Bundu Reviews

The long-awaited new novel from the author of Life of Pi , which has sold over seven million copies worldwide and is the biggest-selling Booker prize winner in history, is now at Exclusive Books.

About the book
When a letter from a taxidermist drops onto Henry’s doormat, it poses a puzzle that he cannot resist. As he is pulled closer into the world of this strange and calculating man, the lives of a donkey and a howler monkey – named Beatrice and Virgil – and the epic journey they undertake together, seem to offer the answer to his own creative conundrum. With all the charm and complexity that brought over seven million readers worldwide to Life of Pi, in Beatrice and Virgil Yann Martel takes the reader on a fantastical journey. Martel asks profound moral and philosophical questions about the nature of love and evil, and explores the power of words and stories to reconcile us with the darkest human experiences.
 
About the author
Yann Martel was born in Spain in 1963, of Canadian parents. Life of Pi, his second novel, was published to international acclaim in over forty countries and won the 2002 Man Booker Prize. He has also written a number of collections of short stories, including The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, also published by Canongate.

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The team over at Fanatics have an interesting competition running at the moment which caught my eye and which runs to the end of March 2010. However I have a gripe with it!

In a nutshell, you still have a few days to submit your choice of the Top Iconic South African books and stand the chance of being one of our 20-tenners, 20 members who will each win a complete set of the ten most favourite titles selected for this year’s Exclusive Books Homebru promotion in June.

All you have to do is select the 10 books that, in your opinion, kick the rest into touch! The books that you think stand out as truly reflecting our amazing country and its unique and diverse culture in biographies, sport, politics, current affairs, economic analysis, crime fiction, satire, humour, or even cooking and travel titles.

To participate all you need to do is visit their website (or more specifically an intranet because the website is not up and running) and make your suggestions.

I was going to post the link here for visitors to go and check it out and make their contribution but it appears the way they’ve formed the URL means that if I post the link here it will populate the screen with my details and membership number etc which is a bit arb.

Not being a complete IT dolt I played with the URL a bit trying to find a way to drive people to their website but alas – not very friendly from that perspective.

I would have thought Fanatics / Exclusive Books would have used a competition like this to try and sign up new members and stimulate interest in books. A bit of a fail in my humble opinion!

C’mon guys! We’re trying to stimulate a love of books and help you out with making your campaign work and you don’t appear to be getting the tech basics right….

The second Sunday in January has just rolled around and as has become our tradition, we check out the various online retailers to find out what tops the list of bestselling books for the Bundu Reviews community.

Exclusive Books
1. Eclipse
2. Breaking Dawn
3. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
4. The Girl who Played with Fire
5. The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest
6. New Moon
7. Twilight
8. Captain in the Cauldron
9. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man
10. John Platters Wine Guide 2010 

Take2.co.za
1.  Street Game – Feehan, Christine
2.  Twilight – Meyer, Stephenie
3.  Shades of Midnight – Adrian, Lara
4.  Born of Ice – Kenyon, Sherrilyn
5.  Eclipse – Meyer, Stephenie
6.  Vampire Diaries, V. 2, Bks, 3 & 4 – Smith, L.J.
7.  Vampire Diaries, V. 1, Bks. 1 & 2 – Smith, L.J.
8.  Lover Avenged – Ward, J. R.
9.  The Gabriel Method – Gabriel, Jon
10.  Hunting Julian Frank, Jacquelyn

Amazon.com
1. Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime – John Heilemann, Mark Halperin
2. The Help – Kathryn Stockett
3. Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual – Michael Pollan
4. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association – American Psychological Association
5. The Belly Fat Cure: Discover the New Carb Swap System and Lose 4 to 9 lbs. Every Week – Jorge Cruise
6. Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage – Elizabeth Gilbert
7. The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl – Ree Drummond
8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson
9. Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 – Julia Child
10. The Lost Symbol – Dan Brown  

Kalahari.net
1.  Economics for South African students – Louis Fourie; Philip Mohr
2.  About Financial Accounting – LexisNexis South Africa
3.  The Gabriel Method: The Revolutionary Diet-Free Way to Totally Transform Your Body – Jon Gabriel
4.  A Student’s A-Z of Psychology – Kate Grieve; Vasi Van Deventer
5.  Captain in the Cauldron – Mike Greenaway
6.  The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest – Stieg Larsson
7.  The Girl Who Played with Fire – Stieg Larsson
8.  Information Systems in the South African Business Environment – A. McGee; E. Grobbelaar; P WESSELS; G.T. Prinsloo
9.  Breaking Dawn – Stephenie Meyer
10.  Eclipse – Stephenie Meyer

As usual on a Sunday we take a look at what books have proven popular on the various online retail platforms in South Africa and abroad.

An interesting one to see coming through is the LJ Smith Vampire Diaries which has been catching the eye on a couple of the review sites.

Exclusive Books
1. Captain in the Cauldron – Mike Greenaway
2. Eclipse – Stephenie Meyer
3. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson
4. Breaking Dawn – Stephenie Meyer
5. John Platters Wine Guide 2010
6. Twilight – Stepehnie Meyer
7. Dont Mess with the President
8. The Girl who Played with Fire – Stieg Larsson
9. New Moon – Stephenie Meyer
10. The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest – Stieg Larsson

Take2.co.za
1. Breaking Dawn – Meyer, Stephenie
2.  New Moon – Meyer, Stephenie
3.  Twilight – Meyer, Stephenie
4.  Twilight – Meyer, Stephenie
5.  Eclipse – Meyer, Stephenie
6.  Street Game – Feehan, Christine
7.  Born of Ice – Kenyon, Sherrilyn
8.  Lover Avenged – Ward, J. R.
9.  The Gabriel Method – Gabriel, Jon
10.  Vampire Diaries, V. 2, Bks, 3 & 4 – Smith, L.J

Amazon.com
1. The Help – Kathryn Stockett
2. Mastering the Art of French Cooking (2 Volume Set) – Julia Child
3. The Lost Symbol – Dan Brown
4. First Aid for the USMLE Step 1, 2010 – Tao Le
5. Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 – Julia Child
6. Breaking Dawn – Stephenie Meyer
7. The Belly Fat Cure: Discover the New Carb Swap System and Lose 4 to 9 lbs. Every Week – Jorge Cruise
8. Merriam-Webster’s Intermediate Thesaurus – Merriam-Webster
9. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson
10. Eclipse – Stephenie Meyer  

Kalahari.net
1. Captain in the Cauldron – Mike Greenaway
2. Twilight – Stephenie Meyer
3. Eclipse – Stephenie Meyer
4. Breaking Dawn – Stephenie Meyer
5. New Moon – Stephenie Meyer
6. The Gabriel Method: The Revolutionary Diet-Free Way to Totally Transform Your Body – Jon Gabriel
7. The 10 Secrets of 100% Healthy People: Some People Never Get Sick and are Always Full of Energy? Find Out How! – Patrick Holford
8. Management Principles: A Contemporary Edition for Africa – P.J. Smit; G.J.De J. Cronje; T. Brevis; M.J. Vrba
9. My Comeback: Up Close and Personal – Lance Armstrong
10. Baby sense: Understanding your baby’s sensory world – the key to a contented child – Ann Richardson; Megan Faure