The Book Barracks: A Cosy Haven to Browse S$2 Books For A Good Cause in Marymount, Singapore
PUBLISHED November 30th, 2021 05:00 am | UPDATED December 9th, 2021 05:49 pm
When you’re a bibliophile, there’s no better feeling than the sheer joy of lugging home a bagful of new books – unless it’s scoring ’em all at a bargain. If you’ve burrowed your way through Singapore’s secondhand bookstores, here’s the newest literary trove to bookmark: The Book Barracks. Open only on Fridays to Sundays, this comfy space in Jalan Pemimpin is home to thousands of preloved texts, including the likes of Atwood, Amitav Ghosh, and Anthony Doerr. The best part? You’ll be helping to fund children’s education, one book at a time.
The Book Barracks is run by Books Beyond Borders – a non-profit online bookstore on a mission to combat rural illiteracy. Founder Randall Chong collects and sells secondhand books, with all net profits going toward educational programs for rural schools across Nepal. These programs equip young students with reading skills, classroom materials, school libraries – and above all, a way out of poverty.
It was a solo backpacking trip through Nepal in 2017 that sparked his passion for the cause. On his trek in Mount Everest, Randall met Madan, a young porter who used to walk three to four hours to school everyday – but had to leave school to work at just 16 years old. That encounter drove him to begin raising funds for schools in Nepal. Experimenting with fundraising campaigns, he eventually hit on a more self-sustaining model of book-selling. To date, he’s rehomed nearly 10,000 books and raised over S$34,000.
As all book lovers know, storage is a problem when you’ve got this many books. For a while, Randall housed his collection in his grandfather’s bedroom, then his aunt’s office – before space constraints inevitably became an issue. Finally, he made the move to his own space, launching The Book Barracks this September.
Tucked deep in the industrial bowels of Jalan Pemimpin, the ‘bookxhibition’ is a five-minute walk from Marymount MRT – crucial to know if you plan on lugging around a sack of literary finds. Strung with fairy lights and trailing vines, the space is more cosy than its warehouse façade suggests, complete with a small seating area furnished with couches. You might also spot photos from Randall’s school visits to Nepal, alongside touching thank-you notes from students framed on the walls.
Booking a slot online is mandatory before you head down, and involves a S$5 fee – but this can be used to offset any purchases you make. Prices start from just S$2 for books piled on the floor and the front table; fiction books on the shelves can range from S$5 to S$10, while non-fiction titles are priced at S$7 or S$10.
Roughly arranged by genre, the fiction section is sprawling enough to spend a whole afternoon digging through – from thrillers and tearjerkers to classics and contemporary lit. Our quick browse unearthed gems like Ian McEwan’s Solar, Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior, Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up The Bodies, Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies, Leïla Slimani’s Lullaby, and Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See – all in good condition. It’s also a wallet-friendly way to dabble in popular series like George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, or see just what Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians is all about.
Meanwhile, the non-fiction section is stocked with self-help and business titles, though you might find the odd history gem. Before you leave, take a walk down memory lane at the YA shelves with nostalgic finds like Harry Potter, Warrior Cats, and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. It’s worth thinking about how reading has brought many of us such childhood joy – how fortunate that we can give back that joy to others.
The Book Barracks is located at 41 Jalan Pemimpin, Kong Beng Industrial Building, Lift Lobby A, #03-01E, Singapore 577186. Open Fri 12pm–7pm, Sat-Sun 10am–7pm by RSVP only.
