Reading something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue
Book Events
Ladies and Gentlemen…
Jul 8th
… it’s time to break open those piggy banks.
Tomorrow Right now, a signed copy of Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games and a signed copy of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire will be are up for grabs in an online auction.
Update (13 Jul): The signed Hunger Games is currently at $61, GOF currently at $201. They’ve also got a signed copy of Meg Cabot’s How to be Popular at $30!
*insert crazy fangirl (me) screaming here!*
Fully Booked Book Grab 2010
Jul 7th
The Book Grab is back!
The Fully Booked flagship store on Bonifacio High Street, a popular lifestyle destination, once again celebrates its anniversary this July. To mark its 3rd year, another Book Grab event is set on July 24, 2010 — incidentally, that’s the same day as the Flips Flipping Pages July book discussion of Fables: Legends in Exile, from 2pm onwards, right there at the Fully Booked Top Shelf (Flippers — we get to watch the Book Grab!).
14th Philippine Academic Book Fair opens this week
Jul 2nd
School officials, librarians, teachers, professionals, reviewers, tutors, and book enthusiasts will gather for the 14th Philippine Academic Book Fair,* the annual five-day event sponsored by the Academic Booksellers Association of the Philippines (ABAP) on July 6-10 at the Megatrade Hall, 5th Level, Building B, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City.
Geek Fight!
Jul 1st
Geek Fighting is Manila’s latest sport. What’s a book geek to do? 
(First published in Manila Bulletin, Students and Campuses Section)
The trivia culture has invaded Manila!
Pub quizzes, the quaint British tradition of publicly matching wits and exchanging useless information over drinks and bar chow, have been a great addition to the social scene around the city. On any given week, you’re bound to find one or two trivia showdowns in bars around the metro, and for geeks such as myself, the glory of being the geekiest of them all proves to be difficult to resist.
I’d heard about Geek Fight for some time now, and I’d always intended to join, as I’ve never been known to back down from any geeky challenge. So when I chanced upon the Facebook page calling for an all-Pinoy Geek Fight Friday of last week, I was determined to give it a good try.
On Friday night, the ragtag team I assembled met up at the Quantum Café in Makati for what (save for two of the members) was our first foray into Geek Fight: me, my cousin Dianne, our book club friends Czar and Marie (a writer and a geodetic engineer), my office’s finance officer Ate Chi, my lawyer friend Ryan (also a political science teacher), my long-time friend Joseph (who works in advertising), and his pal Norman (a banker).
The Left Hand of Darkness (FFP June Book Discussion)
Jun 22nd
I don’t normally read science fiction, but I always take FFP’s monthly book discussions as a challenge when I’m not comfortable with the assigned genre or author. Because our book club grants the moderator the power over the monthly assignment, I’ve been challenged a fair deal in past discussions, as some of the book assignments are far from my comfort zone.
I think, though, that Ursula Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness is one of the book assignments I’ve dreaded the most — I’m just not into unpronounceable names and anything that needs a map! Le Guin’s introductory section, where she explains what science fiction is about (not merely “extrapolation,” but a “metaphor”), is actually helpful. I also like her statement (cautionary warning, perhaps?) on novels:
“In reading a novel, any novel, we have to know perfectly well that the whole thing is nonsense, and then, while reading, believe every word of it. Finally, when we’re done with it, we may find—if it’s a good novel—that we’re a bit different from what we were before we read it, that we have been changed a little, as if by having met a new face, crossed a street we never crossed before. But it’s very hard to say just what we learned, how we were changed.”
Moleskine Shop opens at NBS Greenbelt 1
Jun 22nd
I’ve been lurking around National Book Store Greenbelt 1 for some time now, because it was under renovation for a few months. It’s one of my favorite branches — I ‘ve been going there since I was a kid — because it’s nearest my house, it’s not overcrowded, it has all the supplies I need (heavy gauge plastic cover, a large pen selection, an expanded art section), and it always has a corner for bargain books.
Tonight I finally found out what they were keeping under wraps: the Philippines’ flagship Moleskine Shop!
I’ve been a Moleskine user for years now (watercolor pad, cahiers, and recently, my Moleskine Passions book journal), and I must say, there’s no beating the quality of a moleskine, from the handcrafted leather, the acid-free paper, the sturdy back pocket, and the signature garter band and ribbon bookmark. It’s great that there’s a Moleskine Shop-in-Shop here now (there are several already across Asia) for Moleskine fans in the Philippines.
BookMoochers Pilipinas Summer Mixer
May 30th
Last night was the much awaited summer mixer for BookMoochers Pilipinas, the local group for members of book trading site BookMooch. It was one of the muggiest days in this infernally hot summer, but even the heat couldn’t stop us from heading over to Triccie’s house for our get-together.
Present last night were me, Triccie, Patti, Gege, Czar, Marie, Cecille, Shy, Paolo, Patrick, and JoelG. We haven’t gotten together as a group since last November, and since a lot of members were celebrating their birthdays in April and May (Triccie, Marie, Czar, Cecille, and Fran) we decided a summer party was in order!
Free Comic Book Day
May 24th
Saturday was Free Comic Book Day at Fully Booked, and I couldn’t resist going. I meant to go last year but it coincided with one of my book club meetings so I really wanted to make it this year, not so much for the free comic book but for the 20% discount on comics and graphic novels at the store.
I planned to go early but I woke up late and there was some commotion in the house because the results were in for the April 2010 Licensure Exam for Teachers and we learned my brother Enzo passed (way to go, bro!) and is now a professional teacher. Then I had to drop by the hospital on the other side of town to visit a friend.
It was 5:30 by the time I got to the store on Bonifacio High Street, and I figured they’d have run out of free comic books by then, but there were still some short stacks at the giveaway table and I quickly got in line for a free copy. Although I’ve gradually assimilated graphic novels as regular reading in recent time, I’m still not really into the whole spandex superhero thing and the only choices on the table were either Iron Man or Green Hornet, so after an eenie-meenie-miney-mo I settled on Iron Man and got my hand stamped at the booth.
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