Most Malaysians will be familiar with the name Big Bad Wolf by now. Founded in 2009, the massive book sale event sees millions of titles going for low, low prices, sometimes up to 90% off. The majority are remaindered books (ie unwanted new books sold by publishers to retailers at a lower price), in various genres – mostly in English, but also Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese.

The sale is currently ongoing until December 17 at the Mines International Exhibition and Convention Centre in Seri Kembangan. For book lovers, this is the perfect opportunity to grab as many as possible! 🙂 One unique thing about the BBWS? They are open 24 hours – so you can basically waltz in at 12AM for a spot of midnight shopping, when the crowds are less.

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I went on a Sunday and it took me well over an hour just to get into the vicinity, and even then I had to park two blocks away at The Mines 2. Be prepared for extremely bad traffic and a lack of parking spaces, because The Mines is in a neighbourhood area and the roads are ill-equipped to handle a large amount of traffic. Maybe try Grab instead to avoid getting stuck in the jam.

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Heaven.

There are over 3 million books on sale, stretching from one end of the gargantuan hall to the other. Books are separated according to language and genre, piled on smaller ‘islands’ for easy browsing. You can get a trolley or a basket from the entrance – some people even bring their own suitcases!

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I visited the sale in 2017 and got some pretty good titles, so I was looking forward to a new haul. A little disappointed as there were not many horror and science fiction offerings. Only saw one Stephen King book, the same one I got last year. 😦 They did have a nice selection of non-fiction though, especially history books. There’s also a section dedicated to graphic novels and comics.

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Most of the books were wrapped in plastic, which I didn’t find environmentally friendly. Before, the books were sold ‘naked’.

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Satisfied with my haul, I then had the arduous task of lugging them back to my car two blocks away. First, a quick massage.

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What I got this year: a good mix of non-fiction and fiction! Successfully stayed under budget – RM97.20 for eight books. Most of the books were about RM10 or RM12. Still at least 70% cheaper than buying them from regular bookstores, which would cost upwards of RM40.

I was pysched to see a copy of the Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon – we used this for our Creative Writing studies in college. It’s told through the perspective of an autistic boy, who is determined to investigate the murder of his neighbour’s dog.

Other titles: 

  • Mafia Brotherhoods by John Dickie
  • The Pope & Mussolini by David I. Kertzer – attracted because apparently this won a Pulitzer prize
  • Dancing with the Tiger by Lili Wright – about drug dealing and artifact smuggling in Mexico
  • Time 85 Years of Great Writing – a compilation of Time articles
  • The Good Shufu by Tracy Satler 
  • The Art of Joy by Goliarda Sapienza
  • The Infidel Stain by MJ Carter 

Yes, sadly, no horror titles. But I still have a couple of them bought from last year’s sale that I haven’t read. 😛 Aiming to finish my H.P Lovecraft collection sometime in the near future lolol.

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Happy Reading!