The Tarnished Reputation of Big Bad Wolf Indonesia

Tags

big bad wolf, book event, book haul, bookfair, my story, shopping

I have written a post about the excitement of Big Bad Wolf Indonesia bookfair last year, where everyone was suddenly becoming a booklover. I’m okay with that, of course, and I am actually happy that for once, books are considered cool 🙂

So I was pretty excited when Big Bad Wolf (BBW) has decided to visit Indonesia again, in the same venue at ICE BSD. I started to imagine the affordable import books that I can buy, and the excitement of shopping books not through online stores (I’ve been online shopping mostly for the past year).

Moreover, as a book blogger, I have received an invitation to attend the VIP Pre-Sale. Something that was highly recommended from my friends who attended the same event last year.

So I took one day off from the office and went to the venue early on that day, hoping to be there before it’s getting crowded.

Turned out, it was REALLY CROWDED. Like, in the market or something. I’m glad because at least the venue is bigger this year, so there’s still some space between the tables, and people can shop quite comfortably. But… still, I didn’t expect the so-called VIP event being that crowded, and it didn’t feel like an exclusive event at all.

The worst thing about the event was the online shop and the so-called “jasa titip/jastip”. They were like vultures who always hovered around the book stacks and grabbed them as soon as the BBW staff brought out new stuff. Some of them even made some kind of “base camp” at the rear of the room, where they stacked their “treasures”, and had some people looked after the stuff, so no one would touch the books. They could grab up to 10 or 20 books with the same title- for what, you ask? For selling them again, of course- with more expensive price, too. Mostly they took the boxsets for kids or activity books, the kind of books that would be easy to sell. But sometimes they also grabbed things like novels and non fiction books. Ugh.

Another thing that was terrible about the VIP Pre-Sale was the crazy line at the payment area. It was soooo crazy, people could be in line for hours. My friends from BBI, Ren and Mbak Threz, broke the record by being in the line for 5 hours. And this was because too many online shopping people shopped hundreds and hundreds of books. The cashiers were overwhelmed, the system was not ready, and simply said, it was a disaster.

I was pretty lucky because when I saw the crazy line, a Bank Mandiri staff approached me, offering a credit card application that can be exchanged with fast pass voucher to the cashier. Without thinking too much, I quickly agreed, and only waited for about 30 minutes in the cashier. Phew.

How about the books, though?

Well, it was not as many as last year, especially for fictions, young adults and middle grade books. Fortunately I found some of my wishlists there. And even though BBW also raised the book price compare to last year (from IDR 60k to 75k, from IDR100k to 130k, etc), they’re generally still ok.

The interior- not that bad compare to last year.

Some cute classics!

Another stack of classics.

Enid Blyton galore!

One of the base camps of the online shopping people!!! See their stacks??

Ibu Susi was also shopping!

My book haul 🙂

So… based on this first day experience, I decided not to come back to BBW, thinking that the situation will get worse.

Turned out, everyone who went to BBW after that day said that it’s not crowded, line in the cashier was manageable, and lots of new titles came up. So I started to consider coming back to BBW 😀

There’s this Narnia boxset that I kept waiting to appear in BBW, because it was advertised in their website. And finally, just a few days before BBW ended, I saw in their Instagram story that the boxset was out. Yeay! So that night, a few hours after I saw the Instagram, I went back to BBW. It was a Friday night, just before midnight, and the venue was not too crowded.

But after looking here and there, I started to get anxious. Where’s the Narnia???

I asked a staff and some of them just told me to keep on looking “over there”. After some time, a staff who helped me to ask around finally found out that the boxsets were sold out!!! Can you believe it? She said they were sold out just two hours after it’s been announced in Instagram. I can’t believe it. I mean, from hundreds of their stock, all were gone within two hours? These were Narnia books, not Coldplay tickets. I didn’t buy it that many people really wanted to read Narnia- and grabbed them like crazy.

So what happened? The staff told me that mostly the Narnia boxsets were bought by the jastip and online shops. Ugh! I knew it!!!!

I sent a message to BBW’s Instagram, ada here’s their reply:

They blamed me!

So instead of giving solution or promised to take a look at the problem, they BLAMED me because I came too late!!! And they denied that the books were bought mostly by the online shops and jastip, even though I got that information from the ground staff. So unprofessional.

For me, BBW has tarnished their reputation. Instead of being the fun, affordable bookfair that is loved by the bookworms, now they are just another business oriented company, who don’t care about their loyal customers and focused more on the profit. They let the online shops and jastip going crazy, without any consideration for other customers, who have to beat the traffic to reach the venue. If online shops and jastip are the ones who can standby for 24 hours at BBW, no wonder they can get all of the books including the most wanted ones. And that means, we- the ordinary booklovers- have to rely on them to get their books, even though that means they’ll be more expensive!

