Want Books: The Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper Fforde


Want Books? is a weekly meme hosted at Chachic’s Book Nook and features released books that you want but you can’t have for some reason. It can be because it’s not available in your country, in your library or you don’t have the money for it right now.

I have no idea how this book managed to miss my radar. This is another case of “I can’t believe I didn’t hear about this book until someone else told me” book. Am I just so out of the loop with this or am I really not a fan? Pfft. Anyway, thanks to Aaron for the heads up!

The Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper FfordeThe Song of the Quarkbeast: A Last Dragonslayer Novel by Jasper Fforde
Hodder & Stoughton, Released November 8, 2011

As the background Wizidrical Power slowly builds after the Big Magic, King Snodd IV of Hereford realises the man who controls Magic controls almost anything.

But one person stands between him and his plans for power and riches: Jennifer Strange, sixteen-year-old acting manager of Kazam.

It may involve a trip on a magic carpet at the speed of sound to the Troll Wall, it may involve a second Quarkbeast sniffing around town. It might also involve the mysterious Transient Moose, and a powerless sorceress named Once Magnificent Boo. But one thing is certain: Jennifer Strange and her faithful assistant Tiger Prawns will not relinquish the noble powers of magic to big business and commerce without a fight.

Okay, I knew Jasper Fforde would be releasing another Dragonslayer novel this year, but it just totally slipped my mind. This just sounds so absolutely crazy and fantastic, just like all Jasper Fforde novels are. :) I cannot wait to get my hands on this.

Of course, since Christmas is coming, I should really hold back and hope someone gets this for me. *hint hint* That is, if I don’t cave and get this for myself when I get to 50k in NaNoWriMo. :D Hmmm.

On another note! Mr. Fforde posted this on his website last month:

Fforde News Flash
12th Oct 2011

++ News on the latest book. Despite assurances that I was working on a ‘Super-Secret-Standalone’ book to be published in Spring 2012, it now looks set to be TN7: Dark Reading Matter. This is due to the lack of time available to work on a new book, and properly develop the new characters, settings and tone.

TN7 will be in draft form by December 2011, probably for publication in May 2012. DS-3, The Return of Shandar is still slated to be written in the first six months of 2012, with publication in November 2012. My standalone will thus be pushed back to being written in the latter part of 2012, with publication in 2013.

This two book a year thing can be quite frustrating, especially with a new baby and the house being rebuilt, but we should be back on track soon. ++

Looks like 2012 will be another Fforde year, yes? :)

Want Books: Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos


Want Books? is a weekly meme hosted at Chachic’s Book Nook and features released books that you want but you can’t have for some reason. It can be because it’s not available in your country, in your library or you don’t have the money for it right now.

I really can’t believe that I didn’t know about Marisa de los Santos’ new book until Chachic added it to her wish list. I can’t believe it. And I call myself a fan. Hmph.

But I think I have heard about her writing a new book, shortly after I read (and swooned!) over Belong to Me. I remember feeling sad that there would be no more Cornelia and Teo (swoon!), but because I’ve loved her writing so much, I know I want to read other books she’d release. And now a new one is upon us. :)

Falling Together by Marisa de los SantosFalling Together by Marisa de los Santos
William Morrow and Company, Released October 1, 2011

What would you do if an old friend needed you, but it meant turning your new life upside down? Pen, Will, and Cat met during the first week of their first year of college and struck up a remarkable friendship, one that sustained them and shaped them for years – until it ended abruptly, and they went their separate ways. Now, six years later, Pen is the single mother of a five-year-old girl, living with her older brother in Philadelphia and trying to make peace with the sudden death of her father. Even though she feels deserted by Will and Cat, she has never stopped wanting them back in her life, so when she receives an email from a desperate-sounding Cat asking her to meet her at their upcoming college reunion, Pen goes. What happens there sends past and present colliding and sends Pen and her friends on a journey across the world, a journey that will change everything.

Marisa is half-Filipino, and she always had little Filipino flavors in her books (such as Teo being half-Filipino and the pancit cooking scene in Love Walked In). In her Amazon interview, she said that some parts of the book was set in the Philippines, and that got me even more excited. I love what she said here:

In Falling Together, Pen goes to the Philippines in search of her friend, but I think she finds more than that. She sits in a banca boat with a school of jackfish shoaling beneath it and thinks, awestruck, “All this time, every second: this.” She experiences the world as big and small at the same time. While I sit at my desk, drive my children around, sleep under my roof, all the time, every second, there is another version of home, my home, vibrantly alive and unfolding itself thousands of miles away. The least I could do was put it in a book.

I like that even in her interview, she sounds so eloquent. :)

Anyway, I haven’t seen a copy of this yet, but since this book is not YA, I have a feeling it will be a bit more expensive than usual. I hope they release a paperback version of this soon. In the meantime, I will content myself with the excerpt (which is, frankly, too short). :P

Want Books: Fury by Shirley Marr


Want Books? is a weekly meme hosted at Chachic’s Book Nook and features released books that you want but you can’t have for some reason. It can be because it’s not available in your country, in your library or you don’t have the money for it right now.

I cannot remember where I first heard about this book I’m featuring this week, but I know I confused it one too many times with that other book with the same title and almost the same cover. Only, I knew it was the book’s blurb that got to me. I lost this book from my radar for a while until one of my Goodreads friends reviewed it. That’s when I understood why it was a bit hard to remember: not only is there another book with the same title, but there’s also another author with the same surname. Eeps. Anyway, my Goodreads friend sang praises to this novel, and that just really made me want this more.

