Reading something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue
Posts tagged comics
Tintin times three
Jul 15th
(Sorry for the delayed post — had no electricity for over 24 hours due to that last storm!)
This weekend was my first free weekend in a long, long while, and it was spent vegging out, bargain book hunting, and watching more episodes of The Big Bang Theory (as well as Bounty Hunter and I Hate Valentine’s Day). I wasn’t in the mood for heavy-duty reading, but I did manage to squeeze in the three Tintin comics I bought (20% off!) during Free Comic Book Day: The Seven Crystal Balls, Land of Black Gold, and Tintin and the Picaros.
Bookish Stamps
Jun 29th
A couple of weeks ago, I went on an Old Manila Heritage Tour sponsored by the Pilipinas Stamp Collectors’ Club, a tour that covered the Metropolitan Theatre, the Arroceros Forest Park, Liwasang Bonifacio, and the Manila Post Office. It was not as organized as I would have liked, but then again it was a free tour, so I shouldn’t be complaining.
At the end of the tour, there was a stamp collecting seminar and by then my book club friends had decided they’d had enough geekiness for one day. I was tired, too, but I couldn’t resist staying. I’ve never had any formal instruction in collecting stamps and I’ve got two albums bursting full of them, some from my childhood collection and some accumulated after two years of BookMooching.
In the Shadow of No Towers
Jun 18th
Spotting a sale sign at a bookstore always activates a panic button in me. It never fails to elicit that heart-pounding, wide-eyed excitement at the prospect of finding a book to add to my shelf, and after years of practice I think I’m fairly proficient at spotting a gem in the bargain bin. Still, I can never get enough of that heady feeling of getting a great book at an outrageously low price.
Just last month, after the Art inFiction book discussion, the Fully Booked Greenbelt branch was on sale, and because there was a line for our dinner table at Chili’s we couldn’t resist the lure of the bargain tables laid out in the storefront. Something shiny caught my eye as soon as I reached the table. Bingo — In the Shadow of No Towers by Art Spiegelman, and, hold your breath, at 80% off, marked down from P958 to under P200! (around $4, never mind that it’s a bit scuffed, it’s a ginormous board book!).
Green Reading
May 6th
We’ve all bought recyclable bags, turned off our lights for global energy-saving ceremonies, replaced our appliances with newer energy-saving models, and favored organic produce and cosmetics over conventional mass-produced items. There’s a whole load of buzzwords to go with the “green movement”: energy efficiency, sustainable development, carbon footprint, climate change, and all that jazz, but very few people actually understand what ecology is.
Get a Grip on Ecology by David Burnie is a handy compendium of green knowledge that explores ecology — the fascinating study of the network of relationships between living things and the environment, printed on recycled paper in green and black ink. I actually spotted it at a bargain bookstore, thought it looked interesting, then cheapo me thought it was too expensive and wishlisted it on BookMooch instead. A copy soon came up and was sent to me a few weeks later.
Rose is Rose
Mar 2nd
I read “It Takes Two to Tickle,” my first Rose is Rose comic over ten years ago, and it was one of my favorite books. I must have read it twenty times over!
Rose is Rose is a comic serial by Pat Brady, about the Gumbo family composed of Rose (the mom), Jimbo (the dad), and baby Pasquale, running since 1984. Rose and Jimbo are the sweetest couple, and Pasquale is the cutest baby ever with his garbled babbling, and the comics generally deal with everyday situations in the Gumbo household.
Squee! James Jean rocks!
Nov 21st
One book off my Christmas wishlist!
I happened to pass by a bookstore today and I couldn’t resist getting one of the books on my Christmas wishlist.
I normally have more self-control (riiight), but Fables’ cover artist James Jean was in town and he was signing autographs so I was sold. I rushed to the counter get a copy and almost didn’t make it (the booth was packing up by the time I got through paying)… but James Jean was super nice and signed my book anyway! Squee!!!
Trese
Nov 3rd
I’m not really into action comics or graphic novels, but I have to admit I was really intrigued when I spotted these Trese comics at the Visprint booth at the Manila International Book Fair last September.
I’d already heard about it on some discussion threads over at FFP, so the first book was on my list for the book fair and I bought a copy on the first day. On the 4th day of the book fair, I dropped by the booth again and spotted the author Budgette Tan and artist Kajo Baldisimo signing autographs, so I couldn’t resist getting a signed copy of the second book.
I read both books during the read-a-thon (books 152-153 of 2009, but I’m backlogged with reviews for around 20 books — aieee!) just in time for Halloween, even if the review is a few days late.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Oct 17th
I’ve been hearing so much about this book in the last year, and for some reason I forgot that my cousin Dianne gave me a copy of this book last Christmas, as it got buried in the TBR pile. Thankfully I managed to dig it out sometime before the flood so it didn’t get wet or join the rubble of books that were brought upstairs for safety against the flood which I am still in the process of reshelving.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (#143 for 2009) caught my eye when I first saw it on the bookstore shelf; the words “a novel in cartoons” jumped out at me and I just knew I had to read the book.
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