If this is the case, so why don’t BBW just have the bookfair only for online shops and jastip? Let them do crazy bulk shopping like those stores who compete shopping in Tanah Abang before Lebaran.

Sadly, these things only happened in Indonesia. Only in Indonesia, even bookfairs can be ruined because of money, business, and ego.

So, Big Bad Wolf Indonesia, congratulations for ruining your reputations and relationship with the bookworms!

Bye.

Big Bad Wolf – When Books Become a HIT

Tags

big bad wolf, book haul, book sales, book shop, my story, shopping

Saya pernah menulis tentang pesta yang paling disukai oleh para kutu buku di postingan ini. Seperti kebanyakan manusia, kutu buku juga suka berpesta kok, hanya saja mungkin pestanya agak sedikit lain, karena didominasi oleh deretan buku. Bookfair, book bazaar, book market, book sale, apapun namanya, pasti akan memancing kutu buku untuk berbondong-bondong datang ke sana.

Saya sendiri merasa pesta buku di Indonesia masih agak kurang memuaskan. Meski ada beberapa event tahunan seperti Indonesian Book Fair (IBF) atau Pesta Buku Jakarta (PBJ), isinya masih agak nanggung menurut saya, karena harganya kadang masih cukup mahal, pilihan bukunya pun kurang nendang. Dan lagi, akhir-akhir ini event bazaar buku murah seperti itu lebih sering didompleng oleh acara lain seperti talk show, peluncuran buku, lomba mewarnai, dan lain-lain yang sebenarnya kurang berhubungan dengan belanja buku murah dan sifatnya lebih untuk promosi para sponsor.

Saya sendiri mendambakan bazaar buku murah seperti boekenfestijn di Belanda – yang sifatnya memang besar-besaran dan digelar bergantian di banyak kota. Saya ingat suasana seru saat bertemu dengan sesama bookworm yang datang ke bazaar tersebut sambil menenteng koper.

Harapan saya mulai membuncah lagi saat mendengar kabar kalau Big Bad Wolf- event bazaar buku murah yang biasanya rutin digelar di Malaysia- untuk pertama kalinya akan berkunjung ke Jakarta (tepatnya ke BSD di Tangerang hehe). Sempat agak skeptis sih, soalnya banyak yang meramalkan kalau buku-bukunya nggak akan semurah di Malaysia, pilihannya lebih sedikit, dan mungkin banyak buku-buku lama. Tapi karena ini adalah bazaar buku impor murah yang pertama di Indonesia, saya memutuskan untuk datang saja. Apalagi promosinya gencar banget.

Saya datang di hari Sabtu (30 April), hari pertama Big Bad Wolf (BBW) dibuka secara resmi di ICE, gedung konvensi super besar yang berlokasi di BSD. Ini pertama kalinya juga saya berkunjung ke ICE dan kesan pertama saya, tempat ini memang cocok untuk menggelar acara bazaar buku besar seperti BBW ini, karena lapangan parkirnya luas banget, sementara Hall nya juga bisa menampung puluhan meja panjang yang dipadati tumpukan buku.

Suasana BBW hari pertama

Saat saya datang ke sana, suasananya belum terlalu ramai. Masih nyaman untuk mencari buku tanpa harus berdesakan. Dan meski susunan bukunya tidak terlalu teratur dan agak random, saya masih bisa menikmati pencarian buku dengan tenang. Hanya saja, karena waktu itu saya datang bersama Yofel, memang agak sedikit rempong juga karena yang ada saya lebih banyak menemani dia mencari buku dibandingkan berburu buku buat saya, hahaha..

Yofel hepi!

Dan akhirnya, memang Yofel yang membeli buku lebih banyak. Saya sendiri hanya sempat mengambil yang kebetulan lewat saja, ditambah beberapa titipan. Buku-buku yang sempat saya lihat hanya yang bergenre fiction (general, literature dan young adult), dan buku anak-anak.

Antrian kasir pun masih sepi dan semuanya berjalan lancar. Hanya saja, saya belum puassss karena belum sempat belanja untuk diri sendiri hahaha. Saya pun bertekad ingin datang lagi sebelum BBW berakhir.

Hmm…pilih-pilih!

Masih rapi dan sepi

Pojok poster yang bikin ngilerrr

Tak disangka, setelah hari pertama itu, banyak orang mulai memposting kunjungan mereka ke BBW di social media. Ditambah dengan promo dari akun BBW yang juga gencar, maka tiba-tiba saja BBW menjadi fenomena yang luar biasa, dan mendadak saja belanja buku menjadi sesuatu yang sangat cool! Apalagi, saat weekend dan long weekend kemarin ini, BBW buka 24 jam, menjadikan pengalaman belanja buku tengah malam menjadi suatu tren yang baru 😀

Saya sendiri sebenarnya senang karena tiba-tiba saja buku dan kutu buku menjadi pusat perhatian masyarakat khususnya Jakarta. Semua orang mendadak ikut serta berlomba-lomba belanja buku impor dan tak mau ketinggalan fenomena ini. Meski saya tahu, orang Indonesia memang latah dan kadang niatnya lain, tapi nggak papalah, sesekali menempatkan dunia perbukuan sebagai topik pembicaraan.

Namun, sisi buruknya adalah: BBW jadi sangat ramai dan padat, selalu penuh setiap waktu bahkan di jam-jam aneh seperti tengah malam atau subuh sekalipun. Sepertinya semua orang tidak mau kehabisan sale buku murah ini – memperoleh buku anak seharga IDR 30k atau novel yang lumayan baru seharga IDR 45k, dan semuanya berbahasa Inggris- memang godaan yang luar biasa- bahkan bagi orang-orang yang sebelumnya bukan pencinta buku kelas berat.

Saya sendiri akhirnya hadir lagi ke BBW saat long weekend kemarin, bersama-sama Mama saya yang juga penasaran akan event ini, dan ponakan saya yang juga kutu buku. Namun, memang suasananya sudah amat berbeda. Masuk ke tempat parkir saja sudah mengantri, lalu mau ambil trolley berebutan, dan yang pasti, menyusuri meja demi meja pajangan jadi tidak bebas lagi karena penuh orang di mana-mana. Hiks! Padahal, kami datang menjelang tengah malam, tapi banyak sekali pengunjung yang berdesakan, termasuk yang masih membawa anak kecil maupun bayi. Bahkan, mengantri kasir pun sampai lebih dari 1/2 jam sendiri.

Sementara itu, pilihan bukunya juga sudah berubah dari saat kunjungan saya yang pertama. Banyak juga buku-buku baru atau boxset yang sudah out of stock. Untunglah saya masih menemukan beberapa buku incaran saya 🙂

Matthew, ponakan saya di tengah kekacauan BBW

Saya hanya bisa berharap, semoga animo masyarakat yang menggila terhadap acara ini akan menjadi alasan BBW untuk mengadakan event ini secara reguler di Indonesia, bukan hanya di Jakarta tapi bahkan berkeliling ke kota-kota lain di Indonesia, seperti yang mereka lakukan di Malaysia.

Dan terlepas dari apapun alasan orang untuk datang ke BBW, saya berharap semoga sajaaa memang belanja buku, membaca buku, dan segala hal terkait buku, bisa terus menjadi hal yang hip dan cool di Indonesia, bukan hanya tren sesaat saja, seperti yang seringkali terjadi di negara ini, di mana masyarakatnya memang sangat-sangat mudah terkena penyakit latah 🙂

Long live the bookworms!

Belanjaan kloter 1 – kebanyakan punya Yofel!

Belanjaan kloter 2 🙂

Wishful Wednesday [186]

Tags

bookish, meme, out of print, shopping, totebag, wishful wednesday, wishlist

Selamat hari Rabu!! Sebenernya Rabu kali ini saya agak-agak clueless mau masukin apa di Wishful Wednesday… Mungkin karena agak-agak serem lihat timbunan hahaha

Jadiii, minggu ini saya mau beralih ke barang-barang bookish dulu aja deh 🙂

Salah satu tempat favorit saya membeli barang bookish adalah Out Of Print Clothing. Sayangnya ongkos kirim ke Indonesia lumayan mahal, plus saya pernah coba pakai pilihan regular mail dan barangnya hilang di tengah laut XD Untung akhirnya diganti oleh tokonya. Biasanya, saya menitip belanjaan saya ke orang yang sedang di Amerika atau mau datang ke Indonesia. Lumayanlah hemat ongkir dan dijamin barangnya tiba dengan selamat.

Saya suka hampir semua produk OOP, tapi kebanyakan koleksi saya adalah t-shirt. Saya kepingin juga punya totebagnya yang desainnya memang keren-keren, apalagi sekarang kan sedang digalakkan gerakan diet kantong plastik, jadi pastinya si totebag bisa lebih bebas mejeng (mejeng!).

Ini beberapa favorit saya:

Nancy Drew, 70s banget dan vintage!

Salah satu buku favorit saya sepanjang masa. Very classic.

Belum baca bukunya, tapi punya totebagnya dulu boleh kan? 🙂

Kartu library kuning genjreng ini bener-bener eye catching banget.

