Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Buying books
Ai hai...It's been quite a while...but I'm back....I've been spending a fair bit of money lately on books... at the recent KL International Book Fair and TIMES warehouse book sales… there were so many cheap ( or as some people prefer to term it as “cost effective” ) but high quality books esp at the TIMES book sales and it really drives me crazy... and made a heavy dent on my pocket too...I'm addicted to Art, also books and a few other things beside...I'm cataloguing my recent acquisitions and will list it here sometimes...may be…
It's heaven...I got to buy all those recent Booker Prize winners and short listed books for RM8.00 each at TIME Warehouse sales....unbelievable....Yellow Dog by Martin Amis, Line of Beauty -Alan Hollinghurst (Booker winner 2004), Life of Pi- Yann Mantel (Booker winner 2002?), the Swimming Pool Library-Alan Hollinghurst's first novel, The Master -Colm Toibin, Cloud Atlas -David Mitchell , etc etc..Dairy of a Snail -Gunther Grass, and lots more...Tibor Fisher, Kafka...Mario Vargas Lhosa Jose Saramago Marquis de Sade's 120 Days of Sodom.....etcAnd lots of non fiction...biographies ,...especially happy to get Karen Armstrong's memoir /biography ..The Spiral Staircase, Paul Auster's Hand to Mouth (not a good bio , or just not to my taste) ..diaries of Kenneth Tynan etc…And some art books too!!....And many travel books...speaking of which...I recently travelled to Bangkok …ostensibly for biz but in fact just want to see the country …so I drove up to Chieng Mai, from there up again to Chiang Rai and right up to Mae Sai the Border town with Myanma and even had a quick crossing to the Myanma side at Ta Chi Lek…
What surprised me most is how good the highway and roads are all the way from Bangkok to Mae Sai… and didn’t see any poor houses or squalor as I half expected…on the contrary there are even some fine houses even in the remotest areas along the highway ...I was told that these fine houses are thanks to the money sent to the parents by the girls who work in go go bars in Bangkok and all over the world…. So there are good things in prostitution after all…..
It's heaven...I got to buy all those recent Booker Prize winners and short listed books for RM8.00 each at TIME Warehouse sales....unbelievable....Yellow Dog by Martin Amis, Line of Beauty -Alan Hollinghurst (Booker winner 2004), Life of Pi- Yann Mantel (Booker winner 2002?), the Swimming Pool Library-Alan Hollinghurst's first novel, The Master -Colm Toibin, Cloud Atlas -David Mitchell , etc etc..Dairy of a Snail -Gunther Grass, and lots more...Tibor Fisher, Kafka...Mario Vargas Lhosa Jose Saramago Marquis de Sade's 120 Days of Sodom.....etcAnd lots of non fiction...biographies ,...especially happy to get Karen Armstrong's memoir /biography ..The Spiral Staircase, Paul Auster's Hand to Mouth (not a good bio , or just not to my taste) ..diaries of Kenneth Tynan etc…And some art books too!!....And many travel books...speaking of which...I recently travelled to Bangkok …ostensibly for biz but in fact just want to see the country …so I drove up to Chieng Mai, from there up again to Chiang Rai and right up to Mae Sai the Border town with Myanma and even had a quick crossing to the Myanma side at Ta Chi Lek…
What surprised me most is how good the highway and roads are all the way from Bangkok to Mae Sai… and didn’t see any poor houses or squalor as I half expected…on the contrary there are even some fine houses even in the remotest areas along the highway ...I was told that these fine houses are thanks to the money sent to the parents by the girls who work in go go bars in Bangkok and all over the world…. So there are good things in prostitution after all…..
