New Arrivals: True Stories
Friday, July 30, 2010
Never Say Die by Melanie Davies & Lynne Barrett RRP: RM44.90 Price: RM17.90
On a Saturday morning in May 1980, Melanie Bowen, a pretty fifteen year old, ran down the stairs of her parents’ home in Port Talbot, grabbed her leather jacket and crash helmet, yelled a goodbye, and then walked out of the front door into the sunshine for what was to be the last time in her life. “Never Say Die” is the true story of what followed. Since the motorcycle crash that left her paralyzed from the chest down, Melanie’s life has been one of extremes. However, she’s won medals in athletics for Wales, been humbled and inspired by Falklands veterans at RAF Chessington, raised thousands for charity, become a major disability poster girl in America, dabbled with the film world and been screen tested for a movie, met the Queen, and set up her own rehabilitation charity, whose patrons include the acclaimed actor Michael Sheen, Dame Tanni Grey Thompson, and former Welsh Rugby captain, Gwyn Jones. She has also, against all the odds, found lasting happiness, fallen in love, and married the surgeon who 25 years earlier told her she would never walk again.
Daddy’s Little Earner: A Heartbreaking True Story of a Brave Little Girl’s Escape from Violence by Maria Landon RRP: RM39.90 Price: RM17.90
The shocking story of a young girl forced into prostitution by her own father, & her painful journey to escape her horrific childhood & build a new life for herself and her sons. Maria’s dad was a pimp, living in a world of thieves & street-walkers. By the age of nine, Maria’s father was abusing her & getting a prostitute friend to dress her up in stockings & make-up. By the time she was 14 he was selling her on the streets of the red light district in Norwich. At 15 she ran away to King’s Cross with an older lover who turned out to be just another pimp. Furious at losing a nice little earner her father involved the police & both he & the other man were jailed for living off Maria’s immoral earnings. Only then could Maria escape her traumatic childhood and follow her dream of becoming a mother.
Escaping Daddy by Maria Landon RRP: RM39.90 Price: RM17.90
The sequel to Daddy’s Little Earner tells Maria’s story as she tries to rebuild her life. Determined to escape from her past & be the best wife & mother she could possibly be, Maria throws herself into her marriage. But it is never that easy to escape from such a traumatic start in life. Maria tells the story of her marriage into the gypsy community & the emotional demons that rise up from her childhood to haunt her as she becomes the victim of violence once more. She leads the reader through her own personal & inspiring journey out of a nervous breakdown & through two marriages, on to becoming a personal development teacher who helps many others to overcome their pasts, & a strong, empowered single mother of two boys.
More Titles:
New Arrivals: Ever Growing Fiction Titles
Thursday, July 29, 2010
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy RRP: RM35.90 Price: RM17.90
Winner of the prestigious Booker Prize in 1997, The God Of Small Things was a stunning debut for Arundhati Roy. Set in Kerala, India, in 1969, seven-year-old twins Rahel & Estha, born of a wealthy family & literally joined at the soul. The God Of Small Things effectively shifts between two time periods: Rahel’s present-day trip home to see her mute, haunted twin brother, & a December day 20 years before — the tumultuous day that tears the family apart. With mesmerizing language that brings to mind, The God Of Small Things ambitiously tackles such profound issues as family, race, & class, the dictates of history, & the laws of love. Rahel & Estha learn too soon that love & life can be lost in a millisecond.
The Good Divorce Guide by Cristina Odone RRP: RM34.90 Price: RM17.90
When Rosie Martin discovers that Jonathan, her husband of 15 years, is having an affair, she feels that her world is falling apart. That is, until she realises that she’s actually fallen out of love with him, too. So Rosie & Jonathan decide to go their separate ways, determined to be civilised about their divorce, for the sake of the children — in short, to have a ‘good divorce’! Cue the rest of the world, where divorce is always a dirty word. Everyone & everything seems determined to conspire to make this divorce bitter — the lawyer, the estate agent, the botox man, the friends, not least their respective families! ‘The Good Divorce Guide’ is a touching, witty, funny story about starting afresh & learning to find your own way in life, no matter what anyone says.
