Standing the Test of Time
Monday, November 30, 2009There are books and there are books and then there are BOOKS. These are the books that my grandparents and parents read and enjoyed. These are the books I am reading and loving now and these will probably be the books my children and hopefully their children will read too.
These are books that have stood the harsh test of time and survived to delight new generations of readers. They are filled with characters you’ll always remember and bring to lives places and times beyond our ken.
Books are written and published every single day all over the world. Many will come and go; to be replaced by others in the hearts and minds of readers. But some will never be forgotten.
Here are some of the many books that have warmed the hearts of generations of people around the world. They are all part of the Vintage Classics collection and cost RM17.90 at BookXcess, where you always get to read more for less.
BookXcess Blog Bonanza 16
Friday, November 27, 2009The school holidays are here! So, we decided to give away three first books from three famous young adult fantasy trilogies:
Eragon from the Inheritance trilogy by Christopher Paolini
The Golden Compass from His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
Inkheart from the Inkheart trilogy by Cornelia Funke
Three winners can choose one book each among these three titles to take for their next holiday read. All you have to do is tell us which book would you like to read and why. Your entry should be written between 50 and 500 words, in whatever form you choose (poem, point form, short essay, etc.). Submit your entry along with name, IC number, contact number and e-mail address to sales[at]bookxcess[dot]com. Contest deadline is Thursday midnight 3 December 2009. Winning entries will be randomly drawn and winners will be notified via e-mail.
These are great reads… so give this week’s Blog Bonanza a shot! Who knows you’ll be one of the lucky winners. 
Light Books, But Good Reads
Thursday, November 26, 2009Have you been reading one too many ‘heavy’ books? Ever feel like indulging in some light reading? Our latest shipment brought in some pretty interesting books that look set to entertain.
Of Vampires and Riverboats
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Fevre Dream – George R.R. Martin
Price: RM17.90
I’ve loved vampires ever since I first read Bram Stoker’s Dracula when I was knee-high to a grasshopper. That was a very long time ago, and since then I have read just about everything I could find on vampires, both fiction and non-fiction. There’s something sad and yet terribly attractive about this suave child of the night.
Over the years, many writers have turned their imaginations to weaving tales about this mythical creature. One of my all-time favourite vampire novels is and always will be Fevre Dream.
Fevre Dream is a historical fantasy set in the Golden Age of the Mississippi riverboats. The tale is an ode to riverboats, straddling their peak in the 1850s and their decline in the wake of the Civil War.
The tale is told through Captain Abner Marsh, a massive, big-drinking, big-eating, large-hearted and large-fisted fellow, who speaks plainly and acts with impulsive celerity. He is accustomed to the brutal immediacy of riverboat life, in which a small piloting error can sink a vessel, and fortunes can be lost with the inopportune misting or icing over of the cruel Mississippi.
But he is drawn, unwittingly at first, into a covert and thus much more savage variety of danger, when a mysterious man, Joshua York, offers to revive Marsh’s shipping line in exchange for nothing more than co-captaincy and privacy aboard the great ship they will build together. After a few doubts, Marsh accepts the bargain, but York’s enigmatic voyage-impeding errands on shore and disturbing reclusiveness by day soon put a strain on their partnership. York is hunting something, and his efforts to avoid being suspected of vampirism are perhaps too elaborate; and meanwhile sinister personages in Louisiana are coming too close for comfort…
The secret behind these developments is easy enough to guess at, and the good vampires, with Marsh’s assistance, duly battle the bad; but the details are far less predictable, and unfold with in a manner that has few parallels in literature.
Death claims (almost) everything in the end, of course; but Marsh and the riverboats and the plantations and the vampires roar a mighty defiance in their dying, raging against the dying of the light. They will be remembered, by some at least; they have celebrated, and been celebrated, as well as can be.
Review by BookXcess staff Nesa
Deep, Dark Secrets
Wednesday, November 25, 2009So you’ve had one of those days. The traffic was bumper-to-bumper. There was no reception for your favourite radio station. It started pouring the instant you stepped out of the car. You ran out of your favourite kind of tea and had to settle for coffee. Half of your colleagues have called in sick, leaving you to carry their loads. Everything is due yesterday and you don’t even have time to stop for a bite. The day ends and you finally crawl into your home. You are cold, hungry and feeling very, very blue.
What is a girl to do on night like this? I’ll tell you what I do but you’ll have to promise not to tell anyone else. This is a deep dark secret.
I come in and I lock the door carefully behind me. I put on a giant t-shirt and fuzzy slippers. I make a huge mug of soup and turn to look for a book to brighten my night. What do I choose? I walk past all the shelves filled with classics and ‘proper’ literature. Tucked away on one shelf in the guest room are rows of romance novels. Not the chick-lit kind but the Mills & Boon kind.
