Thursday, September 04, 2008

Kinokinuya – Bookstore in the Twilight Zone


One of life’s truly wonderful pleasures is browsing in a bookstore. I’ve never met anybody who doesn’t enjoy losing themselves among shelves of books and even if you don’t end up buying anything, you never leave without the satisfyingly full feeling of having sated your appetite. It’s like visiting a sweet store where you’re allowed to taste all the merchandise, then leave without actually buying anything and still have the storekeeper smile and say “thanks for dropping by!”
Without the calories.
I have two favourite bookshops in Singapore, although I’m the first to admit that I haven’t looked that extensively since I just love these two so much and they are nearby on Orchard Road. The first of course is Borders, which I was excited to find on our first house-hunting mission here. You may think I’m easily pleased (and what’s wrong with that?!) but remember, I lived in a small Dutch village for 12 years before arriving here so any building filled with a million books all written in English is going to get my engine revving. Yes, I know it’s kind of a generic train station for popular books but hey, the kids section is huge, the magazine section is filled with journals I’ve never seen before, and the local section is well stocked with everything from historical tomes to the latest Sing-fiction. Actually it was while trying to locate a newly published book of short stories by local authors that I discovered a typically Singaporean quirk: the plastic wrapped book. We’ve all seen the wrapped up issues of Playboy etc in gas stations, but half the books deemed indecent in the sealed section in Singapore are considered mainstream in any Western country. Nothing makes you feel quite so much like a pervert as standing in line at Borders, idling staring into space, then realising everybody else is staring at you because all the books you’re buying are sealed in plastic! I can just hear them thinking “Kinky ang moh lady, no can read books in plastic, so rude lah”.
My ultimate favourite shop is Kinokuniya (try saying that quickly three times), located on the fourth floor of Takishimaya (there’s another one!) shopping centre. It’s unbelievably well-stocked with towering shelves of every kind of book you can think of. The manga section is incredible; hordes of pubescent kids poring over the latest issues of these graphic novels prove there’s a huge market for it. The kids section is even better than Borders in my opinion, with a much more extensive young readers reference section. I was looking for some new bedtime books to read the kids: they wanted the novels for the movies Walle and Star Wars – the Clone Wars. I also found some classics they will love: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (good old CS Lewis!), The Railway Children by E Nesbit and finally The Tale of Troy by Roger L Green which is bound to be a hit with Niels.

They also have the fantastic Book Web: an internet system that allows you to search for any book in their stores by title, author, or ISBN (either from your home pc or in the shop), locate it on the shelves and print out a map to find it if necessary.

The only slightly annoying thing about Kinokuniya is that I am constantly getting lost in there. It’s like a Tardis in that when you walk in you think you can see most of the shop and find your way out again but the longer you spend in there the bigger it gets and the more twists and turns the aisles take. This time I ended up getting lost in the maps corner, got confused in the Globes Display and then got stuck in a reference section on how to improve your English. They certainly take that subject seriously in Singapore where Singlish reigns and the government encourages people to improve their skills with books with titles such as English As It Is Broke. Floundering through the French and German books I had a fraught sensation of déjà vu before bursting out, gasping for breath into the realm of Culinary Pleasures. Heart beat returning to normal I picked up a copy of 1421 – The Year China Discovered The World before finally spotting a cashier. With my discount card wilting in my sweaty palm I paid for what by now had gown to a huge pile of books then made three circuits of the stationary annex before centrifugal force propelled me out an exit. Freedom!
Still, I know I’ll be back soon because there are few places I’d rather be lost than in Kinokuniya. And besides, by now the security guy is used to me and seems to give me a rather sympathetic smile as he waves goodbye. Or maybe it's the sealed books poking out of the carrier bag he's leering at...

1 comment:

Tanya said...

I have to agree Kinokuniya and Boarders are impressive. I like Page One too. Spoilt for choice in Singapore! Im down to Monument Books which is smaller than my bedroom bookshelf and two second hand bookstores which arent half bad considering.