A Successful Sales - July 2013

Similar event but different timeline

I just realised that I forgot to blog about a weekend flea market that I took part in few months back. recently.  This happened in early July and over a weekend in Green Heights Mall, a rather small but compact suburban mall about 15 minutes from the city.

Well, you might or you might not have read there about my previous experience prior to this that I had in a past event organised by the same mall.  Anyway, I was rather concerned that the response would be similar but one consolation that motivated me along was that the flea market would be held on the ground floor instead of the first floor of the mall this time round.

With a much longer operating hour as well, the weekend market also featured a more diverse vendors this time round with vendors from online boutiques, collectors and generally a group of people having fun sharing with the public their hobbies and interest and making some bucks at the same time :).  I really had a fun time even as a vendor.

Each vendor was given 2 tables to display your ware.  It's good enough for me to display the novels for sale as well some kiddies book that the princess was rather keen to sell as she has stopped reading them already.

First to go was Night Fall, a wonderful thriller by Nelson Demillle.  Correction, the first to go was actually Lipstick Jungle by Candace Brushnell.  It's actually a brand new copy that I have not read as I have 2 copies of the same title (bought by mistaken).  So, for RM7 (about US2), it was really worth it.  I really hope Nurul enjoys the book :)

Both Life Swap and The Other Woman by Jane Green went to the same buyer. She must be a real fan of Jane's.

The Divide also found a new owner.  I sold this book based on the fact that the author, Nicholas Evans also wrote the Award Winning Horse Whisperer and really, it is a very good read.   I said good bye to A Place of Hiding and Twilight Children to two British elderly couple.  The husband seems to be rather familiar with Elizabeth George and I kinda thought the wife would like what Torey Hayden writes.  I certainly wont recommend The Gatecrasher to her which was bought by a teen who seems to know what she wants.   I didn't really like this book and it's practically brand new so it's really a good buy.

Come day two, buyers seems to be more keen on thrillers so I sold Sleepy Head by Mark Billingham, Saving Faith by David Baldacci among others.


It is indeed a much better flea market experience and I would go as far to say that it's the best so far.  I think the mall management took the right action by placing the market on the ground floor of the mall which have higher traffic.

I really enjoyed finding new homes for my books and I look forward to the next sales.

p.s. For those from my home country - I am looking into buying books from others to supplement my stock.  if you would like to sell me your books, please let me have your name and email in the comments below and I'll get in touch with you.   Thank you.

Angels Fall by Nora Roberts

Synopsis :

The sole survivor of a brutal crime back East, Reese Gilmore settles in Angel's Fist, Wyoming - temporarily, at least - and takes a job at a local diner. One day, while hiking in the mountains, she peers through her binoculars and sees a couple arguing on the bank of the churning Snake River. Suddenly, the man is on top of the woman, his hand around her throat.

No one in Angel's Fist seems to believe Reese and what she saw, except for Brody, a gruff loner.  When a series of menacing events making it clear that someone wants her out of the way, Reese must put her trust in Brody and herself to find out if there is a killer in Angel's Fist, before it's too late.

My first introduction to Angels Fall was the movie adaptation which starts Heather Locklear.  I think I watched it twice over the years.  It wasn't that bad but after reading the book, the book certainly reigns supreme.

Because I have seen the movie, it was a very easy read when I read this book as I quite know the storyline.  Even so, I was still very much captivated by it. I didn't really like any of the characters, including Reese and Bordy but I really like the way Nora weaves the story and if you have never watched the show, you would have enjoyed trying to figure out who the killer is or even if there's a killer or is it just all Reese's imagination.

The only saving grace for the movie is seeing the wonderful and majestic view which I understand was filmed on location in Canada.

I think this is one of Nora's best book ever and I won't mind reading it again in years to come.  So, if you have not read any of Nora's book, this would be a great book to start.

One Door Away From Heaven by Dean Koontz

Synopsis :

In a dusty trailer park on the far edge of the California dream, Michelina Bellsong contemplates the choices she has made. At twenty-eight, she wants to change the direction of her troubled life but can’t find her way—until a new family settles into the rental trailer next door and she meets the young girl who will lead her on a remarkable quest that will change Micky herself and everything she knows—or thinks she knows—forever.

Despite the brace she must wear on her deformed left leg, and her withered left hand, nine-year-old Leilani Klonk radiates a buoyant and indomitable spirit that inspires Micky. Beneath Leilani’s effervescence, however, Micky comes to sense a quiet desperation that the girl dares not express.

