Previous Buys : 2 Aug 07

Of course I could not resist visiting the recent MPH Members Merdeka sale. I went browsing in MPH Mid Valley, where there's a number of books I've had my eyes on.

After an hour I had an arm full of shortlisted books, and I had to decide which few I can afford to bring home with me. In the loooong time it took to decide the final selection, I got an sms from Mr.Gila (sitting drunk in a pub somewhere) that my birthday prezzie is to be a RM300 MPH voucher, and I can go ahead and spend the amount at the sale instead if I don't mind not having physical vouchers.

Yippie! Thank God for beer!

And of course I went crazy. (I love you, too).



1) The Man Who Was Thursday G. K. Chesterson @ rm 23.37
2) King Solomon's Mines H. Rider Haggard @ rm 23.37
3) The Lost World Arthur Conan Doyle @ rm 23.37
4) The Sky is Crazy Yvonne Lee @ rm 25.41
5) The Accidental Tourist Anne Tyler @ rm 36.46
6) My Name is Red Orhan Pamuk @ rm 26.32
7) The Story of My Life Helen Keller @ rm 17.81
8) Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands Jorge Amado @ rm 38.16
9) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Agatha Christie @ rm 16.91
10) Memoirs Are Made of These Swan Adamson @ rm 16.91
11) Lost For Words Lorelai Mathias @ rm 16.91

* prices after discount

Today's Buy: 12 July 07

@ MPH Subang Parade

Two bookstore strikes in a week! My wallet is protesting loudly but I'm pretending not to hear.

In The Country of Men
Hisham Matar
RM35.50

I've seen this previously in the big version, and was tempted by the back cover blurb. This book is the nice small size I prefer. I've never read anything remotely Libyan before, am looking forward to reading this.





Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Marisha Pessl
RM35.50

Aha. This book looks yummy, and the title just gets your attention. I've read that the book is good, but its massive girth (it's 669 pages thick) has made me balk at getting it before.

This time around I saw this on the cover : ' "Made me stay up all night reading. I loved this book" - Audrey Niffenegger'. Since her book made me stay up all night, I'm trusting Audrey on this one.

Confessions of an Air Hostess
Marisa Mackle
RM19.90

Yet another Little Black Dress. I'm done with the one I bought previously, so on the next!

Today's Buy: 8 July 07

@ MPH Summit USJ

Testing Kate
Whitney Gaskell
RM 19.90

Marley & Me
John Grogan
RM 32.90

I went into MPH looking for Tinling Choong's FireWife. And I found it. And I gasped at the RM70 price tag for a small hardcover. And I don't prefer hardcover. So...



Marley & Me has been on my radar for awhile (actually Mr. Gila's radar, but we're slowly morphing into each other so my radar inherited this). Marley is the writer's neurotic dog who invades/enriches his family's life. This story should be an interesting read. I've always balked at getting the hardcover version available everywhere, so when I saw this in paperback I had to have it. As a nice gift for Mr. Gila, of course.

Since I didn't get FireWIfe, I consoled myself with yet another Little Black Dress - Whitney Gaskell's Testing Kate. The cover is yummy yummy yummy. Another one to add to my overloaded bookshelf.

Today's Buy: 2 June 07

@ MPH Mid Valley

More Work for the Undertaker
Margery Allingham
RM 35.90

The Color Purple
Alice Walker
RM 34.30



More Work for the Undertaker is a recommendation from 501 Must-Read Books : category Thrillers. I’ve not read any books in the Thrillers list, and admittedly I don’t read mystery as a matter of preference. Even growing up with my mother’s collection of Agatha Christie novels staring down from the bookshelves had no effect. I just didn’t do the type of stories from P.D.James and gang. Well, its time I started.

The Color Purple, I thought was also a recommendation from the same. But turns out it’s not (I must carry a list!!), I’ve most probably picked up this recommendation from Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust. I like this book for its pages, they’re just the way I like them: clear font, good spacing between words and lines, good page margins. Compare The Color Purple (below)



to Penguin Popular Classic standard page (this is the older brown version).



With a choice, won’t you pick the first one too?
Yes, I’m a sucker for presentation. ;-)