Times' Mega Book Fair

Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Happened up at Times Mega book sale in BSC after finishing at the hairdressers, and ended up spending way too much. 30-90% discount on books and some very good titles.

What's Big and Bad, but Actually Very Good?

It's BookXcess' Big Bad Book Sale, of course!


I was invited along to the preview yesterday, but couldn't make it, so decided to go along today.


It was a very weird Thursday anyway - the traffic was terrible for a weekday, and it took me a while to realise that since tomorrow is Hari Raya Haji and it's school holiday besides, many people had taken time off work to enjoy an extended weekend. A marvellous bit of timing for mad keen book buyers.

(Above - one indulgent dad with a pile of books for his daughter - and there was another full box at this feet!)

When I got to Amcorp Mall, and made my way up to the third floor where the sale was being held (in a huge double shop-lot next to the bookshop), I could not believe the long queue of people waiting to get in to the already packed space. I needed lunch (at my favourite Korean restaurant) before I could even think of braving it.


When I came back much fortified (by kimchi and bulgogi) the queue was gone, but there was scarcely room to move inside. Whoever laments that Malaysians don't read, don't value books, should have seen the heartwarming sight of folks with huge piles and boxes of books.

I really hadn't intended to buy much but soon accumulated a huge bag full of good stuff. The coffee table books were going for RM20, and pretty much all the rest - even hardbacks - for RM8 each. The adult fiction selection wasn't amazing (or maybe all those other eager poeple had beaten me to the best), but I ended up with plenty of non-fiction choices. (My bag full only cost me RM139!)

No matter how hot and uncomfortable it got, or how long the queue for the tills, there was a great feeling of camaraderie among the book lovers. There were new-friends to make along the way, much surrepstitious peeking at other people's book choices.

And of course a few old friends to find. Raja Ahmad is at every cheap book sale I go to!

And Daphne Lee was there too helping out.

I was hot and exhausted by the end, but very happy indeed with my swag. I'm too tired to list everything I bought but might add a note tomorrow.

The sale runs till 2nd December and there's still plenty of good stuff.

Book Clearance Sale

Times is closing a branch :

- Up to 90% discount
- 3 for RM10
- Daily specials @ RM1
- 11am – 8pm
- 2nd Floor, CapSquare Centre (Map)

+6.017.375.4223

MPH Sale

I won't be around for this one, but hope you go and enjoy yourselves!

Shirley from MPH sent me the following info :

Book enthusiasts can expect incredible discounts on thousands of books of various genres. Also, the first 200 customers daily who spend RM 200 and above will receive a special goodie bag free PLUS if you are a DiGi subscriber or MPH Readers’ Circle member, you will also receive a pair of exclusive shotglasses free.

Lookout for these bargains & free book giveaways as well:-

1) Star Two readers will enjoy further marked down prices on 29 selected titles. Lookout for the highlights on 24 & 28 April in The Star.

2) FREE books up for grabs for the readers of The Sun and Malay Mail. Lookout for the write ups on 27 April. T&C apply.

Click up the poster for full details and map.

Clearance Sale Haul

I took myself off to the MPH Clearance Sale yesterday. The fiction had been well and truly picked over, but there was plenty of stuff that I wanted, including three very useful books on writing.

I thought my real prize was Margaret Atwood's Writing with Intent : Essays, Reviews, Personal Prose but sadly I've just discovered that I have the book already under a different title Curious Pursuits (the British and Australian title). There was also a a Canadian edition containing many of the same essays called Moving Targets. Let the book buyer beware! Looks like this is a copy I will pass on - maybe at the next Readings.

I also found Sudanese author Leila Aboulela's The Translator, which looks my kind of read.

And cookbooks of course ... how can I resist? I wanted to buy up a whole lot more.

I was happy to see so many people buying books - the place was packed out, even on a weekday, and folks were veritably shoveling books into their baskets. And it was dusty, oh so dusty ...

So what did you guys get?

MPH Clearance Sale

Some welcome news for book lovers on a budget :

Your Next Dose of Cheapy Bukus

From Shirley at MPH some news about the next warehouse sale :

MPH Distributors Warehouse Sale is back! The sale will be from 22 to 27 October between 9am to 7pm at Bangunan TH, No 5, Jalan Bersatu, Section 13/4, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Bookworms and bargain hunters can expect to find thousands of books of various genres offered at unbelievable discounts. Popular paperback fiction and non-fiction will start from RM20 onwards. Collectors who crave for hardcover editions can expect discounts of 40% to 50%. Do look forward to selected children and young adult books up to 60%. For the travelling or backpacking enthusiasts do check out the Lonely Planet guidebooks range offered at 30%. Also look out for business books, graphic novels, local interests, dictionaries, cookery books and other general books plus below RM5 deals for selected titles. There will also be happy hour deals to be announced on the spot throughout the sale period where additional mark downs or freebies will be offered.

This will be a great time to stock up on books ahead of the year end school holidays and festivity celebrations. And don’t forget to keep the book receipts collected for tax deductions purposes applicable for purchases up to RM1,000 for the year.

The last of such sale was held in March 2007 so make sure you don’t miss this one. For enquiries on the sale, please call customer hotline at 03-7958 1688.

Look out for further bargains here....

21 and 24 October 2008

The Star (Star Two section)

Star Two readers will get to purchase selected titles at further marked down prices. Look out for the page containing different sets of titles on both days and present it upon payment during the sale to receive the special price.

22 October 2008

The Sun and Malay Mail

10 free books are up for grabs each day during the sale period for The Sun and Malay Mail readers. Look out for the page and present it at the customer service counter to redeem your free book. Each customer is entitled to only 1 copy on first come first served basis.

And Another One

Times Warehouse Sale

Go get your supply of cheapie books. (Click on poster to enlarge.)

Big Bookshop Tempts Again

Oh dear.

I know that some of you had already pounced on this and I will too very soon. Despite no money. Despite overfilled bookshelves. Despite no time to read any more. A bargain is that hard to resist!

MPH's Stock Clearance Sale

Oh dear! MPH is holding its stock clearance sale with up to 70% discount on selected titles.

Date: 30 April - 5 May 2008
Time: 10am-7.00pm
Venue: Dewan D'Kelana, Kompleks Sukan MBPJ. Jalan SS7/15 Kelana Jaya.

Full details and map here.

Your Next Cheap Book Fix

Time to stock up on some cheap reads? I snapped the picture above at BookXcess a few weeks back on my first visit to the shop since it had expanded. Was pleasantly surprised, not just at the cheap prices and the wide choice of titles, but also how pleasantly 'squidgy' the bookshop is. The only reason that I'm not there all the time ... well, you guys can fill in the blanks.

And they also have a snazzy new website with lists of all the books in stock and a map to help you find them.

Pay Less are having another warehouse sale this weekend, this time at the YMCA. (Click to enlarge the map.) I might be tempted meself!

Postscript:

And here's another source of cheap books, found via good-ole Facebook!

Secondhand and nearly-new books for sale at The Dram Projects to raise funds for the MY-UK Project, a creative arts exchange between Malaysian and British kids.

The aim of this exchange is to, ultimately, enable the participants to share with their communities what they have learnt, through performances and workshops.

Saturday, March 1, 2008
Time: 9:00am - 3:00pm
Location: The Dram Projects, BG-6 Happy Mansions, Jalan 17/13, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Pay Less Moves Out

From Pay Less Books:

We are having MOVING OUT SALE in PAY LESS BOOKS below:

Carrefour Subang (Lot B1.01, Level B1) - Until 30 January 2008

Amcorp Mall (Lot 1.70, 1st Floor) - Until 30 January 2008

Summit USJ (Lot 1.32 & 1.33, 1st Floor) - Until 15 February 2008

50% off Storewide!!!

ALL BOOKS MUST GO.

Why, ah?

Over the last few weeks I've got to know Elke, the owner of Pay Less (and a great lady!) who is doing my creative writing class. She tells me that the rentals in the shopping malls have increased and increased to a level where it is no longer viable to maintain the shops. It makes more sense to sell book via the warehouse sales - so expect more of those.

I guess also there is the increased competition from shops like BookXcess and Big Bookshop which are selling brand-new books at knock-down prices.

The Remainder Bin

Rob Spence (who arrived yesterday with wife, Elaine) told me about this poem by poet, essayist, critic Clive James and I found it on the New York Times Papercuts blog (where you can read it in its entirety). I thought this portrait of an author gloating about the "downfall" of a rival, when he finds his books at the equivalent of one one of our warehouse sales, so funny. Authors can't be this bitchy, right?

Here's the first stanza.

The book of my enemy has been remaindered
And I am pleased.
In vast quantities it has been remaindered
Like a van-load of counterfeit that has been seized
And sits in piles in a police warehouse,
My enemy's much-prized effort sits in piles
In the kind of bookshop where remaindering occurs.
Great, square stacks of rejected books and, between them, aisles
One passes down reflecting on life's vanities,
Pausing to remember all those thoughtful reviews
Lavished to no avail upon one's enemy's book --
For behold, here is that book
Among these ranks and banks of duds,
These ponderous and seemingly irreducible cairns
Of complete stiffs.

I laughed even more when Rob told me that he had read it in James' book (The Book of My Enemy: Collected verse 1958 - 2003) when it was, itself, remaindered!