Fury by Shirley MarrFury by Shirley Marr
Black Dog Books, Released May 1st 2010

Let me tell you my story.
Not just the facts I know you want to hear.
If I’m going to tell you my story,
I’m telling it my way.

Strap yourself in…

Eliza Boans has everything.
A big house.
A great education.
A bright future.

So why is she sitting in a police station confessing to murder?

How intriguing, right? This is Aussie YA fiction, and you know what they say about Aussie YA books.

Anyway, I checked Book Depository for this, but it’s currently unavailable, and I haven’t spotted a copy of this anywhere yet…so it may take some time before I get this. Unless someone would be nice enough to send me a copy. *bats eyelashes*

Oh well. I don’t know if that begging works, but I can still wait. I’m pretty sure I’ll stumble over this book sometime when I’m not expecting it. :D In the meantime, I’ll content myself with reading this short Fury reader sample.

Want Books: A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner


Want Books? is a weekly meme hosted at Chachic’s Book Nook and features released books that you want but you can’t have for some reason. It can be because it’s not available in your country, in your library or you don’t have the money for it right now.

So last week, I finished reading The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (review will be up this weekend!) and I couldn’t help but mutter, “Genius!” every time I think about that book. But now that I’m done with the three MWT books I have on hand, what do I do now?

Pine for the next one, of course. This is why I have another Want Books post. :D

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner
Greenwillow Books

Sophos, under the guidance of yet another tutor, practices his swordplay and strategizes escape scenarios should his father’s villa come under attack. How would he save his mother? His sisters? Himself? Could he reach the horses in time? Where would he go? But nothing prepares him for the day armed men, silent as thieves, swarm the villa courtyard ready to kill, to capture, to kidnap. Sophos, the heir to the throne of Sounis, disappears without a trace.

In Attolia, Eugenides, the new and unlikely king, has never stopped wondering what happened to Sophos. Nor has the Queen of Eddis. They send spies. They pay informants. They appeal to the gods. But as time goes by, it becomes less and less certain that they will ever see their friend alive again.

Across the small peninsula battles are fought, bribes are offered, and conspiracies are set in motion. Darkening the horizon, the Mede Empire threatens, always, from across the sea. And Sophos, anonymous and alone, bides his time. Sophos, drawing on his memories of Gen, Pol, the Magus and Eddis, sets out on an adventure that will change all of their lives forever.

After the greatness that is the first three books in the series, how can I not want the fourth? That, and I have been wondering what happened to Sophos, anyway.

This book has been available since last year in local bookstores, but I am only wanting it now. I could buy it, I know, but I’m kind of iffy because it’s still in hardback, and my first three Queen’s Thief books are in paperback! I want my set to match! :( I think the paperback will be out this year, though — I think I can still wait.

Want Books: The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan

 


Want Books? is a weekly meme hosted at Chachic’s Book Nook and features released books that you want but you can’t have for some reason. It can be because it’s not available in your country, in your library or you don’t have the money for it right now.

It’s been a long time since I did a Want Books post because most of the books I want (particularly the 2011 releases I’ve been waiting for) were pre-ordered in my Kindle, so in some sense, I already have it. The other books were spur-of-the-moment buys, or at least planned buys after I didn’t buy books for all of Lent.

That, and I’m really trying to avoid buying too many books when I still have so much to read (don’t we all?).

So this book has been on my radar for a long time now, but I almost forgot about it until I saw it in Fully Booked‘s weekly e-zine. Which meant, the book is already available here.

The Lover's Dictionary by David LevithanThe Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan

A sweet and touching modern love story, told through dictionary entries.

basis, n.
There has to be a moment at the beginning when you wonder whether you’re in love with the person or in love with the feeling of love itself.

If the moment doesn’t pass, that’s it—you’re done. And if the moment does pass, it never goes that far. It stands in the distance, ready for whenever you want it back. Sometimes it’s even there when you thought you were searching for something else, like an escape route, or your lover’s face.

How does one talk about love? Do we even have the right words to describe something that can be both utterly mundane and completely transcendent, pulling us out of our everyday lives and making us feel a part of something greater than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this problem, the nameless narrator of David Levithan’s The Lover’s Dictionary has constructed the story of his relationship as a dictionary. Through these short entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of being within a couple, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time.

I read the Kindle sample of this book and I was drawn in by how it was written. When I heard the story of how he wrote it from the Amazon.com exclusive Q&A, I was sold:

Two years ago, I hit February 1st and I hadn’t started writing my Valentine’s Day story. I had a few ideas, but none were kicking in. I sat down at my desk to thing something up, and right by an elbow was a book I’d recently recovered from my parents’ basement–a book of “words you need to know” that I’d been given as a gift (probably for my high school graduation). I thought it might be interesting to take random words from that book, in alphabetical order, and tell the story of a relationship through those words, in dictionary form. I didn’t plan any of it out–I let the words tell the story. And two weeks later, I had the story version of The Lover’s Dictionary.

How creative is that? This feels like just the kind of book I’d read. I also love the Lover’s Dictionary twitter, where the tweets aren’t really from the book but based from it. I think this is one book that is fit for people who love words. :)

It’s kind of a good thing I didn’t find a copy of this last night while perusing the shelves of Fully Booked. Heh. As much as I want this, I don’t think I’ll be able to read it immediately. Maybe someday…preferably during a sale. Or, I could just order it from Book Depository, since it’s cheaper there. :D