MPH Warehouse Sale

My mother noticed that there was a MPH warehouse sale taking place over the weekend, and asked me as early as Thursday if I was interested in going. I was hesitant on two counts - firstly, it is held at the Singapore Expo which is quite far from my home, and secondly, every single time my family goes to MPH warehouse sales, we usually end up coming home with cartons of books, having burned at least a $500 hole in our pockets.

However, we did end up going after our usual family lunch. The sister even expressed interest in going down at around 7pm after she finished her last therapy session in Tampines, which was relatively near-by, but I told her that it was unlikely that we would be staying that long. So, naturally, she rang at 7pm to find that my mother and I were still at the Expo having accumulated several boxes full of possible buys.

But I must say, this was quite a stupendous haul that we managed. But here are the three most stupendous bargains that we got on th day:

The Lord of the Rings hardcover Illustrated Edition - retail price 75 pounds total, purchased for S$21

The World's Greatest Wine Estates by Robert Mondavi - retail price over S$100, purchased for S$7

The Lonely Planet Citescape Box Set (10 Books) - retail price 45 pounds, purchased for S$10

There were also a fair number of books that I found there at bargain prices that I would have been more than willing to pay full dollar for including:

The Judgement of Paris - The Great 1976 Wine-Tasting
1491: America Before Columbus by Charles Mann
Crusader Nation: The US in Peace and the Great War
The Bible: A Biography by Karen Armstrong (Hardback)
The Wealth of Nations: A Biography by P.J O'Rourke
First Man: The Authorized Biography of Neil Amstrong (Hardback)
Q School by John Feinstein

This also fails to mention books by John Updike, Don DeLillo, Orhan Pamuk, Ismail Kadare, and lots of other Vintage trade paperbacks that we purchased along with two volumes of 3 in 1 hardback Tintin reprints, 7 volumes of the graphic novel series Transmetropolitan, three beautiful Lonely Planet coffee table books, and stacks of interesting random history and non-fiction.

All in all, it will suffice to say that it was a very good day indeed.