Favoritmu yang mana? 🙂

Share WW mu juga yuk!

• Silakan follow blog Books To Share – atau tambahkan di blogroll/link blogmu =)
• Buat posting mengenai buku-buku (boleh lebih dari 1) atau segala hal yang berhubungan dengan kebutuhan bookish kalian, yang jadi inceran kalian minggu ini, mulai dari yang bakal segera dibeli, sampai yang paling mustahil dan hanya sebatas mimpi. Oya, sertakan juga alasan kenapa buku/benda itu masuk dalam wishlist kalian ya!
• Tinggalkan link postingan Wishful Wednesday kalian di Mr. Linky (klik saja tombol Mr. Linky di bagian bawah post). Kalau mau, silakan tambahkan button Wishful Wednesday di posting kalian.
• Mari saling berkunjung ke sesama blogger yang sudah ikut share wishlistnya di hari Rabu =)

 

Literature Tourism: Washington, DC (Part 2)

Tags

books for america, bookstore, idle time, my story, shopping, travel, usa, washington dc

So… Part 1 of the story was dedicated wholly to a specific bookstore, Capitol Hill Books. It’s my most favorite in DC based on my trip, but it doesn’t mean that there’s no other cool bookstores in the city.

I will write about two other bookstores in this post, still secondhand ones, and although I didn’t shop as many as in the Capitol Hill, I still found some good books in those places. Ow.. before I forgot, I will post the picture of my bookhaul in the last posting about Washington, DC, so please stay tuned 🙂

The first shop I visited is Idle Time Books – located near my hotel, in Adams Morgan area. This is a hipster kinda neighborhood, with lots of cafes, jazz clubs, bars, fusion and ethnic restaurants. Idle Time Books is a small two story building, old fashioned from outside but has this cozy ambiance in the inside.

Some bookshelves are left outside during the summer days, inviting pedestrians to stop by and browse the books that are on sale. Some of the books are only $1, very cheap indeed and sometimes you could actually find hidden gems there.

Entering the bookstore, the old school vibe remains, the smell of papers, leather and wood created this homey feeling that makes you realized you can actually find home away from your home.

Inside, wood bookshelves are standing side by side, packed with books from various genre. I come here with my two colleagues and we all have different taste for books. So we separated and went to different directions, browsing the shelves that are most interesting to us.

Of course I went directly to the Fiction and Literature shelves, followed by the Children’s Books section. There are lots of options of course, but Idle Time is pretty serious with their vintage collections. I found some old children’s books from the 60s or 70s, with their covers a bit torn and the pages were yellow.

You really need some time to browse the bookstore, because even in the uninteresting looking shelves, there are some hidden gems somewhere. I love the layout of the bookstore because there are even shelves at the unexpected spots, like at the stair landing between the first and second floor, or some small rooms dedicated to rare or very specific genre.

Another thing that made me loveee Idle Time is their knicks-knacks collections, from comic books to postcards to greeting cards to bookmarks. Very very tempting! I bought some vintage postcards for me and my colleagues at the office, because the price is not that expensive too, and I think it will make a better souvenir than keychains 🙂 This place is definitely recommended for any booklovers and also so-called nerds 🙂

Idle Time Books

2467 18th Street Northwest
Washington, DC 20009

(202)232-4774

idletimebooks@hotmail.com

http://www.idletimebooks.com/

The second bookstore that I would love to recommend in this post is Books for America, another secondhand bookshop that is located near the Embassy Row area, including near the Indonesian Embassy.

The store doesn’t look very impressive from the outside, only a brick building with blue awning and a small “Book Sale” sign outside. But inside, it’s another lovely book haven, full of wooden bookshelves that are lined around the room, with the books aligned with alphabetical order, made it easy to browse. You can walk from one end to another end of the room, or just go directly to your favorite bookshelf or look for your favorite authors.

Some oldies style decoration can be found around the store, such as a vintage typewriter or wooden tables. The collection itself is pretty massive, with reasonable price. I found a hardback of one of my wishlists for only 7 USD, and the paperbacks are about 5 USD.

The other cool thing about this store is they provide the donation bin, where we can deposit any unused books to be donated to local schools, shelters, and other institutions/organizations. Sweet!

Books for America – A Bookstore with a Purpose

1417 22nd Street, NW

Washington, DC  20037

(near the corner of 22nd & P NW in Dupont Circle)

(202) 835-2665

info@booksforamerica.org

http://www.booksforamerica.org

 

 

Literature Tourism: Washington, DC (Part 1)

Tags

america, bookstores, indie bookstores, my story, secondhand books, shopping, usa, washington dc

My kind of heaven!

