This is our 39th contribution to In My Mailbox a Sunday meme hosted by The Story Siren. Every Sunday, we try our best to share our book finds for the week – those which were given to us by loved ones, enemies, fellow bibliophiles, publishers. Here are my more recent book acquisitions.
Birthday Presents from Hubby and Daughter
Last week I celebrated my birthday and here are the goodies that husband and daughter gave me! How awesome. Books 1 and 2 of the Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix: Sabriel and Lirael. And happiness of all happiness, I now have Books 4 and 5 of Pseudonymous Bosch’s The Secret Series! I enjoyed reading Books 1 and 2, and I also have Book 3 waiting for me to read. It’s a year of Series! 🙂
Presents to Self: Bras Basah in Singapore
Amazingly, Bras Basah has an even bigger sale this weekend. And so, I spent part of my birthday just ogling and gathering these goodies. I have a growing collection of Walter Dean Myers in my bookshelf, this is a lovely addition: Monster – which apparently won three major awards, it is a National Book Award Finalist, a Printz Medal book, and a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. Perfect add-in to the reading challenge that we are hosting this year: Award-Winning-Books Reading Challenge (do sign up if you haven’t joined us yet). I am also glad to find Sharon Creech’s The Wanderer (sold for 1 sgd), as well as Avi’s The Secret School.
Bras Basah is undoubtedly one of my favorite places in the world, next to the library of course. Here are a few more titles I found from that lovely place. 2 books for 5 sgd: The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan, Terry Pratchett’s Reaper Man, a Discworld novel, and John Masefield’s The Box of Delights.
Finally, I found Garth Nix’s Grim Tuesday (now I am only missing Saturday and Sunday, isn’t Bras Basah amazing?). I also discovered his Shade’s Children. Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses is being given away at 1 sgd. I am also trying to experiment on other genres, particularly science fiction and hardcore fantasy and so I try Trudi Canavan’s The Magicians’ Guild and The High Lord. Apparently, I am still missing Book 2 from this trilogy The Novice. I’ve seen the film Eragon, and I am intrigued by the last book in the series, so I might as well get Eldest.
And there is Book 1, Eragon by Christopher Paolini. I found another Carl Hiaasen novel which is on sale at 2 sgd: Nature Girl.
Adult Literature: 2 books for 5 sgd
On occasion, I do read adult literature, and these are great finds for such a cheap price: Albert Camus’ The Outsider and Anne Rice’s Angel Time.
Finding Forest of the Pygmies by Isabel Allende is great since I have read Books 1 and 2 from this YA trilogy that Allende wrote: City of the Beasts and The Kingdom of the Golden Dragon. I have been trying to find a copy of Book 3 to no avail, until my birthday! Woohoo! There is another Carl Hiaasen title here with Flush. All the others are adult lit: Barbara Kingsolver’s Pigs in Heaven, V. S. Naipaul’s Half a Life, Swift as Desire by Laura Esquivel, The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho.
Gathering Books 
I love love love the Abhorsen trilogy, though I’m not done with it myself 🙂
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Hi Vera, I’ve heard so many good things about it too! 🙂
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Carl Hiaasen is coming to Denver soon with his newest book. I hope to stop in to see him. Myra I am constantly amazed at all the books you find. There are some real treasures here, including the completion of the series you wanted. I love Allende and Kingsolver, among others. The book Monster is good & is one my students liked. I’m not sure they loved it, but it is good reading and interesting the way he approaches the story. Thanks, as usual, for all the talk!
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Hi Linda, that sounds like great news! I have yet to read Hoot. Bras Basah is an amazing place and I am glad to discover new finds almost every week. Now I am more intrigued by Monster.
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I’ve been seeing The Secret series for a while now. I keep meaning to pick one up but never have the time! Hope you enjoy the rest of the series as much as you did the first books!
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Hi Alison, the Secret Series is reminiscent of the Mysterious Benedict Society Series – you should really give it a try. And of course it helps a great deal that Pseudonymous Bosch is simply a cutie. 🙂
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A bit late, but Happy Birthday! You got great presents. I read Allende’s YA trilogy years ago and loved it. Hope you enjoy book 3.