Leilani’s mother is little more than a child herself. And the girl’s stepfather, Preston Maddoc, is educated but threatening. He has moved the family from place to place as he fanatically investigates UFO sightings, striving to make contact, claiming to have had a vision that by Leilani’s tenth birthday aliens will either heal her or take her away to a better life on their world.

Slowly, ever more troubling details emerge in Leilani’s conversations with Micky. Most chilling is Micky’s discovery that Leilani had an older brother, also disabled, who vanished after Maddoc took him into the woods one night and is now “gone to the stars.”

Leilani’s tenth birthday is approaching. Micky is convinced the girl will be dead by that day. While the child-protection bureaucracy gives Micky the runaround, the Maddoc family slips away into the night. Micky sets out across America to track and find them, alone and afraid but for the first time living for something bigger than herself.

She finds herself pitted against an adversary, Preston Maddoc, as fearsome as he is cunning. The passion and disregard for danger with which Micky pursues her quest bring to her side a burned-out detective who joins her on a journey of incredible peril and startling discoveries, a journey through terrible darkness to unexpected light.


I have to type out all the synopsis above as I don't have much else to say about this book.

I really...seriously really  wanted to like this book.  I used to love books by Dean Koontz years and years ago and I really... seriously really, wanted to like them again but the last few books that I read, I didn't like much so once again, I really, seriously really wanted to like this one.  If I have a magic potion to make me like a book, I would use it on this book  but I don't and end up not liking it much.

I must admit that the storyline is rather unique and certainly something I have not read before but yet I just wasn't sold on it.  There's actually two more characters in the book other than Micky and Leilani about.  One of them is Curtis, a little boy who's not a little boy who's on the run with a dog.  The other one is Noah, who's a PI and who's sister was a victim of mercy killing.  They were only all brought together the last few chapters of the book.

If you are looking for something different, you will certainly find it in One Door Away From Heaven.

Chapatti or Chips? by Nisha Minhas

Synopsis :

For twenty-three years, Naina has saved herself for the man her parents have chosen for her to marry.  They've chosen well; Ashok is handsome, kind and considerate.  Although she's met him only twice, Naina knows he will make a good husband.

Dave, on the other hand, would not.  Although, like Ashok, he's good looking and charming, he's also unreliable, thoughtless - and an incorrigible womaniser! Dave is Trouble with capital 'T'.  and with six months to go until her wedding day, Naina knows she should keep well away from him.  So why can't she stop herself?

I have fun reading about Naina who's so torn between two cultures and between two men. Ashok sounds like the perfect man, except he's the perfect man for her parents. He is not Naina's choice and Dave is Naina's choice but Dave is every womens' nightmare.  He's cocky and chauvinistic to the extreme degree.  He thinks highly of himself and doesn't believe in love.  That's maybe because he was never loved. 

The sidekicks in the books are also quite an amusing bunch and added some 'gravy' and 'ketchup'. Although everyone's pretty flat, it's kinda expected for a book such as this.

This is pure chic lite, Indian version.  It's quite enjoyable actually although it's rather cliche too.  Somehow, I have this naggy feeling that Naina's is the author's alter ego.  The way she made her out to be beautiful and super sexy and yet so vulnerable.  Traditional yet rebellious.  And Dave...totally an unbelievable character. Thinks with his 'other brain' and yet so super rich.  The author really went to the market with this one.  And her (author's mate) is also named Dave. Coincidence? No way.

For some fun read, Chapatti or Chips? passed the test but expect anything more, you better try another 'dish'.  Would I read another Nisha Minhas book?  Not likely in the near future but give me a some time and I might.

A Time To Dance by Karen Kingsbury

 Synopsis: 

A Story of Reconciliation

John and Abby were the perfect couple, but they are about to lose it all: On the verge of having an affair, John is no more the man Abby married than she is the long ago girl of his dreams. They make the sad decision to divorce. When they gather their three children to tell them the news, their daughter makes an announcement of her own: she's getting married that summer.

Determined not to ruin their daughter's season of happiness, Abby and John secretly agree to put their divorce plans on hold. But as the wedding nears, they wonder: Is it possible to find joy, after all these years, and perhaps the time...to dance?

Here is where I got this book.  It's such a joy to find this gem among the many books there.  Such books are not readily available in our mainstream bookstores so I really count my blessing to come across a book by one of my favourite author.

 
It is also a rare occurrence that the name and address of the previous owner of the book in so nicely 'sticker-ed' in the inside front page.  I really hope that A Time To Dance has been a blessing to Robin Wroten of Spring TX as it has been to me.

