My war against Angus & Robertson wanes...

Oh I'm so weak! Show me a 75% off sale and I'll sell my ideals for the chance of a bargain.

That's exactly what Angus & Robertson has done and I capitulated, buying not one, but THREE books from them! This, after stating that I'd never buy from them again and telling everyone else I know not to either (not that I know anyone who actually listened).

And the reason for my war on A&R? They push independent book publishers out of business by forcing them to pay up if their books don't sell enough to warrant their shelf-space, on the threat that they'll stop selling their books at all. I'm sure they're not the first big retailer to flex their muscles in this way (after all, it IS a capitalist market), but HOW DARE THEY, right?

... I just wrote two paragraphs dedicated to a discourse on the role of retailers in the free market but then deleted it b/c it's just BORING. The fact is, any retailer doing this is, on one hand, seemingly money-grubbing and dirty-dealing. But on the other hand, the niggling thought is - perhaps they're just doing what they need to do to stay in business. So is it the fault of A&R or is it just the hamartia - the fatal flaw - of our modern capitalist business model? If they were to represent every under-selling independent book, they wouldn't be able to stay in business.

Am I just trying to justify my purchase? Will I put these books on a special 'blood books' section of my bookshelf? Is it enough if I only ever buy the bargain books and nothing of real value from them, b/c the bargain books contribute least to their profit margin?

... because COME ON, they were three very decent books that I bought for a total of $15.75 - unheard of!

Sara Bareilles, Little Voice (CD review)

I don't know why this album's called 'Little Voice' - she's got a great big voice - not OTT by any means, just really rich and full and beautiful.

This is a really wonderful album full of great melodies, strong lyrics and songs with a slight jazzy sort of feel to them. You feel like she really understands music and moulds the songs to the shape of her emotions, making them interesting and unique to herself.

The songs don't always go where you expect them to, so they don't sound like they've been cranked out by some 40 year old Swedish guy. There's usually a little twist or flick of the wrist in the melody that differentiates it from the usual pop sound, but with enough hooks and riffs to please the average pop listener.

Favourites: the already popular 'Love Song' with its catchy piano tune, 'Between the Lines' for its heartfeltedness (yes, I believe that's a brand new word) and 'Bottle it Up' for its good-girl fun.

I've been listening to this album for practically a week and a half straight and I've yet to get sick of it (even if my colleagues have, but fortunately they're too polite to complain).

Rating: 9/10
Excellent voice, skillful musicianship, great young talent.

The Book Depository

It's about time I wrote something about these guys because they're seriously great. www.bookdepository.co.uk have all manner of books at incredibly reasonable prices (read: cheap) with FREE INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING. You heard me right – free international shipping.

Generally the books arrive within a week or so, although I've had one experience when the book didn't arrive at all. Around 2-3 weeks after I'd placed the order, I sent them a quick email and they wrote back, 'We're terribly sorry you didn't receive your order...' It turned out that they'd run out of stock and hadn't gotten round to informing me, but their 'terribly sorriness' was so endearing (and perfectly British) that I really couldn't get mad – not to mention the fact that all my other orders have been delivered in good time (and FREE – did I mention that?).

Many of the books I've bought have been around the 5GBP mark (British pounds). Up to a few months ago, that was around AU$15, but now it's a measly $10 b/c the Aussie dollar has been performing so incredibly well. I've decided to buy up all the Alexander McCall Smith books in the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series while the dollar's doing so well. They costing me around AU$11 each – the alternative is Borders or Dymocks, priced at around AU$22 – no need to tell me twice. (I never buy from Angus & Robertson since I read about them squeezing out independent publishers by forcing them to PAY for shelfspace if their books didn't perform well at the till.)

Our latest book club book 'Stardust' by Neil Gaiman cost me a whole $7 – that's cheaper than lunch in the city! No wonder I'm addicted to book-buying lately.

So check them out, much cheaper than your other alternatives – the only downside is that you have to wait until the book is delivered. If it's a gift or something you don't mind waiting to read, then order at least a week or two in advance. Otherwise, you'll need to traipse down to your local bookstore for instant gratification.

www.bookdepository.co.uk

My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult

The premise is quite controversial, which probably accounts for the popularity of the book. Anna (full name Andromeda, thanks to her father’s astronomy hobby) was a ‘designer baby’ chosen by her parents because her genes are a perfect match for her sister Kate, whose rare form of leukaemia has meant Anna has had to donate blood and marrow from the time of her birth (cord blood) until now, 13 years later. In the present day, Kate’s condition has deteriorated and their mother wants Anna to donate her kidney to her sister in a last ditch effort to keep her alive. The story begins when Anna hires a lawyer to gain medical emancipation from her parents.

