That $50 book haul

Just last week, I came to know about the SG Book Deals Warehouse Sale. Apparently, they held this event last year as well, but then I was still in my anime phase 3 so I didn’t know about it. When I heard about it this year, I knew I just had to go and check it out at least.

I decided to take advantage of the early release from school yesterday due to National Day Celebrations, planning to arrive at the building before or slightly after 1pm. Unfortunately, it seems that Tyche was just not on my side today. First, I overestimated the time I had left for lunch if I wanted to reach there early, causing me to board the bus when it was 30 minutes to one. Second, I missed my stop. Third, I took many wrong turns due to me imputing the incomplete address into Google Maps, leading to the app misinterpreting the location and giving me directions to another location and I ended up walking in a circle (technically it’s more of a square).

But at long last, I finally arrived at the building. I was tired and sweating, my face was flushed, but it was worth it. Yet, after all that walking, I still took the stairs to the third floor despite there being a lift.

Thankfully, there weren’t as many people there as I had expected (prehaps everyone was still busy catching Pokémons), making it easier for me to navigate the rows of books. It was pretty hard moving around with a box by your side and limited corridor space. And so, the next two hours were spent looking for books to fill my box. There were a lot of choices, and most of the books were in pretty good condition. They might be a bit dusty and have a few faded marks, but other than that, they’re fine. I filled my box, paid for it, and left.

I would have loved to open my box the moment I got home, but I had spilled some soya bean milk on my uniform on the way home so I took a shower first. Refreshing shower done, I sat down on my room’s floor and proceeded to open my box. As I was using an X-acto knife to cut the scotch tape, I was honestly really scared that I would press the blade in too deep and accidentally leave a mark on of the books at the top. Thankfully, my (irrational) fear did not come true.

First thing I did when the box was opened? Take a pic. Then stack them into two towers and take more pictures.

32 books!! I might have counted wrongly but it should be close. Still. 32 books. My god. I never noticed it was this many till I actually counted the number. From the picture. The number is actually just a confirmation of the many books I bought yesterday. Gosh. 32. I’m still in shock ignore me.

After the pictures came the hard part: how do I arrange them? Three ways came to mind: I could try the rainbow bookshelf, or maybe I should just stick to my original way of arranging (by separating standalones, series and non-fiction and then by height), or I could do by author. I still continued with my original arrangement but it’s currently a bit messy as I have yet to clear up a second shelf for the standalones so I just stack them onto of each other.

All in all, it was an amazing experience (minus the walking and muscle ache and spilt drink). If they have this even again next year, I would definitely be there. Maybe I’ll even try going there on Day 1.

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Here’s a list of the books I got:

You might have noticed that Charm & Strange was repeated twice in the list. No, I did not make a mistake while making the list. I did, however, make a mistake while taking the books. I remembered I had picked up the book before but I couldn’t remember if I had put the it in my box so I put in the second one as well, intending to check through all the books I had taken before going to the cashier, but I didn’t. So now I have two copies of the same book. Who you what that means? Absolutely nothing tbh. I’m currently looking into having an international giveaway but shipping rates and hella expensive and I gotta save up for that first.

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Have you read any of the books on the list? Which would you recommend I read first?

On a side note: If you live in Singapore or are currently visiting Singapore, you should totally go check out the Warehouse Sale. Even if you don’t want the $50 box deal, you can get the books individually at really cheap prices. Check out their Facebook page for more details (-: