Kinokuniya

There used to be Times and Kinokuniya in KLCC. However, after some time, there is only Kinokuniya left. Times is now replaced by Toy'R US. Hihi I'm privileged to be staying sooo nearby the city center and have KLCC only few kilometers away. =D

My Main Office is in KLCC and now that I'm on the bench, I could walk into Kinokuniya anytime. Well, I normally drop by either during lunch or after work. *grins* Today is not like any other days in Kino; there are queues at both cashiers. I find this odd coz everytime I go there, there are barely anybody queueing. Well, even if there are, there are only about 10ppl max in the line.

Could it be because its a Friday? Don't think so. I've been there almost every Fridays so I guess it is the school holidays. Glad to see the crowd though. It is great to know some Malaysians DO read. =) Best of all, I see kids reading with their parents. That is definitely a lovely sight. =)

Here is something I didn't know Kino provides. They provide book jacketing service at RM1 per book. So for those of you who cares for your books but are too lazy to get them protected, just pay RM1 to get it done. Gift wrapping remains FOC. =)

Wish I could work part-time there. I don't mind wrapping books. I don't mind rearranging books over and over again. I will smack those who hide and ruin books. =p Since dual-employment is against the policy where I'm working at, I can't do it. There goes my wish.... Anyway, nothing stops me from putting the books in place. I don't know how some people walk but they tend to run over the book stacks. Weird.

Kino also has a cafe at their 2nd floor. Never tried it but it seems nice enough to sit there with a book. =)

If you happen to wanna drop by, here are some details.

Kinokuniya

Lot 406-408 & 429 & 430

Level 4, Suria KLCC Kuala Lumpur City Centre,

50088, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Tel : 603-2164-8133

Bookstores War in Malaysia!

Woohoo!
We first had the telco operators against one another;

Maxis vs DiGi vs Celcom

Then the wars went into the sky when

MAS vs AirAsia

Now, itz Times vs MPH vs Popular!!!

They are seriously making the consumers think hard before they spend their buckz. LOL!
I believe it is all back to us, consumers to pick which is best for us. Some offerings maybe valuable. Some maybe just there to compete. Some others...well, you decide.

Here'z a lil comparison between the Bookstore Sales.
I'm not too sure who started the war but the first sale I knew about is organized by the Times Bookstore. So lemme start with Times Bookstore.

It was held in conjunction of the World Book Day. The book fair was endorsed by World Book Day UK committee and the Irish ambassador. Objective? To promote books and reading to EVERYONE. books are for ALL. Wanna read more about Times Bookstore and World Book Day? Click here.

Start Date :
5th March 2009
End Date :
31st March 2009
Time :
10am - 10pm
Venue :
Pavilion KL, Bangsar Shopping Centre, Hartamas Shopping Centre, CapSquare Shopping Centre and Warisan Square Sabah.
Offerings :
1. 20% STOREWIDE discount for member and 10% for non-members. Well, you can always apply to be a member; RM15 only. =) Was member but yet to renew your membership? Now renewal fee is only RM10 for 2-years. OMG! Btw, STOREWIDE includes the new ones too!!!
2. Book Fair. Yes! It is back! Same place. Better offerings! Discounts upto 90% and 30% discount for bestsellers! Incase, you've never been there, it is at Level 1, Hartamas Shopping Centre. It is from 13th March to 22nd March; 11am to 9pm. Be sure to bring your kids! They'd surely love it. I've been there once. To check out my prev post, click here.

Twilight fans, click here to see what Times has got for you. ;)

'Nuff with Times. Letz move on to MPH.

Start Date :
7th March 2009
End Date :
17th March 2009
Time :
Not mentioned. Could be the normal 9am to 10pm.
Venue :
3rd Floor Event Hall, Bangsar Village 2.
Offerings :
1. Discounts up to 70%. Not too sure on what items; Bestsellers or ....
2. Stock Clearance Promotion. Where? Mayang Plaza, Jln ss26/2, Taman Mayang PJ from 14th to 2nd March; 9.30am to 7pm. Members get RM5 voucher for every RM150 nett purchases.
For those of you who doesn't know where it is, do ask Mr.Wikipedia or Mr.GoogleMap. Parking wise? I'm not too sure if they have ample space so do go early IF you plan to go. ;) To view the ad, click here.

Guess that is all the info I've got for MPH...now letz get to the last one at war; Popular Bookstore.

Start Date :
11th March 2009
End Date :
22nd March 2009
Time :
Varies according to the location. Do check out their ad here.
Venue :
Only 4 locations; Summit USJ Subang Jaya, Plaza Pelangi Johor, IOI Mall Puchong and Berjaya Mega Mall Pahang.
Offerings :
1. Discounts up to 90%.
2. RM5 voucher for every RM100 spent on the same day in a single receipt.

My overall view?
It won't be fair to say that Popular is not much of a competitor. Anyway, to look on the brighter side, if I'm not mistaken, Popular is the only one which has educational books for Malaysian students(among the stores warring ATM). Definitely be a good time for parents to buy revision and reference books. =) Popular could win easily too as they cater both parents and children's needs. Too bad sale is only available at 4 locations.

MPH? The online sale is forever so if you happen to have you eye on a book and wish to pay less, shoponline. If you spend more than RM150, delievery is FOC. I've bought a few books from their online store. Click here to read my post where I blabbed about it. No points accumulation for members. =/ Only members are eligible to get the RM5 voucher. No. You can't buy your membership on the fly. Their stock clearance is in Taman Mayang PJ. The place may not be as accessible for all and many doesn't know where it is too. Considering it is now a rainy season, won't be nice to get lost in. Haha. Anyway, there is still Bangsar Village. =)

Lastly, Times Bookstore. I believe their people are working hard in the background especially when they manage to get the endorsement from the World Book Day committee and also the Irish ambassador. Besides that, they also have a few authors apprearances in Pavilion.I have a post on this. Click here to view. I have to say they are smart to have Travel Promo where they give discounts on travel accessories....Matta Fair. Remember? ;)

So who's gonna win? No one knows. Best of luck to MPH and Times. hihihi If I'm not too broke, I'd definitely go to Times Bookfair in Hartamas. Been there last time and 3hours is not enough! Plus, non-members could benefit from it too. Kids could juz runaround and pick what they like. Well, this is from my past experience. =) Why won't I go to Bangsar Village for MPH or Summit for Popular? Well, let'z just say....these 2 places are not within my radius. =p Not somewhere I usually hang out. No offense but Summit could be very dull. IOI? Sowie. Not-so hangout place too. If you say MidValley or Gardens, I'd probably say Yes. =) If popular were to have their Book Fest now, MPH and Times would have to work harder.

Enjoy the weekend and I hope more would pick up reading especially kids and young adults. Reading is a gazillion times better than juz sit around at some mamak talking nonsense and come home smelling like cig and of coz mamak. JK =p

That'z all for now.

Feel free to share your bookshopping experience if you have been to any of the war-sites mentioned above.

Cheers!

p/s: The choice is yours. I like what I like. You may not like what I like. I may not like what you like. =p

eBooks vs Physical Books

I read both types of books. eBooks are FREE and easily found. You can practically download any book you want provided someone shares it. ;) My favourite source has got to be the Gigiapedia.org :) Many would say they prefer reading the real book rather than reading an ebook. I prefer reading a real book too.

Here are some reasons why ebooks are lovely.
1. FREE
2. Can be read inbetween windows...would be very lovely when you have to wait for some batch programs to finish executing.
3. Comes in various formats; .pdf, .doc, .lit, .html and maybe many more...so you can pick which formats you're comfortable with. Anyhow, it still depends on availability.
4. Others won't know you're actually happily reading a book...unless they read ebooks too coz it will look like just another document. ;)
5. You can "window shop" have whatever book u want!!!! Could eat up your disk space though.

I still read ebooks from time to time. Think the best is when the book has >200pages. If you need a technical book, ebook is the best too!!!! If you happen to wanna copy some lines of codes, you can just copy and paste it....and then ammend to your prog. Ez-pz. :) LOVELY.

On the other hand, the physical books are still the best coz you can bring it anywhere you go without needing a laptop and power supply. You can lay down with it and read it in any positions you're comfortable in while reading. It doesn't occupy any disk spaces but it occupies the space in your room/house...and of course the bookshelves. Well, itz a beautiful sight. *recalling Rainbow Bookshelf* This may sound odd but the smell of books are also nice...hihihi

Shoe Addicts Anonymous by Beth Harbison

Title
Shoe Addicts Anonymous
Author
Beth Harbison
Publisher
Arrow Books
Price
RM39.90
Rating
5/5

