BookXcess Year End Offer Bin Sales

BookXcess started a year-end sale from 26th, offering selected titles at RM1- RM8!! Sure enough, I went there on the very first day to check it out.

Which reminds me...

My colleague asked me one day if I had updated my blog and written any book review. Well... no, on both counts.

I don't update my blog as often, the last one was on 1st Dec. As for my so-called book review, the last one was in July. I did thought of writing book reviews when I first started this blog, just for the fun of it. Guess I lost touch along the way.

Maybe I should start writing reviews again.  I'll probably start with the latest book I read, while my memory is still fresh. I do hope that I'll be able to write a review for each book I read. It should be interesting.

BookXcess Christmas Promotion!!

Too many??

Free bookmarks from buying at BBW and showing the receipts at BookXcess. 8D

One for every book from BBW...  Still not enough!! :(

Looking at the prices...

Did some price comparison on the books I bought from BBW. The retail prices and BBW prices of the books are as follow :

1. Read for Your Life - RM 54.10 / RM 10.00
2. In the Shadow of Man - RM 62.30 / RM 8.00
3. The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank - RM 37.70 / RM 8.00
4. All Creatures Great and Small - RM 38.90 / RM 8.00
5. Every Living Thing - RM 34.90 / RM 8.00
6. It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet - RM 29.90 / RM 5.00
7. The White Tiger - RM 32.90 / RM 8.00
8. Between the Assassinations - RM 32.90 / RM 8.00
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time RM 35.90 / RM 8.00
10. Little Hut of Leaping Fishes - RM 35.90 / RM 8.00
11. The Murder of King Tut - RM 32.90 / RM 8.00
12. How to Instantly Connect with Anyone - RM 59.80 / RM 8.00
13. Dr Mahathir's Selected Letters to World Leaders - RM 49.90 / RM 8.00
14. Shooter - RM 30.40 / RM 8.00
15. Psychic Warriors - RM 26.90 / RM 5.00
16. A Case of Exploding Mangoes - RM 35.90 / RM 8.00
17. Factory Girls RM 55.90 / RM 8.00
18. A Colossal Failure of Common Sense - RM 54.90 / RM 8.00
19. Dreams from My Father - RM 39.90 / RM 5.00
20. Black Boy - RM 21.90 / RM 5.00
21. The Elephant and the Dragon - RM 59.90 / RM 5.00
22. The World Without Us - RM 60.80 / RM 5.00
23. A Long Way Gone - RM 36.90 / RM 8.00
24. Don't Sweat The Small Stuff Omnibus RM 49.90 / RM 10.00
    

The total retail price is RM 1,011.30!! And I only spent RM 178 on them!! Even with 20%-30% discounts boasted by sales from other book stores, you still have to pay well over RM 600.

Just realised how much money I saved.... XD

The question is...

Are there books that even book lovers don't read? Books that some would say, "There's no way in #3LL that book(s) gonna end up on my shelf!!" ?

I'm not into romance/chic lit books. I doubt any guy is. Once a friend asked me to buy the Twilight series for her from an MPH book sale near my place. I said, "No problem". But when I was there picking up Stephenie Meyer's bestsellers, I said to myself, "Wait a minute. I'm standing here, alone, looking though romance novels. I sure hope no one sees me now!!"

Haha... it was a rather strange moment for me! :P

Is there any book(s) that you don't read?

Aftermath...

So what were the damages I made during the BBW book sale?

The Haul

All in all, I'm RM 178 poorer after the 6-day sale. But I'm definitely 24-book richer!! Or should I say 26-book richer, since the omnibus is three-book-in-one?

Long time no see...

It's been.... over 2 months since my last post?! Hmm, didn't realise it was that long.

So what's new? The Big Bad Wolf book sale, of course!! It's held at South City Mall from 12 to 17 November 2010. It's a bit far from home, but the venue was much better, with larger space, well air-conditioned, ample parking space and more books!!!

Lucky for me, the first day of sale happened to be one of my off-day. So I was able to be there early in the morning. As expected, there was already a line waiting at the entrance when I arrived around 9am.

The early birds

The not-so-early birds

Everyone was patiently waiting in line with their trolleys and shopping bags, anticipating their huge purchases. Finally, at 10am, the entrance was opened and thankfully, people were actually walking in slowing instead of like some crazed fans at a concert. Many of them took boxes given out by the staff as they expected to buy tonnes of books. I didn't expect myself to buy a lot, so I only brought a backpack for my water, camera and keys, and a shopping bag.

Surely enough, the whole place was filled with people. Perhaps due to the size of the venue and the location of South City Mall, it was not as packed as the time at Amcorp Mall. But it was definitely "human mountain human sea".

