Tomorrow - Bulletin of Singapore Bloggers tag: books

Urban SF/Fantasy series set in future Singapore

2008-03-04T14:01:40+08:00

In late twenty-first-century Singapore, detective inspector Wei Chen is a snake agent, a detective whose beat reaches to the fringes of Heaven and Hell. Married to a demon wife and surrounded by wary colleagues, he is nevertheless bored with investigating routine exorcism scams and bogus feng shui licenses. Then the newly deceased ghost of a wealthy industrialist's daughter fails to make her appointed arrival in Heaven. When it quickly becomes obvious that the industrialist himself is implicated in a netherworldly soul-trafficking scheme and is responsible for his daughter's death, Chen has to work with an unlikely sidekick, Zhu Irzh, one of Hell's own vice detectives and a demon cursed with a conscience. Twice nominated for Philip K. Dick awards, Williams should easily qualify for another with this original and stirring blend of futuristic technology and chilling excursions into postmortem landscapes.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "First in a series of novels set in a future Singapore which is on the fringes of Heaven and Hell. "

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Queueing for Harry Potter 7

lancerlord — 2007-07-21T08:11:58+08:00

Metroblogging Singapore will be queuing up to collect the new Harry Potter book at Borders. It also provides live updates from Borders, including photos.

On 20 July, I will be queueing outside Borders from the early dusk till 7.01am on 21 July 2007 when Borders opens its doors at Wheelock Place for the launch of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'll be queueing with a friend who has decided to bring a sleeping bag and camp over that day while I've got a full strategy planned out since I have to rush off to an event by 730am!

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Looking for a book? Mooch it!

ketsugi — 2006-09-02T02:27:18+08:00

ketsugi said:

BookMooch works on a points system. For each book you add to your inventory (ie books that you’re willing to give away), you get 0.1 points. To mooch a book from someone in the same country as you, you spend 1 point. If the person who owns the book you want is in another country, it costs you 2 points.

Recommended by ketsugi: "BookMooch is a new service that connects people who have books to give away, and who want free books. It's beginning to attract a strong Singaporean community, so I thought I'd try to get the word out to more people."

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A mother discovers NLB's ebook portal for children's stories

ramblinglibrarian — 2006-08-28T15:08:27+08:00

My Muzingz: Where Are Kermit's Keys? said:

I found the title under the TumbleBook Library collection of animated, talking picture books. I liked that I could choose either to read aloud to my son, or have the story read out on 'auto' mode.

Recommended by ramblinglibrarian: "Other (blogging) mums might want to check it out."

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Remembering Enid Blyton

Tym — 2006-06-30T12:58:36+08:00

Ondine said:

And I had such great memories with those books. I wanted so badly to have a cave, a secret meeting shed with passwords. I wanted to go to boarding school and have so many friends and have midnight feasts.

Recommended by Tym: "Singaporeans who grew up reading Enid Blyton books will appreciate this trip down memory lane."

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52 books in 52 weeks

ramblinglibrarian — 2006-03-17T00:52:03+08:00

Billy Tan said:

What really first came to my mind when I was reading this book was how perfect it was. Perfect in the sense of a perfect pop song, the kind where there’s just a basic hook, something so simple and catchy that you know you’ll can pick up a guitar and come with something just as good. Well, this book made me want pick up a pen and write a sci-fi story.... ... is a fantastic book, and I recommend everyone and their mother to read it.

Recommended by ramblinglibrarian: "Here's a guy who's set himself a goal of reading 52 books in 52 weeks. So far, he's 10 down and 42 more books to go. Talk about setting a goal and achieving. Even I don't have that discipline to read one book a week. Oh, and his reviews are pretty good too."

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the fingerpost

avalon — 2006-02-27T15:17:05+08:00

Nicholas Eng said:

Books have always been a major part of my life and I thought it would be great if I could make a living and indulge in my passion at the same time. So I started Fingerbooks (www.fingerbooks.com), which is an online secondhand bookstore. I followed up with this blog as part buzz marketing, part self-indulgence (I love to write!) and part sharing with people with the same passion for reading.

Recommended by avalon: "Discovered this blog through a new local secondhand online book store, fingerbooks.com, the blog is an offshoot from it. Am encouraged to see more people who are passionate about reading, and smart enough to use that love to make money through a business too! Nicholas writes about the online book store business and shares his favourite reads too."

