For those who don't know already, my name is Kampung Gal and I am a book-shopaholic-maniac.
I'm buying books faster than I can read them. (Buying that speed-reading book didn't help either.) And now (surprise, surprise) I don't have the space to stash them all. I'm short of stacking them on the floor. And I would've done it if I'm not living with my parents.
I was one of those people that won't get rid of the books after reading them. A lot of people has told me to give it away, sell it, throw it, do whatever but I still can't see the meaning of it. I bought the books with my hard-earned money. I'm not gonna throw it away, mom!
But now after some thought I finally understand. I can even pinpoint the exact moment when I change my stand on book-collecting. It was when I was browsing The Book Addict's Treasury about a month ago and I came across this quote,
I houseclean my books every spring and throw out those I'm never going to read again like I throw out clothes I'm never going to wear again. My friends are peculiar about books. They read all the best sellers, they get through them as fast as possible, I think they skip a lot. And they NEVER read anything a second time so they don't remember a word of it a year later. But they are profoundly shocked to see me drop a book in the wastebasket or give it away. They way they look at it, you buy a book, you read it, you put in on the shelf, you never open it again for the rest of your life but YOU DON'T THROW IT OUT! NOT IF IT HAS A HARD COVER ON IT! Why not! I personally can't think of anything less sacrosanct than a bad book or even a mediocre book.
Helene Hanff, letter to Frank Doel, 18 September 1952
I think this is taken from the book 84, Charing Cross Road.
After reading that I thought, God, I'm just like her friends. I read the book, I keep it and probably will never open it for the rest of my life. And then I bought the book, the Book Addict's that is.
But I'm not as drastic as her. I'm not about to throw anything away. I guess the most comfortable way for me to let them go is sell them.
My friend suggested we join a flea market but that was about 3 years ago. So... suffice to say I'm still stuck with the books.
I tried the various used bookstores around town. I think it won't even cover my transportation expenses. Anyway, some of the titles are quite unconventional so I don't think they want them anyway.
I tried e-bay one time. No luck.
So now I want to try this. I will advertise on my blog because I think blog readers are more diverse than e-bay visitors. Who am I kidding, I think blog readers are more sophisticated too. I'll figure out the logistic of it later. I just want to know if this can work.
I will start of with these first.
Title: The Art of The Hunchback of Notre Dame
ISBN: 0786862084
Format: Hardcover
Condition: Quite good. A bit 'kedut' at the jacket edges. But content still OK. No holes. Bought this during my Hunchback-crazed days.
Price: Selling price is US50 but just for you, I'm selling at RM50.
Title: Secrets
Author/Artist: Luis Royo
ISBN: 1561631620
Format: Paperback
Condition: Very good. Pristine. Like New. I can't remember how, when or why I bought this book.
Price: I know this guy is some famous artist and this book is still good so RM65.
And these....
1) Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl, 0679729895, PB, RM25
2) Books of Blood Vol 1-3 by Clive Barker, 075151022X , PB, RM25
3) Winnie the Pooh Collection by AA Milne, 0603560792, HC BOX SET, RM40
All in good condition.
Hey, I take care of my books very well tau....
I also have textbooks.
1) INTERNATIONAL MARKETING (10TH ED), PHILIP R CATOERA, 0071156739, HC
2) CALCULUS (5TH ED), HOWARD ANTON, 0471594954, HC
3) DISCRETE MATHEMATICS AND ITS APPLICATIONS (2ND ED), KENNETH H. ROSEN, 0070537445, PB
4) ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE FOR THE IBM-PC (2ND ED), KIP R IRVINE, 0023596511, HC
5) CONCEPTS OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES (2ND ED), ROBERT W SEBESTA, 0805371303, HC
6) DATA STRUCTURES AND ALGORITHM ANALYSIS IN C++, MARK ALLEN WEISS, 0805354433, HC
7) PLUG N PLAY JAVA SCRIPTS, KEVIN READY, 1562056743, PB
8) MARKETING MANAGEMENT: AN ASIAN PERSPECTIVE (2ND ED), PHILIP KOTLER ETC, 0130109800, PB
E-mail me if you're interested. We'll discuss delivery, payment etc later.
