Introducing Bookurve – A Malaysian Online Bookstore

It is that time of the year again when all you want to do is shop. However, for book lovers like me, shopping for books happens all year round unfortunately. There is no such thing as too many books. Right???

But if you are looking for something new to read or to search for that book that you could not find at your nearest bookstore or you just want to buy a book for someone this Christmas, you can do so at the newly launched Bookurve.

Bookurve is a Malaysian online bookstore that offers free delivery for the books which are sold at low prices.

I have had the opportunity to conduct an e-mail interview with one of the guys behind the startup. Here is the interview with Lian Shen:

1. How did the website's name "Bookurve" come about?

It is a combination of the words "Book" and "Curve". 

2. How is Bookurve different from other online bookstores, for example local bookstore MPHonline and international ones like Book Depository?

We want Malaysian readers to find any book they want and buy it at the lowest price. We also want to introduce more of the latest book titles to readers who would not be able to find them in MPH.

In comparison with Book Depository, we are able to deliver the books in a shorter period of time, say, two to three weeks, with a tracking code for the order.

3. How many books are there in the store? What genre of books do you offer?

Currently, we have 20,000 book titles that we can ship out within a day. As long as the book is an English title and the book is still in print, we will try our best to get the book out to our readers.

4. How did Bookurve come about?

We started this idea when we found that readers could actually have a wider selection of book titles, a feature not met by MPH and Kinokuniya. Some readers do not even realise it, including me before we started Bookurve.

The prices of the books are also quite expensive. So these were the two reasons that inspired us to create Bookurve to give greater benefits to avid readers.

5. When was Bookurve launched? Any increase in visitors and sales until now?

We launched it six months ago to get any feedback and response from readers who eventually found us via Google. We also recently launched a new layout on the Bookurve website with a message to our customers that goes like this: "Find any book you want in Bookurve".

6. Free delivery on all orders? No minimum purchase required?

We initially provided free delivery within Malaysia with no minimum purchase. Now, due to the increase of shipping costs, we only provide free delivery with a minimum order of RM25. For East Malaysia, there is a minor shipping fee.

7. Where do you get the books to sell on Bookurve?

We sourced the books from an overseas distributor as well as a local market distributor.

8. Any other information that you would like to highlight?

We found that there are many places in Malaysia that are lacking in physical bookstores and this makes it difficult for readers to find and buy books. So, we want to provide an opportunity to Malaysian readers to discover, find and buy books no matter where they are, as long as they have access to the Internet and visit Bookurve.

Thanks Lian Shen for the interview.

So that was the interview and I hope you enjoyed getting to know more about Bookurve. As it is now December and Christmas is approaching, Bookurve has a special Christmas deal for its customers.

Click this link for the Christmas deal. The promotion ends on Dec 31. Do take note that delivery is within Malaysia only.

Happy book-buying everybody!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Book sales in Malaysia and worldwide

Book sales in PENANG and MALAYSIA

Borders, Queensbay Mall, Penang

Don't worry, Borders is not leaving the mall! They are just relocating to the shoplots next to its current location on the 1st floor.

mphonline.com
This is not a book sale but the iriver Story HD e-book reader is now available at an attractive, discounted price! Click on the image above to go to the website.
Free delivery nationwide (within Malaysia) until Oct 31, 2012.

Pay Less Books
PAY LESS BOOKS is closing down! *sobs* And they are having a sale, so don't miss it!
Venue: 49, Jalan BP 6/7, Bandar Bukit Puchong, 47100 Puchong, Selangor
From now until Oct 29, 2012 (10am - 5pm)

Book sales ONLINE

Better World Books Halloween Clearance Sale 
15% off 5 or more used books from the Halloween clearance selection
Sale ends on Nov 2, 2012 at 4pm EDT / 8pm GMT

I got me some new books!

Let's start from the bottom:

1. The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
2. The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw
3. The Fourth Estate by Jeffrey Archer
4. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
5. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
6. Catching the Sun by Tony Parsons

That was a good book haul, wasn't it? Bought them from Borders at Queensbay Mall yesterday. Got quite a pretty good deal, I think. They have this 'Buy 1, get 2nd at 50% off on the same stickered items, the least expensive book is discounted' promotion going on.

I had to choose proper-sounding titles as this would be off my company's book allowance. It was also important that I have the interest to read them! :)

How about you? Any good books that you've bought lately?

Purchases and freebies of 2012 - books and more!!!

Correction: It is purchases and freebies as of March 1, 2012. It has been a good shopping year (or two months) so far but I'm slowing down. :)

So where do I start?

Let me begin with the freebies I got!

1. Book for review: Ima Pea: Including It's Your Turn Study Guide by Cathy Easter Breland
I received this in the mail today. Thanks to Brittany Harness, literary publicist of Author Solutions for sending this review copy to me!

2. Keychain (gift from friend)

I love Amazon.com. It's even better when I have gift certificates to use, so these Amazon purchases were free for me! Here's what I 'bought':

3. My Bibliofile: A Reading Journal for Book Lovers (Potter Style)

4. Q and A a Day: 5-Year Journal (Potter Style)

5. Galison Book Friends Book of Labels - Book Plates
The book plates are the two small squares at the bottom of the picture (above).

Book Depository had this crazy sale the other day, was it on Feb 3?? They had different books on sale at the beginning of every hour for 24 hours. Of course I didn't stay up the whole night to see what books were on sale but I managed to buy these (the links below will lead you to Amazon.com):

6. The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue (paid USD7.46 for the hardback copy)

7. Drawing Pack (Usborne Art Ideas) by Fiona Watt (paid USD6.30)

Etsy has also become my new shopping haunt but things are a little bit pricier there so I tread carefully whenever I'm browsing the items that they have on sale.

8. Charles Dickens Butterfly Antique Bronze Necklace
The seller wrapped the necklace in a page off from Emma by Jane Austen!

9. Bought three sets of cord holders from Groupon (a local website which offers hard-to-walk-away-from kind of deals! Other countries such as the US might have it too):

OK, that is all for now. Whew! Hope you enjoyed this post!

My trip to Logos Hope - floating book fair!

This afternoon, my mom and I made our way to go onboard the ship, Logos Hope, 'venue' to the world's largest floating book fair.

It's the second time that I visited a floating book fair. The last time was around 10 years ago when the Doulos ship (with books for sale!) came to Penang, Malaysia. I'm not sure what happened to Doulos but its sister ship, Logos Hope, is here in Penang right now.

It arrived at Swettenham Pier at Weld Quay on August 19 but opened its doors to the public on Aug 25.

According to news reports, there are over 5,000 book titles for sale on the ship, with prices ranging from RM8 to RM16 for paperbacks.

Sure, there might be lots of books because I wished there had been more space to move around on the ship!

Before going up the ship, we already had to queue up in a long line to register our names and Identity Card number. It is a Sunday today but I certainly did not expect a crowd to throng the fair. Well, it's not everyday that anyone can go onboard a ship at only RM1 for an adult and free for kids below age 12. Of course, shutterbugs took the opportunity to snap pictures away.

Once up the ship, I knew it was going to be hard to be able to check out every book displayed there. So I just inched and wormed my way around to check out the various titles.

There weren't that many fiction titles. Most of them I haven't heard of. But there were shelves dedicated only for Narnia books and those by Enid Blyton. There were Christian fiction and thrillers by David Baldacci.

Other general titles were also available such as cooking, gardening, health, family, spiritual, devotion, etc. Lots of books for kids too.

I finally bought The Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer. It's a mystery/thriller sort of book about the murder weapon which Cain used to kill Abel and somehow Superman is also involved in it.

So I paid the cashier and walked my way out while following the journey of The Prodigal Son. It was a series of cartoon pictures of a young man who squandered all the money his father gave him.

Anyway, we could not leave the ship immediately as it was raining cats and dogs. We decided to stop by the International Cafe and ordered a pie, cake and drinks. And yes, it was crowded there too.

I think it'd be better to visit the ship on weekdays when it wouldn't be so packed.

Details to remember!
Logos Hope @ Swettenham Pier, Weld Quay, Penang
Open to the public until Sept 25
Time: 10am - 10pm (Tue - Sat) and 1pm - 10pm (Sun). Closed on Mondays.