A Darker Domain by Val McDermid RRP: RM35.90 Price: RM17.90
The superb new psychological thriller from bestselling author Val McDermid mixes fiction with one of the most symbolic and exceptional moments in recent history – the national miners’ strike 1984, Fife: Heiress Catriona Maclennan Grant and her baby son are kidnapped. The ransom payoff goes horribly wrong. She is killed while her son disappears without trace. 2008, Tuscany: A jogger stumbles upon dramatic new evidence that re-opens the cold case. Past and present intertwine in a dark novel of psychological suspense that explores the intersection of desire and greed.
Fairytale Of New York by Miranda Dickinson RRP: RM34.90 Price: RM17.90
Are happy-ever-afters made in Manhattan? Once upon a time an English girl went to New York to live out her very own fairytale! Florist Rosie Duncan’s life couldn’t be better, she has a flourishing business on New York’s Upper West Side and fantastic friends. Moving to Manhattan feels like the best decision she ever made. Even though at the time, it was her escape route from heartbreak … But a chance meeting brings Rosie face to face with her past, unravelling the mystery behind her arrival in New York. Rosie is forced to confront questions she has long been trying to ignore, including will she ever get her very own happy-ever-after? A sparkling, romantic comedy about an English girl who finds herself in the city where dreams can come true – or so she thinks!
Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison RRP: RM39.90 Price: RM17.90
Sexy bounty hunter and witch Rachel Morgan prowls the dark streets of Cincinnati, keeping tabs on the vampires and other creatures of the supernatural who prey on the city’s innocent and vulnerable inhabitants.
New Arrivals for Non-Fiction: Military History Reads
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Pegasus Bridge by Stephen E. Ambrose RRP: RM33.90 Price: RM17.90
In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, a small detachment of British airborne troops stormed the German defense forces and paved the way for the Allied invasion of Europe. Pegasus Bridge was the first engagement of D-Day, the turning point of World War II. This gripping account of it by acclaimed author Stephen Ambrose brings to life a daring mission so crucial that, had it been unsuccessful, the entire Normandy invasion might have failed. Ambrose traces each step of the preparations over many months to the minute-by-minute excitement of the hand-to-hand confrontations on the bridge. This is a story of heroism and cowardice, kindness and brutality — the stuff of all great adventures.
D-Day by Stephen E. Ambrose RRP: RM49.90 Price: RM17.90
Ambrose reveals how the original plans for the invasion were abandoned, and how ordinary soldiers and officers acted on their own initiative. D-Day is above all the epic story of men at the most demanding moment of their existence, when the horrors, complexities, and triumphs of life are laid bare. Ambrose portrays the faces of courage and heroism, fear and determination — what Eisenhower called “the fury of an aroused democracy” — that shaped the victory of the citizen soldiers whom Hitler had disparaged.
Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose RRP: RM44.50 Price: RM17.90
In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson selected his personal secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, to lead a voyage up the Missouri River, across the forbidding Rockies, and — by way of the Snake and mighty Columbia — down to the Pacific Ocean. Lewis and his partner, Captain William Clark, endured incredible hardships and witnessed astounding sights. With great perseverance, they worked their way into an unexplored West and when they returned two years later, they had long since been given up for dead.
Lewis is supported by a variety of colorful characters: Jefferson and his vision of the West; Clark, the artist and map-maker; and Lewis — the enigma, who let brilliantly but considered the mission a failure After suffering several periods of depression — and despite his status as a national hero — Lewis died mysteriously, apparently by his own hand.
Citizen Soldiers by Stephen E. Ambrose RRP: RM39.90 Price: RM17.90
An oral history of the last European campaigns of the Second World War, from the landings at Normandy to the final surrender of the Axis powers. Ambrose, who has already chronicled the Second World War in Undaunted Courage and D-Day, concentrates on the experiences of the ordinary soldier in the ranks, and makes use of hundreds of interviews conducted over several years of research. A “New York Times” Notable Book for 1998.
