Here's my haul from the Penguin Books Expo sale, which is held once every 3 years. I spent a total of S$ 41 for 4 books, which works out to S$10 per book! What a fantastic deal. I managed to buy books that I have been eyeing for a while, so it was a great field day for my literary side.
I'm so excited to read The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. Extremely interesting dystopian vision and winner of five major Science-Fiction awards. I got this for S$6 - what a steal!
Finally got my hands on Umberto Eco's On Beauty, a comprehensive look at the nature of beauty and the evolution of the idea of beauty in the Western art disciplines. It's in full-colour and has many illustrations as well. Reminds me of E.H. Gombrich's The Story of Art, which I own. I love that book to bits. I bought On Beauty for a paltry S$20. Considering that full-colour books with many illustrations usually cost S$30 and above, this book was a must-buy for me.
Fancy a dark take on the fairy tales we all know and love? My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me is a collection of 40 short stories (edited by Kate Bernheimer) by more than 30 authors, including Neil Gaiman, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, Joyce Carol Oates and Kate Berheimer, which draws inspiration from fairy tales such as Cinderella, Snow White and the Little Mermaid. As quoted from the blurb: "Spinning houses and talking birds. Whispered secrets and borrowed hope... This exhilarating collection restores [the place of fairy tales] in the literary canon". I am very excited to read this book, and am proud to announce that I acquired it for a mere S$6!
Last but not least, The Book of Other People (Zadie Smith) is a collection of 23 short character-based stories. I've been eying this one for quite a while, and am quite excited to begin reading it. This cost me S$9, which is much cheaper than the usual retail price of about S$20.
I spent a total of S$41. The most expensive book was On Beauty (Umberto Eco), which cost S$20 as it is illustrated in full colour. Many books at the sale retail from S$4-9, so you can really save quite a bit on book purchases, which usually rack up a huge bill.
There you have it, dear readers, do hop down to the Expo to check out the great book deals that Penguin is offering now. Sale ends today at 9.30pm - you still have about 6 more hours to grab these gems!
What did you buy from the Penguin Books Expo? Do share!