Each chapter switches back and forth between the various characters in the story – not just the members of the family, who are torn apart by these circumstances, but also the lawyer Anna hires and the guardian ad litum who is assigned to her case – who also just happens to be the lawyer’s long-lost-but-never-forgotten love. Corny? Yes it is.

The characters are a little unbelievable – ie, it’s hard to believe that any mother would be so single-minded in her pursuit to save one child even to the detriment of another and complete neglect of yet another, and it’s hard to believe that a 13-year old could write so eloquently about her own situation.

The book was reminiscent of the filtered-screen, B-grade midday movies that have plots that would put a soap opera to shame. Picoult intersperses the chapters with quotes and poetry that give the book a semblance of depth, but merely highlight the lack thereof by comparison and leave you rather baffled as to how they actually fit into the story. The ending was, I’m sorry to say, cheap theatrics that smack of ‘God how am I going to finish this’ and the appendix ties everything up in a too-neat bow.


Rating: 5.5/10
I’m not surprised that while Picoult is undoubtedly a popular author, her work is highly criticised by many literary circles.

The Belgariad (series), by David Eddings

Review incorporating:
Book 2: Queen of Sorcery
Book 3: Magician's Gambit
Book 4: Castle of Wizardry
Book 5: Enchanter's End Game

The adventure continues (see below review for Book 1: Pawn of Prophecy) until Garion, now Belgarion (the Child of Light), meets the evil god Torak (Child of Dark) for the one-on-one showdown. Eddings adds to the list of characters and even manages to evolve each of them to an extent, which is very gratifying for the reader. Overall it was a satisfying read, although the second time round the major battle in the end is a little bit of a letdown. Call me a girl but I loved the romance and humour through the series, and although I mentioned it adversely in my review of Pawn of Prophecy, I must admit I love a happy ending - c'mon, did you really expect Garion to lose?

Rating: 8/10
Enjoyable and satisfying read

Pawn of Prophecy, Book 1 of the Belgariad by David Eddings

I came across this childhood favourite of mine at a church jumble sale and bought it for $1. What a bargain for this fantastic fantasy fiction.

I enjoyed rereading it enormously – the characters are well-drawn and diverse, the action is vivid and in true fantasy fashion, the journey is epic. The best thing about Pawn of Prophecy is the handful of characters who are drawn together to undertake a journey and complete a task (on which the balance of the world hangs, of course). Each has different strengths and weaknesses, motivations, backgrounds and heartaches, and their interactions are priceless. The whole setup reminds me a lot of the fellowship in Lord of the Rings (as most post-Tolkien fantasies do) but I didn’t know that when I first read this book.

There are elements in the Pawn of Prophecy seen in many other fantasy novels – whole worlds, different races, wise magicians, jealous gods, underdog heroes who discover their destiny and a long journey to right a world gone wrong. So while a lot of it is not strictly original, the book is engrossing and, best of all, genuinely funny. Sometimes the humour is a little... young and somewhat repetitive, but it's still very enjoyable.

The main weakness in the series that I can see now as an adult is that things work out too perfectly – none of the main characters dies, almost everyone finds their match, the world is set aright and they go riding off into the sunset (so to speak). There’s a depth to sorrow and heartache in children's books that grab the juvenile heart and force a kid to grow up, and it is unfortunate that Eddings didn't capture that in this series. Who can forget bawling over Charlotte’s Web and Bridge to Terabithia? Eddings gives the reader exactly what we want – which is satisfying for us, but cheats the series of being great.

Rating: 8/10
Highly enjoyable and satisfying read. And I adore Garion.

A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole

Seriously seriously funny.

This is adult literary humour at its sharpest and riotously funniest. The ‘hero’ is Ignatius J. Reilly, a hulking monster of a man-child who considers himself a genius, unappreciated by the world at large. He IS unappreciated by the world at large, but not because of his genius. He’s a slothful, bullying, gluttonous hypochondriac whose misadventures begin when his mother drives her car into a brick building. He is forced out of the cocoon of his room (where he fills endless Big Chief tablets with his monumental writings) to find work to help pay the bill. From destroying the working order of Levy Pants by depositing all their documents in the circular file (read: trash) to eating himself out of his wages at the Paradise Hot Dog stand, his journey is a comedy of errors that escalates with his relationship with his socially overly-conscientious female doppelganger, Myrna Minkoff.

I’m planning to update this review with some quotes from the book so come back to this page.

Rating: 9/10
Brilliant and almost flawless.