Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen

Born in 1937 in a port city a thousand miles north of Shanghai, Adeline Yen Mah was the youngest child of an affluent Chinese family who enjoyed rare privileges during a time of political and cultural upheaval. But wealth and position could not shield Adeline from a childhood of appalling emotional abuse at the hands of a cruel and manipulative Eurasian stepmother. Determined to survive through her enduring faith in family unity, Adeline struggled for independence as she moved from Hong Kong to England and eventually to the United States to become a physician and writer.

A compelling, painful, and ultimately triumphant story of a girl's journey into adulthood, Adeline's story is a testament to the most basic of human needs: acceptance, love, and understanding. With a powerful voice that speaks of the harsh realities of growing up female in a family and society that kept girls in emotional chains, Falling Leaves is a work of heartfelt intimacy and a rare authentic portrait of twentieth-century China.

Nights In Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks

The novel is about two people who discover there is always a second chance to find the love of your life. Adrienne, a woman still reeling from her husband's betrayal and struggling to rebuild a life without him, has just learned that he wants to come home. Torn by conflicting feelings, she welcomes the chance for escape when an old friend asks her to manage her inn in Rodanthe for a weekend. There, on a remote spot along the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Adrienne hopes to find the tranquility she needs to rethink her life. It's the off-season and the inn would be shuttered but for the unlikely arrival of its solitary guest, Paul, a doctor from the city. A man who long ago sacrificed his family to his career, Paul has come to Rodanthe to fulfill a difficult obligation and to face his own crisis of conscience.

You pay: $12
You get back: $6
Status: Available

The Time Traveller's Wife

Watched the movie? How about reading the novel to get more details so that you can appreciate the movie better? It is now available for rental at a fee of $6!

Do email me to reserve the book today!

The Quickie by James Patterson

Lauren Stillwell is not your average damsel in distress. When the NYPD cop discovers her husband leaving a hotel with another woman, she decides to beat him at his own game. But her revenge goes dangerously awry, and she finds her world spiraling into a hell that becomes more terrifying by the hour.

In a further twist of fate, Lauren must take on a job that threatens everything she stands for. Now, she's paralyzed by a deadly secret that could tear her life apart. With her job and marriage on the line, Lauren's desire for retribution becomes a lethal inferno as she fights to save her livelihood--and her life.

Patterson takes us on a twisting roller-coaster ride of thrills in his most gripping novel yet. This story of love, lust and dangerous secrets will have reader's hearts pounding to the very last page.

Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger

Leigh, Adriana and Emmy are best friends, all leading very different lives and about to make some extreme choices...

Emmy has just split with her boyfriend of five years. A serial monogamist, she suddenly realises how much she′s missed the thrill of single life. A new job travelling across the globe could offer her the one thing she is craving.

Leigh, on the surface appears to have it all - a fantastic job and a gorgeous high-profile boyfriend. But buried deep down is a woman racked with nerves and a life-long ambition not yet realised.

Adriana is breathtakingly beautiful and can have any man she wants, but prefers to play the field.Yet suddenly the excitement of yet another fling begins to lose its edge. Perhaps it is time for her to start thinking about settling down.

The three girls meet for dinner one evening and make a pact - they each have to change one thing in their lives by the end of the year. But will they keep to their decisions? And will their choices come at a high price?

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

When a world renowned scientist is found brutally murdered in a Swiss research facility, a Harvard professor, Robert Langdon, is summoned to identify the mysterious symbol seared onto the dead man’s chest. His baffling conclusion: that it is the work of the Illuminati, a secret brotherhood presumed extinct for nearly four hundred years - reborn to continue their bitter vendetta against their most hated enemy, the Catholic church.

In Rome, the college of cardinals assembles to elect a new pope. Yet somewhere within the walls of the Vatican, an unstoppable bomb of terrifying power relentlessly counts down to oblivion. While the minutes tick away, Langdon joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to decipher the labyrinthine trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome to the long-forgotten Illuminati lair – a secret refuge wherein lies the only hope for the Vatican.

But, with each revelation comes another twist, another turn in the plot, which leaves Langdom and Vetra reeling and at the mercy of a seemingly invisible enemy…

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Balram Halwai is the White Tiger - the smartest boy in his village. His family is too poor for him to afford for him to finish school and he has to work in a teashop, breaking coals and wiping tables. But Balram gets his break when a rich man hires him as a chauffeur, and takes him to live in Delhi. The city is a revelation. As he drives his master to shopping malls and call centres, Balram becomes increasingly aware of immense wealth and opportunity all around him, while knowing that he will never be able to gain access to that world. As Balram broods over his situation, he realizes that there is only one way he can become part of this glamorous new India - by murdering his master."The White Tiger" presents a raw and unromanticised India, both thrilling and shocking - from the desperate, almost lawless villages along the Ganges, to the booming Wild South of Bangalore and its technology and outsourcing centres. The first-person confession of a murderer, "The White Tiger" is as compelling for its subject matter as for the voice of its narrator - amoral, cynical, unrepentant, yet deeply endearing.

