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Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks

Adrienne Willis is forty-five and has been divorced for three years, abandoned by her husband for a younger woman. The trials of raising her teenage children and caring for her sick father have worn her down, but at the request of a friend and in hopes of a respite, she’s gone to the coastal village of Rodanthe in North Carolinas outer banks to tend the local inn for the weekend. With a major storm brewing, the time away doesn’t look promising until a guest named Paul Flanner arrives.

At fifty-four, Paul is a successful surgeon but in the previous six months his life has unraveled into something he doesn’t recognize. Estranged from his son and recently divorced, he sold his practice and his home and has journeyed to this isolated coastal town in hopes of closing a painful chapter in his past, completely unaware that his life is about to change forever.

Nights in Rodanthe was adapted into a 2008 film of the same name.

Green IT for Dummies by Baroudi, Carol

Green technology is not only good for the environment; it’s also good for your bottom line. If your organization is exploring ways to save energy and reduce environmental waste, Green IT For Dummies can help you get there.

This guide is packed with cost-saving ways to make your company a leader in green technology. The book is also packed with case studies from organizations that have gone green, so you can benefit from their experience.

Find out more here.

Decision Points by George W. Bush

Decision Points by Bush, George W

In the book, former US President George W. Bush describes the critical decisions of his presidency and personal life. Shattering the conventions of political autobiography, he offers a strikingly candid journey through the defining decisions of his life.

This is a book you don’t want to miss if you wish to find out more about the reasons behind some of the controversial decisions he made.

The Accidental Billionaires - The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich

You have to admire Ben Mezrich’s chutzpah. To write The Accidental Billionaires: Sex, Betrayal and the Founding of Facebook, a supposedly nonfictional narrative about Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, without ever actually speaking to Zuckerberg, reveals an enviable nerve. But then chutzpah is something of a Mezrich speciality. He is the author of the bestselling Bringing Down the House, the story of an elite group of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) geeks who had the nerve to go out west and beat the bank in Las Vegas. With The Accidental Billionaires, Mezrich goes a mile or two up Cambridge’s Massachusetts Avenue, traveling from MIT to Harvard and telling us the outrageous story of an elite geek who had the chutzpah to go out west and beat the bank in Silicon Valley. Six years ago, Mark Zuckerberg was a monosyllabic Harvard freshman, as brilliant in digital affairs as he was awkward in all things physical. Today, Zuckerberg remains the major shareholder and CEO of a company now valued anywhere between $8 billion and $15 billion. The Accidental Billionaires is the story of Facebook’s founding, from the fall of 2003, when Zuckerberg first came up with idea of his online social network, to the fall of 2005, when the Harvard dropout (Bill Gates 2.0) got the company funded by some Silicon Valley venture capitalists. The birth of Facebook is a story about theoretical sex and money but very real betrayal. As the father of the world’s most popular social network, Zuckerberg appears anything but social. Mezrich describes the young Facebook founder as not only painfully lacking in social interaction but also chillingly heartless in his dealings with friends and associates. Mezrich’s Zuckerberg might be an accidental billionaire today, but there seems nothing accidental about the way in which this Internet enterpreneur relentlessly “borrowed” ideas and money from Harvard classmates and friends without ever properly repaying them. Given that Mezrich never actually spoke to Zuckerberg, this highly energetic and entertaining nonfictional novel should be read with a pinch of salt. But that salt is essential flavoring for this memorable bits-to-billions story. Like the many Facebook pages, The Accidental Billionaires isn’t adverse to bending the truth a degree or two. This is a book with nerve about an entrepreneur with nerve. Highly recommended for those with chutzpah who want to go out west and beat the bank.

A film adaptation of the book, titled The Social Network, was released in October 2010.

Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell

Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell

With the humor of Bridget Jones and the vitality of Augusten Burroughs, Julie Powell recounts how she conquered every recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and saved her soul.

Julie Powell is 30 years old, living in a tiny apartment in Queens and working at a soul-sucking secretarial job that’s going nowhere. She needs something to break the monotony of her life, and she invents a deranged assignment. She will take her mother’s worn, dog-eared copy of Julia Child’s 1961 classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and she will cook all 524 recipes — in the span of one year. At first she thinks it will be easy. But as she moves from the simple Potage Parmentier (potato soup) into the more complicated realm of aspics and crepes, she realizes there’s more to Mastering the Art of French Cooking than meets the eye. And somewhere along the line she realizes she has turned her outer-borough kitchen into a miracle of creation and cuisine. She has eclipsed her life’s ordinariness through spectacular humor, hysteria, and perseverance.

