Book Exchange!

Gosh! Singapore will be having a Book Exchange!!!! Soooooo nice!
How I wish I could be at the book exhange there!

What's going on?
Public Libraries Singapore will be launching its first Book Exchange on the 25th April this year.It is where everyone could exchange with the books they no longer want or want to keep with some other books they want to have..which happens to be books other readers no longer wants to keep. Wanna read more? Click here.

Lovely right?

Gosh! Malaysia should really have one like this!Especially when we could not stop lusting over books while the eco gets worse. *sigghhhhh*

Maybe I should propose this to the BooksterHub peeps!

Bookster Official Website : http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/group.php?gid=43788532378

Bookster on Facebook : http://www.booksterhub.com/

p/s: The idea is lovely but I'll still have to go through my bookshelves 10thousand times before I could decide which one I wanna giveaway in exchange with some other books. hihihi *typically me*

Daruma at Kinokuniya

Get 28% discount on a book every month at Kinokuniya with A Daruma Card!

What's a Daruma card? See the following ad (taken from Kinokuniya).

How to get a Daruma card?

Spend RM80 on a single receipt and get a Daruma card with one eye missing.

How to get another eye?

Spend another RM80 in a single receipt! =p

What happens next?

You get 28% discount on a book you spend every month starting this month (April) until November. =) Plus 15% discount on one ala carte order at Coffee Club Xpress.

T&C?

Walk-in purchases ONLY. Only normal price books are entitled for 28% discount.

Daruma must have a pair of eyes by 31st April for it to be eligible to give you 28% every month.

Wanna see my Daruma? ;)

Reading on iPhone/iPod Touch

No Kindle? No problemo.

There is iPhone or iPod Touch for those who doesn't wanna get a new phone or simply don't wanna spend too much on a phone.

When I first had an iPhone in my hand, the first application I fell in love with was Stanza. (the iPhone's not mine; my bf'z). He simply downloaded the book titled "Gone With the Wind" but did not read it. I took it as he downloaded it for me. I planned to change to a new phone but the ones I eyed on costs more than RM2k so forget it. Then luck was on my side when a colleague was selling an 8GB iPod Touch at RM750. ;)

There are many applications which are FREE in the iTunes Store. There will be something for everybody. =)

Letz get to reading on iPhone/iPod Touch.

There are many applications available for you to download books such as Stanza and eReader. Those 2 are free. If you are willing to pay, I believe there are more options. My favourite has got to be Stanza.

What's so great?

Allow users to customize the background colour of the ebooks. Users could also customize how they want a page to be flipped, text color, font face, font size, text alignment, margin width and many more!

I'm not too sure if they have the latest books you see in the bookstores but they have books like

1. The Case of Benjamin Button

2. Phantom of the Opera

3. Pride and Prejudice

4. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and many more.

Love romance? Stanza has a section for Harlequin books; Harlequin 60th - Free Books!

Other categories? They have lotsa Classics, Sci-Fics and even technical IT books! How kewl is that????? =D

I'm yet to explore all because I normally look for books I wanna read. *hihihi*

Can iPhone/iPod Touch read the usual ebook formats like PDF, .doc and .htm? I'm yet to try. LOL. I believe it could. Just need to find the right application to install. ;) Check out the Stanza for Windows. It could convert your ebooks into the format used by the iPod device. This would allow you to get your ebooks onto your iPod device. Looks like I'll "camp" in Gigapedia.

( No idea what Gigapedia is? Click here. )

Wanna know what it looks like to read on an iPod device?
The following are a few related clips I found on YouTube.

Go droooooollll. =p

Application Review by AppVee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N-QsuGD4a4&feature=related

Kindle on iPhone ;) Who needs a Kindle? =p
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9aeH99g-vM&feature=related

Stanza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foDdxyVjkCk&feature=related

This clip shows how you can get your downloaded ebook on PC onto your iPod device via Stanza.

Accompaniment : Stanza for Windows =)

http://www.lexcycle.com/download-windows

Stanza Developer site:
http://www.lexcycle.com/

Love Story by Erich Segal

Title

Love Story

Author

Erich Segal

Publisher

Bantam

Price

RM32.90

Rating

4/5

Quite a typical love story about two young lovers; Oliver Barrett and Jenny Cavilleri. One from a very wealthy family and the other came from a poor one. Guy is very famous and girl loves music. Oliver left his family when he decided to marry Jenny right after their college graduation. Since Oliver's dad wouldn't support him financially, they went through alot to make ends meet.
I find their love a little odd and cute at the same time. Oliver relationship with his father IS odd. He refers to his dad as "son of a b*tch" and "stone". Guess it is a result of his high expectations for his son. *siigghhh*

Jenny's father on the other hand is like any other fathers who loves their child sooo much. He gave blessing to their marriage as he sees that his daughter is happy. He accepts the way things are between Oliver and his family and their religous view. The only thing that matters to him is that his daughter is happy, loved and well-cared for. Unlike other parents, he didn't ask how Oliver is going to feed his daughter. hihihi

Oliver managed to get his law cert and got a job with a high-paying salary. Their marriage got a lot better. With the stability, they decided to try for a baby. That is when everything starts to collapse. Well, not everything. He still has his job and he eventually reconciled with his father.

