The Places You Will Go

Cost Vs Quality

from Tots to Teens, Star2 on Sunday, 18th September, 2011

I’VE been exchanging emails for the last couple of months with Deborah Ahenkorah, the young Ghanaian who co-founded the Golden Baobab Prize, a literary award that aims to inspire African writers to create African literature for African children.

Ahenkorah grew up reading British and American books and this made her sensitive to the lack of African children’s books. Malaysian readers can surely relate to that. Did any of us grow up reading Malaysian children’s books of good quality?

Read All You Can!

Scholastic Press's children's book buffet means you pay just RM49.90 for as many books as you can fit into your buffet bag!

11-13th June, 10am-830pm, at MegaKidz, Mad Valley Mall.

Book Fix

I'm valiantly resisting the Pearson-Penguin Warehouse Sale in Petaling Jaya and drooling over the pictures of The Guardian's picks for the 10 best secondhand bookstores. The two I really want to visit are no. 2, Barter Books, Alnwick Station, Northumberland (left) and, no. 8, The Haunted Bookshop in Cambridge.

For more of The Guardian's best book shops, see here.

Howlingly Good

Today's the last day of The Big Bad Wolf Booksale. Thanks to Jacqueline and Andrew for a fabulous week of great books at ridiculously low prices.

I went again yesterday, and today. As I left today, at 5pm, they were still unpacking boxes. Ah well ...

Here's what I got yesterday and today ...

Illustrated Books
Outsiders by Kevin Crossley-Holland, with amazing illustration by Christian Birmingham

Vampire Loves by Joann Sfar
Quirky graphic novel about a romantic vampire named Ferdinand.

The Fiction
A Country Christmas by Miss Read
Nooo ... not the plus-size store ...

Heaven's Net is Wide by Lian Hearn
It's the prequel to the Tales of the Otori trilogy. Now I need The Harsh Cry of the Heron, the sequel to the trilogy.

Non-Fiction
Spellbound: The Improbable Story of English Spelling by James Essinger
Probably because I can't spell.

The World is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul by Patrick French
Morbid fascination.

Time was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co by Jeremy Mercer

Battlefield Walks: Kent and Sussex by Rupert Matthew
Because I miss Sussex.

Julie Andrews: An Intimate Biography by Richard Stirling
Impossible to resist. I love Julie Andrews - even in The Princess Diaries movies.

Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey: A Biography by Alberto Manguel

The Origin of Species and The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin

Led Zeppelin: When Dinosaurs Walked the Earth: A Biography by Mick Wall

Plus about half a dozen others to give to friends. And a whole lot of board books, and DK books that my children chose for themselves.

Books I Bought at KLAB

I raved about the books I got at the Big Bad Wolf Sale but realise I never blogged about the ones I bought at the Kuala Lumpur Alternative Bookfest.

Being KLAB (alternative to the boring old mainstream bookfest that flogs mainly text and self-help books, and the all the usual stuff found at bookstores), it was mostly about local small presses, distributors and authors. The Dram Projects was allowed to sell secondhand mainstream internationally published books because we were fund-raising - thanks Amir and Zulhabri.

Anyway, here's what I picked up at the festival:

The Book That Was Handed Down by Yixian Quek, illustrated by Grace Duan Ying
(a picture book that was self-published with funds awarded as part of the Singabore National Book Development Council's First Book initiative)

Still Life: An Autobiographical Novella Comic by Ming
What it says.

A Nation Cheated by Chee Suan Juan
The author is the leader of the Singapore Democratic Party.

Window Shopping for Enlightenment by ... A.N?
(A sort of graphic novel thing inspired by Tarot suits)

 A Love Letter by Chin Yew
A short comic I helped to edit. Looks pretty, printed on recycled paper.

mostpodern by Munkao
Typical of Munkao's zines - wacky, weird and weirder.