I was lucky enough to be sent to another training and conference by my office to Washington, DC. And even though -as usual- the schedule is a bit cruel, fortunately I could still find some time to visit a few great bookstores during my stay in the city.

The last time I went to DC was four years ago (you can read the story here), and I thought I could just go to the same places like before, visit the stores that I’ve been familiar with.

But – thanks to the most helpful Yelp, and some suggestions from friends and colleagues, I have found several additional hidden gems – places that made me so very happy being a bookworm.

One of the most memorable places – and I dedicate this whole post to it- is Capitol Hill Books, located not far from the famous Capitol building. You can reach the place by Metro, stop at Capitol South station or Eastern Market station, and walk a few blocks. The store is a three story building located in an eclectic residential area, among the brick houses, cute cafes and unique stores.

Looking at the store, I felt goosebumps, the front window is covered by stacks of books. There’s a table in front of the store, some old books were scattered there, and a sign said that all books on the table could be grabbed – free. Wow.

There are lots of signage and warnings on the front door, saying things like “no phone allowed, this is a bookstore not a phone booth”, or “please leave all bags at desk, backpacks can smack people and books”. Very intriguing.

The peculiar signage

Entering the store, I felt like going into a different world altogether. The smell of old books, combined with old wooden odor, made me feel I’m entering a bookworm heaven. High bookshelves crowded the room, only a small alley separated one bookshelf with another. And true, backpacks will be very inconvenient here! Even without having backpack with me, I accidentally knocked down some stacks of books, and had to rearrange them by myself.

Delightful corner

Labyrinth, continue

There are signs everywhere in the room, handwritten papers explaining the locations of books, some of them pretty mysterious. For example, in the children’s section, there’s a paper said “Roald Dahl books: 2nd floor, Fiction, D section”. But true enough, when I went to the 2nd floor, I found the Roald Dahl books among the fiction books from writers whose last names begin with D.

The labyrinthine layout is an adventure by itself, just expect the unexpected and you will find hidden treasures in the most unlikely places. Even in the bathroom, there are stacks of books everywhere 🙂

Philosophy books in the bathroom

I found some great books in this bookstore, a few of them have been in my wishlist for a long time. The price of the books are not expensive too, around $4 -$8 for secondhand novels. Some titles have different cover options, from paperbacks to hardcovers, so suit yourself 🙂

In the basement (the stairs leading to it is a bit creepy, so I kinda just looked from above LOL) you can find titles for horror books and darker stories (very suitable with the setting).

Another unique thing about Capitol Hill Books is the owner, an old guy, very peculiar, he’s started the store with only 200 books but now has a very large collections indeed. He hates people (younger people I suspect) who are very mainstream and he forbids customers to say particular words like “amazon”, “Kindle”, “oh my God!”, “like…”, “you know…” and I even heard him scowled to a teenage girl who kept saying “Awesome!”. It’s like you are entering an different realm, stuck in the olden days. I love it 🙂 But don’t worry, he’s pretty nice with people in general, he lets customers to sit anywhere to read, even though there’s almost no space left to do that 😀

Capitol Hill Books is a must visit place whenever you are in DC. This is the kind of place that makes me grateful to be a bookworm and proud of being one 🙂

Me and my treasures 😀 sampe merem melek LOL

Capitol Hill Books
657 C Street SE
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 544-1621

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chbooksdc
Email: chbooksdc1@juno.com

http://www.capitolhillbooks-dc.com/

 

Book Haul April 2014

Tags

book haul, bukumoo, gift, penguin, periplus, reading lights, sale, shopping

A bit late for this showing off sharing post about my book haul from last month. But it’s better late than never, right? 😀

Now I almost come in terms with the harsh reality that I can not spend a month without buying books. So, there it is. I admit it. I can’t resist books (shopping), however hard I try! XD

From last month, here are my conquers:

From Periplus bargain sale in FX Sudirman, all these lovely books are less than IDR 200k. Lucky me!

The Family Collection by Enid Blyton, I got that from Bukumoo, my treasure source. The Last Child and Brooklyn are from Better World Book sale (shopping with Fanda and Melisa), while the Agatha Christie and Kate Morton books are from Reading Lights, the cool bookshop in Bandung.

Best conquers of the month

This one is a total surprise. One of my friends who works in Penguin USA sent this cool, wonderful, amazing box full of books (some of them are edited by him). I just can’t express my joy more! (And there’s even a clothbound one!)

Thanks Doug for this wonderful gifts.

See you all in the next month book haul! 🙂

Book Haul March 2014

Tags

aksara, amazon, book depository, book haul, march 2014, shopping

How’s March treated you (in book shopping area)? How many books entered your house last month?