Looking...

Grabbing...

Uncle looked a bit lost...

Look at the crowd!!

There were definitely more books for everyone to choose from. It was a book lover's heaven!

So many books!!

Not one empty corner was spared

More books!!

More books stored aside to sustain the sale

After finished selecting their books, or run out of bags and boxes to carry more, they either line up in front of the cashiers to pay or place their filled boxes at the reservation area and went back for more.

Paying the price... happily

The book sale was such a success, a scene like this is not surprising.

Just from one customer! Would you see this at other book sale?

And there were still people lining up to get in!!

How many books did I buy? Just 18, mostly non-fiction. And it only cost me $161, considering that I would have to pay four times more under normal retail price!! The last day of the sale is on 17th. Will I go back again? Hmmm....

After this, I'm thinking of going slow on my purchases. I haven't read as many books as I used to lately, my collection of unread books is piling up and I'm running out of space to store them. I'll have to rearrange my room before I start breaking the bank for more books. (-.-")

MPH e-Reader Fair

An e-Reader Fair is being held at MPH Mid Valley from 27 August to 19 September 2010. This fair is located at the main entrance of the bookstore, with three glass case displays showing four different e-Readers available for sale; five if you include the Hanlin v5 which was only available for online purchase.

The four e-Readers were iRiver Story, BenQ K60 nReader, Hanlin v60 and Oaxis BK6001. While the fair does include the Oaxis BK5001 TFT and was labeled as an eReader, it was technically a PDA with LCD display, instead of the e-paper technology used in actual e-Readers. So I won’t review it here.

Some mistakes with the names if you look carefully

You can go online to look for detailed specifications and reviews of these products, so I’ll just going to tell you my personal experience while testing these e-Readers.

The first e-Reader the promoter showed me was the BenQ K60 nReader, the latest edition to MPH’s e-Reader selection. Priced RM 1,199, it was the most expensive and also the thickest e-Reader among the four. It was the only one with touchscreen capability, so to “turn” a page, aside from using the two buttons located on the right-side of the unit, you can slide your finger across the screen from right to left to read the next page or left to right for the previous page, which was kind of cool. You can also use the touchscreen to perform functions such as writing a memo using the onscreen keyboard. It was also the only e-Reader with WiFi capability, so you can download books directly from the Internet.

BenQ K60 nReader

Everything sounded nice, but it didn’t attract me as a potential buy. First, it was the most expensive e-Reader at RM 1,199, as I said earlier on. I was looking for cheaper e-Readers and there were two alternatives selling for less than RM 1,000. Second, the response time of the e-Reader can be frustrating. At one point, I have to wait for several seconds before a new page was displayed or when changing its font size. The same thing happened when the promoter brought in a second nReader. It could be an isolated case, because when I went back to the bookstore to take a second look at the e-Readers, the nReader seemed to work properly and loading a page took only a second.

The second e-Reader the promoter showed me was the iRiver Story. It was sold for RM 1,099. What I like about this e-Reader was that it was a lot slimmer than the nReader, it has the page-turning buttons on both sides of the unit so it was suitable whether you’re left- or right-handed, and I was comfortable with the response time. Its catalogue boasted that the iRiver Story has the “Widest Range of File Format Support Among eBook Readers”, which was a definite plus.

iRiver Story

Sadly, the iRiver Story has its minuses too. It was over RM 1,099, so price-wise it was not a preferable option for me. The e-Reader did not have a smooth polished surface, so it could get dirty easily and might not be removed as easily. What really surprised me though was that I have to actually buy a separate charger for the e-Reader! All the others included their own chargers, how come this one needs a separate charger?! That was just unbelievable!

The last two e-Readers were the Hanlin v60 and Oaxis BK6001, priced RM 899 and RM 699 respectively. I was looking more closely at these two devices, mainly because they were the cheapest. Unfortunately, there were no eBooks loaded into the e-Readers, so I couldn’t check its quality and functionality properly.

On the surface, both eReaders were smaller than the BenQ nReader and iRiver Story, with Oaxis BK6001 (I think MPH may have mistaken Oaxis as Oasis) being the slimmest among the four. It comes with black or white in colour. It looked like a larger version of PDAs with a directional button on the lower centre. Its page-turning button was on the right side and it was the smallest among the four e-Readers. With just around 4mm in width and 2cm in length, turning pages might become an unpleasant experience.

