The Book Ferret: The Exclusive Books Sale!

This one is for South Africans – the Exclusive Books sale is on! My wallet is lighter, my shelves are even more over-packed, and I’m hoping this weak feeling in my left arm will sort itself out soon – all signs of a great book-buying evening. While normally rather pricey, Exclusive Books makes up for it by offering some epic bargains at their sales, with discounts of up to 75%. In particular I relish the chance to buy brand new hardcover editions for less than half what you’d pay for the paperbacks. You can pick up some quality titles and a surprising amount of popular fiction too – this certainly isn’t a sale of unwanted leftovers. This time around EB is also giving out 20% discount vouchers to the first 1000 customers per store to buy 5 books or more, so if you get there soon you might be able to get one.

Here’s my score, from the top down: 

• Isms and Ologies by Arthur Goldwag, R27. A reference guide for “crackpot convictions, perplexing philosophies, tricky tenets, and wacky Weltanschauungs” (the blurb)
• Einstein’s Riddle: Riddles paradoxes and conundrums to stretch your mind by Jeremy Stangroom, R53. Already proving me to be rather less smart than I’d thought, but they’re fun challenges too.
• Conversations on Religion edited by Mick Gordon and Chris Wilkinson, R40
• Curious Pursuits: Occasional writing by Margaret Atwood, R40
• The Chess Machine by Robert Löhr R35
• Touchstones by Mario Vargas Llosa, R66. A collection of essays on literature, art and politics
• The Last Witchfinder by James Morrow, R48
• Air by Geoff Ryman, R48. Highly recommended if you prefer more cerebral sci fi or those interested in the social effects of technology.
• English Literature in Context edited by Paul Poplawski – only R86; perfect if you’re doing an English lit course.

There’s some cool cover art here. The Chess Machine is a novel that caught my attention when I saw it on a list of best cover art. I was able to buy a paperback edition at the last EB sale, but it didn’t have the cover I wanted, which is this:

I also love the old-world look and feel of this one:

Now I know you can’t always trust blurbs, but I took The Last Witchfinder because it was recommended for Neal Stephenson fans and his quote is on the cover. Plus, it’s a book narrated by a book and it takes you on a historical fantasy/sci fi adventure that depicts “the clash between reason and superstition” (the Stephenson quote). And that just sounds awesome, Stephenson-endorsed or not.

I replaced my paperback copy of Air with this hardcover and its ethereal image:

Some of the other books I spotted at the sale include:

• The Last Theorem by Arthur C. Clarke and Frederick Pohl (might get this one later)
• Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
• The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt (gorgeous cover)
• The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
• The Exception by Christian Jungersen
• Jonas (Beautiful Dead #1) by Eden Maguire (I’ve seen this one mentioned by paranormal romance fans)
• Antony and Cleopatra by Colleen McCollough

Some of these were in hardcover and the rest were in trade paperback, but there were multiple copies of each so there’s a chance that you could get one. I didn’t check their prices, but they will most likely cost between R30 and R70.

For those who are planning on checking out the sale, I just thought I’d add a few notes about it, as someone who has worked at Exclusive Books and bought piles of books at every sale for the past few years:

• You’ll find a lot of the same sale books at different stores, so if you’re interested in any of the books I’ve mentioned here, see if you can get it at your local branch. I saw multiple copies of everything except Touchstones.
• See all those cardboard boxes? There are more books in them, so if you can, go back every now and then to see what else has been unpacked.
• In the last days of the sale, the remaining books will be discounted by a further 50%. Woohoo!
• The sale will last for about a month.

If you’re doing your own Book Ferret post today, you can use it to let others in your area know about book sales or let us all know about online specials. But whatever you’ve found, I’m looking forward to checking it out!

The Book Ferret is a weekly feature on Violin in a Void that will showcase a cool or interesting book-related find every Thursday. Notable new releases, great bookshops, events, cover art, websites, gadgets and accessories – anything to make bookworms happy.

If you want to join in, grab the Ferret pic, link it and your post back here, and add your name to the Linky list. WordPress doesn’t allow me to show the Linky list in post, so you can also leave a comment here to say what your post is about.

The Book Ferret Linky