I had such a good month, not too many books (that made me guilty), but still there were some good ones. Here they are:

Group 1

Amazon Gift Card, thank you!

I got an Amazon Gift Card from a Professor who I worked with and just arrived to Indonesia from the US. He gave me $50 card, and I used $25 for books, and $25 for shipping fee, can you believe it? Haha.. Luckily I’ve got some good ones: Wintergirls (Laurie Halse Anderson), Doll Bones (Holly Black, one of the Newbery Honors for 2014), and another cool journal, Q&A – this is a 5 years journal, where you can answer the same questions posted by the journal for five consecutive year, so you can compare your thoughts and feelings during those years. I started quite late so I decided to start this in 2015.

Here’s the inside of the book:

Question for Jan 10: Write down something that inspired you today 🙂

Group 2

Thanks to Book Depository 25-hrs sale, I’ve got many books with very reasonable prices (although still it created damage to my credit card, huhu!)

Bargain books!

I’ve got Jodi Picoult’s Change of Heart, The Story of The Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit (love, love the cover!!) and Operation Alphabet by Al Maccuish, a cute English children’s picture book about letters and alphabets.

Another Book Depository catch – The Marvelous Land of Oz (Frank Baum). Now I just have to find the prequel XD

Group 3

Agatha Christie’s bundle part 2, PO from Mbak Maria Hobby Buku.

Group 4

Gifts, presents, freebies!

Peter Nimble (Jonathan Auxier), gift from Gramedia for winning Mbak Maria’s Mystery Reading Challenge (yeay!) and A Prisoner of Birth (Jeffrey Archer) gift from Yes24 for winning their review of the week (that actually had been in October last year, haha, thanks to Joo I finally got my prize).

Another Christie’s – this one for winning Agatha Christie Reading Challenge 🙂 Two graphic novels and one novel (that actually is already in the bundle – this means I have extra copy – maybe giveaway? hmmm). Thanks Mbak Maria for choosing me!

Group 4

This is actually a single book, not belong to any group XD I got it when I visited Aksara Clearance Sale in Plaza Indonesia. Got 50% off for a hardcover copy from one of my favorite writers 🙂 Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool

Group 6

Buying this for a very special price as a BBI member 🙂 Literature package from Bukukatta. And this is only for IDR 45k!

Best buy of the month!

Why this book? Because this is my first Penguin English Library (PEL) book ever 😀 I bought this from The Book Depository, it got lost on its way to my place, I emailed them to ask for replacement, and they actually did it 🙂 Great Expectations is finally made its way to my home 🙂 Thanks TBD for your great service 🙂

Not a bad month for sure 🙂 But hopefully I can reduce my shopping spirit in April. I’m on budget!!! XD

 

Book Haul February 2014

Tags

2014, balibooks, book haul, second hand, shopping, vixxio

Pic from here.

Meskipun Aul sang host meme Buying Monday sedang hiatus dan mengistirahatkan memenya, saya tetap akan memposting Book Haul di Senin pertama setiap bulan. Soalnya posting book haul semacam ini cukup efektif lho untuk menahan kakalapan belanja setiap bulan (meski masih sering kurang sukses juga sih, hihi).

Bulan Februari kemarin saya berhasil *sedikit* menahan diri untuk kalap. Terbukti, beberapa buku yang menjadi pendatang baru adalah buku-buku yang sebenarnya sudah dibeli di bulan sebelumnya dan baru diterima di Februari. Lalu, ada juga beberapa hasil gratisan.

Kloter 1

Last purchase from @vixxio sale! Sadly, minggu lalu adalah terakhir kalinya @vixxio mengadakan sale, karena koleksinya sudah penghabisan dan toko buku online tersebut akan ditutup. Huhuhu! Untungnya, saya masih berhasil ngembat beberapa buku keren hasil hunting bulan kemarin dari koleksi akhir @vixxio: The Memory Keeper’s Daughter (Kim Edwards), Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough) yang memang sudah lama nangkring di wishlist, The Man Who Loved Books Too Much (Allison Hoover Bartlet) yang sudah susah dicari, Ronya (Astrid Lindgren) dan The Cat Mummy (Jacqueline Wilson) untuk ngelengkapin koleksi.

Kloter 2

Kloter kedua adalah belanjaan dari @BaliBooks. As usual, worth the price. The Shining Girls (Lauren Beukes) yang masih termasuk buku baru 2013, dan The Devil in the White City (Erik Larson), non fiksi yang masuk kategori sejarah (dan rencananya bakal diadaptasi ke layar lebar dengan pemeran Leonardo DiCaprio, hell yeah!). Dua-duanya hanya berkisar IDR 50-60k saja.