Oaxis BK6001

 The Hanlin v60 has a QWERTY keyboard like iRiver Story and its page-turning buttons were on the left side. The keyboard buttons were smaller compared to iRiver Story therefore it may not be easy to use for those with large hands. What I really don’t like about Hanlin v60 was its memory card port. It was located at the back of the e-Reader and to insert or remove the memory card, you have to remove a small plastic cover first to expose the port. It immediately reminded me of those cheap toys from pasar malam where you need to remove the plastic cover to put the batteries in. A huge minus!!

So which e-Reader I bought, you might ask? Well… none! I didn’t buy any of them. I never had the intention of purchasing one when I visited the fair that day. I was there simply to survey. While Hanlin v60 and Oaxis BK6001 were the cheapest and within my budget (if I ever decide to buy one), I wasn’t able to test them properly to see if they were user-friendly. If they were a real headache to use, I would rather spend more and buy the iRiver Story instead.

I’m not sure if I'll actually buy one. I’ll have to do some research first before I can make a decision. Will I switch sides from reading tangible books to electronic books only? Most likely not. There’s something about reading actual books and having a large collection at home, looking at them with great satisfaction. Having an e-Reader and reading e-books would no doubt be a nice plus but definitely won’t be a replacement for actual books.

World War II-Modern Day photos

I found this LiveJournal page by a Russian photographer called Sergey Larenkov that uses computational rephotography that combines modern and World War II photos. The photos are amazing and haunting at the same time.

Here are some examples of his work found on the page:

Good day at BookXcess; Bookfest@Malaysia is coming

I only visited BookXcess on 14 August (Sat) out of the three-day celebration, but I still managed to get some good books at crazy prices.

I reached the bookshop before noon and was surprised to meet a colleague with her sister. We headed out separately to hunt for our books. I hit the RM3 book section first and chose five books, "American Gangster and Other Tales of New York", "Blame it on the Rain" and "50 Ways to F**k the Planet" for myself, and two Sudoku books for my mom.

I also bought "'Tis: A Memoir" for RM 17.90. Previously I bought "Angela's Ashes" also from BookXcess but has yet to read it as there are still a lot of books on my to-read list. :P

Despite the anniversary sales with many titles selling at 30% discount plus other books selling at RM3 or less, I only bought four books. But it was a good thing, as I saved money for the upcoming Bookfest@Malaysia 2010 in September to buy more books, probably targeting on Chinese books. I've been reading so many English-language books lately that I felt I need to balance things out by reading more Chinese-language books, and the Bookfest@Malaysia is just what the doctor ordered.

4-12 September 2010 at KLCC

There were a few Chinese books listed in the Bookfest Catalogue that caught my interest, including:

Nice cars

Saw this VW sports car at the parking lot of Amcorp Mall. I'm not really an avid VW or sports car fan, but I do appreciate a beautiful piece of automotive machinery when I see one. It looked really cool and I couldn't resist taking a quick snap with my handphone. Not sure which model was this though.

Nice car, isn't it?

I don't own a fancy car. I drive a Kelisa. Living in PJ and near KL, I wanted a small car for easy driving around cities, yet spacious enough for my passengers to sit comfortably. I got my car shortly after I started working. My father got it from his friend and it was still in good condition, as the car was only driven between the friend's house and his grandchild's kindergarten. As an added bonus, the car uses automatic transmission (AT). When you're driving in PJ and KL with its perpetually heavy and congested traffic, AT is definitely the better option.

Same model and color but different license plate

After years of driving, I'm proud to say that my Kelisa is still in good shape, despite a couple of minor accidents. A new coat of paint would be nice though. I have no intention of buying a new one before my car dies on me, and it still got a few more years to go.

Selamat Berpuasa!

Just want to wishes all my Muslim friends Selamat Berpuasa and have a safe fasting month!

Grail Diary

I loved Indiana Jones movies, some of my favorites when I was a kid.

Cue theme music....

For the first two movies, I've always fancied the hat, the leather jacket and the famous whip. But after watching the third movie, my attention shifted to another prop that I still wish to have for myself: the Grail Diary.

Dr Henry Jones Sr and Jr

A scene before Indiana takes The Path of God

The Grail Diary

Perhaps due to my love for reading, the Grail Diary became the first and only movie prop that I fancied owning one. I've always interested in what was written on that small leather diary.

A brief search through the Internet and I found many fans made their own diaries with all the details that fully replicate the movie prop. I envied them as I was never good in arts and craft, and I don't think buying one would be cheap either. So I'll just have to satisfy myself by looking at some pictures online. *sigh*

BookXcess 3rd Anniversary Celebration!

BookXcess will be having its third anniversary celebration on 13-15 August 2010.

A good time to expand your collection of books without robbing a bank! Don't miss it!!!