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle Nest by Stephen E. Ambrose RRP: RM33.90 Price: RM17.90
They came together in the summer of 1942. It was as good a rifle company as any in the world. Here is the story of E Company — men who went hungry, froze, and died for each other — from the rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to their disbanding in 1945. A description of life in the Easy Company, 101st Airborne Division, US Army, from the time of their rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to D-Day and victory. Drawing on interviews, journals and letters, the author tells – often in their own words – the story of these American heroes.
New Arrivals: Specially for the Young Girls **
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Introducing Lola Love~~!! With her pink hair, sassy ‘tude and ability to make brave & original fashion decisions, she positively embraces her quirks and is a positive role model for any girl who dares to be different. Except it didn’t always used to be that way. Lola’s life was sucky. Her hair would never do what it should, her best friend & only friend for that matter, Angel, went to a super-swanky boarding school which meant she had a lot of alone time, her parents argued, a lot & were not one bit supportive of any ambitions or plans that Lola had for the future, life was not sweet. That was pre-Think Pink.
Post Think Pink, well life through pink-tinted shades is officially sweet as sugar! Lola is now a happy, self-fulfilling, positivity magnet with a kooky clique of cool friends, the pink ladies – Bella, Sadie and Angel. So, what is Think Pink? Think Pink is a revolution, a PINK revolution! Forget Girl Power, It’s all about Think Pink. Think Pink is an attitude, a positive mental attitude that sends a shout-out-loud message to the world that you’re a feisty, fun, fearless and fabulous – Get your Lola Love series today! RRP: RM25.90 Price: RM9.90
Lola Love series synopsis:
New Arrivals: Award-Winning Adichie’s Books
Monday, July 26, 2010
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an acclaimed Nigerian writer whose first two novels won literary awards. Adichie had her first novel published in 2003. It received excellent reviews and won a literary award for first book. Her second novel won the 2007 Orange Prize for fiction.
Purple Hibiscus RRP: RM49.90 Price: RM17.90
From the outside, fifteen-year-old Kambili has the perfect life. She lives in a beautiful house, has a caring family, and attends an exclusive missionary school. She’s completely shielded from the troubles of the world. Yet, as Kambili reveals in her tender-voiced account, things are less than perfect in her wealthy Nigerian home. Although her papa is generous and well respected, he is fanatically religious and tyrannical at home. But everything changes once Kambili and Jaja visit Aunty Ifeoma outside the city. For the first time they experience freedom from their papa. Jaja learns to garden and work with his hands, and Kambili secretly falls in love with a young, charismatic priest. Purple Hibiscus is a stunning debut that captures the fragile beauty of a young woman’s awakening at a time when both country and family are on the cusp of change.
This first novel is about the promise of freedom; about the blurred lines between the old gods and the new; between childhood and adulthood; between love and hatred. An extraordinary debut, Purple Hibiscus is a compelling novel which captures both a country and an adolescence at a time of tremendous change.
Thing Around Your Neck RRP: RM35.90 Price: RM17.90
The words “Things Fall Apart” are so frequently associated with Nigerian author Chinua Achebe’s 1958 novel that it is easy forget they are not original to it but taken from Yeats’s 1920 poem “The Second Coming.” In her most intimate and seamlessly crafted work to date, award-winning author Adichie turns her penetrating eye not only on Nigeria but on America as well, in 12 dazzling stories that explore the ties that bind men and women, parents and children, Africa and the U.S.
Half Of A Yellow Sun RRP: RM49.90 Price: RM17.90
With effortless grace, celebrated author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie illuminates a seminal moment in modern African history: Biafra’s impassioned struggle to establish an independent republic in southeastern Nigeria during the late 1960s. We experience this tumultuous decade alongside five unforgettable characters: Ugwu, a thirteen-year-old houseboy who works for Odenigbo, a university professor full of revolutionary zeal; Olanna, the professor’s beautiful young mistress who has abandoned her life in Lagos for a dusty town and her lover’s charm; and Richard, a shy young Englishman infatuated with Olanna’s willful twin sister Kainene. Half of a Yellow Sun is a tremendously evocative novel of the promise, hope, and disappointment of the Biafran war.
Blog Bonanza 42
Saturday, July 24, 2010For Blog Bonanza 42, we’re giving away TWO absolutely adorable books as prize! 
