So, I know you’ll all be excited to know that further to my previous post on coveting the new Ishiguro title I am now the proud owner of a copy of Nocturnes. It’s sitting by my bedside, awaiting opening. I will not open it yet! I will allow it to taunt me with its promise! I hope it’s good.
A progress report…
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May 252009
Books are NOT dying…
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May 222009
The New Yorker Book Bench blog has a great entry about an Author’s Guild celebration of Dave Eggers, complete with a quote from his speech, which I have to copy here: To any of you who are feeling down, and saying, “Oh, no one’s reading anymore”: Walk into 826 on any afternoon. There are no screens there, it’s all paper, it’s all students working shoulder to shoulder invested in their work, writing down something, thinking their work might get published. They put it all on the page, and they think, “Well, if this person who works next to me cares so much about what I’m writing, and they’re going to publish it in their next anthology or newspaper or whatever, then I’m going to invest so much more in it.” And then meanwhile, they’re reading more than I did at their age. … Nothing has changed! The written word—the love [...read more...]
Book Spotlight: The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde
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May 212009
This book spotlight is on The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde – one of my favourite books of the last couple of years. Description: The 2nd title in the Nursery Crimes series. The Gingerbreadman – psychopath, sadist, convicted murderer and cake/biscuit – is loose on the streets of Reading. It isn’t Jack Spratt’s case. Despite the success of the Humpty Dumpty investigation, the well publicised failure to prevent Red Riding-Hood and her Gran being eaten once again plunges the Nursery Crime Division into controversy. Enforced non-involvement with the Gingerbreadman hunt looks to be frustrating until a chance encounter at the oddly familiar Deja-Vu Club leads them onto the hunt for missing journalist Henrietta ‘Goldy’ Hatchett, star reporter for The Daily Toad. The last witnesses to see her alive were The Three Bears, comfortably living out a life of rural solitude in Andersen’s wood. But all is not what it seems. [...read more...]
May 192009
Three things made me extremely excited in the weekend: 1. I found out there is a new Kazuo Ishiguro book in paperback – Nocturnes : Five Stories of Music and Nightfall. This makes me so excited I can’t begin to tell you! Every Ishiguro book is like this jewel inside a treasure box that I don’t want to open, because I know it will be so perfectly beautiful that I will cry and the world will be a totally different place. Yes, I like him THAT much. 2. I have acquired a copy of Marcus Zusak’s I Am the Messenger. I am so, so, SO hoping that this will be as good as The Book Thief, which was brilliant. Or even a little bit as good, which would still be very, very good. 3. I have also acquired a copy of The Bolter by Frances Osborne, which I am also [...read more...]
Sale extended for month of May!
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May 182009
The response to our new website has been great and so we’ve decided to extend our sale for the whole month of May! There are lots of extremely low-priced brand NEW and secondhand books available, so click here for more details, or click here to go straight to our listings and start browsing! Thanks to everyone for your kind support of our new website and keep visiting us for updated bloggings and information. We look forward to selling you lots of great books!
What’s BookieMonster reading?
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May 152009
Currently I’m reading what I think has to be considered a must-read for all New Zealanders – The Penguin History of New Zealand by Michael King. So far this has been an excellent read and one I will definitely be recommending. I was hoping for more detail on New Zealand history pre-human occupation of any kind, but I realise this is more of a cultural history than a zoological or geological history, so I had to be content with the one chapter. One side effect of this is the realisation of just how little time humans have actually been in our country, in geological terms. I like that Michael King didn’t shy away from mentioning current (at the time of his writing) historical thought trends – his discussions of the various theories regarding the timing of the arrival of Maori in New Zealand is particularly interesting. I am also enjoying the less academic [...read more...]
Extra BookieMonster Blathery Goodness!