The Winner Is....

Today is the 19th of November, 2008 and it's also the last day of my exams. Yay!!! *laughs heartily non-stop*

Anyway, it's also time for me to announce the winner of my latest book giveaway: An Amazing Story by Carlo Gabbi. Congratulations to:

Faisal Admar

I've sent you an e-mail so do check your inbox or junk mail.

I also conducted an online interview with Mr. Gabbi last June. You can read it here!

Thanks to everyone else who entered too. It has been fun holding this book giveaway. I might hold another one in the near future, probably some time in December. So do check back from time to time! :D

Happy Holidays and Happy Reading!

Where To Buy More Used Books & Other Stuff?

I'm now an avid fan of two online websites where people sell off their stuff at cheap prices. They are Low Yat Forum and Mudah. Lelong ain't that bad either but I prefer Low Yat the most.

I've spent my money on second-hand books, DVDs, and clothes from this Low Yat forum. It really is like a market place where all kinds of stuff are sold. People sell books, clothes (old and new), make-up, furniture, electronic stuff, animals (pets), computer stuff, mobile phones, cookies, cakes, movies, music, concert tickets, the list goes on and on. Some people even sell Paypal funds. Very happening huh?

If you want to sell off your old stuff and you find eBay too tiresome, why not try Low Yat, Mudah or Lelong? Try to be honest in your dealings so you won't get negative remarks from the other members. Cheating never does anyone any good.

A piece of advice: Don't spend too much time at the forum or you'll be addicted to it! It really is "insanely addictive", which is Low Yat's tagline. Take care not to spend too much. A lot of things seem cheap there and you may feel like you gotta have them all. Do bear in mind that you need to be frugal at times too.

I Love Buying Books

I'm in the mood to answer a Booking Through Thursday question now even though it's Saturday! Yikes! But I have a perfectly good excuse...I had to study for my exam which was yesterday. Now I have only two more papers to go! Yay!!!

Anyway, this week's questions:

I’ve asked, in the past, about whether you more often buy your books, or get them from libraries. What I want to know today, is, WHY BUY?

I buy books so that I can own them? And if I buy, then I get to keep it for as long as I want. There's also no pressure to read them in a hurry. I can take my own sweet time reading it without worrying about library deadlines or renewals.

Besides that, I don't borrow much from the library because I don't often visit the library! Surprising, huh, seeing that I enjoy reading so much? Until now, I think there are two reasonable libraries near to where I live. One would be my uni's library and another one is a cosy little library. But I still prefer visiting bookstores. I just love new books!

Even if you are a die-hard fan of the public library system, I’m betting you have at least ONE permanent resident of your bookshelves in your house. I’m betting that no real book-lover can go through life without owning at least one book. So … why that one? What made you buy the books that you actually own, even though your usual preference is to borrow and return them?

Like what I mentioned above, I love new books. I rarely borrow nor lend them.

If you usually buy your books, tell me why. Why buy instead of borrow? Why shell out your hard-earned dollars for something you could get for free?

See above answer!

On The Hunt For Enid Blyton Books

My latest obsessive hobby is finding and buying as many Enid Blyton books as possible. I have quite a sad collection of her books before this actually and I call myself an Enid Blyton fan! Well then, I'm on my way to getting more of her books to add to my collection.

I've not read all of her books yet. The ones that I've read were the Barney mysteries, The Twins at St. Clare's, Malory Towers, The Five Find-Outers and Dog, Adventures of the Wishing Chair books, Naughtiest Girl books and those books about pixies, elves, fairies, toys coming to life, etc. Right now I'm trying to find all the 15 books in the Five Find-Outers series. So far, I already have 12 of them...still looking for three more! That's where Book Mooch comes in! :D

Famous Five? Secret Seven? I think I've read only one or two from Famous Five and I've read none from Secret Seven! My sister didn't introduce them to me when I was younger. I guess she didn't read them too. :D Anyway, I'll also try to find all the books in both series.

As I was searching the Internet, I came across a website which sells Enid Blyton vintage Famous Five books for up to £320.00!!! That's like MYR1790! The complete Famous Five series in hardback. They are the early edition books. Wow. RM1790? Hmm, now that I think of it, it's not impossible. But am I willing to spend that much on only 21 books?






Just look at them. Are you drooling already?

This is even worse. £640.00 for one copy of The Island of Adventure! That's RM3581!!! It is rare and out of print.

Down With ISA?

I was on my way to the ID show a few weeks ago and came across this little campaign near Prangin Mall. Stopped by for a while and snapped some pics. Check out the black guy crouching over a plate of rice!

From afar, I thought it was a real guy who's doing some kind of stunt but realized that it's not a real human because he's been in that position for quite a long time already.




The huge banner that was displayed


(left)The grammatical error which I hope they changed after I told them about it!
(right)Photocopy of 1987 Star newspaper.



The names of 66 people who are still being detained under the ISA





A lady giving a speech. I didn't listen.

Unrelated photo!


QEII restaurant? Near the ferry terminal place.

Cycling Memories

I don’t do much cycling now because I don’t own a bicycle. My old bicycle was sold off when we moved house. Therefore, no bicycles for me to cycle. =(

Last time, I would cycle around the neighbourhood with my friends and discover new housing areas or areas that I’ve not been to before. It was quite an exciting time. I certainly won’t forget the evenings when I’d wake up from my afternoon nap and hop on my old-fashioned Raleigh bicycle and cycle for hours with my friends from school.

Once, a friend and I cycled past a teacher’s house without stopping by to say hi to her. We were actually afraid of her as she was one of the fiercest people/teachers we ever knew. Unfortunately she spotted us. My friend was aware that the teacher had seen us and yelled at me telling me that the teacher saw us. Her yells made me even more panicked and I cycled off faster! That was an unforgettable moment for our teacher too who related that incident to other students at school. How embarrassing! My classmates teased us after that.

Ah, it sure is fun to ride a bicycle. If only there were better roads and less speeding cars, then I’d dare to ride on a bicycle around here. Or I'd probably need a specialized bicycle.