As a life-long user of libraries, I used to view bookshops as an optional extra. Why buy a book that you are probably only going to read once when you can borrow it from the library? The only books I bought were those I’d already read and knew I would read again. But there are no libraries that cater for the likes of me in Ipoh. I have an e-reader and I can and do buy e-books. However, I still prefer an actual book. So it is with great delight that I anticipate my visit to the Kinokuniya bookshop in KLCC. We are in KL for a few days and a morning in this wonderful store is the first thing on my to-do list. I sometimes feel a pang of guilt when I spend hundreds of ringgit on books that probably will not fulfill the “read more than once” criterion. But books are the staff of life and, as my daughter wisely reminded me, writers need to be supported.