June Book Picks from Amazon

(Affiliate Disclosure: If you use one of these links and complete a purchase through Amazon, I get a small commission that helps support this blog.)

Every month Amazon puts a small group of books on sale for the entire month. And just as regularly, I scour each category looking for titles of interest.

Many of them are outliers, of course, but there are always a few that catch my interest with an intriguing description and/or high reader ratings. I love discovering new books and, for that matter, new topics, so the whole process is pretty fun.

This month I thought I’d share a few of the titles I found interesting and purchased. I’d love to know if you’ve read any of them or plan to. Maybe we can discuss! (Prices should last through June 30.)

Fiction:

The Birth House (P.S.) by Ami McKay ($1.99)

I’m not much into birthing stuff. I’ll listen to your birth story if you insist, but I really don’t care. I’m sorry.  Really. I love you. And I love your little poof of alien flesh. But I can live without the vajayjay chronicles, thankyouverymuch.

So it surprises me that this book makes the list. But with 93 people reporting an average 4.5-star rating, I had to give it a look. Between promising cultural elements and the chances that I’ll learn something (v. high), I’m planning to pick it up.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare ($1.99)

Thirty-something isn’t too late to read a Newbery Award–winning novel I missed in childhood, right? Now filed away for when I’m easy-fiction-itching.

Also…

• Kurt Vonnegut’s Galapagos and Mother Night are $2.99 each.
• And Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World Revisited (Follow-up essays to BNW) is $2.99. (After reading and watching this this week, I intend to read both of these soon.

Non-Fiction

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean ($2.99)

This was another title whose high ratings (4.5 stars) caught my attention when the subject matter didn’t. It sounds like a collection of true stories whose common thread is the periodic table. Don’t care about that last part very much but am intrigued by the first and how the author might have tied them together.

Some reviewers were disappointed in the communication of the science-y stuff, so if mis-statements on that front will bug you, check out the reader reviews before purchasing.

Shakespeare’s English Kings:History, Chronicle, and Drama by Peter Saccio ($2.99)

I’d been recently learning English history when the body of King Richard III was found this spring. The articles explained how Shakespeare’s plays (entertainment) have largely framed public thought, and said their veracity is questionable. So this book (currently with 4.5 stars) definitely caught my attention.

The Father of Us All by Victor Davis Hanson ($3.99)

I am endlessly fascinated with humanity. This book sounds like historical commentary on current events, with an intentional bend toward that which remains the same over time. Someone puh-lease read this with me.

I’m curious…

Do you scan Kindle’s monthly deals? Do you own a Kindle or read on a Kindle app?