Hamilton “Hamfist” Hancock
| Action & Adventure |
Author: G. E. Nolly
It’s 1968. Hamilton Hancock is the Distinguished Graduate at his Undergraduate Pilot Training class at Laughlin Air Force Base. He is on the fast track to become a fighter pilot, slated to fly an F-100, F-105 or F-4 in Vietnam. Then, the “needs of the service” intervenes, and he is assigned to fly one of the smallest, slowest aircraft in the Air Force inventory, the O-2A.
Hamilton becomes a Forward Air Controller (FAC) in Vietnam, based at DaNang air Base, and picks up the nickname “Hamfist”. While Hamfist flies in air combat over the Ho Chi Minh Trail and battles an enemy gunner with a deadly record, on the ground he must also battle his inner fears and personal demons. When he repeatedly loses friends shortly after reconnecting with them, Hamfist becomes convinced there is a “Hamfist curse”. He becomes a virtual hermit, and tries to avoid interacting with his friends. Then he receives a letter that devastates him.
The Reborn (The Day Eight Series Part 1)
Action & Adventure
Author: Ray Mazza
When Trevor Leighton stumbles upon a distress note written by the daughter of multi-millionaire Damon Winters, he attempts to do the right thing: turn it in. But the note isn’t what it seems, and it leads Trevor on a dangerous path to uncover the most incredible technology the world has ever known: a super intelligent human being simulating inside a computer program. Not only did Trevor unwittingly have a hand in creating the simulated human, but his new work to alter it will push his life – and the world – one step closer to a catastrophic event.
Behind Closed Doors
Contemporary Fiction
Author: KF Johnson, Kiyeta Johnson
On the surface, siblings Brenda and Brian Andrews are attractive, well put together, ultimate catches for any single male or female looking for a suitor. Unfortunately, looks — and the Andrews siblings — can be deceiving. Their true chaotic, manipulative & promiscuous lives are revealed when their often abusive & alcoholic father dies under bizarre circumstances.
Soon, the doorway to dark family secrets is slung open at the funeral, where many dust covered skeletons begin tumbling out; threatening the pedestals that Brenda and Brian once stood on, plunging them into a dangerous descent that they may never be able to come back from! (contains strong language and sexual situations)
Apparition
Horror
Author: Michaelbrent Collings
Every year, thousands of children are killed… by their own parents.
Now, Shane Wills is about to discover why. About to discover an evil that has existed since the beginning of time. An evil that invades loving parents and turns them into something else. An evil that feeds on the blood and despair of dying children. An evil that most people will never know, because they cannot perceive the Apparition.
Daily Dose of Determination
Religion & Spirituality
Author: Melanie Bonita
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This book will help you get determined, dedicated and driven to accomplish your dreams and destiny. With determination, drive and desire there’s nothing that will be impossible for you! Come take this 90 day journey with us. It will truly drive you towards your desired outcome.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks and the Kindle Daily Deal here on page 2
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