New Arrivals: Fiction Mania!

Friday, July 9, 2010

Do try not to judge the book by its cover this time around…   We’re sure there are interesting reads as follows…

LITERATURE:

By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paulo Coelho
RRP: RM66.30 Price: RM17.90
Coehlo presents the poignant, deeply spiritual tale of Pilar, an independent and practical yet restless young woman, whose life is forever changed by an encounter with a childhood friend. Now a mesmerizing and handsome seminarian, he leads her on a journey through the French Pyrenees, where together they explore the “feminine face of God,” and make the dramatic discovery that love is God.

A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif
RRP:RM84.00 Price: RM19.90
A first novel of the first order—provocative, exuberant, wickedly clever—that reimagines the conspiracies and coincidences leading to the mysterious 1988 plane crash that killed Pakistan’s dictator General Zia ul-Haq. Intrigue and subterfuge combine with misstep and luck in this darkly comic book about love, betrayal, tyranny, family—and a world that unexpectedly resembles our own.

Raise the Red Lantern by SuTong
RRP: RM39.90 Price: RM17.90
The brutal realities of the dark places Su Tong depicts in this collection of novellas set in 1930s provincial China — worlds of prostitution, poverty, and drug addiction — believe his prose of stunning and simple beauty.

The title novella, “Raise the Red Lantern,” which became a critically acclaimed film, tells the story of Lotus, a young woman whose father’s suicide forces her to become the concubine of a wealthy merchant. Crushed by loneliness, despair, and cruel treatment, Lotus finds her descent into insanity both a weapon and a refuge.

“Nineteen Thirty-Four Escapes” is an account of a family’s struggles during one momentous year; plagued by disease, death, and the shady promise of life in a larger town, the family slowly disintegrates.

Finally, “Opium Family” details the last years of a landowning clan whose demise is brought about by corruption, lust, and treachery — fruits of the insidious crop they harvest.

The Sirens of Baghdad by Yasmina Khadra
RRP: RM75.81 Price: RM19.90
A masterful and chilling look at violence and its effects on ordinary people, The Sirens of Baghdad probes situations few writers dare examine. Powerfully written like Khadra’s previous novels, it explores the depths of human nature and shows that, even in the most horrific circumstances, good can prevail.

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