Sunday, May 24, 2009

New releases from Exclusive Books and Penguin Books SA

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Set in 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi, there are lines that are not crossed. Black maids raise the white children, but no one trusts them not to steal the silver. Aibileen is a black maid, raising her seventeenth white child, but with a bitter heart after the death of her son. Minny is the sassy woman of the town and Skeeter is a white woman with a degree but no ring on her finger. Skeeter discovers her beloved maid Constantine has disappeared without a trace. And as different as they may be, these three women will come together for a clandestine project that will put all of them at risk.

The Girl Next Door by Elizabeth Noble

A gorgeous and unforgettable novel set in a turn-of-the-century New York apartment building on the Upper West Side, The Girl Next Door features four interwoven stories about love, life and living together. Meet Eve Gallagher in Apartment 7A, newly relocated to New York from London with her ambitious banker husband. But she's lonely and lost ... until she meets elderly neighbour Violet, who's concealing a tragic story of her own. The Kramers and the Schulmans in Apartments 6A and 6B are about to find their lives intersecting in a most unfortunate manner when Jason Kramer falls head-over-heels for Rachael Schulman.

These books are available to purchase or order at your nearest Exclusive Books branch.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Horror / Sci-Fi

I love the whole sci-fi and horror genre and I was surfing around and found this bunch called SomeThing Wicked - http://www.somethingwicked.co.za.


It looks like a pretty new offering and while their site looks a little cluttered there looks like there is some interesting stuff there.

Go check it out and let me know what you think of it!

Paths of Glory - Jeffrey Archer


I have just finished reading "Paths of Glory" which is the latest offering from Jeffrey Archer.

I'll be honest the book while the book was good - well written? - it never really seemed to get out of 2nd gear.

The story revolves around George Mallory and his attempts to climb Everest. It takes us over the story of his life as he develops from an eager young student into one of the best climbers of his generation.

I don't think anyone will ever be able to fault Archer's ability to write a story but this just did not seem to have the same punch that some of his other works did have. I found myself plopping into bed and reading two or three pages before passing out.

The character development was good in that you "watched" as the climbers and social circle matured as world events (such as World War 1 played out).

In all honesty I can't put my finger on what was missing but there wasn't enough to keep me turning page after page.

Title: Paths of Glory
Author: Jeffrey Archer
ISBN-13: 978-0-230-53143-7
Loot price: R199.00 (see banner right)

Our conclusion: A well written read with good character development. Unfortunately the story just wasn't engaging enough for me. Rated it a 3 out of 5.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Hot games

As usual on a Sunday we highlight the best selling video games on the various online retail platforms:

Amazon
1. Virtual Villagers [Game Download] - PC
2. Atlantis Quest - PC
3. Ricochet Lost Worlds: Recharged - PC
4. Slingo Quest - PC
5. Wii Fit - Nintendo Wii
6. Alice Greenfingers - PC
7. Phineas and Ferb DS - Nintendo DS
8. EA Sports Active - Nintendo Wii
9. Mario Kart Wii with Wii Wheel - Nintendo Wii
10. Gold's Gym Cardio Workout - Nintendo Wii

Take2
1. Crysis (PC DVD-ROM)
2. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3 Platinum)
3. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition (PC DVD)
4. Sam & Max - Season 1 (PC)
5. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (PC DVD-ROM)
6. Drakensang: The Dark Eye (PC DVD-ROM)
7. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2 Platinum)
8. Exclusive: Age of Empires: Collectors Edition (PC)
9. Another World: 15th Anniversary Edition (PC)
10. Mass Effect (PC DVD-ROM)

Kalahari.Net
1. The Sims 3 Collectors Edition - PC
2. Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution - Xbox360
3. Metal Gear Solid 4 (Platinum) - PS3
4. Resident Evil 5 - Xbox360
5. X-Men Origins: Wolverine - PS2
6. Guitar Hero World Tour with Guitar Wii - Nintendo Wii
7. Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena - PC
8. Lego Star Wars - PC
9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - PS2
10. Call of Duty 2: Game of the Year Edition (Xbox 360 Classic) - Xbo360

Sunday bestselling books

Another Sunday is here and as usual we highlight the best selling books on the online retail platforms:

Exclusive Books
1. Twilight
2. New Moon
3. Breaking Dawn
4. Assegai
5. Eclipse
6. Slumdog Millionaire
7. The Shack
8. 8th Confession
9. Paths of Glory
10. Eat, Pray, Love