Happy reading!
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Hi Hellen, it’s also been such a long time since I’ve read Books 1 and 2 – perhaps around 5 to 6 years back, I hope I can still pick up the story line when I read Book 3. 🙂
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The Abhorsen books are pretty fabulous. It looks like you have plenty of reading for a while!
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Hi Audrey, very true, that. Now to find the time to read them all.
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Great range of books! Oh how I love book sales *sighs dreamily*
Hope you had a great birthday!
Thanks for stopping by my blog 😀
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Hi Kat, we have a year-round book sale here in Bras Basah which is sometimes a bad thing for me, because I simply couldn’t help myself! Thanks for dropping by too. 🙂
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Great set! I’m very curious about Sabriel and the Paolini books. Enjoy!
My IMM
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Hi Alison, thanks for dropping by. I am eager to read them as well.
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That is a lot of books! And some of them I haven’t heard of yet. I’ll be looking into the Abhorsen trilogy and the Secret series now. Great haul and happy birthday!
Thanks for visiting my IMM.
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Hi Manda-rae, I’ve heard so many great things about the Abhorsen trilogy – hope you can find them too.
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Sooo…I borrowed Sabriel from my sixth grade English teacher, and I STILL haven’t finished it or returned it. Terrible. I really do want to read it someday! Reaper Man was my favorite Discworld, I hope you enjoy, Terry Pratchett is heaps of fun.
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Hello there Heidi, I also hope to crack it open sometime soon, perhaps after I read the Chaos Walking Trilogy (I’m now in Book 2!). 🙂 It’s a year of the series indeed. Glad to know that you like Terry Pratchett and that you enjoyed Reaper Man. Which Discworld novel should I begin with?
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Happy belated birthday!! 🙂 and so many great books!
I still have yet to read the Eragon series… don’t know why it’s taking me that long!! lol
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Michele | IMM
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Hi Michele, I’ve read the first of the Eragon series but have not followed through with the subsequent novels, it’s good I found Eldest on sale. 🙂
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Happy belated birthday! Thanks for dropping by, Myra! Wow, what a packed and awesome-looking mailbox this week! ❤ They all look really great, and I've heard wonderful things about Eragon. Hope you enjoy them, happy reading! ❤
~ Vivian
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Hi there, Vivian. Thanks for the greeting. Hope to enjoy them too. Thank you for dropping by.
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Very nice haul, My birthday was also this past week and I didn’t get nearly that many books!
My IMM & Birthday Giveaway
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Hi Emily, belated happy birthday as well! 🙂 And thanks for dropping by.
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Absolutely wonderful books! You got so many of my favs – I got really excited to see them. Garth Nix’s Abhorsen books are AMAZING – Did you know there’s more coming out? Trudi Canavan’s The Black Magician trilogy is also epic, and sort of on the border of “hard core fantasy” and YA, so I hope you’ll enjoy that. I wonder if you liked the Eragon movie? Because in my opinion the books are infinitely better than the movie. Hope you like that too! And of course, Paulo Coelho, anything by him is gold.
You left me a bunch of questions as well, so here goes: (1) I’d never heard of The Pendragon Cycle until I saw the books, but I’m glad people are saying they’re great. (2) Yes you should read Cassandra Clare’s work, they’re epic (in my humble opinion). (3) I have never read anything by Holly Black, but am expecting great things. A quick Google search tells me that Tithe is Book 1 of the Modern Faerie tales, and was published in 2008 so definitely not her latest.
Ahh, jealous of all those wonderful books!! Thanks for stopping by, and HAPPY READING!
Shaheen @ Speculating on SpecFic
My IMM!
