I got this book for mom for Christmas. It's SO HARD to shop for that woman. She will pretty much tell you off for spending money on her for something that you could get cheaper somewhere else on the planet (like Asia, despite the unlikeliness of you passing by there to shop). But this year, she actually told me to get her this book because she loves William Dalrymple's books on India and she hasn't read The Age of Kali yet. This made things easier for me until I decided to go buy it:
It's out of print!
And I waited till last week to order it (Thursday)!
Then ecampus emailed me on Monday (4 days later) to tell me they didn't have it and to cancel the order.
Arghghhhh.
Finally I found it elsewhere and ordered it Monday night. It arrived on Wednesday, which I'm really happy about. The store I got it from is the Housing Works Bookstore through Amazon, which also supports homeless New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS. Cool! I'm very pleased and recommend them. Shop their bookstore here.
Another place that you can go to to support worldwide literacy through your book buying is BetterWorld.com. I've bought books through them before and have been happy with the transactions. They also offer FREE shipping in the US. From their about us page:
All books are available with free shipping to any location within the United States (or $3.97 worldwide). And in case you’re concerned about your eco-footprint, every order is shipped carbon neutral with offsets from Carbonfund.org.
Ok so on to MORE online contests this week. Over at Reviewer X (a high school sophomore, so lots of YA books featured), Girl Week is going on. She has so much going on, I'm not sure she sleeps. She has 12 giveaways going on and a bunch of author interviews with Melissa Walker, Libba Bray, Megan McCafferty and a few others whose names are new to me. Good thing she has a table of contents with everything organized. This is the list of her contests (the first few are already over though):
1. Signed copy of I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert (trade paperback)
2. Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee (ARC format – already released)
3. Win one of five TESS lip glosses (donated by Melissa Walker).
4. I Know It's Over by CK Kelly Martin (hardcover)
5. Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen (ARC format – already released)
6. Signed copy of Braless in Wonderland by Debbie Reed Fischer (hardcover)
7. Signed copy of Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher (hardcover)
8. Signed ARC of Willow by Julia Hoban (ARC format – out in April 09)
9. ARC of Triple Shot Bettys in Love by Jody Gehrman (ARC format – out on Jan 22nd, 09)
10. Signed set of the Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray (all three books)
11. Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway (ARC format – already released) [contest over]
12. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (hardcover)
13. Signed Leftovers by Laura Wiess (trade paperback)
14. Signed Jessica Darling series, books 1-4, by Megan McCafferty (all four books)
I can say that I don't know most of these books but I thought Megan McCafferty's Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings were keepers though they didn't make me want to go through High School again. I want to read the rest of the series. I also liked Sarah Dessen's This Lullaby but she's another author whose backlog I haven't had a chance to read yet. I also keep hearing good things about Bray's Gemma Doyle trilogy. I read the first book a few years ago but haven't read the other two.
I think this ends in a couple of days so get cracking and enter!
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