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Everything is on sale at Powerbooks and National Bookstores. Twenty percent off on these, and up to 80 off on books in the bins.

The Story. In the late 18th century young Jacob de Zoet travels to the Shogunate of Japan to make his fortune so he can go back to the Netherlands and marry the girl he loves. His job at the Dutch East Indies Company is to uncover corruption in the ranks; he uncovers it all right, to his great disadvantage. Contact between foreigners and Japanese is largely proscribed, but Jacob goes and falls in love with Orito Aibagawa, a woman who has been granted permission to study medicine. Then Orito’s father dies and Orito is sent off to a convent run by the Abbot Enomoto, who is believed to have supernatural powers courtesy of the weird rituals practised in the remote convent. Terrible things happen, but also wondrous things; the characters never do what you expect them to, preferring to behave as if they were walking, breathing individuals; there is more life and humanity in these 469 pages than in ten seasons of telenovelas, except that it requires you to think. (In hardcover)

England in the 1970s. Four children, the eldest in their teens, live with their ailing mother. They worry that if she dies, they will be separated and sent off to foster homes. So when she dies, they keep it a secret. They pretend she is still with them, but cracks begin to appear in the adolescents’ behavior, in their relationships with each other, and in a certain trunk full of cement down in the basement. “Disturbing” is only the beginning. Not for the fragile or squeamish. Pop factoid: The title of Madonna’s song “What it feels like for a girl” is a quote from the film adaptation of Cement Garden.

Another one from the historical-literary-monster genre. Haven’t read it, but Henry VIII seems like a good candidate for werewolf.

Best purchase:

P579 at the bins in National Bookstore. Some digging required. The book includes the most famous photographs from Life Magazine, with prints ready for framing.

So you can hang them on your wall and refer to them as “My uncles Jack and Bobby”.