Amazon
1. 7 days in the top 100 Cook Yourself Thin: Skinny Meals You Can Make in minutes - Lifetime Television
2. The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson & the Olympians) - Rick Riordan
3. Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto - Mark R. Levin
4. The Shack - William P. Young
5. Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 9) - Charlaine Harris
6. Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4) - Stephenie Meyer
7. The Twilight Saga Collection - Stephenie Meyer
8. Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3) - Stephenie Meyer
9. The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown
10. New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2) - Stephenie Meyer

Take2
1. Burning Wild - Feehan, Christine
2. Breaking Dawn - Meyer, Stephenie
3. Eclipse - Meyer, Stephenie
4. New Moon - Meyer, Stephenie
5. Twilight - Meyer, Stephenie
6. Twilight - Meyer, Stephenie
7. Vision in White - Roberts, Nora
8. Eclipse - Stephanie Meyer
9. Lover Avenged - Ward, J. R.
10. Dream Warrior - Kenyon, Sherrilyn

Kalahari.Net
1. Eclipse - Stephanie Meyer
2. Breaking Dawn - Meyer, Stephenie
3. Twilight - Meyer, Stephenie
4. New Moon - Meyer, Stephenie
5. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think about Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment - Steve Harvey
6. The Shack - William P. Young
7. Assegai - Wilbur Smith
8. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - David Wroblewski
9. New Moon (softcover) - Stephenie Meyer
10. Twilight (softcover) - Stephenie Meyer

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Dean Koontz - Your heart belongs to me

The latest offering from Dean Koontz is an absolute cracker...


One word for you - SUBTEXT - you'll have to read the book to understand what I mean but I promise you it is well worth the read.

As Koontz has gone along, he's moved more away from the macabre horror stories to the psychological thrillers with a twist and this one was no different. Let's put it this way - I started reading the book about 7:30 this morning and three hours later I was wrapping it up - it was just that damn engrossing and arguably one of the best books of his I have ever read....

... One of those books that leaves you thinking about the world as a whole and not just escaping into fiction for a while.

The story itself involves a multi-millionaire with everything to live for. He suddenly learns that he has less than a year to live unless he receives a vital heart transplant.

Out of the blue a heart becomes available and everything goes smoothly until he starts getting threatening letter and warnings - somebody wants their heart back....

After that you're sucked along on a fantastic read that will leave you gasping for breath... Wow!

Author: Dean Koontz
Title: Your Heart Belongs to me
ISBN-13: 978-0-00-726756-9
Loot price: R279.00 (see banner right)

A cracking book - rated it four and half out of five.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Lisa Scottoline - Daddy's Girl


Being a guy I tend to prefer quality smash and bash types of action and adventure stories but even I had to admit that Lisa Scottoline's "Daddy's Girl" wasn't a bad read.

Basically Natalie Greco is a professor at a local college who gets convinced to do some lecturing at the local prison.

Unfortunately a prison riot during one of her lectures turns her world upside down and suddenly one of the guards and two of the prisoners are dead.

However as she tries to save the guard, he tells her a secret message to pass on to his wife.

The more baffled Greco becomes by the message the deeper she starts to dig and suddenly people are warning her not to ask too many questions. When she still wont take the hint she ends up being framed for another brutal murder and she is forced to run.

Author: Lisa Scottoline
Title: Daddy's Girl
ISBN-13: 978-0-330-44385-
Loot Price: R93 (See banner right)

A good little story with a handy twist at the end.

Rated it a 3 and a half out of 5

Robin Cook - Foreign Body


Robin Cook's "Foreign Body" promised a helluva lot and didn't deliver where it counted.

The story-line itself was pretty useful but the end just fizzled out and I got this sinking feeling when the story was starting to get exciting and there were only 10 pages left in the book.

Basically the story is set in the hub of the Indian "medical tourism" industry. Foreigners from the US and UK, unable to afford quality healthcare at home have started taking their ailments to the likes of India and Thailand and have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of medical attention they are receiving... and this has far reaching financial implications for healthcare groups in these countries.

So of course one "entrepreneurial" healthcare provider out of the US decides to take some action and begins bumping off a few of these medical tourists in the hope that a bit of bad press might bloody the noses of the Indians - which it does to some extent.

However a medical student gets a little suspicious when her granny dies and she decides to jump on a plane and fly to India to investigate....

... and then it is all resolved and everybody is happy...

Sorry to burst the bubble but that's how the book went - one moment you were in a great little story - the next it was all resolved and everyone was happy again. It irritated me to no end.

Title: Foreign Body
Author: Robin Cook
ISBN-13: 978-0-330-44553-5
Loot price: R105.00 (see banner right)

Anyway I rated it a 3 out of 5 - maybe some of our readers will find it a better read than I did.