Thursday, September 07, 2006

Paul at the Bookstore

Seems like I'm spending lots of time in the bookstore waiting for my cherie amour these days - which unfortunately isn't terribly good for my straining wallet since I can't resist piling on various books in my shopping basket. Yes! I really do carry a basket in the bookstore which gives you an idea of you how many books I buy. Don't even tell me about the tax break since I usually go above and beyond that pathetically limited amount of RM 1000 ( with books being extortionately priced, that's only averaging 30 books a year! ). God knows a freakish spendthrift like me probably splurges all that on books in less than a month.

And that's not even counting my shopping for books online.

Easy enough for Charming Calvin to find me in the bookstore - at least I think its easy! - snce I usually veer from the popular fiction titles to some of the more serious stuff for a quick browse before popping over for a look at the graphic novels. And then if he's a bit late, I'll usually be found going through the various interior design hardcovers.

Reading!
Reading books is sexy!

Since my niece has started recognizing alphabets and numbers though ( and muttering far more intelligible gibberish ), I've been dropping by the children's section on a semi-regular basis. Just like any sad expectant gay uncle with insanely high hopes, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll turn out to be an interior design savant with an eye for high fashion and fabulous books. Doubt her traditionalist father would be pleased with that ambition though.

Or at the very least I hope that she'll inherit my family's love for books ( although I have a sinking feeling that she's leaning the way of her internet-savvy, MTV generation mother who oddly enough eschews the written word - at least in paperback form ). Still hopefully ( fingers crossed again! ) with all the books cramming up the house, hopefully she'll develop the reading habit by sheer osmosis. After all from my mother's taste for angsty Ayn Rand and literary classics to my brother's dreadfully dull self-help books to my increasingly varied tastes running the gamut from gory crime fiction / thrillers to bodice-ripping romances, there has to be something that the lil girl favours :)

Still it's amazing how varied children's stories are these days. From modern takes on old classics such as the Monkey God and the Magic Paintbrush to the anniversary of my sassy Eloise and Skipperdee at the Plaza, I think it's great to be a child reader now. Swear it never was like this when I was a kid - when I used to stare longingly at the colourful books and wish that I could afford them. Seriously. Possibly that's one of the reasons my insanely throbbing subconscious is buying them like crazy now to make up for lost time. Positively Freudian.

Before you get the idea that I'm a sadly deprived Dickensian orphan, let me tell ya that one of the things my parents have always granted me leeway to buy is books :) As a kid though, I usually balked at the price of the books since my allowance back then was paltry at best. Not so much of a problem now though.

Let me leave you with one of my favourite quotes.

When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes. - Desiderius Erasmus


I must have said that in a past life.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

ditto! well said, my dear friend!

hrugaar said...

I used to work in a bookshop. Could buy books at discount. Nearly bankrupted me, heh.

ikanbilis said...

oh i just love that quote. i practically spend 70% of my pocket money buying books especially novels. and i feel like the modern age oliver twist sometimes.. and when i was young i was not exposed to many books and i remember having only 3 Peter & Jane book.

You have no idea how my room looks like now after 14 years of that incident. perhaps i should take come photos and add it on my blog and i'll inform you when i do so.

briefly, my room is so small and now i have to sleep in my parents room. its filled with BOOKS!! all over it.. and children books are great. poor me last time there were limited illustrated books. i love books with illustration as well, but i love novels with exciting storyline.

my mum has warned me not to work in kinookuniya. i'd be dead, spending all my salaries on BOOKS! *giggles*

Anonymous said...

I seem to be overspending too much on books as well. But isn't the bookstore's atomosphere sexy? i mean you can be pervy. :-) However, I'd go the other way around for that quote. I only buy books to make me look smarter. :-P kidding.

Spot said...

I love children's books. Very fun to read out loud...in the bookshop. :)

Sandra Boynton books are fun...my favourite is Barnyard Dance.

There's nice one about friendship, starring two possibly gay pigs, called Toot and Puddle. So cute!

Borders has an excellent selection for kids and the kids-at-heart. There's this hillarious probably unsuitable for kids picture book I found there recently, titled - DOn't Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus. About an insane pigeon that wants to drive a bus.

Other titles by same guy - The Pigeon Finds A Hotdog. Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Too Late.

I could go on and on! :)

Just Me said...

I use to spend a lot of money on books, now I just borrow them from the library.

Although now that I am back in school I tend to only read text books which are kind of boring.

nemesis-on-fire said...

ahhh i know that quote! and i think it's somewhere on the walls of the curve's borders :)

my friends always find it very hard to drag me out of bookstores once i've gone in. hehe...

but oh!! how to read when there's such a delectable piece of meat like that? i find him so sexy... utterly delectable!!! paul, u're one naughty boy... now i can't sleep!

Anonymous said...

Great quote.

I love books & I love to read.

Thus, a stop at the bookstores is a must for any shopping trips & I do usually end up with at least one book in my shopping bag. :)

famezgay said...

gosh.. I just love MAGAZINES eh.. Books ah.. only some lor I will buy..

AHaha i spent roughly RM700 a year for magazines huh

nyonyapenang said...

ah, the quote reminds me of days gone by. don't buy much now, though. :(

ENVY said...

I never used to like books and reading...I'm falling for kids books now...Love those illustrations and fairy stufff...I wonder why suddenly the photos are getting naughtier then ever around here:) Love this side of the doctor! If all libraries have similar readers i guess no one would read a sentence after all!

nv

Anonymous said...

tell me bout books, jsut ask my roomie, i buy like no one elses business, be it fiction, mags, technical books, i just like to buy, and i do read too, extra fast..

now if only i could study jst as fast... hmmm

Sue said...

I volunteer in the town's local library. Too many books; too little time. Not enough guys that look like the one in your post! :(

Anonymous said...

You know, it's funny... I love hanging out in bookstores, and no, not to hook up!! :)

But I like to look at all the covers and just marvel at wall-to-wall information :) There must be something for everyone in there :))

I even worked for a bookstore for a few months until it drove me insane to have to walk around the store for 4 hours of my shift everyday.... after a while, I just couldn't take the monotony :))

thompsonboy said...

Hmmm...seems like there are more people who actually read and exist out there than I thought.

Maybe it's just me but it seems like my generation doesn't even know how a book looks like anymore. Sigh.

savante said...

Thanks, quirkycyclops!

Seriously, ru, if they could afford me, I wish I could work in Borders too!

Same over here ikanbilis! My room is already overflowing with books. Luckily I moved and started a library of sorts.

I'm sure you look smart already, shigeki!

I am so gonna look for the Toot and Puddle story, spot :) Sounds really cute!

The library here doesn't have that great a selection, cr!

You have a great memory and it is on the walls of Borders, nemesis.

Same over here, jemima. It's irresistible.

Unsurprisingly, I think I spend pretty much teh same on mags too, famezgay.

Why not, nyonya?

Thanks! I'm always a bit whimsical, envy :)

GASP. What do you read, xavier?

If I met a guy in the library who looked like that, sue, I'd volunteer as a librarian.

Walking around the bookstore for four hours sounds like something i'm doing most days, hbjock :) I should really consider working there.

They are out there.. a diminishing population, thompsonboy, but still there.

Paul

Anonymous said...

one of my favourite books as a child was "going on a bear hunt". I recently brought the 3yo a copy and he loves it!

I can relate to ikanbilis - I'm nearly in that situation. the DH has refused to buy me a third bookcase, so I'm filling all the slots in my wardrobe organiser. LOL who needs clothes?