Akulah Perempuan Muda Itu: Himpunan Puisi Pop Untuk Pari2 Terbuang by Shaira Amira (Sang Freud Press)
A collection of poetry.

Kacip by Pipiyapong (Sindiket Sol-Jah)
A compilation of blog posts by Pipiyapong

Why Does She Laugh at My Tragedy by Chi
Stick figures ponder the tragedy of love gone wrong

Godspeed
A zine from Spore

Untitled by Adila
A zine about the strange world of Adila Abdul Malik

Che Untuk Pemula by Sergio & Agung Arif Budiman (Resist Book)
Che Guevera for beginners, a graphic guide, from Indonesia.

Marxisme untuk Pemula by Rupert Woodfin and Oscar Zarate (Resist Book)
Marxism for beginners, a graphic guide, from Indonesia.

 Perempuan Simpanan (Sindiket Sol-Jah)
A compilation of blog posts by various women bloggers

A short story by Zedeck Siew, illustrated by Sharon Chin
(see illustration at the top of this post)

Just love the covers indie publishers come up with. Why do books by some of the big local publishing groups look so godawful???

Loot from the Big Bad Wolf Sale

Here's the list of books I bought at the Big Bad Wolf Sale.  I got double copies of many of the children's books. And also, a couple of travel guides for a friend, which I haven't included here. And, yes, I am going back ...

Fiction
UnLunDun by China Mieville

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

The Roman Mysteries Omnibus II by Caroline Lawrence

The Wish House by Celia Rees

The Magic Lands: Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland by Kevin Crossley-Holland

The Diving Pool: Three Novellas by Yoko Ogawa

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami

Non-Fiction
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks

At Large and At Small by Anne Fadiman

Pitching My Tent: On Marriage, Motherhood, Friendship, and Other Leaps of Faith by Anne Diamant

BBC Woman's Hour, From Joyce Grenfell to Sharon Osbourne: Celebrating Sixty Years of Women's Lives

A History of God by Karen Armstrong

The Curry Companion by Sonja Patel

The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster by Bobby Henderson

Atlas of the World

Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature by Linda Lear

Shakespeare's Face: The Story Behind the Recently Discovered Portrait by Stephanie Nolen

Nigella Lawson's EXPRESS

Picture and Illustrated Books
Ghosts in the House by Kazuno Kahara

The Gruffalo (Gift Set)

What If by Jonathan Shipton and Barbara Nascimbeni

Smudge's Day Out by James Herriot

Dragonology: The Frost Dragon

Sun, Moon and Stars by Mary Hoffman and Jane Ray

The Terrible Tudors

Dark Knights

The Cut-Throat Celts

The Savage Stone Age

The Rotten Romans

Quentin Blake's A Christmas Carol

The Groovy Greeks

An Elephant and Piggie Book: I Will Surprise My Friend by Mo Willems

Whatever by William Bee

Snail, Where Are You? by Tomi Ungerer

Nim and the War Effort by Milly Lee

Augustus and His Smile by Catherine Rayner

Moomins: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip Vol 3

We're Going on  Bear Hunt Pop-Up Book

Dilbert: Thriving on Vague Objectives

Asterix Omnibus: The Magic Carpet; The Secret Weapon; All at Sea

Big, Bad and Marvellous

I went for the Big Bad Wolf Sale preview last night. They were still unpacking and things looked pretty chaotic but ... wow! My first reaction was palpitations and blurred vision

What hope did I have faced with this ... [right]? And I'd brought my credit card!! Help!

At the end of two hours, I finally decided to head for the check-out. The damage: RM410 for about 50 books, including several hardbacks. I reckon I'd have had to pay more than RM2k at a bookstore so I'm well chuffed.

Will return on the last day, Monday, 18th May, 2009.

The Big Bad Wolf Sale is on from 10am to 9pm at 2nd Floor, Dataran Hamodal Block A, Jalan Bersatu 13/4, Section 13, 46200 Petaling Jaya.
 

 

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.