Job Discussion Forums

khmerhit · Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2004 3:44 am Post subject: Masterpieces

Do you ever get a craving to re-read old masterpieces? Just this morning I had an urge to re-read the Ginger Man by JP Donleavy. Odd feeling, came over me just like that, out of the blue, quite strong as well. And what do you do if this happens when you are miles from any bookshop? Do you settle for a DVD?
Just wondering
Happy new Year
Regards
kh

guest of Japan · Joined: 28 Feb 2003 Posts: 1601 Location: Japan

I have 99% of the books I own with me in Japan. It cost me a few hundred dollars in shipping, but I don't feel complete without them. Books are my only precious possessions.

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

Thank the Lord for ebooks. I like to read a lot of very old stuff i.e. classical and classics from more modern times. A lot of these are available online for free download. I've also purchased the odd ebook online and read it on my PDA. I'd love to have wall to wall floor to ceiling bookshelves crammed with stuff and a roaring log fire but I can't seem to fit a room like this in my rucksack Wink

johnslat · Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2004 1:46 pm Post subject: M bags

Have you people from the States ever heard of/used what the post office calls an "M bag"? I did for years, shipping books to Saudi Arabia - and I mean literally shipping. You go to your local post office and ask for an M bag, which is basically a good-sized duffel (or sea) bag. Then, you load it up with books (I used to get about 80 0r 90 paperbacks in one), take it back down to the post office and pay, as I recall, about $30 to have it shipped. The downside? Well, it did take about 4 months to get it. I'd usually send it off very early on during my summer holiday, around June or July, and would receive it in Riyadh about late October, early November. Once you get the process going, however, your books from the previous year can last you until the next year's shipment arrives - plus, of course, what you take with you and what's available wherever you are. I highly recommend it.
Regards,
John

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

yes, I used the bag, literally a bag, with good results shipping books to China. Not that there is anything wrong with watching TV here, IF you want to watch the same, literally same show several times a week for several months

Steiner · Joined: 21 Apr 2003 Posts: 573 Location: Hunan China

Ahh, M Bags. A dollar a pound to send printed material from the U.S. to China.

I've been reading a lot of Mark Twain lately. It's amazing that an author could remain so completely fresh and funny over a century after he wrote. Last night I enjoyed his essay Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses. The only authors that make me laugh so much now are Bill Bryson and Tony Hawks, but I don't read much recent stuff.

johnslat · Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2004 2:48 pm Post subject: Yucks

Dear Steiner,
If you want some yucks - and haven't already read them - may I suggest

" A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

and

"Handling Sin" by Michael Malone.

Both are "laugh-out-loud" funny.

Regards,
John

FGT · Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 762 Location: Turkey

From the UK books can be posted at "printed paper rate" providing some rules are observed re packaging. It's much cheaper than normal parcel rate.

Online purchases can be good. I recommend abebooks.co.uk for second hand/out of print books (I think they deal in new books too). They are like a sorting office using lots of different booksellers, you can search for a specific book by price or other categories.

One of the best new books I've read in a while is "White Teeth" by Zadie Smith. Her control of dialogue in various varieties of English is superb - you can hear the West Indian/Asian nuances.

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

Thankfully, my school library has a copy of my favorite book--Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo"--so when I recently got the urge to re-read it, it was fairly easy to get a copy. If I can't find what I want in the library, depending on how desperately I want it, amazon.com is just a mouseclick away... I've used amazon.co.jp as well, but it flooded my inbox with messages that took about 10 minutes to open (because of the characters...), so I might not go back there again.

d

Wolf · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 1245 Location: Middle Earth

I get the urge for the classics. I miss my library, but there's no point in shipping it now, when I'm looking at another move this year and have tons of books as it is. I use the internet to find the non-copyright stuff. Also, the Aichi Prefectural Library in Japan had a small but presentable collection of English langauge classics, all things considered.

At times I'd just break down and buy the expensive import books. What's a guy to do?