Good news! Logos Hope will also make its way to other states in Malaysia:

Port Klang (Sept 29 - Oct 23)
Kuching (Oct 28 - Nov 14)
Kota Kinabalu (Nov 18 - Dec 4)

Enjoy your trip there!

How many books did you buy this month?

Pic taken from here

It's already the end of June, 2011. I asked this question before back in 2008 so I thought I'd ask it again. :) Sadly, I didn't buy any new books this month but I have downloaded some cool e-books such as Miss Timmins' School for Girls, The Maid from Houghton, Spellbound and Never Eighteen and more from Netgalley. I love Netgalley! That will be a separate post.

So, how many books have you bought this month? :)

10% off books at The Book Depository

You can enjoy a 10% discount off 'EVERYTHING' at online bookstore, The Book Depository until May 31.

There are some terms and conditions involved, so just read them before you buy. An example of the terms is 'The discount code can only be used once per transaction', so it's the usual ones.

The code to use before checkout is 'May11'.

They offer free delivery worldwide so grab this opportunity to use the discount if you were planning to do some book shopping! :)

Now reading: The Struggle by L.J. Smith & book fairs

The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and The Struggle by L.J. Smith

I'm actually reading the second book, The Struggle right now. I've already read and reviewed the first book, The Awakening in July. I've also finished watching the entire Season One of the TV show of The Vampire Diaries. This is one reason why:

Haha!

For fans of the TV show, you could check out this blog, Vampire Diaries Guide for all you need to know about the show. I just stumbled upon it and well, they have interesting stuff to offer fans. There are widgets such as calendars, banners, jigsaw puzzles (!!!) and picture makers among others.

Hmm, I would really like to watch Season Two...

Anyway, the Times Book Clearance is back in Island Plaza, Penang! 

And for those staying in the mainland, don't miss out on the bookstore Popular's Book Fair in Megamal Pinang.

New books and update on my Kindle 3

I make it a rule not to buy any books whenever I decide to stop by bookshops like Borders, MPH or Popular. Why? Because there are so many unread books at home! But I overheard an announcement in Borders this morning and I thought I heard that if I spent RM50 and above, I'd be entitled to some special promotion or something.

So I grabbed a copy of Pop Star! magazine, which had Justin Bieber posters inside. No, I'm not gonna pin Justin up in my room but my niece was asking for large posters of him. Then I browsed the Young Adult section to select a title so that my purchase would amount to more than RM50.

Boy, was it tough to choose a book! There was an abundant of great titles but it took me a really long time to make up my mind. I would have grabbed them all if I had all the money in the world but since I don't enjoy such luxury, I decided to settle for one book only.

Finally, I chose Legacies by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill. I haven't heard of this book before but the synopsis on the back sounded good. It cost me RM39.90.

So I went to pay for the book and magazine. Guess what? There was no promotion for purchases above RM50. I must have heard wrong. The cashier said there were promotions only for those who were going to fly on Malaysia Airlines and also something about RM100. Hmph! I swear I heard RM50 somewhere. Never mind.

Anyway, the Borders store at Queensbay Mall is going to set up a Book Club. They might meet once or twice a month. It's not confirmed yet but they're getting members now.

I also received the copy of Complete Idiot's Guide to Personal Finance in Your 20s & 30s, which I ordered from Book Depository.

Meanwhile, I got The Baby Bible Christmas Storybook for review. Thanks Audra from The B&B Media Group for sending it to me!

Last of all, a copy of The Nanny Returns by Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin arrived in my mailbox a couple of weeks ago. I had to review it as part of the International Book Tour.

As for my Kindle 3, it's already been shipped to my vPost address in the US. (Click here to sign up for vPost if you want to.) I also had to send the invoice for my Kindle order to vPost for processing. I'll need to pay for shipping to Malaysia after that. Let's hope they get back to me soon! I placed my order for the Kindle on Oct 20 and it's been such a long wait since!

eBay Account Suspended Again

I’m being suspended from eBay. Again.