Call them trashy. Call they junk. Call them whatever you want. They never fail to warm my heart and lift my spirits. I know you see that there WILL be a happy ending. That two people will, no matter what happens in between, come together to live happily ever after. And oh yes …. Let’s be honest and admit that there are those naughty bits.
BookXcess has brought in a shipment of just these books and they are selling for an unbelievable RM6.90 or RM9.90. Here is a selection. (Yes I have already taken mine home in a brown paper bag and yes I was wearing a trench coat, fedora and dark glasses) Read more
BookXcess Reviews The Wit & Wisdom of Discworld
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Terry Pratchett: The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld
Compiled by Stephen Briggs
Price: RM17.90
A collection of memorable and momentous quotes from the vast Discworld Series – this is a book for fans of Terry Pratchett’s amazing series who want to hold on to the nuggets of wisdom neatly sewn into every Discworld novel.
A discerning Pratchett fan will agree that every novel – no matter how farfetched at first glance, is a mere parody of inalienable truths about everyday human existence and the comedy of errors we commit as human nature.
Why it’s special:
Pratchett is no Hallmark writer so you won’t get your truths bundled like a soppy Get-Well card. His hard-hitting irony will send you into stitches before you realise what he was on about.
What do I think?
Pure brilliance, it’s like reading so many Discworld novels without actually reading them (how’s that for an attempt at Discworld irony?). And if you want more, the title of the Pratchett novel the quotes are from are stated boldly at the beginning of each section.
Would I recommend YOU read it?
If you’ve always wanted to live in a world suspended on the back of an elephant which stands with five other elephants on the back of a turtle; well, this book is the closest you’re going to get.
So here are some teasers for you to line your room or 5×4 office cubicle:
‘I think it is heroic to die [like this]… and when it comes to dying, there’s only one opinion that matters.’
‘Don’t try to put me at ease; it makes me nervous when people do that,’
‘…they found it easier to say ‘no offence meant’ than to actually refrain from giving offense.’
‘Thank you for coming to see me, don’t hesitate to leave…’
Review by BookXcess staff Diana
Bookish Products
Monday, November 23, 2009If you love books, you’ll love these bookish products. They aren’t books but they sure do bring out the bookish side of you!
Only a true blue bookworm could be so nonchalant about food! If you feel the same way you can get this sweater at Zazzle.com.
And what’s this? A box that looks like a stack of books? Called Booxstore? (What a cute name for a bookstore!) This is just too adorable. It also makes your table look neat and tidy by dropping all your odds and ends into a Booxstore.
As if furnishing your house with books is not enough – there’s nothing quite like a picture of books arranged neatly to show off the bookish side of the home’s owner, apparently! This piece of art, entitled Ideal Bookshelf 1, can be bought from 20×200.
Do you know of any bookish products around the ‘net? Share with us the link(s)!
If You Could Give One Gift This Christmas, Let It Be…
Monday, November 23, 2009
The latest John Grisham legal thriller hardback, The Associate. (A movie will be made based on this novel, according to Wikipedia!) Christmas happiness for that special someone for only RM24.90 (RRP RM89.90)!
Another great Christmas gift idea
BookXcess Blog Bonanza 15
Friday, November 20, 2009
Do you like royalty in your romance?
For this week’s Blog Bonanza, take your pick among three English historical romance novels:
The Firemaster’s Mistress – Christie Dickason
The Queen of Subtleties – Suzannah Dunn
My Lord John – Georgette Heyer
To win any one of these books, just share with us a historical romance book that you enjoyed reading. Your entry should be written between 50 and 500 words, in whatever form you choose (poem, point form, short essay, etc.). Submit your entry along with name, IC number, contact number and e-mail address to sales[at]bookxcess[dot]com. Contest deadline is Thursday midnight 26 November 2009. Winning entries will be randomly drawn and winners will be notified via e-mail.
Blog Bonanza 13 Winners
Thursday, November 19, 2009The thirteenth Blog Bonanza was another easy week, wasn’t it?
Here are the answers:
Raymond E. Feist’s book
_ _ L O _ O _ _ _ E S _ L _ E _ _ _ _ K
TALON OF THE SILVER HAWK
Rupert Thomson’s book
_ _ _ _ _ E _ K _ _ G _ O _
DIVIDED KINGDOM
Alison Goodman’s book
_ _ E _ _ O _ E _ _ L S O _ _ _ S _ O _
THE TWO PEARLS OF WISDOM
Susanna Clarke’s book
_ _ E L _ _ _ E S O _ G _ _ C E _ _ _ E _
THE LADIES OF GRACE ADIEU
So three winners get to choose among the four fantasy titles above to read for free. The winners are…
Joanna Chia
Nur Azyan Shalihah
Tan Qing Yu
Congratulations! What book will you pick? Hope you enjoy reading it!