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BookJetty.com

johannes — 2006-02-15T23:12:37+08:00

Herryanto said:

I find myself doing repetitive task of searching good books in amazon site and checking NLB online catalogue if they are available in the library. Very time consuming, so this site combines information from Amazon and NLB under one page. Do check it out.

Recommended by johannes: "easy to use.. though still beta and a bit slow.."

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I-read, I-come, I-review

ramblinglibrarian — 2006-01-27T01:52:17+08:00

Rambling Librarian said:

I-read, I-come, I-review
Hey all you book-lovers out there!
Found a book you simply couldn't put down from start till end?
Tell us why you love it so much!

Recommended by ramblinglibrarian: "It's not everyday that I learn of a local book-blog (at least I think this is local, 'cos it was recommended to me via the Cowboy Bar). BTW, anyone here know more of such local bookblogs?"

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Russell Lee at Hougang Mall

moe — 2006-01-07T00:52:43+08:00

moe said:

So there he was, looking ever so mysterious, in his black hat, black hood, black jacket...

Recommended by moe: "Wikipedia calls him an 'enigma'... what do you think?"

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High Browse Online

cowboycaleb — 2005-11-11T10:47:46+08:00

We may be 'High Brow' but we have a sense of humour.

We would like you to join the HB Squad to alert us on literary events, activities and which writer is fighting with who... you know, the usual… gossip (but we're supposed to have class, so we're using the term "HB Squad Alerts").

How cool can the National Library keep getting with zany employees like the Rambling Librarian running amuck with ideas to reach out to the public and get people more involved with reading.

The National Library has launched a book blog called High Browse Online. It's not just some dull blog run by dull public servants - the public (you and me) get to contribute stuff like book reviews to be published. All you have to do is join the HB Squad to start submitting your stuff.

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The Great Pretenders

tinkertailor — 2005-10-13T23:58:50+08:00

cigarettes and jazz said:

we see EVERTHING, and we KNOW that you've just stuck your right hand into your shorts to scratch your balls, because not only do you have an oddly satisfied facial expression that we've all learnt to recognise now as the "after-orgasm" look, but we can see the dead flakes of skin on your fingernails when you come to the counter to return the book you pretended to browse through.

Recommended by tinkertailor: "The things bookstore patrons do when no one is watching. Or so they think."

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What's good to read

2005-05-31T23:16:55+08:00

Daphne reviews all manner of books in her blog, including Elephant Elephant: A Book of Opposites:

Parents who think only in sweet pastels and cute rhymes might think this book is subversive, but I love its humour and inventiveness.

My favourite pair of opposites? The elephants that illustrate "clever" and "stupid" - they look exactly alike, which is so true: you can't judge someone's intelligence by the way they look!

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Launch of READ! Singapore

tinkertailor — 2005-05-25T09:51:51+08:00

Ivan the Librarian informs us about the recently-launched READ! Singapore. He also gives his personal views:

Personally, the project is more than promoting a culture of reading. It's about using books as a focus -- to connect people to different people/ ideas/ perspectives. One can read the same book and have different views. Or we share in similar thoughts. [...]
READ! Singapore is a good "excuse" for strangers to talk to strangers.
Just like blogging.

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[tinkertailor: i like getting official news with real views from a real blogger. ]

Neil Gaiman in Singapore

ssf — 2005-05-12T22:02:56+08:00

Neil Gaiman (yes, the Neil Gaiman) notes that he'll be stopping by Singapore in July:

Let's see -- lots of messages from people in the Philippines or Singapore (or people in Indonesia or Malaysia who are ready to travel and want to book planes) wanting to know if I have information yet on signings and talks and things.

I don't have exact information yet about where every signing will be, but I do now have some general dates, and will post these on condition that I'm not then deluged with requests for which bookshop I'll be in in each city. As soon soon as I know all of them, I'll post the whole thing, here and at Where's Neil.

Arrive Singapore July 3. Events July 4-6.

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Toxic Plants Of Singapore

tinkertailor — 2005-04-22T10:11:49+08:00

Roxanne discovers a book which should be re-titled "The Singapore Poisoner's Guide: Using Local Household Plants":

Of special note is our national flower. (Or any of the common Dandrobium orchid species.) Fans of old SBC Channel 8 dramas will remember how a young and angelic Zoe Tay poisoned her fiancee by barbecuing satay skewed with orchid stems from the garden. (Well, he put insecticide in her drink. So fair's fair...) The poor dude died horribly and in great pain, salivating, vomitting and clawing at his throat before falling to the ground in convulsions. His death was greatly exaggerated…

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