Last night I received very good news from them. My account had been reinstated! My eBay account was unfortunately suspended in November last year, if I’m not mistaken. Since then, I couldn’t buy or sell anything on eBay! And I had so much fun shopping there too. =(

In order to reinstate your eBay account, you’d need to send eBay a copy of your driver’s license, a completed Request for Reinstatement form and one of the following:

• Copy of a recent credit card statement
  
• Copy of recent bank statement
  
• Copy of recent utility bill

So about two weeks ago, I sent them a copy of my driver’s license, the completed form and a copy of a recent utility bill. After reviewing my documents, they decided to reinstate my account.

It is advised that you do not open up a new eBay account after one has been suspended. It’s obvious, isn’t it? eBay is not that dumb, you know. They’ll somehow connect the new account with the suspended one and when they put two and two together, you’re doomed. You could be put on their blacklist, too.

Oh dear, I hope I won’t be blacklisted for getting suspended a second time. I thought I’d change my e-mail address since the one I’m using for my eBay keeps getting spam but then thought better of it. Instead, I listed out two items for sale and this morning, I logged into my e-mail to find that I’ve been suspended.

Next, I did a search on Google on second time eBay suspensions. I found a blog which said that an account can be suspended again if it uses the same e-mail address, home address, IP address, Paypal account and so on. Guess I should have changed the e-mail address after all.

But I was being careful! I didn’t want to change anything in case they got suspicious of my eBay activities. Not that there’s anything to be suspicious about! I just want to have a blast of a time there!

The Sweet Far Thing Has Arrived!

Yay! I got a wonderful surprise when I came home today after a really long day at uni. There it was, the package on my table. The book which I bought from Better World Books: The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray.




It was sent out on August 06, 2008 and it arrived today. So, it took around 22 days to come.

Finally, I Bought Eclipse!

The Borders store at Queensbay Mall had a book sale yesterday and today. Did you go and take advantage of it? I went and there were quite a lot of people. Buy 3 books for the price of 2, books at 50% off, 30% off, etc.

Last week, Borders had a sale at Sunshine Square Bayan Baru too. It was last weekend, I think. But when I went back a few days later, Borders was gone! I thought Sunshine Square was going to have their very own Borders bookstore. Well, apparently not since it's not there anymore.

By the way, I bought 2 books today. I'm not going to buy many books this year as I still haven't read the ones that I bought LAST year. But I simply had to get my copy of Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer and also Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern. I got Where Rainbows End from Popular at only RM16.90. It's a real steal, isn't it??? RM16.90 is cheap! It's like USD5.22.

And I bought Eclipse for RM39.90 from Borders. Can't wait to read it!

I was going to use my Popular card just now but was disappointed to know that it has already expired. Hmmm...I have to renew it soon.

All the same, today I got to know about a book called 'Name Me Nobody' by Lois-ann Yamanaka. Interesting cover and the story's a pretty good one too. Find out more from Amazon!




One more thing. I noticed that the Young Adult section isn't that popular because there are always very few people hanging around there. And I wonder why...

Dreaming Of More Books

Get 22% off for 2 items, 28% off for 6 items.

That's the promotion for the month of February at Acmamall.com. Yup, you can get books at discounted prices if you buy 2 or more. Did you notice the words that they used to describe their discounts? Like 'Rewarding 22% discount' and 'Smashing 28% discount'.

I think that the discount will only be 'smashing' if it's 50% or 70% off. 28% off is not really 'smashing'.

The only thing I don't like about Acmamall is their delivery charge. RM7.50! Ridiculously expensive. At least MPH's is only RM4.90. Why do they have to charge so much for shipping? I like Acmamall because of their wide selection of books. You can find books that are not found in local bookstores.

Anyway, I checked the price of Stephenie Meyer's 3rd Bella Swan book, 'Eclipse' at Acmamall and it's only RM66.96 (hardcover). Other places are selling it at RM76.90. So, if you buy it from Acmamall and then you add the shipping price, the total would only come up to RM74.46. A little bit cheaper than RM76.90.

Yup, like I said. I can only dream of buying books now. Perhaps tomorrow I will suddenly own 1 million dollars out of nowhere. Then, I would not need fuss so much over Acmamall's RM7.50 charge for shipping. =D

Things Are Not What They Seem

Were you attracted to Acmamall's latest promotion where you can get 50% off for your second purchase? That's what they said: 50% off every 2nd item purchased.

