Winter nights call for warm fires, hot drinks, great reading and the annual Exclusive Books Winter Sale, offering an alphabet soup of titles.

The sale starts on Friday 26 June when the 50 Exclusive Books branches around the country open at 7.30am for eager bookworms.

With 400 000 books on sale, the extensive variety of quality books promises a gourmet feast of reading at soup kitchen prices. Even if times are tough, book lovers will still be able to indulge their passions with an average book price of R59, with discounts of up to 75 percent off the normal retail price, claims Exclusive Books.

That's 384 800kg of books in 14 800 boxes.

Expect to see hot names in fiction ? Stephen King, Vikas Swarup, Phillip Roth, Jeffrey Deaver and Joanna Trollope to name but a few.

The biography selection is particularly strong this year ? with Charles Darwin, Florence Nightingale, Eddie Barlow and Primo Levy gracing the sales tables.

As always foodies will love the smorgasboard of cookery books offering a taste of Spain, Vietnam, India and beyond.

Spirituality, motivation and self-help is one of the fastest growing genres internationally, and the sale reflects that interest with words of wisdom from a wide range of gurus ? from the Dalai Lama to Marcus Buckingham.

Stocking up on children's books has become a focus for many sale-buying customers, so attention has also been paid to the young reading category with a range of interest and age-groups. Pre-teens will particularly love the Anthony Horowitz and Meg Cabot titles.

"We try as best we can to find the perfect books, based on customer feedback and buying patterns from previous sales," concludes Jaco Nel, General Manager of Marketing & CRM, at Exclusive Books.

And to tie in with the sale, Exclusive Books are giving you the chance to win a hamper of books.

To stand a chance of winning the selection, which ranges from fiction to cooking, simply answer this question: