In this article, I would be explaining the cons of being a Book Lover living in Malaysia. This is also my first discussion article that does not entirely involve any specific books.
Before any further due, let's go straight into it.
As far as I could remember falling in love with reading, living in Malaysia and being a total Book Nerd is the definition of a BAD COMBINATION. And here are some reasons why:
1. Let's admit, we have to wait for ages to read our most anticipated books.
Living in Malaysia, I have to wait for a long period of time before finally getting the book I want to read. I remember completely hyped up by the release of "The 39 Clues" books, but they are so difficult to acquire, I had to wait for almost two years to finally purchase them. Imagine being totally excited about the release and the book in your arms, but just because you know you have to wait for years to get them, you don't just lose your love and excitement for the book, you also give up reading them. Living in Malaysia, having Goodread is also not entirely a good thing. I had at least hundreds of anticipated books and had only purchase a small amount of them.
My current most anticipated books-to-read are "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo, All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven and the "Ruby Red" trilogy by Kerstin Gier. Coincidentally, all these three have something in common: you can't find them, anywhere.
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| "Six of Crows" is written by the New York Times Bestselling Author of the "Grisha" trilogy, Leigh Bardugo. "Six Dangerous Outcasts. One Important Heist." Learn more about this book on Leigh's website: http://www.leighbardugo.com/ |
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| "All the Bright Places" by Jennifer Niven. All the Bright Places is about two teenagers, Theodore Finch and Violet Markey, wanting to escape their small Indiana town. Violet wants to move away and escape the memories of her sister's death while Theodore continually dreams of dying, but is always stopped from bringing any of his plans to fruition. The two of them meet up by chance on their school's bell tower and strike up a friendship. However, while Violet finds that she's able to grow and somewhat surpass her grief, Theodore's own issues continually haunt him. A film adaptation starring Elle Fanning will be released in 2017. To learn more about this book, click on this link: http://www.jenniferniven.com/ |
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| American teen actress, Elle Fanning and author of "All the Bright Places", Jennifer Niven. Elle Fanning is best known for films like Super 8 and Maleficent. The film adaptation of "All the Bright Places" will be released in 2017. |
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| The "Ruby Red" trilogy is written by Kerstin Gier, a German writer. The Ruby Red trilogy follows the story of time traveller, Gwyneth Shepherd, living in contemporary London. Learn more about the trilogy by clicking on this link: http://kerstingier.com/ |
2. The difficulty of requiring the ideal book cover we want.
As we all know, one book could be published with all sorts of covers, depending on the country you live in and the language you are reading. For example, I am constantly in love with the US cover version of books, but because Malaysia is under the commonwealth, I am force to accept the UK cover version of the similar books. Not that I hated them, I just thought the UK cover version would not fit in my bookshelf as much as the US cover version.
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| The best example is this book--"Four: A Divergent Collection" by Veronica Roth. This is the US cover version, which I loved and pined for once it was released. Plus, it was in hardback. Four: A Divergent Collection is a collection of five short stories from the Divergent trilogy, written in Tobias Eaton or Four's point of view. |
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| However, I got my hands on this UK cover version of "Four: A Divergent Collection" by Veronica Roth. Not that I hated it, it just didn't quite match with the other books, which is the "Divergent" trilogy, also by Veronica Roth. However, I purchased this book in Foyles when I was travelling in London, so it's not all that bad. |
3. Hardback Vs Paperback
As far as I know, requiring paperback versions are so simple around here in Malaysia. However, readers might not always love paperbacks, kind of like me or just those who love neat and clean books, and have a big heart of lending books out to the world. Everyone knows hardbacks are so much easier to manage, but not always as portable as paperbacks. But, who are we kidding? As long as we love the book, carrying a slightly heavier book doesn't even seem to begin to be a challenge.
4. Books sometimes could get a little CRAZY expensive.
Continuing from my previous point, hardbacks are much more expensive compared to the paperbacks. However, I totally get it. Hardbacks need thicker papers compared to paperbacks, but I am not talking about that. I am talking about the paperback version books itself. In Malaysia, the average price for a Young-Adult paperback cost almost RM 35, which is considered expensive around here. Unless you have really financially supportive parents like mine, getting a 35 bucks book every single time you enter a book store seems a little too much, in the financial aspect, and come on, when do we ever buy only one book?
5. We might have big annual sales, but never half-price book stores.
In Malaysia, the four major book stores are Popular, MPH, Borders and Kinokuniya. They are like the Barnes and Nobles of the US, and Waterstones and Foyles of the UK (I have visited both bookstores and I am totally loving them). In Malaysia, book stores might sometimes hold sales, but in normal days, they usually sell nett price books which are usually really expensive. Learning from Sasha Alsberg, a Booktuber on Youtube, they actually have half-price book stores in the US, which we don't, so that is kind of a bummer.
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| No money? Well, we can always wait (or more like depend on) the annual Big Bad Wolf book sales at the beginning, middle or at the end of the year, depending on where you live. Head onto their website to know more about their annual book sales' venues. |
5. We could not meet authors and attend book signing events, which is a total buzz kill for book lovers like me.
The first and only Young-Adult author I knew that came to Malaysia to hold a book signing event was the "Delirium" book series' author, Lauren Oliver, and because she came on a weekday or a typical schooling day for me, I couldn't go, which made me so MAD. And everything was planned out in such a hush tone, no one really knew she was coming unless of course, you are constantly available on Twitter to read her tweets. So, as a Book Lover living in Malaysia, I sincerely hope that in the next ten years, big Young-Adult authors could consider coming to Malaysia to hold book signing events, especially authors like the "Throne of Glass" series and "A Court of Thorns and Roses", Sarah J. Maas, "The Lunar Chronicles" author, Marissa Meyer, "The Mortal Instruments" series and the "Infernal Devices" trilogy author, Cassandra Clare and many more.
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| My Heroine and always Inspiration. Sarah J. Maas is the New York Times Bestselling Author of the "Throne of Glass" series and most recently, "A Court of Thorns and Roses". I recently released an official book review on "A Court of Thorns and Roses", so you guys could head over there and check it out. |
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| The "Throne of Glass" book series by Sarah J. Maas is partly inspired by Cinderella. The story follows the journey of Calaena Sardothien, a teenage assassin in a corrupted kingdom with a tyrannical ruler. As the story progresses, Calaena forms unexpected bonds and uncovers a conspiracy admidst her adventures. |
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| "Queen of Shadows" by Sarah J. Maas is the fourth book in the "Throne of Glass" book series, excluding "The Assassin's Blade". Like previous books, Queen of Shadows is a critically acclaimed book. However, some book critics said this might be the best one yet. |
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| My first Sarah J. Mass novel--A Court of Thorns and Roses, that instantly swept me off my feet. Head over to this link to read my official book review on this AMAZING book: http://mylittlebookaffairs.blogspot.my/2016/01/bestbookof2015-edition-by-cauldron-this.html |
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| Marissa Meyer is the Brilliant Mind behind "The Lunar Chronicles" book series. The story takes place in a futuristic world where humans, cyborgs and androids all coexist. To learn more about the book series or Marissa Meyer's recent works, click on this link: http://www.marissameyer.com/ |
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| Each book in "The Lunar Chronicles" book series by Marissa Meyer is a retelling of a fairytale. For example, "Cinder" is inspired by Cinderella; "Scarlet" is inspired by Little Red Riding Hood; "Crest" is inspired by Rapunzel. |
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| "Winter" is the fourth book in "The Lunar Chronicles" book series by Marissa Meyer. Winter is inspired by Snow White and is critically acclaimed like most of the previous books in the same series. |
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| Cassandra Clare is the GENIUS behind the Shadow World. I first read "City of Bones" and "Clockwork Angel" almost two years ago and fell completely in love with it. Her PERFECT writing style and skills just made every single book so fluent and just so BEAUTIFUL. Click on this link to learn more about the shadow world: http://www.cassandraclare.com/my-writing/novels/ |
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| The "Infernal Devices" trilogy by Cassandra Clare is a prequel to "The Mortal Instruments" book series. The "Infernal Devices" trilogy follows Tessa Gray, an orphaned teenage girl, who discovers she has the power to shapeshift, but does not bear a mark that shows she is a warlock, and abilities that plunge her into a world she never knew existed. She will have to learn to master them if she wants to find her brother, Nate, and she will have to forge an alliance with Shadowhunters if she wants to survive in this dangerous world. Cassandra Clare has insisted that the series can be read in any order, but I recommend you guys to read "The Mortal Instruments" book series first, just so it would not take away the fun from "The Mortal Instruments" book series. To be honest, there was never one dull moment in the pages of these books. I just love this trilogy so much, I will be doing a full book series review, which I have not done before. |
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| If you have not yet started with "The Mortal Instruments" six books series, you are missing almost every single moment of EXCITEMENT and FUN. If you have not yet read the books, but really excited about it, you can watch the film adaptation of "City of Bones", which unfortunately flopped few years ago. However, ABC or recently changed to Free Form, a TV Series adaptation has recently been released, so you can watch that. |
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| Almost every single fan of either the INCREDIBLE "Infernal Devices" or "The Mortal Instruments" book series is so EXCITED for this book. "Lady Midnight" by Cassandra Clare is the starting of a new book series, "The Dark Artifices", continuing "The Mortal Instruments" book series, but five years in the future. |
6. We could not be more active in a fandom than we want to.
Being a Fangirl in Malaysia is probably the worst. Why? Well, because we couldn't participate more into the Fandom than we hope we could. Watching Booktubers on Youtube, they always seem to have merchandises and sometimes able to meet the film adaptation's cast members, but living in Malaysia, there really is no such opportunity. Fortunately enough, I had the opportunity to travel to the "Harry Potter" studio in Leavesden to purchase the merchandises. Only then, I realized what it really meant to be a part of a fandom.
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| Because is "Harry Potter"! What else is there to say?! |
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| If you are like me, a HUGE fan of either the "Harry Potter" book series or the film series, you should visit the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in Leavesden (like I did). |
These are my personal opinions about being a Book Lover in Malaysia. What about you guys? Are you facing the same problems as me? Do you live in Malaysia like me? Or do you guys live in somewhere else, also dealing with the same problems as me? Write in the comment section below. I would love to hear from you guys.
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