Adieu, Kartu L'Agenda

I have a fond memory of Kartu L'Agenda, the only French bookstore in Malaysia.

I still remember the days when I was in university, sometimes I would drop by this obscure little bookstore located near the Titiwangsa LRT station. At that time, the Monorail was still under construction.

Located in the second floor of a quiet business center, the bookstore actually belongs to the same organization that produced the Red Kebaya. During my university years, I found a haven in this small, elegant bookstore, browsing through the works of Voltaire or Prévert, or even the Dragonball comic books translated in French.

I bought my copy of Christian Jacq's Le petit Champollion illustré, a beginner's guide to Egyptian hieroglyphs, and a French translation of Lovecraft's The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and other French books. Though not a frequent visitor, the bookstore is a part of my university years, I really can't imagine those years without it. The atmosphere has the homely feel, with those old Malay antiques and some dusty books on the shelves.

French books were and still are hard to come by in Malaysia, although Borders and Kinokuniya do carry a very small number of them, L'Agenda remains the only French bookstore here.

But Malaysians seldom read, even if they do, their reading materials are limited to school reference books or magazines like Mangga or Gempak. If the more serious books in English, Chinese or Malay are largely neglected, then who would bother to read French books. And, how many people can really read French here in Malaysia?

It is not surprising to hear L'Agenda is about to closedown soon. From 1st of July until 31st of August, L'Agenda is having stock clearance, and there is a 50% discount on all the books.

Yesterday after attending a workshop, I went to the bookstore with a colleague. The first thing we noticed when we reached the entrance of the bookstore is the "Promotion Spéciale" and "Clearance Sale- 50% for books- 30% for gallery items" signs.

Climbing the staircase to the bookstore is like a nostalgic trip back to the good old university days, where I would stay there for the whole afternoon on a Saturday, but this saturday would probably be the last time that I would step inside this building.

It is always a sad thing to hear that a bookstore is closing down, especially when the bookstore is the only one of its kind in this region.

I spent RM124 to buy several books there, here's the complete list of the books I bought:

Christiane Alberti et Marie-Jean Sauret, La psychanalyse

Henri Fauconnier, Malaisie

Herbert Wild, Dans les replis du dragon

Laurent Deshayes, Histoire du Tibet

Maurice Rat, Aide-Mémoire de Latin

Pierre Loti, Un pèlerin d'Angkor

I probably could not finish reading all of them, at least in the near future, but this would be the last time that I bought something from this little bookstore.

Merci pour tout, L'Agenda.