So I thought that I'd choose a book that costs RM17.50. Then, the second item that I'd choose would be Libba Bray's The Sweet Far Thing, which cost around RM70+++. I thought it will be in sequence, like the second item that I click to buy will be discounted. Hah! I thought the Libba Bray book would be sold at half price since they said that I'll get a 50% off my second item.

Then I entered the promotional code and checked the total amount. It was still around RM70+++. I thought that my sequence in clicking was wrong. So I removed the items in my basket and clicked again. This time, I click Libba Bray's book first and then only I clicked on the cheaper book. The items were arranged in alphabetical order and Libba Bray's book was number 1.

No matter what sequence it was, the total price was still RM70 over. Then, I went over to the FAQ section or somewhere else that the item that will be given the 50% discount would be the CHEAPER book. Now how about that?

I knew it was too good to be true. And no way am I gonna pay RM70 for the new Libba Bray book. It's too expensive for a student like me. I'll wait and see if any bookstores are having a sale or something.

See? Things aren't always what they seem to be.

It Pays To Wait

Has this situation ever happened to you? Here goes:

One day, you were flipping through the newspaper or just surfing the Internet, and you found out that a particular thing that you have always wanted (book, blouse, CD, DVD, etc) is available at a store near you. Of course, you get excited. Then, the next logical thing to do is rush out to the store and buy it. You are afraid that the item will be out of stock if you were to wait a minute longer. Am I right?

Then, perhaps a month or so later, you flip through the newspaper or surf the Internet, and you see the item being advertised again. It's still available and its price has been reduced!

Oh, don't you just hate it??? I know how you feel. Because the other day, about a month ago, I saw that 'The Book Thief' was available at MPH Bookstores and since I came across numerous book reviews praising the book to bits, I thought that I had to read it for myself and see what the fuss is all about. So, I bought the book at RM42.90.

And today, only a few minutes ago, I decided to open MPH Online's website, I saw that the book's price has been reduced by 30%. See? If I had waited, I would only have to pay RM30.03! If I had waited, I would save around RM12! *cries loudly with huge tears flowing down*

Well, what's done is done. No use crying over spilt milk. But then, I didn't know that the price would be reduced. I didn't know that the book would be part of the sale. I didn't know the future. Enough said.

So, I guess you should check out the bookstores now to see if your favourite books cost less than the usual price. If not, it's up to you to wait or not to wait.

The BookFair's Been Extended!

Good news for everybody! Or for people who simply love to buy books… =)

If you still don’t know, then now you’ll know that the Popular Mega Bookfair will be extended to 02 September 2007! It is deemed the largest bookfair in the Northern Region.

I totally forgot about this fair last week! Can you believe it? I blogged all about it the week before last and I did not even remember that it’s even happening. Oh, I’m such a forgetful person.

However, now I remember. Yes! And I hope that I’ll be able to join in the fun in buying books at discounted prices until the 2nd of September. Oh, it’s held at Midlands Park Shopping Centre. Hmm, it’s not extended at Megamal Pinang, I guess.

I Went to the BookFest@Malaysia 2007!

Ever since I got back home yesterday, I couldn't wait to write about my Kuala Lumpur trip. It was a long trip, slightly more than two weeks! Nevertheless, I quite enjoyed it though I got bored sometimes.

Last Wednesday, my cousins and I went to the KL Convention Centre to check out Popular's BookFest@Malaysia 2007. The theme was appropriately called 'Joy In Reading'. I hope you do feel the joy when you read and not something else - like boredom, for instance! If you are bored with reading books, then it's either the book is boring or you are not reading books that REALLY interest you! Go figure it out.

I went to KL with my mom to visit my grandmother who was admitted to hospital. She's around 90 years old but she's still pretty strong! She's a wonderful woman.

Anyway, since I was already in the city, then there's no excuse why I should miss the BookFest. All the books were given discounts so, it's definitely a not-to-be-missed shopping trip.

