OMG Free Overseas Delivery? No Way!

Okay, listen. You know I love buying books and one of the things I've been doing this year is buying some from Amazon in the UK. I like buying them here in Brunei when I can, but some books are so hard to get.

Try finding a copy of Hunger Games in Brunei. You won't. How about Vampire Academy? Not likely. It's just impossible. Even Twilight was hard to get a hold of for most of last year.

Well, I order the books I want from Amazon, but the cost of shipping is often the same price as the book itself. In my last two orders I think I was paying about $8 per book in shipping.

But imagine if you could get free overseas delivery. Wouldn't that be awesome? You could have great prices and get the book delivered to you. You could have any book you wanted, whenever you wanted it. Can you imagine how that would change things?

Welcome to the world of book buying heaven!!! Welcome to the Book Depository!

I've just placed an order for the two books we are missing from the 2008 Teens' Top Ten list. I got Sweet Far thing for 6.28GBP and I got Vampire Academy for 6.14GBP. No shipping fees. That's 12.42GBP total. (The UK pound is making a comeback, but that's still only $29BND for two books.)

Over at Amazon I would have paid 30.93GBP for the same two books. Wow!!! How is that possible? Half the price is in shipping fees.

Anyway, I've placed the order today. Let's see how this works. If this pans out, I will be ordering A LOT OF NEW BOOKS this way. You know, I was going to wait until September for these two books because I was trying to cut down on the shipping costs. Now I can order books whenever I want. This is so amazing. Happy days!

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

I'm almost finished City of Bones and so far it has been great. I've just been too busy to finish it. I thought I'd have to wait until September for the second book City of Ashes, but I discovered a copy at Bookers in Gadong! Don't you love when that happens? Anyway, I'll donate City of Bones to the SRR as soon as I'm done.

BTW, as happy as I am, I should mention it cost me $1.50 more buying it here than it would have from Amazon (yes, I'm still complaining about the Brunei book markup).

Amazon Review
In City of Bones (2007), normal teenager Clary discovered she was a Shadowhunter, long-lost daughter of murdering megalomaniac Valentine - and therefore the sister of her new boyfriend Jace. Now she's caught up in the dangerous politics of the Downworld, where Jace is suspected of treason, non-human kids are being ritually murdered and best friend Simon is transforming into a werewolf. Clary must protect Simon, save Jace from a vindictive Downworlder Inquisitor, prevent Valentine from building an unstoppable demon army and fight her undiminished passion for Jace. The prose is exceedingly purple: Eyes are always paint chips, black pits or jewels in a spider's web; ichor-leaking demons have voices like shattering glass; fairies have hair like autumn leaves or poison green skin. But this action-packed tale uses melodrama and florid descriptions to good effect, crafting emotional tension and heart-wrenching romantic dramas. Readers of urban fantasy will devour this deliciously overwrought adventure.

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

I think you'll enjoy this one.

This book is one of the hottest new books to hit our SRR bookshelves. Bray has struck gold on the Teens' Top Ten list with "A Great and Terrible Beauty" placing 6th in 2004. I can't wait to read it.

Arni in 5D has said it was good and wants to read the other two in the series. She has returned it and right now it is sitting on the shelf in the SRR just begging to be read!

It sounds different from other teen lit books as it is a period piece set in Victorian England. I also like the supernatural side of it in that the character has "visions" of what will happen in the future. Sounds good to me.

Amazon.com Review
A Victorian boarding school story, a Gothic mansion mystery, a gossipy romp about a clique of girlfriends, and a dark other-worldly fantasy--jumble them all together and you have this complicated and unusual first novel.

Gemma, 16, has had an unconventional upbringing in India, until the day she foresees her mother’s death in a black, swirling vision that turns out to be true. Sent back to England, she is enrolled at Spence, a girls’ academy with a mysterious burned-out East Wing. There Gemma is snubbed by powerful Felicity, beautiful Pippa, and even her own dumpy roommate Ann, until she blackmails herself and Ann into the treacherous clique. Gemma is distressed to find that she has been followed from India by Kartik, a beautiful young man who warns her to fight off the visions. Nevertheless, they continue, and one night she is led by a child-spirit to find a diary that reveals the secrets of a mystical Order. The clique soon finds a way to accompany Gemma to the other-world realms of her visions "for a bit of fun" and to taste the power they will never have as Victorian wives, but they discover that the delights of the realms are overwhelmed by a menace they cannot control. Gemma is left wi! th the knowledge that her role as the link between worlds leaves her with a mission to seek out the "others" and rebuild the Order. A Great and Terrible Beauty is an impressive first book in what should prove to be a fascinating trilogy.

You can order A Great and Terrible Beauty at Book Depository

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

The Nicholas Sparks fans will be excited to know that I have just received word that Maria in Portugal is sending us a hardcover version of The Notebook. Hopefully it will arrive in the next couple of weeks. For those of you who like love stories, this will be one book you'll want to put on your reading list.

Amazon.com
"Somewhere," muses Noah Calhoun, while sitting on his porch in the moonight, "there were people making love." Anyway, head elsewhere for Great Literature, but if you're in the market to get your heartstrings plucked, look no further. The Notebook, a Southern-fried story of love-lost-and-found-again, revolves around a single time-honored romantic dilemma: will beautiful Allison Nelson stay with Mr. Respectability (to whom she happens to be engaged), or will she hook up with Noah, the romantic rascal she left so many years ago? We're not telling, but you have two guesses and the first one doesn't count. Decades later, after Allison develops Alzheimer's, her beau uses "the notebook" to read her the story of the great love she's plumb forgot. The Notebook--film rights already sold, thank you very much--is a little glazed doughnut of a book: sticky- sweet, satisfying, not much nourishment. But who cares? Take an extra vitamin and indulge.