It's really a wonderful book. Karen Kingsbury has this incredible gift and talent in telling stories that touches the heart and soul.   She has this God given abilities to teach about God through stories (Jesus taught his disciples using parables/stories in the biblical days and it worked then.  I dont' see why it can't be a tool in today's society as well in learning about God's messages).

While A Time To Dance is the story of John and Abby, it can also be the story of any married couples in the world today.  Couples who let pride and self preservation gets into the way. Couples who do not really talk and search deep into their hearts.  Couples who are hurting alone but not willing to reach out.   Couples who feel throw away marriages too quickly. That's what John and Abby nearly did but God hate divorce and He intervene. He spoke to both John and Abby and both of them have the choice to listen or to close their ears and hearts and allow hurt, hate and bitterness to take root in their heart.  But what they didn't know is that God has impressed in the heart of Nicole, their daughter to pray and intercede for them and it's through intercession that God, who is the God of impossible and who is the author and finisher of our lives begin to intervene in the situation.

The habits of the eagles are mentioned here and the relationship between an eagle and it's mate is liken to the marriage of a husband and wife.  God also called His people to be like eagles.  Quoting from the book ' The eagle eats only life-giving food. When he eats something that makes him sick, he flies to the highest rock he can find and lays spread eagle with his wings out against the surface of the rock. He stays there until the sun draws out the poison, freeing him to fly with the other eagles.'.  Can you link that to the importance for us to let God deal with the issues that is poisoning us and making us sick?  How we need to go to the place and seek His face and let Him free us from our sins?

There's so many lessons in this book and I'm sure that if I'm to read this again, I would find more learning points to drawn from.  A Time to Dance is followed by the 2nd book entitled A Time To Embrace.  I would love to have a chance to read this.

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb

Synopsis :

Meet Dolores Price. She's a thirteen, wise-mouthed but wounded, having bid her childhood good-bye. Beached like a whale in front of her bedroom TV, she spends the next few years nourishing herself with the Mallomars, potato chips and Pepsi her anxious mother supplies.  When she finally rolls into young womanhood at 257 pounds. Dolores is no stronger and life is no kinder.  But this time she's determined to rise to the occasion and give herself one more chance before really going belly up.

In his extraordinary coming-of-age odyssey, Wally Lamb invites us to hitch a wild ride on a journey of love, pain and renewal with the most heartbreakingly comical heroine to come along in years.  At once a fragile girl and a hard-edged cynic, so tough to love yet so inimitably lovable, Dolores is as poignantly real as our own imperfections.  She's Come Undone includes a promise : you will never forget Dolores Price.


There's as many negative review about this book as there are positive comments especially about the fact that the author is a male writing about the coming of age of a girl.  Most common and immediate thoughts would be what would he know about being a girl?  I guess it's the same as being a writer of magic and wizards and vampires - I mean, we don't have any authors who are actual wizards and vampires, right?

All I feel is that Wally Lamb must have done lots of research and in not wanting any of his research material to go to waste, he dumps them all in this book.  I really pity Dolores Price.  She has to shoulder the burden of all that the author inflicted on her.  Her dad left the family when she's about ten, her mum had a mental breakdown subsequently she was raped when she was thirteen, she was super fat as that's the way she deals with her life, she tried to kill herself and was sent to a mental institute, she married someone who forced her to terminate her pregnancy, stole from her and cheated on her.  Subsequently, the author decided that that's too much for one person to take and decided to give her a break and we see a light in the end of the tunnel for Dolores.

It's a pretty easy book to read as well as it's pretty comical at times but I am sure you will find yourself either rooting for the main character or wanting to shake some sense into her.

If you do come across a copy, do check it out.

Holiday Read

It's a school holiday week next week and the family will be going on a road trip.   Everyone's pretty excited as this will be a new experience for us - driving over eight hours to a small town that I have been before for work but the rest of the family have not been yet.

Naturally, I must make sure I have a good read during the long journey and while we're there too.  Most of the times, I would end up not having enough time to read as we'll be too busy doing enjoying our holidays :) but there would be pockets of down time and that's when I would lost myself in whichever book that I brought alone.  As such, it's important that I bring along the right book as a wrong choice would mean nothing to read for the whole trip.

I did mention here that I inherited heaps of new read recently.  I have started on them and the few that i read so far met my expectation.

For next week holidays, I have shortlisted my choice to these three books : 

•  She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb - read a couple of chapters already and quite like it.

• The Village By The Sea by Anita Desai - since I'm traveling to the town by the river.

• Ishg and Mushg by Priya Basil -  a story of three generations of a family in India, East Africa and UK

I haven't decide yet on which so I guess the next review would reveal my choice. :)



In the meantime, if you're on a holiday, wishing you a wonderful holiday.