Kloter 3

Hasil nemenin profesor dari Amerika ke salah satu toko buku bekas di Jalan Jaksa. Berhasil nyomot The Other Boleyn Girl (Philippa Gregory) dan Divergent (Veronica Roth) dengan kondisi bagus dan harga IDR 50k. Sementara Tai Pan (James Clawell) adalah hadiah dari sang profesor karena saya sudah nemenin dia. Huhuy!

Kloter 4

Kiriman yang agak terlambat dari Mbak Maria @HobbyBuku, Lockwood & Co The Screaming Staircase (Jonathan Stroud) yang super keren (wait for my review!), dan Emerald Green (Kerstin Gier), lanjutan seri Ruby Red yang sampai sekarang belum dibaca juga *blush*

Freebie!

Yang ini hadiah menang Agatha Christie Challenge dari @Selselkelabu. Keren banget! Come, Tell Me How You Live (Agatha Christie Mallowan) adalah salah satu biografi Agatha Christie yang paling terkenal. Thanks Sel Sel Kelabu, sudah memilih saya jadi pemenang 🙂

Best Buy of The Month

Masih dari @BaliBooks, kali ini dapet hardcover Inferno-nya Dan Brown dengan harga sangat miring (harga normal sekitar IDR 350k, sementara ini dijual dengan harga IDR 60k dan kondisi baguuuus) 🙂 Tapi, apakah saya suka sama isinya? Hmm, ini perkara lain. Tunggu reviewnya aja ya XD

Total kerusakan bulan ini: 14 buku (2 di antaranya gratisan). Ihhh, seneng banget deh, bisa meredam kekalapan (bulan lalu angka kerusakan mencapai 30 lebih!!).

Semoga bulan Maret ini pertobatan masih bertahan 😀

 

 

BooksActually, a Hidden Gem of Singapore

Tags

booksactually, bookstores, indie bookstores, my story, shopping, singapore, travel

Everytime I visit Singapore, I’ve got a bookshop hangover. I’ve always loved bookstores in Singapore. I used to love Borders in Wheelock Place so much, I’ve hung out there until the store closed. And it broke my heart so bad when Borders were closing down 😦

Anyway, post-Borders, I only knew Kinokuniya in Nge Ann City, and Bras Basah the second hand bookshop complex. But last week, when I visited Singapore, my sister told me that there’s a cool indie bookstore in Tiong Bahru area that we really have to visit.

So, on a Sunday morning, after having a delicious breakfast in Tiong Bahru Bakery (this is another recommended place!!), we walked a little bit to this store called BooksActually. It’s located on a small alley in an old district where the houses and apartments are designed in an old school style, and there are lots of other indie and eclectic stores, such as furniture boutiques, cute cafes and kids related shops.

Cool facade.

From the front, BooksActually looks really cool, with the combination of large modern windows, classy board sign and a pile of old logs. Entering the store, I can smell a lovely smell of books, wood, and old papers. The store is light and airy, with rows and rows of cover lust books and other knick knacks. There are even a couple of high shelves behind the cashier that have lots of small antique things.

The books in this store are not usually new, best seller books. If you want to find that kind of books, you can easily go to Kinokuniya or other big stores. Here, you can find books in special or rare editions, and books with wonderful covers.

Delicious covers!

I literally drool over the Penguin notebooks, but decided not to buy them since I am in a short budget 🙂 Instead, I bought some postcards and thinner handmade notebooks.

Those Penguin notebooks!

At the back of the room, there is this special space for “gift ideas”, and oh boy, I want all of them for myself 🙂 There are old records and tapes, mugs with different designs, from the antique ones to the cool hype ones. Trinkets that can make a collector smile widely. Even a Moby Dick tote bag that almost makes me lose myself 😀

Someday am gonna buy that tote bag.

Places like BooksActually is one of the reasons why I love reading printed books. I can’t imagine if one gloomy day, this kind of bookstores are actually gone, replaced by cold, white rooms with rows and rows of computers where you can download your e-books *shudder*

I know there are lots and lots of places like BooksActually, hidden among our hectic, inhuman world. Let’s try to find more of them. Let’s support small, independent bookstores that became the reason why you love books and reading so much.

BooksActually

9 Yong Siak St

Singapore 168645

+65 6222 9195

booksactually.com

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Buying Monday [6]

Tags

BBI, buying monday, IRF 2013, meme, periplus, shopping

New year’s resolution: STOP BUYING BOOKS!!!

