at Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Big Bad Wolf Book Sale 2012 - Part 2

As expected, the last three visits weren't my last visit to the awesome Big Bad Wolf Book Sale. Hubby said that I'm obsessed. I kinda agreed with him :P

I have been checking their Facebook page for updates and reading through every single comments from others. 

Finally, I couldn't contain myself any longer and shyly asked hubby to bring me there again last Thursday after work. As expected, I only had a mere 1 hour to look around since we reached there at 8pm. I quickly marched to the Sci-Fi and Young Adults tables to look for the books that I want. There are a few titles I had on my list after reading through the reviews from other buyers. I could only spent 30 minutes looking for books, another 20 minutes to decide and put back whichever books that I don't want to its respective tables and another 10 minutes to pay.

Saw this True Blood box series on one of the table. I got mine from US and it costs me a bomb! 

Anybody interested in this set? There were a few but not sure if it's still available now. This reminds me of Nora Roberts The Bride Quartets series which I saw during preview. Regret of not getting it. The box of four only cost RM30! *sigh*

I'm glad that this super short trip is a fruitful one because I managed to find these.

An unexpected find will be Neil Gaiman American Gods. I actually have Good Omen in my list but I couldn't find it after so many visits. I just finished reading Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan and I really like it. So the minute I saw another book by Rick Riordan, I had to put it into my trolley. Finnikin of the Rock was recommended by another blogger so I would like to give it a try. Since I have The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, might as well collect The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest also. I found Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah from one of those boxes of unwanted books under the table while I was going through my picks. Why not? :P 

Five books in 1 hour. I'm impressed with myself *smack head* But I do have reasons why I'm getting each of them hehe.. 

The fifth visit was a scheduled one the moment I saw the announcement that there are new titles at BBW. The one on top of my list is The Kite Runner. So we went again on Friday to hunt those books down. Since they are having Mission 60 starting from Friday to Sunday, I can slowly browse through all the loose books. I must say that I'm getting quite good at this after several visits. I found so many treasures from all over the place. Many of my finds were misplaced at the wrong sections. Seriously have to take your time to go through every single title on the table.

After hours of hunting, my trolley was overloaded and I need to sort out the books that I picked. There are few which I chose to let go i.e. Custody by Manju Kapur, Between Sisters by Kristin Hannah. 

Kinda disappointed that I couldn't find The Kite Runner, but I did find a few copies of A Thousand Splendid Suns which wasn't too bad after all. I place the rest somewhere easier for others to locate. Who knows somebody might be interested. 

Another new title which had been restocked is Pretty Little Liars. I managed to find 5 of them from different sections. Lucky me. Still have 3 more to complete the series. Besides that, I also managed to find two of Sarah Dessen's books and another title by Neil Gaiman. It's a compilation of stories from many famous authors. 

Also managed to get the last book from Stieg Larsson Millennium Trilogy. Now I have a complete series. Other interesting purchases are The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling and Tamora Pierce Circle of Magic. Out of this pile, one is for a friend. Saw it while digging through piles and piles of books. Remember to claim it from me ya! ;)

Feel so guilty while lugging my trolley to the cashier. Especially when hubby was 'tsk tsk tsk' all the way. But I am very very glad with my purchases! :D

Probably will make a last visit before BBW ends. Let's see if I manage to hunt any more great gems. In the meantime, I shall indulge myself with my loot. 

at Monday, December 10, 2012

Big Bad Wolf Book Sale 2012

It's the time of the year again! The world's biggest book sale, Big Bad Wolf which is already taken place since 7th December at MIECC. I guess everyone would have visited BBW by now. Myself went during the preview on 6th December since I'd won a preview pass hehe. 

There are many comments about the location this year especially on the traffic since MIECC is next to Mines Shopping Centre. Personally, I prefer MIECC than MAEPS for a few reasons. First of all, covered carpark with lift access. The weather is bad these days. Everyday is raining cats and dogs. Imagine pregnant ladies, mother with kids/ babies and senior citizens having to lug their books all the way to the carpark under the heavy rain. Secondly, the facilities are great compared to MAEPS. They have food and playing areas for the children just right above the books area. Everyone can shop with an ease, no empty stomach, kids can have fun at the playing area. Regarding the traffic, it depends on the time of visit I guess. 

I had been to BBW for three consecutive days and each time with a different experience. Preview day was fantastic because the books were well organised and stocks were all piled up. Crowd was very much lesser so I can take my own sweet time to go through the books. However, 8 hours of preview definitely not enough whatsmore I only reached around 3pm since I was working half day. I only managed to cover like 1/4 of the hall and miss out quite a number of titles e.g. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami and other books by Jodi Picoult. To those who is interested, there are actually plenty of books by Stephen King during the preview. Probably they are sold out or BBW team haven't replenish them. Same goes to Tony Parson and Nicholas Sparks books. 

My second visit was on Friday night or should I say Saturday morning since I reached there around 12am after the massive jam to the carpark. The crowd was insane and the hall was already in a big mess with boxes of books piling up on the floor. People have been leaving all the unwanted books everywhere. Of course we do not expect everyone to put back the books to the same place since the hall is huge and we might forget where we got the books from. But at least there should be a place to drop all the unwanted books to ease the job of team. Books selection wasn't so great and many books weren't available anymore. But I still managed to dig in and got some good titles. The nightmare began when hubby called and asked me to look at the queue to the cashier. It took us almost 3 hours to queue up and pay our books!!! Poor hubby had to sacrifice his sleep and went to work straight after that. 

Well, that didn't stop us from visiting for the third time though. We went again yesterday around noon and see if there is any new stocks. The crowd wasn't so bad, hall still in a big mess but I think the team did replenish some of the books. 

All in all, it is the best book sale with the best-est deal! And I do not mind visiting BBW again and again until it ends. 

After all the grandmother stories above, let's look at my haul thus far. 

A total of 22 books from Fiction, Romance and Young Adults sections. No Self Help or whatsoever (yet). I'd done my research and read through reviews before I picked these books up. Any other titles that I came across which is not in my checklist, I will google for the review first before I put them into my trolley bag. This is my strategy to avoid buying books that I will not read :s 

Last year, I was too excited when I saw so many books and grab anything and everything that caught my eyes. Ended up with many books that are still collecting dust in my book shelf *slap self*

I still have a few in my checklist which I haven't gotten my hands on. Hopefully the BBW team will replenish the stocks very soon.

While I was busy checking out books for myself, hubby was at the Children section to get some books for our baby. I knew I wouldn't be able to cover the entire hall, so I asked him to cover the Children section for me hehe. Bought this few which are more suitable for baby. The last book is the only cooking/baking book that I got so far. There are tonnes of cooking/baking books available especially from Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson. But I restrict myself not to buy anymore cooking/baking books because I usually got my recipes online. This book is recommended by one of the baker whom I followed so it couldn't go wrong. Another book which is not in the picture is a photography book, the one and only book hubby got :/

Altogether, I spent only about RM250 for all these books. Where else to find such a good deal if not at BBW????

If you too went to BBW, please please please share your haul with me!! I really like to see what others bought and maybe can add some to my checklist on my next visit. Happy Shopping and Happy Reading!