I love the honesty with which Clive James once told poet Peter Porter on ABC Radio:

I think the control I had over my work was less than adequate. There was nothing wrong with the good bits in my poems, it’s just that they were packed around with lots and lots of bad bits, and I think that the only way I’ve improved in the last several decades [. . .] is that I’ve learned to leave out the bad bits. I’m not sure you do improve beyond that.

Pay Less in January

Just in case you need in infusion of cheap books this weekend:

Cheapies and Freebies

I know you want to hear about where to go to get cheap books!

Click on the posters to enlarge.

And what's better than something really cheap? Something for free, of course.

If you missed Eternal Wanderer's comment on the previous post, KL Weekly has free tickets for tomorrow night for the film of Atonement, based on the Ian McEwan novel of the same name. This is one I think I really will drag my lazy self out for. How about you?

Have a Bookful Weekend

What are you reading? Any good?

Am a chapter or so into David Davidar's The Solitude of Emperors (supposed to be interviewing him tomorrow but only just got the copy).

I'm nearly finished Catherine O'Flynn's What Was Lost, also the Silverfish collection, News From Home. Am also enjoying several other books including Awang Goneng's Growing Up in Terengganu, and Sam Jordison's Annus Horribilis. Intend to post something about them next week.

Am also dipping into a number of non-fiction things including Malcolm Gladwell's Blink and Paul Auster's The Red Notebook. Warehouse sale purchases!

And talking of warehouse sales not only is the Pay Less one on this weekend, but Times is having a sale in Kajang.

I'm off to Singapore in the morning for the Writers' Festival and this blog will be in hiatus until I get back on Sunday night. Have a great weekend, and do slip a note in the comments about your current and recent reads so that you can keep each other entertained in my absence.

(Photo is of a Kansas hoarding by Khayal. Seem to have mislaid the original URL ...)

Pay Less in December

Ok, what you really want to know is not whether Asian and Western story arcs are different (and what does it really matter in the long run anyway provided that a novel is well written and we enjoy it?) but when you can get your next infusion of extremely cheap books.

Voila! (Click to enlarge.)

And talking about book buying, has anyone been to the huge new branch of Times at The Pavillion on Bukit Bintang? Like Animah I really am heartsick at the tearing down of a historical building (Bukit Bintang Girl's School) to make way for yet more retail space, but I have always had a soft spot for Times which has tempted me into too many unplanned purchases to mention.

Actually I think I'd better stay away!

Weekend Bookish Things

Some pictures of bookish things of the weekend.

MPH Writer's Circle focused on illustration this month and the guests were Shahril Nizam, Amir Muhammad and S. Yu who drew the delightful cartoon pictures for Eh! Wat U Talking: Chronicles of Malay Humour. Yu also has three "graffic biographies" of Malaysian politicians in the pipeline.

The shy Shahril needed a little drawing out but was fascinating as he talked about his illustrations for If Only, and he and Amir talked about how illustrations were an integral part of Politicians Say the Damndest Things. (Lovely review of the book here by Ted, by the way.)

The conversation I thought got particularly interesting when we talked about book covers which didn't scare of marginal readers. Jennifer Eileen Peters, author of Making Chatter Matter turned up for the meet, and talked about how happy she was with Shahril's art work for her cover.

It was a very comfortable and friendly discussion which I think we all enjoyed, but still ... wish the audience for these things was a bit bigger.
.In the evening I went along to Silverfish for the official opening of Raman's new shop, which is already looking like home.

Raman was launching News From Home, a compilation of the work of three of the participants of his writing programme. The brave souls (left to right Kow Shih-Li, Rumaizah Abu Bakar and Chua Kok Yee) gave a short reading (a first for all of them!) from their work and then (perhaps even more bravely!) answered a few questions from the audience. What was evident in all of them was the desire to work at their craft and their enthusiasm for writing. I really wish them all the best with the book, and thanks Raman for the review copy. Promise some feedback.

All the usual suspects were there and here's Diana Cooper, me, Daphne Lee, Peter Brown and his wife Markiza.

Got up early today to go to the Penguin/Pearson warehouse sale. Here are my spoils! Am around RM300 lighter in the pocket which I don't think at all bad for this big pile of things I really want to read.

The sale is very well worth going to with excellent bargains and a huge variety of books of all kinds. You do need to be organised though. One tip which I pass on is to take those tough supermarket shopping bags (the ones you buy so you don't need plastic bags). They are easier to carry around than clumsy boxes.

You also do need to be fit to push through the crowds and not mind the heat and chaos and thick thick dust! But where would the adventure be if it wasn't like that?

Tales from the Front Line

I haven't made it to the Penguin/Pearson Warehouse sale yet (maybe tomorrow?), so am grateful to Erna for writing about what's good to buy for all kinds of book lovers and the treasures she found.

Anyone else got a story from the front line to tell?


(Pic nicked from Erna)