Books for Job Seeker

Are you out of job? Or looking for a career switch?
Well, do not despair as the economic downturn is spread worldwide. It is important to keep ourselves in high spirit at this gloomy period.
If you have lost your job recently, do not be disheartened. You should constantly upgrade yourself so as to find a better career in your next employment. Being a recruitment personnel myself, I see a growing trend of hiring of more contract/temp staff. I would encourage all to be open to opportunities. Even if it is just a temporary assignment, take it up! You never know what will lies ahead for you in the company. If performance is good and they are have additional headcount, you will have a higher chance of conversion.
What is important to gain a foothold in a company? You have to impress during the interview. Here are some books which can be helpful in your comin interviews.

1. Great Answers to Tough Interview Questions by Martin John Yate
2. How Would You Move Mount Fuji? Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle - How the World's Smartest Company Selects the Most Creative by William Poundstone

The books are available for rental at a rate of $6. Email me at prettyfly07@hotmail.com to enquire for more.

Everyone, let's just stay motivated!!!

Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup

Vikas Swarup's spectacular debut novel opens in a jail cell in Mumbai, India, where Ram Mohammad Thomas is being held after correctly answering all twelve questions on India's biggest quiz show, Who Will Win a Billion? It is hard to believe that a poor orphan who has never read a newspaper or gone to school could win such a contest. But through a series of exhilarating tales Ram explains to his lawyer how episodes in his life gave him the answer to each question.

Ram takes us on an amazing review of his own history -- from the day he was found as a baby in the clothes donation box of a Delhi church to his employment by a faded Bollywood star to his adventure with a security-crazed Australian army colonel to his career as an overly creative tour guide at the Taj Mahal.

Swarup's Q & A is a beguiling blend of high comedy, drama, and romance that reveals how we know what we know -- not just about trivia, but about life itself. Cutting across humanity in all its squalor and glory, Vikas Swarup presents a kaleidoscopic vision of the struggle between good and evil -- and what happens when one boy has no other choice in life but to survive.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of"outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.
Brilliant and entertaining, OUTLIERS is a landmark work that will simultaneously delight and illuminate.

You pay: $22
You get back: $16

Rent-A-Lit goes to Town

Yes, Singaporeaderz will be at CozyCot bazzaar on 17th Jan 2009.

You may send in the request for the book with the book titles and collect from the bazzaar on 17th Jan 09. Each book will be rented out at $4! Send in your requests by 16th Jan 2009 5pm. Book is subjected to availability and on a first-come-first-served basis.

Rent-A-Lit goes to Town
Date: 17 January 2009
Time: 12 - 6pm
Address: 110 Middle Road #09-00 Chiat Hong Building, Singapore 188968



p/s: do visit the bazzaar as there will be lotsa of attractive bargains up for grab!

Singaporeaderz Contest

Simply answer the question correctly and you will get to rent the book for FREE!

Question: When was this website set up?

Send your particulars with your answer to prettyfly07@hotmail.com
Name:
Email Add:
Contact No:
Address:

Contest will be run from now til 31st January 2009.

NY Promotion!

Time flies.. 1 year has just flashed by, and a brand new year is about to begin! Guess all of us are very excited about this coming new year. The outlook may be bleak, but we still can make the best out of it all! I hope all of you are as positive as I am!

In celebration of the coming 2009, we are holding a special promotion.

The first 10 readers will get to rent the book of their choice for half price!!
(that's why there is this saying that early bird catches the worm!)

And for the not-so-early folks, rent a book in January and get your 2nd book at half price too (valid til March 2009)!

Hurry up and get your eyes busy!

Yakuzu Moon by Tendo, Shoko (Soft cover)

A shocking yet intensely moving first-person account of one woman's experience of growing up in Japan's yakuza society. Born into the family of a wealthy yakuza boss, Shoko Tendo lives her early years in luxury. But labelled "the yakuza kid", she is the victim of bullying and discrimination from teachers and classmates at school, and of her father's violent rages at home. The family falls into debt and Tendo falls in with the wrong crowd. By the age of fifteen she is a gang member, by the age of eighteen a drug addict, and her young adulthood is marked by a series of abusive and violent relationships with men. After the death of her parents and her own attempt at suicide, Tendo turns her life around. A pivotal moment is the decision to get tattooed: an act of empowerment that helps her take control of her life. This is the universally appealing story of a young woman's successful struggle to escape from a life of ostracism and abuse, and a rare glimpse into Japan's closed yakuza world from an insider's viewpoint. Translated by Louise Heal.

You pay: $15
You get back: $9
Status: Available

More Jodi Picoult books!

2 more titles to the collection!

1. The Pact
2. Second Glance

You pay $12
You get $6