We’re giving away two Little Miss or Mr. Men books of their choice to three lucky winners of this week’s Blog Bonanza. There are many interesting titles to choose from this Little Miss or Mr. Men series.
To enter Blog Bonanza 42, tell us which is your favourite Little Miss or Mr. Men and give us 3 reasons why. Your entry should be written in less than 100 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 30 July 2010. Incomplete entries will be disqualified. The three most original and creative favourite will be chosen and winners will be notified via e-mail.
New Arrival: Non-Fiction Picks
Friday, July 23, 2010Are you ready for a life changing journey to a more postive self-persona from the way you package yourself?
Or are you feeling into different heart-warming or heart-wrenching biographies?
Look no more, BookXcess presents our new arrival of non-fiction picks, mostly Biographies this time around. 
What Your Clothes Say About You: How to Look Different, Act Different and Feel Different by Susannah Constantine, Trinny Woodall RRP: RM109.90 Price: RM24.90
Susannah and Trinny can tell how you feel about yourself by how you dress. This book shows how to project yourself in a positive way through your clothes. It shows how to re-tune your appearance so that you can tell the world you are who you want to be. When you look different you will act different, when you act different you will feel different. Susannah & Trinny’s last television series attracted 5 million viewers and sold more than 400,000 copies.
Real Heroes introduced by Jeremy Clarkson & Ross Kemp RRP: RM49.90 Price: RM9.90
A unique, full-colour, action-packed collection of true stories of heroism from the British Armed Forces. Discover a wealth of fascinating information about servicemen’s kit, weapons, vehicles, survival aids, tactics, bases and frontline accounts of experiences of battle. Other features include detailed maps, interviews with key personnel, understanding Afghanistan, military awards, breakdowns of battle units and insightful pieces from expert authors including Ben Brown, Patrick Bishop, Christina Lamb, James Holland and Ed Macy.
‘Real Heroes’ is the perfect gift for anyone who wants to support our troops — proceeds from the book will be donated to Help for Heroes, a tremendous charity set up to support the men and women of the British Armed Forces who are wounded in the line of duty. Exciting, eye-catching and informative, ‘Real Heroes’ is a must-read for anyone who wants to learn more about modern warfare, or simply enjoys a fast-paced account of real courage, comradeship and battle.
Toast: The Story of a Boy’s Hunger by Nigel Slater RRP: RM35.90 Price: RM17.90
This book aims to capture 30 years of British cooking and the recipes that we have grown up with since the days when a grilled grapefruit was the last word in dinner party chic. Everyone has gorged on cake mix, endured disastrous dinner parties, and put up with the loved one who can only ever produce burnt toast. Nigel Slater is no different.
The Sunday Times Bestseller, and the biggest memoir of the year, from Britain’s best loved food writer. TOAST is Nigel Slater’s truly extraordinary story of a childhood remembered through food. Whether relating his mother’s ritual burning of the toast, his father’s dreaded Boxing Day stew or such culinary highlights of the day as Arctic Roll and Grilled Grapefruit (then considered somehting of a status symbol in Wolverhampton) this remarkable memoir vividly recreates daily life in sixties surburban England.
The Crimes of Josef Fritzl: Uncovering the Truth by Stefanie Marsh, Bojan Pancevski RRP: RM38.90 Price: RM9.90
The only inside account of the Fritzl case – Josef Fritzl’s horrific incarceration of his daughter in a windowless dungeon for 24 years and the seven children he fathered with her – from the journalists who helped to break the story. Until April 19 2008, Josef Fritzl seemed like an upstanding member of the community in the Austrian town of Amstetten: an ideal father and successful businessman who had worked his way up from humble beginnings to become a role model of respectability. Yet for over two decades he had been living a double life of unimaginable and unparalleled horror.
This bold and forensically-researched study sheds new light on the mind and the psychological development of the man who became one of the most unique and frightening criminals in history. Stefanie Marsh and Bojan Pancevski were the first English-speaking reporters to break the case and were there as the police uncovered the dungeon.
