Reading something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue
Just wanted to leave a note that all is well — thank you for all the emails! I have spent the last few weeks reading for the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers Literary Awards (Cybils), where I am a second round judge for graphic novels. I read 14 graphic novels for the Cybils — half for middle grade and half for YA (photo finish!), and our committee submitted our decision this morning; so now we all just have to wait for the awards announcement this weekend.
I’ve finally drawn the two lucky winners of my Le Petit Prince giveaway!
Each winner will receive a lovely Le Petit Prince desk planner, which features full color art from a customizable weekly calendar, a to-do list page, and an embossed Le Petit Prince brass button.
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
I’m greeting you just now, as my sister came home from Singapore for the holidays and we’ve been traipsing (read: eating and shopping) all over the metropolis, before she goes off on assignment in Prague.
Anyway, in the next couple of weeks, I’m wrapping up up my 2011 reads — I’m compiling this year’s book tally, and I’m happy to report I read well past last year’s total count! I am also finishing up one last bunch of reviews for you guys: some of the books I read in the last couple months are among my best reads for the year — must-reads, I promise! — so watch out for the reviews! I’ve also been hedging on reviewing my worst read for the year, so you’ll get to read that, too.
But that’s not all — because my blog is on its fourth year running this 2012 (I can’t believe I’ve been blogging since January 2009!), and because January is my birthday month, I’ve got a bunch of giveaways lined up for you guys. Starting with this one — up for grabs are two Le Petit Prince desk planners!
After checking in on our flight home from Hong Kong, I was bemoaning the fact that I was not — cue those gasps now! — able to buy any books on the trip. Nope, not one. Zilch. Our itinerary was packed, and I squeezed in some bookstores at the malls, but the selection of English titles wasn’t that extensive; I couldn’t find any books that weren’t outrageously expensive or were not available to me here in Manila (which makes me glad about how local bookstores have improved in terms of getting the new titles in over the years).
I also did a marathon trek (loaded down with a backpack and two canvas totebags, and streets were going uphill!) from IFC mall to the bargain bookstores in the Central area in two hours (because that’s all the time my siblings gave me — unaccompanied, too, and they left me to find my way to Causeway! Harr, It’s hard to go book hunting when you’re with people with different agendas!) and I spent about ten minutes in each store. Don’t worry, though, I documented everything, and I’ll write a separate post about my book trek later.
