The Casual Vacancy is out!

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Too many events happening in September, and look, I’m lagging behind reading and blogging! Eep!

I know I owe you guys some reviews (as always), but let me take a quick commercial to say that JK Rowling’s new book, The Casual Vacancy is out!

The Casual Vacancy

 I’m a Harry Potter fan (not as big as a fan as my other friends, but still, a fan), so when I heard that J.K. Rowling is releasing a new book, I immediately added it to my wish list. It’s a lot different from Harry Potter, though — it’s her first adult book, and …I don’t think there’s magic in this. :O However, since it is written by the J.K. Rowling, I have to admit that I am still curious. Here’s the book summary:

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

The Casual Vacancy is already out in bookstores in the Philippines as of 3:00pm today! While I am curious, I didn’t reserve a copy because of lack of funds, too many books on my TBR, and I’m not quite sure if I will read it just yet. I’m really planning to wait for reviews first before jumping in. ^^;

So, how about you – did you get a copy? Did you drop everything else to read it? What do you think of it so far?  Leave your thoughts in the comments section of this post! :)

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Kindle Ebook Gifting Program

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Earlier today I was contemplating on splurging on some ebooks on Amazon and I was just about to get one when I saw a very curious button, one I have never seen before:

Kindle give ebook as gift

Hmm...what does this button do?

Give as a gift? I wondered. So I tested it and got to this screen:

Give as gift place order page

Sending a Kindle ebook as a gift

Imagine my excitement when I understood what this meant! Yes! It is possible to give an ebook as a gift from the Amazon Kindle Store!

From the press release (source):

Beginning today, just in time for the holiday season, customers can give Kindle Books as gifts to anyone with an e-mail address—no Kindle required. Kindle Books can be read on Kindle devices and free Kindle reading apps for iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC, BlackBerry and Android-based devices. For more information or to give a Kindle Book as a gift, go to www.amazon.com/givekindlebooks.

“We are thrilled to make it easier than ever for our customers to give their favorite Kindle book to a friend or family member as a gift,” said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “We’re making this functionality available in time for the holidays to offer an easy, stress free holiday shopping option for anyone – not just Kindle owners.”

To give a Kindle Book as a gift, customers simply choose a book in the Kindle Store, select “Give as a Gift” and send their gift to anyone with an email address. Notifications of Kindle Books gifts are delivered instantly via e-mail and the recipient redeems the gift in the Kindle Store to read on any Kindle or free Kindle app.

But what if you don’t have a Kindle, or the person you’re giving to doesn’t have a Kindle? According to the website, Kindle ebooks can be given as gifts as long as the recipient has an email address. The ebook can still be read through any of the free Kindle apps on PCs, Macs, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry or Android Phones.

All ebooks available in the Kindle Store can be given as gifts, and in case the recipient doesn’t like or want the gift, it can be exchanged for Amazon.com gift cards.

This ebook gifting is a great way to save on shipping, IMO. It doesn’t beat receiving real books in post, of course, but it would be a great gift idea for friends who have Kindles or likes ebooks.

You know what this means, right? Time to start building my Amazon Kindle ebook wish list! :)

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Ted Dekker + Tosca Lee = Forbidden

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I wasn’t supposed to post any more today because…well, I was planning to reserve posting for another day. But this is something to squee about, and I just have to post it.

Of course it’s about books. :P

So I was talking to my friend Ted just a while ago, and I was talking about browsing Amazon again and sampling like crazy (I never stop haha), and then he lays a bomb on me:

You know TED and TOSCA are collaborating right?

And I’m like: NO, I DON’T!

I’m afraid I haven’t been checking much on Christian fiction, since I have been too focused on YA and fantasy among other stuff. But this…this is big news!

Backing up now. To those who don’t know, Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee are two of the best Christian authors out there. Ted Dekker is known for coming up with a book (and sometimes more) in a year. He writes mostly mystery and suspense, and it always has a deeper connection to spirituality and faith without being overly preachy. He wrote The Circle Trilogy and Thr3e (and more), some of my favorite novels. Tosca Lee, on the other hand, is the author of two awesome (and sometimes controversial) novels, Demon (a story of a demon who asked a human to write his memoir) and Havah (a novelized story of Eve), and she’s currently writing Iscariot, the story of Judas in first person. Amazing, right?

AND THEY’RE COLLABORATING! ON A NOVEL! THAT WILL BECOME A TRILOGY!

Okay let me just take a deep breath and spazz here for a while. Waaait.

*breathe*

Okay, done. Here’s the scoop (from Ted Dekker’s Facebook):

Four hundred eighty years have passed since civilization’s brush with extinction. Perfect order reigns. Humanity’s greatest threats have all been silenced. There is no disease, no malice, no hate, no war. There is only peace.

Until the day when one man discovers the truth: Every single soul walking the earth is actually dead. The human heart has been stripped of all that makes it human. Now only he is alive and only he has the knowledge that can once again awaken humanity.

But the way is treacherous and the cost is staggering. For, indeed, in that day life itself is…Forbidden.

Awesome. Only Ted and Tosca can do something like this. I. Can’t. Wait. Summer 2011 is too far away. :(

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