Women can never have enough pair of shoes. Four women became best of friends when they started exchanging shoes every week. Lorna started the group to satisfy her addiction for shoes and to reduce the amount of money she spends on shoes. Helene, the unhappy wife of a well-known politician got her credit card blocked by husband when she wanted to buy shoes when he's not happy with her. Sandra loves shoes but she barely gets out of her house; agoraphobia. Joss is the only one who is not an addict. In fact, she wonders what is so fascinating about shoes. She joined the Shoe Addicts Anonymous every week just to get out of her employer's house as they are telling her to do tasks out of her job scope. It all ended well. =) One of them has a baby. One of them has a goodlooking boyfriend who designs shoes. The other 2? You gotta read to find out. =p Conclusion is...everyone of them has unlimited supply of shoes. The storyline is clear and I believe every girl would enjoy reading it too. One of the books which got me smiling from time to time while I read. As you get pass the middle, you wouldn't wanna put it down. ;)

Times World Book Day Sale!

Just wanna share some info about the Times Bookstore World Book Day Sale. =)
The following are some ads posted in conjunction of the sale. As usual, members get more discounts so do sign up to be eligible for more discounts. ;) Itz only RM20 without any minimum purchase! What's best is that you qualify for discounts on normals days too. =) =)

Any authors appearance? Sure there are!!!!

Going somewhere? You might need some accessories like name tag to be tagged onto your luggage. Or maybe traveling reading glasses or even a passport holder. ;) Check out the following ad!

For more Times Bookstore promotions, go to
http://www.timesbookstores.com.my/promotions.aspx

Link to Times Bookstore Sale posted on Sns
http://www.shoppingnsales.com/2009/03/04/5-8-mar-times-world-book-day-sale/

eBooks Pool

After all my books purchases, I believe I have more than enough to read til atleast June this year. =) with that, I vow not to buy anymore books atleast til the next Sophie Kinsella's book is released.

I no longer buy tech books unless it is REALLY crucial to have it in physical form. I.T. makes the world "smaller" and every info seems to be reachable within a click and I'm oh soooo very grateful for it! =) Ebooks are great especially when you want to save some bucks...

Honestly, I still prefer to have the REAL books in my hands but I read ebooks from time to time.

The following is a list of sources where you can download eBooks. FOC!

http://gigapedia.org/(my FAV!) Note: This has moved here!

http://www.flazx.com/
http://www.xpressionsz.com/
http://www.techbooksforfree.com/
http://www.filedownloadfull.com/
http://www.freebieslinkshare.com/Ebooks-PDF-Magz

eMagz
http://www.geekpedia.com/Magazines.html

ENJOY!!!!!


p/s: You can thank me later for the links. ;) Do share if there are anymore interesting ones.

Too Many Books

How many books are too many? Many a time I've been told to not buy anymore books, throw my books away, give 'em away or ..... No way I'll ever throw them away. I BOUGHT them! Plus, I will never ever throw away my reference books. You'll never know when you need 'em. Give them away? Depends. I gave away quite a number of books to the orphanage. Stop buying books??? You gotta be kidding me!

Well, some will tell me its a waste of money. I can't believe anyone would ever say that. How can reading waste your time? They should see themselves watching the idiot box and compare with reading. =p I know there are ebooks now. I read them from time to time but the feel is different. SERIOUSLY. Can borrow 'em from the library? Funny. The libraries don't seem to have new books. If you wanna focus on your history project, that might be the best place to look for info. What's best? Income tax reduction people. Well, for those who are making alot of bucks won't care but those who are like me, 1 thousand bucks is something! ;)

What triggered this topic? I've recently rearranged my books...thanks to the Rainbow Bookshelf. No. I DO NOT HAVE A RAINBOW BOOKSHELF. It doesn't seem to turn out like a rainbow. :( Need more books. =p

Back to the first question, how many books are too many? Too many books will never occur. Seriously. The one thing which is lacking is a nice big bookshelf to accommodate the books. :)

I bumped into a wiki which shares how to stop accommodating books. Some of the given tips are make a "to buy" list, give away books which are not worth keeping and et cetera. If you'd like to view the list,click here.

What have I done to cut down the number of books I've got?
1. Sold them online.
2. Gave 'em away to the less privileged.
3. Pass it on to my brothers.
4. Keep it elsewhere. =p
(Hope this list could grow til I could have a nice BIG bookshelf.)

A member of BooksterHub on Facebook shared some links to the event hosted by Scholastic last year where they encouraged kids to read and give away books to the less privileged. I hope I will not be too busy when the next one is held so that I could gather the storybooks my brothers do not want anymore and donate them. :) IF anybody happens to want to collect books for this cause, do inform me. Thanks. :)