Big Bad Wolf December 2019

Well, I didn't go to the Big Bad Wolf book sales for the pass one or two years because my book buddy and I were busy and we have tonnes of unread books. However, she resigned on the middle of this year and we felt that we could use this Big Bad Wolf as a chance to meet up. So, same like previous years, I took half day leave on the first day of the sales to go to this sales.

We parked at The Mines Shopping Mall and went to the MIECC after having lunch. Me and my buddy were very surprised that we couldn't see anyone at all lugging bags of books in The Mines Shopping Mall. I remembered previously when we ate lunch in The Mines, we could see a lot of people with the Big Bad Wolf plastic bags. I think everybody else already bought enough books to last a lifetime from previous sales. 

Me and my buddy separated after entering the sales and promised to meet again after one and a half hour. Initially, I took a basket, then I felt that it's not not convenient, so I returned the basket and took a trolley (like the one used in supermarket) instead. But after awhile, I felt that I won't be needing that, so I pushed the trolley back to the original place. 

At the local publisher corner, I saw a lot of academic books, no wonder no one was there when I was browsing at the area. It is not as interesting as novels. I think most were excesses from the university publisher, there were even books on how to write thesis. A very dull subject. But it will be useful for the final year university student.

There were many translated books also. I didn't see it on previous sales. Maybe I didn't pass by the area previously. This area was also quite deserted.

The most popular and happening area would the children's section. The parents (maybe some were businessmen) were so enthusiastic, buying loads of books. Most of the people in the area has a trolley full of books.

Looking at the books were quite fun too, I would buy if I have a child.

I didn't have access to this educational children's books when I was young. It was very expensive and my parents would not be able to afford that. I remembered that some of my friends, they had the ladybird series when they were young. I only started to learn ABC after I attended kindergarten, no preschool learning or anything else. My earliest memory on learning was right before I went to the kindergarten, my late grandfather thought me to write my own name in Chinese. I only went to the kindergarten for one year and then directly started primary school. Nowadays, parents send their children to kindergarten as early as 3 years old, so early. But some of my friends said that they were afraid that their children would be left behind if they started school too late. Well, this book sales helped parents to save a little with the affordable price.

There was a small corner of Chinese books too. Didn't find any interesting titles.

There were many other unusual titles too. Interested to look at, but no desire to buy and keep at home.

I found many classic titles too. Example below, Madame Bovary. I read this book when I was in secondary school, it was available in the school library and it is a Malay translated version. I couldn't understand why Madame Bovary wanted to have affairs and destroyed her own life. Too complicated for a form 2 student. I read a lot of books when I was in secondary school, no computer that time and free time was spent reading. I read "Tulang-tulang Berserakan" then, I couldn't believe that I actual finished reading that book, I couldn't even finish 5 pages of "1984" now. I still remember that "Bukit Kepong" was a struggle, it was a much more difficult read than "Tulang-tulang Berserakan", but since it was the exam requirement for Malay literature classes, I finally got an abridged version of it and only remembered the important points. But another novel for Malay literature was very easy to read, I forgot the name, but I still remember the story.

There were many box sets also, like "Harry Potter series", "Paulo Coelho", etc. I only wanted "The Alchemist", but I couldn't find the single book, only available in sets. I also couldn't find Terry Pratchett, I bought many Terry Pratchett's books from Big Bad Wolf previously. So finally I got myself three books only. The least books that I have bought from Big Bad Wolf sales.

I bought "Paper towns" from John Green, "ok" from Allan Metcalf and "The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks". Haven't started to read yet,  but I think I will enjoy all these books. Apart from the books, I also enjoyed meeting up with a good friend.