Iya, itu kayaknya resolusi setiap penimbun buku. Tapi berhubung Buying Monday kali ini masih merupakan pengakuan dosa Desember 2013, jadi resolusinya masih belum berlaku (ngeles to the max!). Dan inilah, saudara-saudara, daftar dosa yang bahkan memecahkan rekorku sendiri!

Kloter 1:

Salahkan event IRF 2013 dengan bookwar dan bookswap nya yang mengerikan. Biarpun aku sudah bawa modal buku banyak dari rumah, ternyata pulangnya pun membawa gembolan yang lebih banyak lagi. Sigh. Kiri ke kanan: Puppy Fat (Morris Gleitzman), Perempuan Yang Melukis Hujan (kumcer yang salah satu penulisnya adalah kenalanku, Wisnu Nugroho), The Ghost Writer (John Harwood), Clockwork (Philip Pullman), The Hunting of Hiram (Eva Ibbotson), Criss Cross (Lynne Rae Perkins), Emerald Star (Jacqueline Wilson) dan Famished Road (Ben Okri). Semuanya dapet dari bookswap dan bookwar, kecuali Emerald Star yang beli dari Cizu (yang dapet dari bookswap, hahaha).

Kloter 2:

Masih dari ajang IRF, kali ini dari booth BBI yang ngadain games khusus member yang seru. Dapet Just as Long as We’re Together (Judy Blume) dan Mary Mary (James Patterson).

Kloter 3:

Hasil titip menitip anak BBI, as usual 😀 Holes (Louis Sachar), The Girl With Glass Feet (Ali Shaw), dan Interworld (Neil Gaiman) nitip ke Widi, The Turn of The Screw & Daisy Miller (Henry James) dan From The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler (EL Konigsburg) nitip ke Bzee, Joshua Files Zero Moment (MG Harris) nitip ke Dinoy, Gone Away Lake (Elizabeth Enright), The Marvelous Adventures of Sebastian (Lloyd Alexander) dan Whittington (Alan Armstrong) nitip ke Dewi yang baru melanglang ke Bras Basah 🙂 Oiya, ada satu lagi yang lupa masuk ke foto: My Uncle Oswald (Roald Dahl) yang nitip ke Essy.

Kloter 4:

Sedikit kalap di Periplus Bandung: On the Island (Tracey Garvis Graves), The Wizard of Dark Street (Shawn Thomas Odyssey), dan This is How You Lose Her (Junot Diaz).

Impulsif di Periplus Bandara Soekarno Hatta: The Great Automatic Grammatizator (Roald Dahl)

Kloter 5:

Ini hasil tak bisa menahan godaan di Facebook. Dari FB Yuni Zai, dapet The Mum Minder dan The Suitcase Kid nya Jacq Wilson. Sementara dari Bukumoo 123, dapet D is for Dahl, Rumah Pohon di Tengah Hutan (Enid Blyton), dan Mio Anakku (Astrid Lindgren). Buku-buku anak emang selalu jadi godaan deeeeh XD

Kloter 6: (pardon my shoe yang ikutan nampang)

Dipersembahkan untuk the one and only @vixxio dengan godaan salenya yang masih aja ada tiap hari Senin pagi di twitter, sigh. Kali ini aku memborong John Grisham untuk baca bareng bulan Maret nanti (ikutan yaaaa): The Rainmaker, The Last Juror, The Painted House. Lalu ada Agatha Christie dengan cover lama, Destination Unknown dan Rumah di Tepi Kanal. Dan sisanya adalah buku-buku random dengan harga super murce, Hansel and Gretl (versi Atria), Sashenka (Simon Montefiore), Balada Ching Ching (Maggie Tiojakin), The Wedding Officer (Anthony Capella), dan Cat and The Stinkwater War (Kate Saunders).

Kloter 7:

Dari berbagai sumber 😀 Love in The Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) hasil swap dengan Ella, Books and Cigarettes (George Orwell) dan The Moonstone (Wilkie Collins) dari 25 hrs sale nya The Book Depository, The Egypt Game (Snyder) nitip anak kantor yang baru pulkam ke US, dan dua jilid Charlie Bone (Time Twister & Blue Boa) beli di Mba Maria.

Fiuuuuhhhh….udah selesai? Belum. Ada satu lagi, sebenernya ini kado natal dari para ponakanku yang keren abis. Best “buy” of the month adalaaaah

Under the Dome nya Stephen King. Thanks kiddos for the awesome Christmas gift *hug*

Jadi jumlah total kerusakan berapa? 46 saja sodara-sodara, memecahkan rekor tergila selama ini. Semoga sajaaaaa tahun 2014 ini membawa pertobatan yang lebih berarti buatku XD

Mau ikutan meme seru ini? Check blog Aul ya!

See you next month with (hopefully) fewer books than this time!!