Film

A film adaptation, also based on Julia Child’s autobiography My Life in France, directed by Nora Ephron, and titled Julie & Julia, was released August 7, 2009. It stars Amy Adams as Powell and Meryl Streep as Julia Child.

Meryl Streep & Amy Adams in Julie & Julia (film)

Hayley's Fruitastic Garden by Mohana Gill

There is little doubt of the importance of fruit in nutrition. Hayley’s  adventures in Fruitastic will capture the imagination of our kids, while teaching them that fruits are an essential, yet scrumptious, part of our lives.
Hayley aims to do that in a delightful,  friendly way, bringing her young readers along  on a unique and enchanting journey through Fruitastic, the Magical World of Fruits.

Dune by Frank Herbert

The Duke of Atreides has been manoeuvred by his arch-enemy, Baron Harkonnen, into administering the desert planet of Dune. Although it is almost completely without water, Dune is a planet of fabulous wealth, for it is the only source of a drug prized throughout the Galactic Empire. The Duke and his son, Paul, are expecting treachery, and it duly comes – but from a shockingly unexpected place. Then Paul succeeds his father, and he becomes a catalyst for the native people of Dune, whose knowledge of the ecology of the planet gives them vast power. They have been waiting for a leader like Paul Atreides, a leader who can harness that force …DUNE: one of the most brilliantr science fiction novels ever written, as engrossing and heart-rending today as it was when it was first published half a century ago.

Asian Legends Retold and Illustrated by Mohamad Salmi

The Mischievous Luncai

Luncai is a hard-working orphan, but he is also very mischievous. He loves playing pranks on people and even the sultan is not spared! After falling victim to Luncai’s wit, the outraged sultan commands that Luncai be drowned in the sea. Is this the end of Luncai and his pranks?

Batu Belah Batu Bertangkup

A widow’s craving for fish roe is left unfulfilled when the roe was finished off by her hungry son. Hurt and disappointed that her children left none of it for her, the widow runs off into the deep jungle towards a man-eating boulder. How will this tale end?

The Pearl of Kinabalu

The Great Emperor of China commands his two sons to bring back a precious pearl from Mount Kinabalu in the distant island of Borneo. Whoever brings the emperor the pearl shall inherit the throne. However, a great danger awaits those who seek it. Which of the two princes will be successful in gaining possession of the wondrous pearl?

Singapore's Swordfish Attack

On a peaceful day, suddenly, Singapore was attacked by thousands of swordfish. Everywhere throughout the island, many people were killed and hurt by the continuous attacks. Even the soldiers were no fight for the swordfish.

What would the sultan do to stop this disaster?

Sisters' Islands

Minah and Linah were two orphaned sisters known across the land for their beauty and grace. Many suitors tried to win their hearts but failed; the two sisters refused to be separated. What happens when an attempt was made to part Linah from Minah?

The Fanged King

The ancient kingdom of Langkasuka was ruled by King Ong Maha Perita Doria. King Ong Maha Prita Doria, however, had a very strange craving which put the citizens of Langkasuka in fear. What was it that was so bizarre about the king?

The Legend of Lake Chini

When a Jakun tribe intrudes on the land of a mysterious old woman, they are allowed to stay on a small part of the land. However, they are forbidden from crossing over to the rest of the old woman’s land, or the whole tribe will face disaster. What happens to the tribe when they accidentally break their promise to the old woman?

Did It Really Happen?

In this collection of twenty short stories, the author portrays the emotions ans sensibilities that affect the everyday lives of ordinary Malaysians of various cultures and backgrounds. Most of the events in these stories are driven by human emotions and weaknesses: greed, anger, ambition, impatience, love, hatred and ignorance. Others are driven by the power beyond human control: misfortune. The plot of each story is weaved in suspenseful manner, bringing the readers to an unexpected ending. The stories are a mixture of those that are purely from the author’s imagination.

Foiled by Jane Yolen, Mike Cavallaro

A quirky, fast-paced urban fantasy by esteemed author Jane Yolen

Aliera Carstairs just doesn’t fit in. She’s always front and center at the fencing studio, but at school she’s invisible. And she’s fine with that . . . until Avery Castle walks into her first period biology class. Avery may seem perfect now, but will he end up becoming her Prince Charming or just a toad?