BookFace: Short stories compiled by Andrew Lang (courtesy of Feedbooks)

The Blue Fairy Book ***The Yellow Fairy Book

The Violet Fairy Book *** The Arabian Nights

Free copies for me! (courtesy of BookReads and LibraryThing)

I STARTED MY MEMBERSHIP WITH TWO ONLINE BOOK CLUBS, GoodReads in June 2010 and Library Thing just few weeks ago. Aside from sharing my favourite authors, I met new online friends who have the same passion for books and I do write book reviews which are posted here in my blog.

In December 2010, I was selected as one of the GoodReads' First Reader in the regular giveaways promo for a copy of Laurie Bowler's Sunrise to Sunset (Moon Rising) published in 2010. The book is available in Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk (Kindle format) and Smashwords.

(Sunrise to Sunset Synopsis) Nessy wakes from her unconscious state to find she can no longer remember who she is or her purpose in life. Charles battles to try and tell her as much information as he can about her former life, and eventually submits to telling Nessy her true immortal state. Hera takes Nessy back to the past into the form of the Gulon, where she meets the other Gulon packs who have come to aid them while the covens have gathered hoping to glimpse their new queen and ruler of the underworld, little does Nessy realise that person is her! The continuing threat from the detested sinister Tellis coven fight back with the remaining members and they join forces with another coven that have long since been known for their massacres and barbaric ways for feeding. Nessy has to battle to protect the human race from extinction and to protect her title for the good of races, the immortal race and the mortals that surround her, with Charles and the Gulon they must succeed.

On the other hand, I also got my first free ebook copy from Library Thing after I joined the Member Giveaway Group few days ago! I got an e-copy of Dirty Little Angels written by Chris Tusa and published in 2009. I will write a review in exchange of this free ebook. This is available in Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Smashwords.

(Dirty Little Angels Synopsis). Set in the slums of New Orleans, among clusters of crack houses and abandoned buildings, Dirty Little Angels is the story of sixteen year old Hailey Trosclair. When the Trosclair family suffers a string of financial hardships and a miscarriage, Hailey finds herself looking to God to save her family. When her prayers go unanswered, Hailey puts her faith in Moses Watkins, a failed preacher and ex-con. Fascinated by Moses's lopsided view of religion, Hailey, and her brother Cyrus, begin spending time down at an abandoned bank that Moses plans to convert into a drive-through church. Gradually, though, Moses's twisted religious beliefs become increasingly more violent, and Hailey and Cyrus soon find themselves trapped in a world of danger and fear from which there may be no escape.

Well, thank you very much for these early giveaways and maybe you will be the next lucky one! Try a look and be a member of these book clubs... Hope to meet you very soon and dont forget to drop me a line! Oops, I forgot to give the website links if you are interested: GoodReads and Library Thing to get additional information.

BookFace: Rediscovering Philippine (Filipino) Folk Tales...series one

I WAS STUNNED AND SPEECHLESS when I found out that Gutenberg Project thru its Philippine-based website has free ecopies (in different formats) of books about Philippine folklores - a collection of tales that focus on magic, superstitutions and customs of the Filipino people.

First published in 1916, this publication featured tales that are frequently heard in the past, and passed from one generation to another, coming from major groups: Tinguian, Igorot, tribes in Mindanao, including the Moro and Christian communities.

For me, this is a journey of rediscovering my heritage and culture through these tales and fables that most of them are known throughtout the 7,07 islands, or some of them have similarities and parallelisms found in Europe and India as well as in Borneo, Java and Sumatra. Unfortunately, with the modern time, they are now overshadowed by Western stories and gradually vanishing!

Of course, definitely I will read them and share my reviews here in the future. So, watch out for that or maybe if you have the opportunity to read these stories, it might be useful to share your views here in my blogsite.

HONESTLY, I HAVE TO ADMIT that in spite my passion for books, I am more drawn towards English writers than Filipino authors. What a shame that, only a handful of books written by Filipinos that I have the opportunity to read which most of them were part of the Philippine academic curriculum such like the novels written by Jose Rizal, Balagtas, etc., and not to mention some of the Filipino short stories that Ive read few months ago!

Note: Using CALIBRE, majority of the Gutenberg Project formats can be converted for Amazon Kindle or Whispernet reading and for other mobile reading devices available in the market. As a reminder, the link for free download is under the jurisdiction of Gutenberg Project and maybe it will change at any time.

Books for Giveaways...check it now

DO YOU WANT TO GET FREE BOOKS (hardcopies or ebooks? Well, there is an existing website that allows members to request books free of charge. Wherever you are, you can join the site and browse the list of giveaways that might be applicable in your country of residence, but majority of these books are given in exchange of writing reviews of these books. There is no harm in trying your luck for a free copy!

Registration to this largest online book club requires you to create your own user name and password, including your postal details (if you are intereted to participate in the free pre-publication copies of books in exchange for your reviews).

CHECK IT HERE or click the images if you think that this site will help you in cataloging your books and connect with people who love books as you do!

BookFace: Tagalog (Filipino) eBooks free for download...

MANYBOOKSdotNet is one of the main sources of free ebooks that offers an excellent selection of books in different digital formats (ePUB, eReader, PDF, Plucker, Mobipocket), readily available for download compatable to existing reading devices in the market such as Amazon Kindle, iPad, iPhone, Nook, Android, iLiad, Sony reader, etc.

The site is like an online library that contains thousands of the classical books by popular authors like Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Charles Darwin, James Royce, and many others; including some of the new ebooks by unknown writers in more than 30 languages.

Im introducing some of the books written by Filipino authors in Tagalog in the like of Honorio Lopez, Aurelio Tolentino, Francisco Balagtas and Jose Rizal. Some of these books are as follows: Esperanza (Jose Maria Rivera); Florante at Laura(Francisco Balagtas); Hindi Biro!... ó Ang Anting-Anting (José R. Francia); and Noli Me Tangere (José Rizal). To find out more, CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE OR THE TITLE OF THIS POST!

Moreover, if you are interested to read the English version of Jose Rizal's two novels: Noli Me Tangere (The Social Cancer, 1887) and El Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed, 1891), then just click the images below. Even myself, I havent read the English version of these novels that were originally written in Spanish, then translated to Filipino and being part of the Philippine secondary/high school curriculum.

UPDATES: For children's ebooks for free download, CLICK HERE for details.