Free Comic Book Day and May The 4th Be With You!

I attended the Free Comic Book Day at Kings Comics and I had so much fun! This was my first time doing anything like this.

Like queuing for hours.

Like joining the masses in adoration of fictional characters.

...you know what I mean. 

I had planned on taking a bus so I'd arrive at the store by it's opening time 9am but I was offered a lift. I sure am happy that I didn't take the bus because when I arrived at 8:20am, the queue was already looking rather formidable. So for the next 50 minutes, I gawked at cosplayers, read the 2 free comic books and ate the free donuts the staff gave us. Awesome, right?

Photo credits: Kings Comics Facebook page

When I finally got into the store, it was pretty crazy. I grabbed 2 more free comics and pottered around the store, looking for the manga section. I promised myself that I'd purchase only one manga but even that was proving difficult since they didn't have the first volumes of most mangas. After some thorough browsing, I finally found Volume 1 of "21st Century Boys" by Naoki Urasawa! I watched "Monster" anime a year back and it was amazing.

And creepy.

And awesome.

After I left the store and escaped the general crazy atmosphere, I crossed the street over to Elizabeth's Bookshops to buy an Asterix comic for my mom. She's a quite a huge fan and owns around 25 titles. I found that Elizabeth's has a good comic collection which includes manga and used comics for cheap prices.

I got down at the wrong bus stop on my way back home (yeah, I went full retard) which meant I had to walk over a kilometer. As I was walking, I spotted an Inspector Lynley novel at a thrift shop so I guess I was lucky...?

All in all, it was a great experience and I'm looking forward to reading the comics!

PS: Here's my OOTD. One of the staff members said my Vote for Pedro was awesome. Aw yeah.

But shit, it was 99 cents!

Yesterday, I headed over to Doonside to pickup my latest purchase, or rather, bargain. It was a collection of 16 books aptly named The Greatest Masterpieces of Russian Literature.

I had won it at an eBay auction for 99 cents. Oh you read that right. 99 cents. Hence, the post title's Macklemore reference.

My mother and I felt pretty terrible about simply waltzing away with such a beautiful collection so we decided to gift the now-previous owner a nice bottle of wine.

Sure, the books may not be in mint condition but it's what's on the pages that matter. What's more, the books have wonderful illustrations!

Can you say gorgeous? In fact, while I was reading Crime and Punishment, I often stop and look at the book's cover and spine.

There's an ornate gold baroque design on the pastedown. All the more to distract me from reading.

While I'm on the topic of books, I recently discovered a site called AwesomeBooks. They sell both used and new books for quite cheap prices. The books I've bought so far are used copies and cost me $3.99 each, free shipping included! It took about 10-14 days to receive the order.

It's suffice to say that I'll definitely be purchasing more books from AwesomeBooks rather than paying exorbitant sums at bookstores and flea markets. In fact, whenever I visit a bookstore now, I simply take a picture of the book I'm interested in and I look it up on their site. More often than not, I find that the book is available for a fraction of a fraction of the price!

If you're a lover of used books like me, then I definitely recommend AwesomeBooks.

PS: My IELTS exams are on the day after tomorrow - 19th January 2013. The days just flew by so quick, didn't they? I'm think I'm prepared and yet, not prepared...if I may offer you a riddle. Alright alright, enough The Ladykillers references. Auf wiedersehen!

Here's a particularly chilling excerpt from 'The Girl Who Played with Fire' by Stieg Larrson. For best results, try reading it at 3am, like I did.

[Chapter 7; page 119]

" The blond giant frowned in irritation as he manoeuvred the car at ten miles an hour along a forest road in such bad repair that for a while he thought he must have taken a wrong turn. It was just beginning to get dark when the road finally widened and he caught sight of the cabin. He stopped, turned off the engine, and took a look around. He had about fifty yards to go.

He was in the region of Stallarholmen, not far from the town of Mariefred. It was a simple '50s cabin in the middle of the woods. Through a line of trees he could see a strip of ice on Lake Mälaren.

He could not imagine why anyone would want to spend their free time in such an isolated place. He felt suddenly uncomfortable when he shut the car door behind him. The forest seemed threatening, as if it were closing in around him. He sensed that he was being watched. He started towards the cabin, but he heard a rustling that made him stop short.

He stared into the woods. It was dusk, silent with no wind. He stood there for two minutes with his nerves on full alert before, seeing it out of the corner of his eye, he realized that a figure was silently, slowly moving in the trees. When his eyes focused, he saw that the figure was standing perfectly still about thirty yards into the forest, staring at him.

He felt a vague panic. He tried to make out details. He saw a dark, bony face. It appeared to be a dwarf, no more than half his own size, and dressed in something that looked like a tunic of pine branches and moss. A forest troll? A leprechaun?

He held his breath. He felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck.

Then he blinked six times and shook his head. When he looked again the creature had moved about ten yards to the right. There was nobody there. He knew that he was imagining things. And yet he could so clearly make out the figure in the trees. Suddenly it moved and came closer. It seemed to be lurching in a semicircle to get into a position to attack him.

The blond giant hurried to the cabin. He knocked a little too hard on the door. As soon as he heard voices within, his panic subsided. He looked over his shoulder. There was nothing there.

But he did not breathe out until the door opened. Bjurman greeted him courteously and invited him in. "