best thing about living in NZ...

... I get to buy books I never thought I could buy! Hahaha!

Found this while browsing through Marbecks, a secluded CD store-cums-bookshop in Wall Street. They also had lots of obscure classics, and popular classics with gorgeous covers (note to Leana: I found 3 different versions of On The Road, and they're all awesome like heck).

I'm also waiting for my DMT: The Spirit Molecule to arrive in the mail, bought it off Whitcoulls. Next on my wishlist would be LSD My Problem Child and PiHKAL, found them at great prices on Mindfuel, but I'll probably need to wait until I get my next allowance to buy them. Um, maaaaaybe I'll buy me My Problem Child next month if I do well in my exams, it's only $30 anyway, with free shipping and all.

I really love bookstores here. You could buy books online with no additional shipping costs, you can get all sorts of obscure titles (do you honestly think I would find DMT: The Spirit Molecule at Malaysia? Last time I check I couldn't even find anything about lucid dreaming, let alone hallucinogens), the prices are great provided you don't convert the currency, and you could automatically get a 10% discount by being a student, without needing to apply for membership cards and renew them every year. Even if you want to apply for membership cards, it's absolutely free! And oh, if $20 per book is still too expensive for you, you could always buy them at secondhand bookstores at half the original price or lower. Gila awesome.

I guess this has got to do with the reading culture here. We don't have that strong of a culture in Malaysia; people prefer to read about the latest political sex scandal or stories about 'who gets raped by who' taken from Harian Metro instead of reading something worthwhile. You could hardly find people reading in public places or while waiting for something. I used to carry a book with me and read them while manning Mom's kuih stall, and oftentimes I found myself being the subject of teasing by rempit types who passed by, saying things like "hai kak, rajinnya, jual kuih pun sempat belajar" (I was reading Crichton's Sphere. I didn't know that could be considered as 'belajar'. Oh well, those bits about Drake equation maybe). Anyhoo, putting that aside, I would like to get myself a nice bookshelf and fill them with the books I bought/will buy while I'm studying here. Macam J dalam novel Empangan. There's an epic book sale coming up this September in Dunedin, where you could buy secondhand books at prices as low as $1. I can't wait.

That reminds me. I should totally update my bibliophile wishlist.

Alice