Borders Saturday.

Had some time for myself today so I thought I dropped by The Curve to visit Tango Mango (or is that Mango Tango?) to buy a couple of Moleskines, but turns out they don't have the ones I want in stock. (Why la nowhere got standard ruled Moleskine???)

I just got my payment from a freelance copywriting job and when I went to Borders, I splurged most of it there.

What to do? I'm addicted to book shopping...

The spoils:

South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami
Borders is having a Haruki Murakami promo: buy 3 books for the price of 2. I couldn't resist buying the ones I didn't have. I just couldn't! Wish I had enough cash to buy the rest of Murakami's books I didn't have... else I could have bought 6 for the price of 4...

after the quake by Haruki Murakami
If you check out the New York Times website, there's a recording of a reading Murakami gave at the New School in New York, and he read "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" from this collection. His voice is a deep baritone, something I totally didn't expect. It's still hard for me to link that voice with his face...

The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami
I first read this book some time ago when my comrade-in-books, Shark, lent it to me. I came away unimpressed with it, and I thought Norwegian Wood, of which I had read prior to reading this, was vastly superior. But after reading Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, of which I liked very much, I decided to give Elephant Vanishes another chance. So I bought a copy for myself.

Children of the Alley by Naguib Mahfouz
First I gasped, then I squealed with delight when I saw this on the shelf. I thought it would've been restricted! Straight into the basket it went.

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
And speaking of restricted... look what I got! This is the new 2006 Penguin Classics edition that comes with Doris Lessing's new introduction. Only one copy left at Borders Curve, and if you've been meaning to get this, you'd better get it quick before Big Brother finds out...

Tomorrow: Ted Attacks Kinokuniya Complete With Radioactive Breath!

Lesson: Commemorative Covers are Lame.

Well, I got the first day cover that commemorates the 35th anniversary of the establishment diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Except that it's not a first day cover, it's a commemorative cover, which is a slightly different beast. I guess I should read the news article properly next time! The difference between the two is that first day covers are specially-designed envelopes stuck on with specially-designed stamps, and marked with a specially-designed postmark. A commemorative cover is a specially-designed envelope... and that's it. All in all, it's an unremarkable affair, especially if you're used to well-designed first day covers (not that Malaysian first day covers are well-designed... but I digress). Oh sure, a commemorative cover has a stamp printed right on to it but that's just like an overglorified aerogramme. Lame. On the whole, what a disappointment. I haven't been collecting first day cover

HOWTO: Get Rid of Silverfish

The bane of every book collecting person: the Silverfish. DUN DUN DUNNNNN!!! How to get rid of them? If one book has been infected, place it inside an air-tight plastic bag along with some silica gel desiccant. The silica gel is important to get rid of moisture, because you will now place the sealed plastic bag with the book in it inside the freezer. Leave it in there for a couple of days so that those bugs catch their death of cold. If you're feeling particularly paranoid, (like I usually am) feel free to leave the plastic bag in there for a week. If they're not dead, then you might likely have an infestation of zombie silverfish , which is out of the scope of this blogpost. But what if a whole colony of silverfish decided to invade your whole bookcase? Then you have to make sure you're ready for war. Place a generous amount of silica gel (or if you can find it, diatomaceous earth) behind your books at the back of the shelves so that moisture levels remain low.

Send me to Clarion West! - My crowdfunding effort.

I just launched my crowdfunding page to help fund my Clarion West trip on GoGetFunding and I am nervous as heck. Anyway here's a link . Any help or support much appreciated even if it's just to share the link around. Thank you so much!

sharkgila2/9/06 11:50 pm
Hey! Lady Chatterley's Lover is on my must buy list. I saw an older edition in MPH 1Utama. I hope it's still there when I lift my book-buying ban and decide to get it.
Ted Mahsun3/9/06 12:24 am
Shark: I'm surprised you haven't bought it already! Now married already... lift lah the ban... teehee! Get hubby to give subsidy also! Mwahaha! I'm not optimistic that MPH would still have it. Good luck getting it though.

Eliza: Hi Eliza! Welcome to my blog!

I have a RM10 voucher to spend too (would have got 2 vouchers if I noticed the Murakami promo earlier though). Make sure to have in hand a couple of the "Must Read" brochures they place on the counters. Each come with coupons that allow for a 20% discount on their selection of titles... and a pretty good selection it is too!

I spent some time reading your blog... it's great! I like it so much I'm linking you from mine.
Ted Mahsun4/9/06 8:51 pm
Hey burhan, welcome to the blog.

It's a very high chance that could be me. I take the train from Sri Petaling every morning. And I did indeed read Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman on the train some time back. Just one thing. I wasn't reading a hardcover. It was a trade paperback, the one that's hardcover-sized. Maybe you didn't see the cover properly?

Don't be afraid to say hi if you see a guy reading Jumpha Lahiri's Namesake! I'm a little dazed in the morning but I'm usually friendly.

Ted Mahsun

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