I have to apologize for what is going to be a very brief and image-less post, our broadband bandwidth has run out until Wednesday and trying to do anything without it is tear-inducing. I don’t remember dial-up being this slow. Just another reason to move to Finland, where this week they announced that access to a high speed broadband service is a basic right. Damn right Finland. Hopefully Book Depository still do free shipping there? (I’d check myself, but it would take about three hours to load the page!)
Thankfully I have these new books to keep me company:
- Cocaine Nights by J.G. Ballard
- Concrete Island by J.G. Ballard
- The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard
- Millenium People by J.G. Ballard
- Super-Cannes by J.G. Ballard
- If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This by Robin Black
- Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
In lieu of an array of fantastically interesting links, though I do recommend reading Flavorwire’s list of the 20th Century’s most reclusive authors, I’m going to tell you a story!
I had an interesting encounter with some young readers yesterday. Tired after a long day, I was listening to my ipod but the battery ran out, so I pulled a book out of my bag and started reading that instead. Soon after I did the conversation of the group of teenagers moved toward what they’d been reading. I really loved secretly listening to them talking about books, and convinced myself that it was me that caused the change of topic. Who knows.
So what are teens (male and female) in the North-West of Melbourne reading on their school holidays? A few of the titles that I caught were Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (and they were very insistent about how great it is, reading up on it now it sounds like something I’d be interested in. Anyone read it?), Gone by Michael Grant, Inkheart by Cornelia Funke and The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I couldn’t help but grin to myself when I heard them talking about The Outsiders. No vampires!
Book Loot, Cocaine Nights, Concrete Island, George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, If I Loved You I Would Tell You This, J.G. Ballard, July 2010, June 2010, Millenium People, Robin Black, Super-Cannes, The Drowned World
Haha. I just had to chuckle upon reading your closing interjection. Oh, and somebody’s not really into Ballard, is she? I’d also love to order books by Ballard and a number of other great authors from Book Depository, but turns out the site doesn’t ship to the Philippines.
Really?! That, to put it ever so eloquently, sucks. I would not be able to
feed my addictionbuy nearly half as many books as I do if not for the Book Depository. Books in Australia are usually about twice, or triple, the price of what they are on BD. What are book prices like in the Phillippines?Yeah. It does assume the purpose of a vacuum cleaner. Hah! Book prices here in the Philippines are quite reasonable, I think. A mass market paperback typically costs PhP300 (or around US$6), a trade paperback P600 ($12), and a hardcover P1000 ($20). Books and other publications are exempt from any kind of tax, so relatively low prices of such goods are kept low. Not all the titles I’d like to own are available here, though. Most of them happen to be posted on the Book Depository site. Too bad BD doesn’t deliver to our side of the planet, not even for a fee.
Ohh, I bought Thirteen Reasons Why earlier this year and really enjoyed it! I’m glad to hear that it is being read and well-received by actual teenagers (not just oldsters like me) . A really intriguing (and quite creative concept) which covers a huge range of teen issues without being preachy. Would definitely recommend
Oh, that’s all I need! I’ve taken it out from the library, thanks Steph.
(If you’re an oldster, what am I?!)