The Places You Will Go

Buy, Buy, Buy!

I found this online and could definitely relate, as will anyone who collects children's books that are mostly out-of-print ...

The Collector’s Nightmare
(Tune: This Old Man)

What to choose? Can’t pick one!
Now my nightmares just begun!
There are Blyton, Oxenham,Needham and Jane Shaw,
Fairlie Bruce and many more.

Can’t afford to buy two,
Children’s Press will have to do!
‘Cause there’s Compton,
Buckeridge, Streatfield and the rest,
Have to settle for second best.

On the shelf I’ve found three,
Which one is the one for me?
I’ve found Bunter, Ballet Shoes,
Biggles and beyond,
Bobbsey Twins and Michael Bond.

Catalogues? I’ve had four,
Can’t stop sending off for more.
They’ve got Ransome, pony books,
Forest and Brazil,
Courtney, Johns and Lorna Hill.

Tolkein, Famous Five,
Won’t come out of this alive!
All my shelves are full, but I cannot
seem to stop,
I keep buying out the shop!

Picture Books, Pride and Prejudice and The Gift of Rain

I spent a pleasant morning at Kinokuniya Bookstore. Well, it's always a good place to be, as any book-lover living in the Klang Valley will agree.

Drooled over several books and thought about buying them, but ended up with just one: Behind the Attic Wall (Avon Camelot Books, 315 pages) by Sylvia Cassedy.  The cover is really shockingly  unattractive, don't you think? Kino's children's and YA books buyer, Kit said to me: "American books have the ugliest covers."

Here's she is, in rock star/reclusive movie star mode: "Don't take my picture. I vant to be alone!"

Times Warehouse Sale: Not the Best I've Been To

I was really disappointed with the Times Warehouse sale that started with a cardholders' preview today.

I thought I would try to get some books for birthday gifts and such, but couldn't find many titles I wanted to spend money on. In the end, practically everything I got was a classic and for someone other than myself. And I spent a grand total of ... RM54.90!

Edward spent RM13!

Don't take my word for it though. Someone else thought it was quite good. I guess it's a matter of taste. There were lots of Buffy and Angel books. And bestsellers too, but no Penguin Classics, no Byatt or Drabble or Proust or Atwood. And no children's picture books except for some Nickleodeon and Disney stuff that I thought too tacky for words.

Philip Pullman's The Broken Bridge was going for RM3 though. And there were classic Pooh stories, Narnia and Lord of the Rings boxsets, and those mini Penguin 60s books that I adore.

I got ghost stories by Charles Dickens and Sheridan Le Fanu, John Buchan's John MacNab, and E. Nesbit's The Phoenix and the Carpet - all Wordsworth classics - for RM5 each.

I guess it's just as well really. I'd hoped to restrict my spending as I usually go crazy at Times sales (last year I spent RM300+, the year before that RM600+), but, as it turned out, I didn't even have to make the effort.

Children's Books - A Collection Worth Shouting About

Here's my Tots to Teens article about what I consider a good range of children's books.

Borders Revisited

I paid another visit to Borders yesterday. Unfortunately it was another short one - a long, leisurely browse is impossible when Ekath (my two-year-old) is around.

The day before I'd been told by someone who works for a book distributor that a lot of stock hadn't arrived in time for the opening on the 19th. Lo and behold, when I went in yesterday, there were several Joan Aikens on the shelf, including The WItch of Clattering Shaws (the latest and last in the Wolves of Willoughby Chase series). Had I simply missed them the last time or had they come in in the meantime? Whatever the case, I got myself two titles: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (to replace a copy that appears to have gone since I moved from USJ to Ampang) and Midwinter Nightingale, the penultimate book of the series. (I'm going to wait til Clattering Shaws comes out in paperback. I can't afford the hardback - RM68!!!)

Borders

I was at the new Borders store (in Kuala Lumpur) this afternoon. Had a quick look-round. No Joan Aiken! I'm hooked on her Wolves of Willoughby Chase series at the moment and so it's the first thing I looked for. I spoke to someone who used to work with the merchandiser and he said, "______ has probably never heard of Aiken." All I can say is: "B***** H***!"

However, I found Elizabeth Bowen in the Fiction section so it's not all bad.

Apart from that ... well, it's big and it's cold; there's lots of space and lots of light. It's definitely not charming (Eyeris and Erna say it reminds them of Popular!), but then which big chain is? I don't think I'll be hanging out there much - especially since I never go to Berjaya Times Square anyway. For now, at least, I'm sticking to Kino.

I do want to spend more time looking at the books though. The children's section is huge so it should have a good selection. Should. No Aiken though, hmmph.

One of the people from the head office was talking about how the stores have been greeted with open arms in places like New Zealan and Puerto Rico. People see Borders as a sign that civilisation has arrived at their cities! Well, that's really nothing to do with books though, is it? It's to do with size and money and branding. I'm sure these people would have been just as happy to see the launch of a Chanel boutique on their main street! And I bet most fans of Starbucks will also love Borders.

The Children's Section: No Joan Aiken!

Talking Shops

Today, the BOOKS section at the Guardian Unlimited website features a story on independent bookshops. In this day of Borders, Kinokuniya and MPH, most of us are used to large chains that serve coffee and cheesecake, and have staff guilty of shelving Stephen Hawking under OCCULT.

We've all had scary experiences at big book chains. Ask for a book or an author and, very often, you're treated like you're speaking some obscure Eastern European dialect or quoting from a thesis on astro physics! I must say that this happens less at Kinokuniya, KLCC in Kuala Lumpur. Well, at least the people who work in the children's book department seem to be making more effort to know what they're selling. However, I did overhear one of them telling a customer that Malaysian Children's Favourite Stories is for toddlers: Wrong!!!