Irresponsible!!!

On 1 August 2010, I was really angry! I just couldn't believe how irresponsible some people can be!!

I was visiting Amcorp Mall that day, one of a few places I would go to when I’m spending the weekend alone. My usual routine was to visit my favorite bookstore BookXcess first, just to browse around or to buy books that I had in mind. Then I would just window-shop at the other stores and stalls at the flea market. Later, I would revisit BookXcess to see if I missed something the first time around.

During the revisit, I noticed a plastic bag with an empty paper cup in it, left among the books at the non-fiction section. I was surprised and angry that someone could be so irresponsible. What made me angrier was that I know who the culprit was.

During my first-round in the bookstore, I noticed a couple with their daughter at the non-fiction section. As I was browsing around, I saw the mother was eating something from a paper cup in a plastic bag. It was the exact same paper cup and plastic bag that was left among the books! I couldn’t be sure if it was the mother who left it there, as the food could be shared with the father and daughter, and it could be one of them who left it.

If it was one of the parents, they have set such a bad example for their daughter. While they did the right thing to encourage their child to develop a good reading habit by bringing her to a bookstore, they failed to be a responsible person by leaving their garbage there. If you couldn’t find a waste basket in the store, then bring it outside and throw it into a garbage can when you see one. Simple logic!

If it was the daughter, then both daughter and the parents were at fault. Either the parents failed to take notice the mistake the daughter had made and educate her promptly, or the parents did notice her mistake but decided to do nothing.

Of course, it was mere speculation as to what exactly happened, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the garbage came from that family. I decided to take a couple of photos and post it in my blog for everyone to see. And yes, I did pick it up and throw it away.

Can you see what wrong with this picture?

Unfortunately, this was not an isolated case. I had previously seen used tissues left among the books or on the floor. For everyone whose reading this, I hope that you would treat BookXcess better the next time you visit it. The bookstore, or any bookstore for that matter, is a wonderful place for everyone to be in. Be responsible. Don’t leave your garbage there. It’s a bookstore, not a landfill.

On a side note, some people still leave books all over the place, such as a fiction book at the non-fiction section, a RM 17.90 book at the “below RM 10” section, etc. Please put the books back where they belong if you decided later not to buy them.

China and the Cultural Revolution

Recently I finished reading two books involving China and its infamous Cultural Revolution.

Feather in the Storm talks about author Emily Wu's personal experience in surviving the Cultural Revolution, which destroyed thousands of lives in China. Her father Wu Ningku and mother Li Yikai were intellectuals, therefore her family was categorized as a "black" or rightist family and was subjected to continuous hardship, humiliation and abuse. She recalled her ordeals over a span of 19 years from the first time she met her father when she was three years old to the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976 with the death of Mao Zedong.

Chinese Lessons recounted writer John Pomfret's experience living in China from 1980, studying in Nanjing University as an exchange student, and his perspective of the country. He witnessed how China was slowly opening itself to the world after the Cultural Revolution, how the lives of his former classmates changed, as well as his own life as one of the first exchange students from the US and his intimate relationships, his journalism career and as a witness to the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989.

These two books have allowed me to understand more about China, especially  the Cultural Revolution and its effects. It's hard to imagine how many lives were destroyed by this movement and how the same man who liberated China almost destroyed it with his own hands.

Laptop tray

Found this laptop tray being sold at MPH Mid Valley for RM 60.

It has a cushion base, a small LED lamp and recess for cup and pen/pencil. The tray is designed as such so that you can use your laptop, read a book, or doing craft work anywhere your want. For those who spend most of their time on their beds or sofas, this tray might worth their money.

Would you want to buy one?

Back from Perhentian Trip!

Enjoyable and Relaxing!!! These are the words that I think best described my trip to Perhentian Island!! Anyone and everyone who enjoy a relaxing vacation on islands and at beaches really should give Perhentian a try.

We left KL on 8 July around 10pm for the island via tour bus. It was an eight- to nine-hour drive to Kuala Besut, Terengganu. The long-hour bus ride was quite tiring, and my seat at second row from the back didn't make things easier. Fortunately, after experiencing what we called the "elderly karaoke torture" from our previous trip to Rompin, the ride was a breeze.

Finally, on Friday morning, we reached Kuala Besut of Terengganu just after sunrise. We had our breakfast and collected our snorklers before heading out to the sea. The ride took about half an hour before arriving at Pulau Perhentian. Although the journey took about ten hours and everyone was tired, the view of the beach, the wide ocean and the hills with thick vegetation revived us. We were waiting to be checked-in at the Flora Bay Resort and took the opportunity to snap some photos. Some of us took a slow walk along the beach before we assemble for the snorkeling.

