The Great Book Quest of 2012, Part 1

A few weeks ago, I made a promise ( “I’m not buying anything else until the end of February”) after spending more than $50 on books. Since I still don’t have a (paying) job, I decided it would be better if I don’t spend too much money. Unfortunately, in order to fight boredom, I decided to break that promise and buy more books today.

Originally the plan was to get Looking for Alaska and The Fault in our Stars, both by John Green. Silly old me, I didn’t check if they were available until last night, and realised none of the shops near the CBD had them. I came really close to becoming a Giant Squid of Anger (I managed to calm down, so it was all good).

Knowing I wouldn’t find these books, I decided to pay a visit to the bookshops nonetheless. Even if I knew my inability to fight the urge of impulse buying would mean I would spend quite a bit…

My first stop was Abbey’s Bookshop, a ‘small’ bookshop located behind the Queen Victoria Building, about three minutes away from Town Hall train station. First time I came to this bookshop was with my friend Shaz, and we went there to get some of her books and her friends’ books signed by the author who wrote said books. I went back again when I bought The Hobbit earlier this month, but I haven’t been back since then.

I really like Abbey’s Bookshop. Although their new releases are a bit more expensive (like $2 more), I like how… comfy it feels. It has a really nice, family run-like atmosphere inside, which is something I really enjoy in a bookshop (so much so I wish I could work for them). I didn’t talk to any of the staff, but they all seem really friendly. That, added to their great collection of books (especially that of Fantasy and Science Fiction books) for an independent bookshop, makes them on of my favourite bookshops in Sydney.

Anyway, I bought Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan at Abbey’s Bookshop, which was the only John Green I could find. I wasn’t planning on buying this book just yet (and I actually wanted the hard cover) since I want to read John Green’s book in order of publication, but since Looking for Alaska seems to be hiding from me, “What the hell!” passed through my mind and I bought it. :D

My next stop was Kinokuniya, which is always my stop when I’m looking for manga and the like. It also has big range of Chinese and Japanese books, so if you’re looking for those, Kinokuniya is your place to go. I wasn’t expecting to find any books by John Green, since whenever I checked the in-store database, it usually came with no results. Having said that, I was probably misspelling something. That, and I was looking at the wrong section: his books are in the Children/Teens sections. Silly, silly old me.

Not only did I find three John Green books – An Abundance of Katherines which I already bought ages ago, Paper Towns and The Fault of our Stars – but I also found a bunch of Maureen Johnson’s books, including her newest book, The Name of the Star. Having decided to get Paper Towns, I walked around Kino, looking at the other sections while I tried to decide which Maureen Johnson to buy (it would have been easy if they had 13 Little Blue Envelopes, but they only had the sequel).

I decided to get The Name of the Star when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw some books by another writer… my FAVOURITE writer. Not only that… THEY WERE SIGNED COPIES! So who was (s)he?

Come back tomorrow and find out. This is not part 1 for nothing. =p ¹