The Pocket Book of Death by Morgan Reilly, Joanna Tempest, Rob DenBleyker (Illustrator)
RRP: RM35.90 Price: RM14.90
A laugh-out-loud miscellany of everything you ever wanted to know about death. From bizarre funeral practices and macabre urban myths to lucrative jobs in the death business. Accompanied by cartoons from the creators of the hit webcomic, ‘Cyanide & Happiness.’ There’s just something about the end that makes us want to run screaming back to the beginning! The Pocket Book of Death is a jaw-dropping miscellany of macabre word origins, hysterical famous last words, bizarre death rituals, the last meals of death row inmates and more.
Helpless: The True Story of a Neglected Girl Betrayed and Exploited by the Neighbour She Trusted by Marianne Marsh, Toni Maguire RRP: RM34.90 Price: RM17.90
Eight year old Marianne, the eldest of five children, was neglected by her slovenly mother and her violent alcoholic father. Uncared for and unkempt she was rejected at school by her peers and scarcely tolerated by her teachers. Only one person gave her the affection she craved; a neighbour who, seeing the vulnerable child, knew she was easy prey for his perverted desires. ‘Little Lady’ he called her over the few months he groomed her. Less than twelve months later she was caught in a trap of fear – if she talked she would be punished. With no one to turn to she kept ‘their secret’. At thirteen she fell pregnant. Without family support the teenager gave birth to a daughter in the unmarried mother’s home. Six weeks later the baby she had already grown to love was taken away for adoption. Marianne returned home, but the neighbour’s abuse continued and a year later she was pregnant again. Marianne who still missed her first child desperately struggled to keep her second daughter. Two months after the birth she realized that for the baby’s sake she would have to give her up for adoption. Helpless is Marianne’s heartbreaking story.
Finest Years: Churchill as Warlord 1940-45 by Sir Max Hastings RRP: RM129.90 Price: RM24.90
Pre-eminent military historian Max Hastings presents Winston Churchill as he has never been seen before. Winston Churchill was the greatest war leader Britain ever had. In 1940, the nation rallied behind him in an extraordinary fashion. But thereafter, argues Max Hastings, there was a deep divide between what Churchill wanted from the British people and their army, and what they were capable of delivering. Here is an intimate and affectionate portrait of Churchill as Britain’s saviour, but also an unsparing examination of the wartime nation which he led and the performance of its armed forces.
Torres: El Nino: My Story by Fernando Torres RRP: RM99.90 Price: RM19.90
Fernando Torres is one of the hottest properties in world football. From local Madrid idol to Kop hero and European Championship winner, he talks here for the first time about the unique challenges faced in his two years in England, with candid snapshots of his life on and off the field. At the age of 25, Spain’s Fernando Torres has already established himself as one of the Liverpool greats and a proud wearer of the fabled No 9 shirt. His first book provides a captivating illustrated story of his career to date, alongside candid snapshots of his early life in Madrid, as a child football prodigy and lifelong fan of local club Atletico. Away from the football, Torres talks about life out of the spotlight with his childhood sweetheart Ollala, his family and friends, and what inspires and motivates him.
Blog Bonanza 41 Winners
Friday, July 23, 2010
Thank you to everyone who participated. It is quite heartening see people responding to the call of books!
Answers for Blog Bonanza 41:
1.) Name one other fiction book written by Sarah Tucker.
- The Control Freak Chronicles/ The Battle for Big School/ The Playground Mafia/ The Younger Man/ The Last Years of Being Married/ The Year of Being Single
2.) Name the two publishing companies Sarah Tucker works for.
- Mira Books (Harlequin)/ Arrow Books Ltd/ Red Dress Ink (just to name a few)
3.) Sarah Tucker is a columnist for which specialty for a monthly regional magazine?
- Travelling for Traveller Magazine
4.) Name one other published works by Roberto Bolaño.
- The Savage Detectives/ The Secret of Evil/ Between Parentheses (just to name a few)
5.) From which country is Roberto Bolaño from?
- Chile
6.) Which translated novel of Roberto Bolaño’s kickstart his fame in the publishing world?
- The Savage Detectives (Wimmer’s translations of “The Savage Detectives” in 2007 and “2666″ in 2008—published in the US by Farrar, Straus & Giroux–brought Bolaño his widest recognition among English readers.)
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Roberto_Bola%C3%B1o
The three names with all correct answers drawn among the entries for this contest are…
1. Aida May
2. Tony Lau Pak Hoe
3. Robin Brian Vander Slott
Congratulations to the 3 winners, who have just won themselves either a copy of School’s Out by Sarah Tucker or 2666 by Roberto Bolaño.
Do stay tuned to check out what the next Blog Bonanza will bring soon!
New Arrival: Fiction Reads only at RM9.90!
Thursday, July 22, 2010Today we’re featuring fiction reads priced at only RM9.90! Where else can you get exciting reads at such exciting price bargain? Yours truly, BookXcess.
Fine Just The Way It Is: Wyoming Stories 3 by Annie Proulx
RRP: RM36.90 Price: RM9.90
Returning to the territory of “Brokeback Mountain,” National Book Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winner Proulx has written a stunning and visceral collection of new stories.
Her stories about multiple generations of Americans struggling through life in the West are a ferocious, dazzling panorama of American folly and fate. Proulx’s characters try to climb out of poverty and desperation but get cut down as if the land itself wanted their blood. Deeply sympathetic to the men and women fighting to survive in this harsh place, Proulx turns their lives into fiction with the power of myth — and leaves the listener in awe.
The winner of two O. Henry Prizes, Annie Proulx has been anthologized in every major collection of great American stories. Her bold, inimitable language, her exhilarating eye for detail and her dark sense of humor make this a profoundly compelling collection.
Master & Commander by Patrick O’ Brian RRP: RM49.90 Price: RM9.90
Set sail for the read of your life! Master and Commander is the first of Patrick O’Brian’s now famous Aubrey/Maturin novels, regarded by many as the greatest series of historical novels ever written. It establishes the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey RN and Stephen Maturin, who becomes his secretive ship’s surgeon and an intelligence agent. It contains all the action and excitement which could possibly be hoped for in a historical novel.
All The Things We Didn’t Say by Sara Shepard RRP: RM36.90 Price: RM9.90
Emotional, issue-led fiction perfect for all fans of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter and Jodi Picoult Tragedy came as if so often does: a teenage party, emotions running high, followed by a horrific car crash. A girl is left dead and a boy is forced to leave his home town, with a secret that he will carry with him forever! Years later, when Summer’s mother disappears one summer, she is left with her father. Obsessed with an accident from years ago, he slowly descends into mental illness. And as he becomes more disorientated, he reveals small fragments of a secret that has been hidden since his youth, a secret that changes everything. Summer supports her father as much as she can but eventually realises that she has to escape. She finds refuge with her great-aunt, Stella. Feisty, fun-loving, and dying of cancer, Stella holds parts of the family secret. Slowly, things fall into place for Summer – or at least so she thinks! This is a story of the importance of family, of the damage a lie can do, and of how nothing is ever what it seems.
Bad Things by Michael Marshall RRP:RM35.90 Price: RM9.90
From the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of The Intruders and The Straw Men comes a nerve-shattering story of guilt, rage, deadly secrets, and very, very . . . bad things. Three years ago, lawyer John Henderson watched his four-year-old son tumble from a jetty into the lake outside their Washington home. In a terrible instant, a life all too brief and innocent ended. But it wasn’t drowning, the fall, or even some previously undetected internal defect that killed the little boy. Scott Henderson had simply, inexplicably . . . died. Today, John is a different man—divorced, living a solitary existence in a beach house in Oregon, working as a waiter in a restaurant that caters to the summer crowd. Withdrawn from a life and past too painful to revisit, he touches no one and no one touches him. Then one night he receives a short and profoundly disturbing e-mail message from a stranger. It reads: I know what happened.
A twisting, relentlessly thrilling, and consistently surprising novel of psychological suspense, Michael Marshall’s Bad Things is a masterwork of chilling brilliance that will keep the reader guessing right to the final page.
New Arrival: The Return of Terry Pratchett
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
“Give a man a fire and he’s warm for the day. But set fire to him and he’s warm for the rest of his life.” ~Terry Pratchett, Discworld
Synopsis & Price List: Read more