 Kuala Besut jetty

Collecting our snorkels

 Group photo

And we're off!!

 And we're here!!!

 Busy taking photos...

 ...photos...

 ...photos...

 ...photos...

 ...photos...

...and more photos!

 Enjoying a walk along the beach

 Found something peculiar...

We believed it was a sea cucumber

After 12pm, we head out for our snorkeling sessions. Those of us who can't swim had a short practice at a nearby shallow beach before heading to deeper waters. Throughout the day, we visited several spots around Perhentian to look at corals and various sea creatures, including small sharks. Everyone was having a good time.

 Practice, practice...

 Everybody getting ready to hit the water

That's me in blue shirt

Here fishy, fishy, fishy...

  So many of them!!

Say Cheese... (?)

Me having fun

Everyone was sharing their experiences

By the end of the evening, we headed back to the resort for a shower and some rest before our dinner at 7.30pm. After that, we spent the rest of the day at the beach or at the souvenir shop, taking things slowly and relaxed ourselves. I particularly enjoyed a walk along the beach and the view of the clear night sky filled with stars. My only regret was that I didn't have a powerful camera to bring the night sky home with me.

 Me and the guys outside our room, Bakawali.

The flowers of Esmerk

 The evil souvenir shop!!!

On Saturday, after our breakfast, we started the day with a visit to Redang Island. During the 45-minute journey there, some of us on the boat was lucky enough to spot a flying fish gliding along the right side of the boat. It appeared for only a few seconds, so we weren't able to take a photo in time.

I believe I can fly...

After reaching Redang, the first thing that almost everyone did was calling home since the island was the only one with a telecommunications tower. We continued taking picture along our way to the famous More More Tea Inn for more photos and souvenirs. No one left empty-handed.

 Welcome to Redang!!

Calling home

Again with the photo-taking

Having a good time

Beach babes, haha... :P

More More Tea Inn

Let's go in, hurry!

The crowd!

After our wallet-emptying ritual, we continued with our snorkeling at Redang, Lang Tengah and the marine park, trying to catch sights of baby sharks, turtles and more corals and fishes. I was already tired from the previous day, especially at the last snorkeling spot where we were forced to swim against a rather strong current back to our boat, but I still managed to summon up some energy for some short swims.

 Continue with the snorkeling

 More fishes!

Ocellaris Clownfish, a.k.a Nemo

I know it's big, no need for the facial expression...

Red sea cucumber

At the jetty, where we can see...

Amazing corals!!

More amazing corals!!

The highlight of the day was probably when one of the guides brought a sea turtle up to the surface for everyone to pet and take pictures. It was really nice but I kind of felt sorry for the poor thing. It was just minding its own business when suddenly a human grabbed it, brought it to the surface and then a group of human swarmed around to touch it. I just hope that this experience won't make it avoid Malaysia completely.

The superstar!!

The crazy fans!!

"Hello everyone! How's my adoring fans?"

"Hello... Hi there... Love the orange outfit..."

"High five!!"

"Gotta go. Hope you guys come again soon. See ya!"

After a tiring day, we went back to the resort satisfied. Some of my colleages decided to have a round of beach volleyball before hitting the showers. I continued back to my room for shower and some rest, before heading to the court to watch them play.

 The match

The spectators

A group photo after the game

Our dinner was a barbeque feast. Some of us took the chance to take photos with our guides as we will be leaving the island next morning.

 FOOD!!!

We ate so fast everything was a blur

Satisfied...

A quick snap with the guide

After dinner, some of us took our last walk along the beach, walked as far away as the Arwana Resort on the other end. It was at that time we were trully glad to choose Flora Bay for our lodging because the low tide revealed that the beach area in front of Arwana was the dirtiest. I couldn't help wondering why would anyone throw rubbish at a beautiful place like this. We packed our bags before hitting the bed.

Early morning on 11 July 2010, Sunday. We checked out from our rooms and waited for our boats by the beach, taking last-minute photos. We left around 9am, reached Kuala Besut around 9.30am and continued with our long bus ride back to KL. That was the end of our Perhentian trip.

 Our last morning on Perhentian Island

Having breakfast

Still messing around

A few more photos...

Don't forget our handsome guides:

Leaving the island...

It was kind of sad that it ended, seeing how we loved the island so much. We still talked about the trip for at least a week after that, exchanging and sharing photos by swapping thumb drives or through Facebook. I hoped that there will be another island/beach trip next year. I'm sure everyone would want it too.

Ah, Perhentian... Good times...