"What? You're done? How can you be done? I haven't even covered the other side yet!" I exclaimed to Lynnee and Erna.

Yep, we were at the Penguin & Pearson warehouse sale yesterday, where I was systematically going down row upon row of books. So as not to miss anything, you know. What to do, I'm kiasu (afraid of losing out). Not to mention a bit OCD at times.

But the place was so hot and stuffy, and my feet were killing me -- I was wearing high-heels because I'd had a meeting in the office that morning -- so in the end I gave up and didn't canvass the entire left portion of the place at all.

Still, I ended up with far more books than I could afford to buy. "I'm only bringing RM100, so I can't spend too much," I'd laughingly told friends. Who knew that, even with that wide a margin, it would be so frustrating?

After much weeding out, I ended up with these:

• Saki because I've wanted a collection of his stories for ages;
• 1984 because it's one of those books I know I should read, but haven't, although of course I know the rough gist of the story;
• In Silence: Why We Pray because prayer is still very much a mystery to me -- our contemporary culture is more au fait with the "God, please bless me, help me to be successful and give us good weather for tomorrow's picnic" type of prayers;
• Poirot In The Orient because it was 3 stories for RM12 and Agatha Christie is a genius;
• So Many Books because it incorporated this quote from Socrates: "If books don't encourage us to live life to the fullest, they are dead";
• Call Me Elizabeth because it's a story of a mother who became an escort to put food on the table for her children; and
• The Gift of Stones, Fascination, Innocent Eréndira and Children Playing Before A Statue Of Hercules because they're short story collections, which are easier for light reading -- plus Gabriel García Márquez is a well-known literary name (more well-known to me than the other three, anyway).

 
The ones that got away:

• Eyeris and Suanie both mentioned seeing Stardust but I couldn't find it, much to my disappointment;
• Erna bought a collection of John Donne's poetry but there was only one copy left  *sobs*;
• Left behind the two Bridget Jones' Diary books because I was over quota, and though they're entertaining it won't kill me not to have them, even if I did kinda identify with Bridget;
• Was contemplating collecting Ian Fleming's works but decided that can wait (what I really want are books by Leslie Charteris, creator of The Saint. Anybody???);
• Gave up Poems & Readings For Funerals because, well, in the balance, I'd rather buy something that makes me happy;
• Discarded Miguel Street by VS Naipaul on Erna's recommendation: "Naipul no need lah. Very hard to read." I thought the premise of the book was fascinating though;
• Placed Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass back on the pile... I do like his poetry, but figured I'd give priority to prose instead.

 
Now to read them all! I haven't even read those I got from the last book sale...