Well, I only bought 2 books. The Devil Wears Prada and A Walk To Remember. My sis already has a copy of Devil Wears Prada but the print in her book is way too tiny for me. I like the words to be quite big (not very big!) but big enough so that I don't have to strain my eyes. And I bought A Walk To Remember because I've watched the movie twice and liked it.

When I went in the hall(s), I was like, 'Wow'....

It was really huge. The place, I mean. And there were so MANY books that I didn't know where to start first. I just wandered around first then I started from the right side of the hall where the English fiction books were.

There were 5 halls. Hall 1 is for all things China and Hong Kong, Hall 2 for Singapore and Malaysia, Hall 3 for sponsors, Hall 4 for Taiwan and finally, Hall 5 where the English books are with CD-Rama, stationery and goodies from One-2-Buy. Huge, huh? You'd be overwhelmed if you were there. Well, the BookFest ended today anyway. I'm sorry I didn't write about it earlier but unfortunately, I was deprived of Internet access when I was at my grandmother's house. I was also too tired and busy yesterday to blog.

One stall was quite popular as it sold and made beads jewellery. The kind of jewellery with small, colourful beads and even letters on them? Yeah, that kind. I just hung around and looked at the various beads available. The cheapest bead was RM1. Small and with alphabets on them. Nah, I'm not going to spend so much on the jewellery.

My cousin wanted to apply for a Popular card. While she was applying, I waited. Later when she told me that she got some free stuff after applying for the card, I also decided to apply one for myself. It's only RM5 for students, I thought, so I went ahead. Alas, I'm too old to be considered a student. You are only eligible for the Student card if you are 18 and below. My card cost RM10/year and I did get a plastic bag of goodies. The goodies were a box of tissues, a copy of the Pop Club magazine, an ink pen, and some Ayamas vouchers.

When we were done at the BookFest, my cousins and I walked to Suria KLCC in search of food! We were so hungry and we had to depend on the guide boards to find the eating outlet we wanted, i.e. the 1901 hotdogs. Well, I told them the hotdogs were nice so they wanted to try it too. We found it in the end and quickly ordered. I was right. It was absolutely delicious!

After that, we headed off to Kinokuniya. I brought along the Harry Potter cutout coupon from StarMag. I would get a 25% discount if I presented the coupon when purchasing a Harry Potter book. No, I haven't read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince yet so I bought it.

I was also looking for New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. I totally forgot to look for it at the BookFest. But, I didn't see it anywhere at the BookFest or I would have bought it on the spot. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer was so interesting and I'm dying to know what's next.

Since I couldn't find it at Kinokuniya either, I asked for the help of the staff there. One of the staff was helpful. Well, I asked him so he should be the one finding the book for me. I had to wait for minutes when he came running back to tell me that the book was out of stock and he was very sorry for keeping me waiting for so long.

Guess I'll just have to find the book at Popular or at Borders.

Ah, it should be enough for now. Good night!

Buy Books At The Cheapest Price!

Lucy from Booksprice.com wrote to me and sort of introduced me to the website. It's motto is quite catchy, which is 'Compare Prices Before You Buy'.

This is what Lucy wrote in her e-mail.

Booksprice.com is a free service of finding the best price on books among the major online stores. Our real time engine can help you save as much as 80% from the retail price on new & used books,cds and dvds. We have introduce innovative features and tools like finding the best price of several books together, which might reduce the high shipping costs and save even more money. And now we are offering the new "RSS Price Watcher" that enables you to track the price of a specific book and with your own preferences (shipping to Asia, currency, condition, etc) using RSS feeds.

Well, you not only compare the prices of books sold at different online stores but you can also compare the prices of DVDs, CDs, and games.

I decided to try. So, I just typed in Twilight under 'Books' and clicked on 'Search'. If you want even more specific results, type in the book's ISBN. Then, choose the one you want and click on 'Compare Prices'. A very long list of stores will be shown on the screen. So, all you need to do next is check out the different prices offered. The cheapest price will be highlighted in green.

Have fun comparing prices then! That's part of the fun of shopping!

My First Time At The Chowrasta Bookshops!

