in your basement

Located at No. 5 Ann Siang Hill, BooksActually is a quaint little bookstore that sells, well, books. (And they do sell well by the way!) The store has been around for nearly 5 years already, and was previously located at nearby Telok Ayer Street. I’m a pretty frequent customer of the store — now turned staff member — so let’s walk you through on of Singapore’s best kept secrets.

BooksActually specializes in fiction - that is, literary novels, poetry and plays. Sounds dreadful? Yeah, I guess for the average plebian otaku, you might shudder at the thought of having to relive those English / English Lit classes.

So why am I featuring BooksActually, other than to pimp my workplace? Well firstly kids, where do you think all your manga-ka and anime script writers get their ideas from? They’re not uneducated fools and have, for the most part, done tons of research on their topics of choice. Take The Prince of Tennis for example. While most of the moves and smashes are far-fetched and seemingly impossible, I’ll have the benefit of the doubt that Konomi-sensei did proper research and scratched out the really scientifically impossible moves. And I’m talking about really out-of-this-world moves.

I’m willing to wager my shorts that behind every successful and well-written production, lies someone with a very good collection of books - be it fiction or non-fiction.

We’ve got a resident-cat called Cake who doesn’t like being eaten. He likes to bite and scratch poor me, so his porch is pretty off limits to the public. Still, he’s an adorable cat.

Why do I like shopping here, even though I have a Kinokuniya discount card? Well, the store owners Kenny and Karen personally pick each and every book that’s in the store — I think that’s really personalized service and it takes a lot of effort to curate a store which has nearly a thousand titles. It’s no easy feat to review and choose each book.

Also, they produce their own line of stationery and vintage knick-knacks under their imprint Birds & Co. If you’re looking for a gift, or a good notebook, why not drop by? We also do sell a range of toy camears (Superheadz cameras, Holgas, film…)

The store’s not very busy most of the time — though we do a bang-up business on Fridays and Saturdays — so if you just want to chill out and relax in somewhere with good music, then you might want to trot your hooves down to BooksActually. Pick up a book and enlighten yourselves for an hour or two. If you see me in the store (Bookshop Bear), do say hello and maybe I’ll recommend a book for you.

If historical non-fiction, science, philosophy and travel are more you, then do drop by our non-fiction store Polymath & Crust. (If you ever wondered if time-travel was possible, ala Toki wo Kakeru no Shoujo, then we do have a few books by Michio Kaku that attempts to explain that.

Actually, I don’t have any shorts.