STORIES
PJ Reads: The Bookstores Worth Making Time For
You know how some bookstores just... feel different?
Like someone actually thought about what goes on the shelf. Not just the Top 10 Most Recommended Books on BookTok, but a carefully curated, unique selection. Like the nature books you can't find anywhere else, the translated fiction your friends haven't heard of yet, or the philosophy section that somehow has exactly what you needed this week.
These are the bookstores that’ll make every bibliophile's heart sing. And some of them have curry puffs.
Here's where to go.
MeTime BookCafé
Not every bookstore visit has to be about finding your next read. Sometimes you just need to disappear for a bit.
MeTime BookCafe gets that.
Tucked inside Jaya One, it's part book cafe, part sanctuary, complete with private pods with thick mattresses, plush cushions, and yes, Netflix. The shelves are stocked with Chinese and Japanese titles with a faint smell of essential oils from the moment you walk in.
The best part? You can rent the space by the hour, with student discounts on weekdays, so losing an entire afternoon here is basically encouraged.
Monsoon Books
Quietly hidden on the first floor of a shoplot in Section 17, above Wild Sheep Home ice cream shop, Monsoon Books is the kind of place you walk past a hundred times before someone finally points it out to you.
And once you’ve seen it, you’ll wish you’d found it sooner. The shelves boast a carefully curated collection of Traditional Chinese titles from Hong Kong and Taiwan, and even their own publishing imprint, Sansan Press, which puts out local and regional writing you won't find anywhere else.
They also hold regular talks and events, building a reading community in its own way.
Sunda Shelves
Once upon a time, two conservationists spent years trying to find nature books in Malaysia and couldn't. So they opened one themselves.
Now, Sunda Shelves is a bookstore dedicated entirely to nature, natural history, and Southeast Asia's biodiversity – a unique bookish find in PJ. They do community events and monthly talks, so it's as much a hangout spot as it is a bookstore. And the curry puffs (affectionately named Maleepap after the chef who makes them) are apparently worth the trip alone.
Lit Books
Run by a husband and wife team, Lit Books is the kind of bookstore that makes you feel like you've stepped into a movie. The setting kind of reminds you of "The Shop Around the Corner" from the movie, You’ve Got Mail (1998), with a more modern twist.
You'll find classics, literary fiction, translated titles, and contemporary reads – carefully curated to suit all your bookish needs. There's a big table to sit and read before you commit, and a drinks station called the Lit Bar. Honestly? You’ll probably leave with five more books that weren’t in your TBR list to begin with.
Pages Book Café
This is one of PJ's OG neighbourhood book cafés, and it's got that easy-to-fall-in-love-with charm. You walk in to the smell of coffee, shelves stacked with affordable books, and end up staying way longer than you planned.
But what makes Pages a little different lately is Purposeful Pages – a book club that's been meeting here every week for close to a year now. Members get a reading journal and exercise sheets, so it's not just "eh, did you finish the book?" over coffee. It's structured, it's intentional, and it's open to anyone who wants in.
The Library by BookXcess
If the other bookstores on this list are about finding your quiet corner, The Library by BookXcess is about you living that bibliophile dream.
Opened in December 2025, it's the largest 24-hour bookstore in Southeast Asia – 38,000 square feet, two floors, nearly a kilometre of walkways, and over a million books. Books hang from the ceiling. Art installations pop up in unexpected corners. There's a Kenny Hills Bakers inside with lakeside views, and quiet study nooks with charging points for when you need to settle in properly.
And it never closes. 3pm or 3am, it doesn't matter. The doors are always open.
There you have it – PJ’s book scene. From a quiet shoplot above an ice cream shop, to a bookstore that never sleeps, each one has its own personality, its own crowd, its own reason to keep coming back.
So if you've been meaning to read more, or just want to find your people, you know where to go. Reading date, jom?
