Monday, August 15, 2016

woo hoo! free books for me!

Recently Amazon settled a class action lawsuit with Apple, which involved the overpricing of ebooks.  The settlement resulted in Amazon customers getting credits in the form of an electronic gift card.  I got about $35.00.  It didn't take me long to figure out what to buy.  I'm an avid reader, so books, of course!  Two of the books I bought used, so I was able to stretch the $35.00 and get all three.  And this is what I got.

Thug Kitchen:  The Official Cookbook, Eat Like You Give a Fuck
(Yes, that's the name of it and that last part is their tagline.)

If you want a good laugh, appreciate profanity and want to make some good vegan food, check out Thug Kitchen.  The authors are vegan and this website is all about vegan recipes.  But it's written as if you're sitting in the backyard just shooting the breeze with a friend.  Warning, though:  If profanity offends you, don't visit this website.  But if you want to laugh your ass off, go for it.  Anyway, they've created a few cookbooks and I've wanted one for the longest time.  I'm not vegan, but most of their recipes look pretty good.  And, I have to admit, I like the entertainment value they bring. If you want a laugh, watch the trailer for the cookbook here.  Hysterical!

Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

I got this book on the recommendation of several people that post on a blog I read.  We've made the decision to get ourselves out of debt.  Bob and I sat down to figure out the numbers last weekend...and it wasn't pretty.  We're up to date on everything, but we owe quite a bit.  So, now we need to get out of debt so we can stop worrying about every little unexpected expense that comes along.  It will be very tough, but we can do it. We've already stopped using the credit cards. Now we just need to make a plan to start paying down the balances.  I read the book and I think it has some useful advice, like the Debt Snowball; however, some of it just doesn't make sense to me.  For example, stop contributing to your 401k while paying down debt, even if your company matches 100%. WHAT???!!! NO!  Why would I give up free money? Besides, this is my future retirement.  I'd lose the advantage of free money from my employer, as well as the advantage of time and compounding interest.  I'll use what I can and disregard the rest.  Here's an explanation of the debt snowball method of paying down debt:  debt snowball explanation.

A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen

I found out about this book through a Facebook post I saw on someone's wall.  It's a true story about a stray cat living on the streets and a man who is down on his luck.  They cross paths and become the best of friends.  I haven't read it yet, but my cousin did and she really enjoyed it. He's written other books about his life with Bob, as well as some children's books. And, yes, I also bought this because it's about a cat. No surprise there.  I was very excited to learn that they've made this into a movie, which is due for release in the US November 18, 2016.  That's not too long after my birthday, so this might have to be a belated birthday celebration. :)






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