Think I might read this book again. It makes me go up and down the slopes in such a short timeframe. Maybe because of its length of story. At one point, you'd be laughing at how funny their conversations are. Others you'd feel low,angry.....

Note : No picture taken for this book; ebook. Yeah...I couldn't wait 'til the time I wanna spend my bucks to get it. Downloaded it right after I came back from Kino.Though I've read, I still would like a copy!hihihi

eBook Readers

Remember Mr.Kindle? ;)
Well, if you don't, click here to get to my post about it in February.It is quite unfortunate that it is not supported in Malaysia.

We've talked about Bookstores Wars, sibling rivals and how other countries envy another country when it has the tallest building...tallest tower and etc. Same case with eBook readers. Besides Kindle from Amazon, there are other ebook readers such as the following.

1. Papyrus by Samsung

2. iRex iLiad by Philips

3. Fujitsu Flepia and many many more...huhuhu

Sounds strange to you? Never heard of them?

Go to this site to see read more about it. ;) Who knows if you could even afford one. ;)

URL : http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/03/samsungs-new-e.html

The site introduces Papyrus and later on talks a little about other ebook readers.

I think I like the Plastic Logic; it could read some common ebook formats like .doc and .pdf. Maybe it could read .html as well. :)

Which one would you like? ;)

How To Buy A Book?

Everyone has their own ways to pick a book to read and yea...buy. It differs just like how our interests differs. I have quite a number of friends who would ask me what I'm reading and if I have any books I'd recommend them to read.

It may be quite a simple question for some but sometimes I feel it is quite difficult to answer. Why? I don't really know what kind of books you enjoy reading. You may not like what I like and I may not read what you like. Reading is all about interest. Why would you wanna read a abook you're not interested in? Rite? No doubt the answer won't be a yes when it come to educational books. Most of the time, textbooks are read coz it has to be read. LOL.

I'm no expert but here's how I usually pick my books. ;)

1. Purpose of reading? Gain knowlegde?Leisure?

2. Decide on the genre. i.e. Fiction? Non-Fiction? IT? Business? Self-help...etc? This is pretty much directly related to the first point.

3. Select books with the most relevant titles to the subject I'm looking for...or in some case, something which makes me feel like picking. =p

4. Read the review at the back of each books. Not interesting? Put it back on the shelf. =p

5. Look at the font used in the book. VERY CRUCIAL. If the fonts are too big, it makes you feel like you are reading a book meant for kids. Too small would hurt your eyes. Well, then again it depends on you. I'm comfortable with size 12. ;) If it is an educational book, do look at how the contents are presented.

6. Price and publisher. Some books are published by multiple publishers and prices might differ. This is when you can decide if you wanna judge the book by its cover or not. =p Don't think I need to elaborate more on this. ;)

Some lil tips. ;)

Most bookstores wrap their books. Well, they do this to protect the books. Sometimes only one book is left opened for readers viewing. Sometimes, none is. Well, to those who doesn't frequent the bookstores that much would find it difficult to decide on a book when it is wrapped. No worries. You can proceed to the Customer Service/Information counter and request to get the book(s) opened. You have all the rights in the world to do this. =D When you are done, do not leave the book wherever you please; return it to the counter.

Hope this helps.

Enjoy shopping for books! :)

SURF!

Finally!!!! Urgh! I don't know how many times I've walked into MPH and Kinokuniya to look for this Mag; SURF! Only yesterday I see it on the rack. *phew*

Well, they don't seem to publish the mag every month....and unfortunately, i dunno how often they come out with a new issue. :

Why I like SURF!?

1. Malaysian and soooo related to the current IT stuff we have in Malaysia and of coz around the world too (esp if any of it affects our IT world in Msia)

2. They don't juz talk too much about Hardware, Games and Gadgets. They cover lil of this and that and almost all they put in their issues are of coz interesting. :)

3. Tips and tips and tips. From Windows shortcuts to how to undelete your files. =p

4. A lil bit about IT-related business.

5. A lil bit about gadgets.

6. A lil bit 'bout web-tech.

7. They highlight some websites and blogs too! =)

Non-IT person? No worries. I believe everybody could enjoy reading it.

As long as you love the Internet, blogging, online business, gadgets, IT tips, knows Google and Facebook....well, need I list down more? I don't think so...well. they cover all that. =p

To game addicts, you may prefer something else. =p

Here's my copy!

Think I should just subscribe. Save the hassle... *sweat* Subscription for 12 issues is RM105. That is inclusive of 25% discount on each issue and RM24 postal delivery charge. It is selling at RM9 at newstand. To have a sneak peak of what they have in the mag, click here!

Enjoy!