Whole-Year Round Book Sale in Lucky Plaza

I went to the Popular Bookstore Warehouse sale yesterday and got deeply disappointed by the limited number of titles, and the fact that the books are still a tad more expensive than I expected. I attended the Warehouse Sale (also in Singapore Expo), December of last year and you could really see that the books there were on SALE, at 2 dollars/5 dollars per title. At any rate, I wouldn’t have minded spending (on books), if the titles were appealing. While the place is huge, they have more assessment books on sale than fiction/non fiction titles.

So to cheer me up, my husband decided to drop me off at Lucky Plaza where I usually buy cheap books in their Basement Level bookstore, while he buys shirts for his new tshirt printing business venture. Yup, this is the place, and the name of the bookstore is Discount Books Pte Ltd. What it lacks for in the sparkle and glitter of the bookshop name it makes up for beautifully in the lovely titles that they have on sale. They also have this notice right in front of the shop:

I guess this is what makes them different from the Bras Basah bookstores. While both places sell books for dirt-cheap prices, the books here in Discount Books are in pretty good condition. Here are some of the titles that they have on display (quite a number of AS Byatt titles, Rushdie, Patterson, even Stephen Hawkings). However, what I got really excited about is the fact that they have 12 children’s books for 10 SGD – Scholastic book titles at that. See their post here:

This is for a limited time only, so I suggest that children’s book aficionados visit as soon as they have the time. Regular prices are still quite cheap though (4 books for 10 sgd, I believe).

Here are the books that I bought (yummy yummy!):

It’s my first time to have books by K. A. Applegate, but I have heard of her Animorph series. This one would be four out of the 14 Remnants books that she has. And since I love Series (this one also falls under the category of sci-fi, which we sorely lack here in GatheringBooks) – I thought this is not a bad buy for 1 sgd each (not even 1 dollar each since I got 12 books for 10 sgd).

I also got five out of the 12 EverWorld titles (these are the only ones available anyway in the bookstore), since the summary at the back looks mighty appealing:

“There is a place that shouldn’t exist. But does. And there are creatures that shouldn’t exist. But do. Welcome to a land where all of your dreams and nightmares are very real – and often deadly. Welcome to Everworld.”

It kind of reminds me of Clive Barker’s Abarat or Weaveworld. Let’s see whether these young adult fiction titles hold a torch to the surrealists and darknesses of Barker and Gaiman.

These three are still part of their 12 books for 10 sgd sale. Caela is still on a jokebook frenzy, and I noted that The Tale of Rickety Hall has been shortlisted for the 2001 Children’s Book Award. Mighty interesting. And it’s quite thin, I am sure my eight year old would be finished with this in half a day. Again, not bad for less than a dollar’s worth of spending, right?

I nearly shrieked with glee when I saw Colin Thompson’s The Floods. I absolutely adore all his picture books and I know that he has this Floods series going on, but no I have not found it in any of the community libraries nor in our own NIE library. So this is a FIND for me. These three babies I got for 12 dollars in all. Varjak Paw is likewise a wonderful Find, since it’s illustrated by Dave McKean and has been awarded the Smarties Prize Gold Award. And of course, Isabel Allende is Isabel Allende. I have a collection of her works. I am currently reading her Paula and crying buckets of tears as I turn each of the page while I marvel at the surreal and magical way she writes.

Both my daughter and I screamed aloud when we saw Graeme Base’s book, and it’s for 3 sgd! And guess what, it comes with a CD! What a treat. I am also amazed at the fact that there’s a children’s version of The Celestine Prophecy which I’ve read around 10 years back, The Song of Celestine. The illustrations are amazing, and yes it’s also for 3 sgd only.

Ela specifically requested for this new coloring book, and since it’s only for 1dollar, why not? This other book, though, has caught my eye now for quite some time, The Lying Carpet written and illustrated by David Lucas. Here is a sample of the illustrations within, and black-and-white as they are,

they have a magical quality to them that makes you want to really read the narrative and find out what is going on in the pages.

I am also happy to see a Salman Rushdie book on sale. Getting a hardbound version of Shalimar the Clown for 8 sgd is definitely not bad. My attention was also caught by this title Evidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins. It’s a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, a Los Angeles Times Best Book for the Year, and a National Book Award Finalist. And yes, I got it for 5 sgd.

However, the one find that I am particularly proud of and for which I am thanking the heavens for, is this:

A 2008 reprint of Raymond Briggs’ Gentleman Jim!! Rarest of rarest of finds indeed! I was just blogging about Raymond Briggs the other day and I find him in Lucky Plaza. Hahaha. We don’t even have this at the NIE Library. This is now considered a classic, and having it in hardbound and in mint condition, I have died earlier and gone to heaven, I am soo happy. Hhahaa. So this is the reason for my disappointment at the Popular Warehouse sale yesterday, I have Raymond Briggs in store for me in Lucky Plaza. And the most wonderful thing is that the sale goes on 12 months in a year, 7 days a week! And yes they get new titles every two weeks. So til the next book shopping everyone!

Remnants by K.A. Applegate

Amazon | Book Depository

EverWorld by K.A. Applegate

Amazon | Book Depository

The Tale of Rickety Hall by Penny Dolan

Amazon | Book Depository

My Invented Country by Isabel Allende

Amazon | Book Depository

Varjak Paw by S. F. Said

Amazon | Book Depository

The Floods: Neighbours by Colin Thompson

Amazon | Book Depository

The Worst Band in the Universe by Graeme Base

Amazon | Book Depository

The Lying Carpet by David Lucas

Amazon | Book Depository

Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie

Amazon | Book Depository

Evidence of things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins

Amazon | Book Depository

Gentleman Jim by Raymond Briggs

Amazon | Book Depository