CONTEST #1

THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE at MPH Distributors were kind and generous enough to give me FIVE books to be given away to readers of my blog.

Here are the titles:

1. Run (Harper, September 2007) / Ann Patchett: This is an advance reader’s edition of the Orange Prize-winning novelist’s latest novel. Softcover.

2. The Wit & Wisdom of Discworld (Harper, September 2007) / Terry Pratchett: A collection of favourite quotations from the famous Discworld Universe as filtered somewhat erratically through the mind of the distinguished scholar and scribe Terry Pratchett. Compiled by Stephen Briggs. Fans of Pratchett should find this worth collecting. I have two copies of this to give away. Hardback.

3. The History of the Hobbit: Mr. Baggins: Part One (HarperCollins, May 2007) / John D. Rateliff: A lively and informative treatise which looks at the story behind J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit (1937) and discusses the many themes contained therein. Hardback.

4. People of the Book (Fourth Estate, January 2008) / Geraldine Brooks: The new novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March (2005). Softcover.

Here’s what you have to do:

Answer three simple questions on contemporary fiction, and if you’re one of the FIRST FIVE to get them all right, the book is yours. (Just tell me which book you prefer.) Each person is allowed only one entry. Oh, yes, the contest is limited to those I can pass the books to by hand. Happy Googling!

QUESTIONS
1. “After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn’s for an oyster supper.” This is the opening line to Michael Cox’s first novel. Name the novel.
2. Vikram Chandra’s doorstopper of a novel, an epic of corruption and violence set in Mumbai. What’s the name the novel?
3. “Old age isn’t a battle,” he observes, “old age is a massacre.” A memorable line from a famous novel. Name the author of this novel.

Email your answers to mphpublishing@mph.com.my
Results will be announced on Thursday, September 13, 2007

All books courtesy of MPH Distributors