ghost in a book shelf

Happiness is a warm book sale.

Yup. Nothing would wake me up from the dead quicker or make me brave a typhoon than a magical message that says ‘Book sale now on.’

A message which Ari (as in Aristotle Onassis hehe?! I just luuuuv giving my friends chic nicks they haven’t found out – yet) so aptly termed as ‘the call of damage’.

Sigh, yeah man, damage being the final dying word groaning from my wallet.

Of course not all book sales are warm.

At the MPH Expo sale, the aircon blasts are usually cold enough to freeze a penguin’s tits (if penguins have tits, that is).

On the other hand, at the Times AMK sale, the warehouse heat is enough to bake a goose (not MY goose, but you get the drift).

Dignified ghosts and beheaded spirits would probably haunt castles and mansions.

I’d haunt bookstores, book sales and libraries.

Cos books are my corruption.

And some of my truly dear friends support my addiction by sending me timely (and untimely) notices of such events.

Which totally spoils Singaporeans. And what’s wrong with getting spoilt that way.

Books are getting so ridiculously expensive nowadays, upwards from $16 and more for a freaking paperback. Why pay so much for something you probably won’t read again in the next decade or 2?

If a book is expensive and I can live normally without needing to buy it, what will I do?

Borrow from library lah! And I have a knack for getting my paws on mint copies too.

But if library don’t carry or book got borrowed then how?

Aiyah easy lah!

Go to a bookstore and read the damn book a few chapters at a time lor.

If cannot finish, just dogear that page you’re stopping at and come back for it the next time.

Simple as that. Hideous and shameless? I know. I do it all the time. :p

Someone once teased me that I frequent Borders so often he found my bookmarks and paw prints all over the place.

*evil eye*

Now I’ve graduated. I leave dogears.

I even break spines and write on books. It’s called talking back to your books. I’ve been a convert since reading Anne Fadiman’s Ex Libris.

But I’m no library- or friends’-book vandal. I only tattoo MY own books lah.

Even so, my bookish friend Al is not convinced I'm capable of restraint. He thinks I should be jailed, or at least medicated.

After hearing of my book mutilating streak, he goes ballistic and manic every time I breathe near his book cabinet, trying to yank away the grinning cat who’s eyeing his prized canaries.

Anyway, I digress.

Book sales are therapeutic. I fully support book sales. There should be more of them, not just once every 3-6 months.

Feeling depressed and dejected? Go to a book sale! Wanna ante up on your intelligence quotient? Book sale! Wanna get rid of spare cash? Book sale! We need more book sales!

Note: book sales are feet killing and back breaking therapy (quite oxymoronic eh?) but who cares.

The joy is in the hunt. You never know what you’d find. It’s the surprise in finding an unexpected gem that really thrills me.

I’ve learnt that from numerous sale haunts. Don’t expect and don’t anticipate, or you’d be solely disappointed. It's 'as good as it gets'.

I’ve learnt not to break a bank to satisfy my book craze so I just pick titles like a mad farmer while elbowing others aside and sift through the chaff later.

Which is why I can spend a whole day – LITERALLY – waltzing in the cold (but never the heat) squinting and squatting over banks of books, cracking me bones. So like mining for gold.

Which makes Ari quite amused. Well if SHE can while her time away in boutiques…!

And imagine how much you can save at a book sale. $6 for a freaking mint copy of the latest or not so latest title??!! $8 for a brand new hardback??!! $20 for an omnibus you’re dying to have??!! Where to find???

*cue in incredulous looks and upward crooking eyebrows from anti-book amoebas*

ANYway. Suit yourself. For some people, it’s up there with sex, chocolate and wine.

*grinny cat with feathers sticking out of mouth*

Yum.