I travel to Singapore several times in a year. Initially it was for vacations and to visit my sister. Now we work together so it's business that brings me to this country more. But across the years we've built up a sort of routine or ritual where we have to go to Books Kinokuniya together.
We were raised as book lovers. Toys and other items could be rewards for good grades on a report card but books were at least every week. Pick-a-book was probably one of the things that most empowered us to develop a love for reading and we remain happily "cursed" to continue buying books.
Books Kinokuniya is not the cheapest book buying experience. It comes out a little better when you factor in a membership discount and a tourist GST refund maybe. But what it offers is sheer range of titles. And given how most of my book buying has shifted to digital through Kindle, I really only purchase physical copies of books that I'm either super passionate about or are harder to find and are a pleasure to hold in your hand.
So every time I'm in Singapore, we try to go to Kinokuniya together. We walk in without specific books to purchase in mind but walk out with a lot of stuff. No regrets there. And it's yet another way we bond, which is priceless.
But if you really want to see crazy, you wait for the entire family to be in Singapore at the same time. Mom got us into this whole reading situation and our younger brother didn't escape the hobby. So yeah, Kinokuniya is a happy place.
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