It’s a pity I don’t live near to Jalan Chowrasta where there are bookshops selling second-hand books above the market. It’s even more a pity that I’ve only been there once!

Anyway, when I got there, I couldn’t wait to find the bookshops. I walked past shoe shops and empty lots and still no bookshop. But, I still continued walking and finally came to one, which was run by an old Chinese man. Well, he must be the owner of the shop.

I felt slightly disappointed when I took in the condition of the shop. The books weren’t arranged neatly either and most of them were Chinese books. There were comic books, revision books, and soon I saw a few rows of English books. While looking through the stacks of books, I was already sweating profusely as there wasn’t a fan around. The uncle should install a fan there.

A number of Sweet Valley books were available and many other kinds of novels. I came across a book called Party Frock by Noel Streatfeild and decided to buy it. Then, there was another green hardcover book with cute illustrations inside. The title is Love From Nicky by Hertha von Gebhardt. It should be an interesting book. Both the books only cost me RM4.00! Now, that’s what I call dirt-cheap.

After that, I turned left and saw more bookshops. Wow! I went in one and there were so MANY books!!! There were rows and rows of all kinds of books. And some of them were brand new too. I noticed many titles by Stephen King. When the shop owner approached me, I asked for Enid Blyton books. He brought out a pile of books for me to look through. My sister once bought Enid Blyton books from the shops there, so I’m interested in looking for more. Well, I only bought two Malory Towers books and they cost me RM6.00.

The shop next to this one had a number of interesting books too. The owner showed me many books ranging from books that will interest girls to horror books. I didn’t plan on buying anymore. But, I flipped through a book called The Gift by Peter Dickinson and spotted some illustrations in the pages. The man told me it costs RM5.00. When I told him I did not really want to buy it, he offered it for RM4.00. Haha! I still didn’t want to buy it! But, suddenly he said, ‘Okay lah, 3 ringgit.’ What an unexpected surprise! And I bought it. He said that I could come back and sell it to him again after I’m done reading it.

All the same, I only spent RM13.00 for 5 books. That’s a great bargain, isn’t it?

Borders Is The Best!

It’s official. For now, my favourite bookstore is Borders! Yes!

Yesterday, my mom and I went to Penang by ferry! Haha! She’s so adventurous until she said she’d rather go by ferry and then taxi to Gurney Plaza. The ferry ride was fabulous! Passengers who come on foot get to sit on top and the wind blowing was nice.

When we arrived in Penang, there were taxi drivers hanging around and asked my mom where we wanted to go. She said, ‘Gurney Plaza’ and the taxi driver asked his friends if any of them would like to take us there. One guy suggested RM12 and another suggested a preposterous RM15! I didn’t know taxi fees were so high. They did not even use the meters. It seems that the meter system has yet to start.

My mom took the RM12 one and off we went to Gurney Plaza. She wanted to look for shoes so we went to shoe shops first. Nah, I just looked around. I didn’t buy any because I’m broke! Haha! Maybe another day.

Finally, I spotted the MPH Bookstore and we went in. Yesterday was the second time I went to MPH as I don’t go to Gurney Plaza much. Anyway, there were so many books there! But I didn’t like the way the fiction books were arranged. In Borders, several books whose covers were displayed so that we can see them. At MPH, all the books were arranged like in a library so I had to read the titles on the spines. And the lighting there wasn’t as bright as Borders. Even Popular was brighter.

However, the selection of movies at MPH was satisfactory. Better than Borders. There weren’t many good movies available at Borders but at MPH, there were more interesting choices. I begged my mom to buy the Gulliver’s Travels movie. It’s only RM16.90. Pretty cheap for an original movie with English subtitles! I like VCDs that come with English subtitles.

At MPH, the bookshelves were quite close together and not much space to walk. I don’t recall seeing any sofa chairs there either.

Ok, I should stop comparing! I think that each bookstore is special in its own way. Borders for its nice atmosphere and good selection of books. MPH for its good selection of books and movies as well as discounts. Popular for its ‘just okay’ selection of books and great discounts!

There are a few more bookstores that I’ve yet to conquer. I hope I could go to Chowrasta Road and check out the second-hand bookshops there! Can’t wait!

And this is my 100th post! =D