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Hi there Shaheen, so good to hear from you. I am so glad that you have shared the link of more Abhorsen books coming out. I noted that the title is Clariel and that it’s possibly coming out on 2013. Oh wow, how awesome. Yes, I know what you mean about Hardcore fantasy – I’d probably have an IMM post devoted to that since this is a genre that I am hoping to explore this year. Yes, I did enjoy the movie of Eragon, and I’ve read Book 1, so I am looking forward to re-reading it and continue with Books 2-4. 🙂
Thanks for answering my questions. I have Holly Black’s Ironside, and I think it’s part of the Modern Faerie tales, but since as you said Tithe is Book 1 – I should perhaps look into finding that one first. 🙂 Will definitely visit your IMM again next week. 🙂
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Ooooh! Looks like you got some yummy books this week!
Thanks for sharing!
http://paulettespapers.com/
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Hi Danielle, I agree, they are yummy indeed! 🙂
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Lots of awesome, and so much diversity! I love that! Enjoy! 🙂
My IMM: http://wordsareinnermusic.blogspot.com/2012/03/uber-awesome-in-my-mailbox-32-in-which.html
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Hi Valia, I’m glad you liked the selections. Thank you for dropping by! 🙂
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Whoa! Huge mailbox this week, and a very awesome one. 😀 I’ve heard so many people rave over Abhorsen trilogy, so hopefully it’s as fantastic as everyone says. The Titan’s Curse is wonderful, as is the Percy Jackson series in general. And the Eragon series is enjoyable, particularly if you like high fantasy. I am warning you, though, they are nothing whatsoever like the movie. The movie slaughtered it.
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Hi Lexie, I am slowly collecting the Percy Jackson Series too – so far I have the lightning thief and this one. Thanks for the fair warning about the Eragon books, I have heard comments to that effect by others who also did not enjoy the movie as much. I shall find out soon. 🙂 Thanks for dropping by.
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OMG, so many books. You are going to have fun. Congrats on your presents too. It’s fun to get free books. Happy reading.
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Hi Jennifer, best birthday presents ever –> books. 🙂 Husband knows my heart indeed. Thanks for dropping by.
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Oh, you have some of my favourite books here! I adore Sabriel and Lirael – I first read the series about 8 years ago, and started on a re-read over Christmas this year – they’re one of the series I can read over and over again. 🙂
I also really like Shade’s Children – they’re the kind of ‘dystopian’ I like.
And the Black Magician Trilogy is another of my favourites – any of Trudi Canavan’s stories are great!
Thanks for visiting my blog.
~Ailsa
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Hi Alisa, I can’t wait to crack my Abhorsen trilogy open – goodness, so many books, so little time indeed. It was also purely by chance that I discovered Shade’s Children, I’m pretty excited about it as well. It’s my first time to buy any of Trudi Canavan’s books, so I’m glad to hear your positive recommendation. 😉 Many thanks for coming over and sharing your thoughts. 🙂
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Oooh I like your green carpet! It looks like your books are on grass.
And I love your layout 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
The Muggle
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Hi there, the muggle! It was precisely the effect that I was hoping for. Thanks for noticing. 🙂 Nice to see you here too. 🙂
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Awesome haul !i ❤ Rick Riordan!
Giselle
Xpresso Reads
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Hi Giselle, my relationship with Mr. Riordan has not exactly been smooth sailing, but I admire the fact that he has made a lot of reluctant readers enjoy reading, that’s the only thing that matters, at the end of the day. 🙂
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Awesome list. You have books (most) I’ve never heard of. Great post and finds.
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Hi Patricia, as much as I looove loooove and enjoy picture books, for this year, I have a hankering for adult lit and more YA fiction. Given the constraints of my time though, I am not too certain whether I’d find the time to really enjoy/relish/read through them, but at least, I shall try. 🙂
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The Titan’s Curse! I love the Percy Jackson series! I hope that you enjoy your new books!
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What a great Mailbox! I love getting books for my birthday =)
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Oh! I’d love to read Eragon. I’m quite curious about it after hearing such great things! Lots of good books it seems like:)
Sorry for stopping by so late! Too much of a crazy week, sadly. I really hope you enjoy your new reads!
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