Reading something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue
Before my week gets all-out crazy (it’s Book Fair week, after all), I’m channeling Zen mode right now and blogging about one of my favorite topics — Harry Potter!
It’s a significant time for Harry Potter fans, as September marks the 15th anniversary of Harry Potter, and Scholastic is celebrating it with the release of a new set of covers by critically acclaimed artist Kazu Kibuishi, best known for his #1 New York Times bestselling graphic novel series, Amulet.
I love books and everything to do with them — bookmarks, book plates, reading implements, book-related toys and accessories and other bookish ephemera.
I’ve amassed a veritable loot over the holidays, thanks to some very thoughtful people.
Life has been a whirlwind since I got back from the AFCC, as preparations for the 2nd Filipino ReaderCon (Filipino ReaderCon) were in full swing. It was all hands on deck for members of the Filipino Book Bloggers group, and it has been great to see volunteers from different book clubs banding together to make this happen.
Last year, the ReaderCon was a half-day event that coincided with the Manila International Book Fair, and this year, we’ve gotten bigger. United We Read: The 2nd Filipino ReaderCon is happening tomorrow, August 18, 2012 (Saturday), 8:00am to 6:00pm at the Filipinas Heritage Library. Registration fee is Php150, and you can pre-register for the event here. This event is held in partnership with Filipinas Heritage Library (FHL) and National Book Development Board (NBDB), and sponsored by Scholastic, Lampara Books, McDonald’s, Flipreads, Anvil Publishing, Hachette Philippines, Amici Philippines, OMF Literature and Adarna House.
So I’ve been on the committee for the 1st Filipino Readers’ Choice Awards (with Tarie and Tina) and while it was a tremendous undertaking, we were overwhelmed by the response we received. Reading through the nominations, tallying up over 2500 votes, and watching the judges deliberate over the finalists has been an amazing experience. We’re finally awarding the Readers’ Choice Awards tomorrow at the ReaderCon, and we’ve definitely learned a lot to make the awards bigger and better next year.
All weekend, people have been asking me how I found the Hunger Games movie so I decided a blog post was in order for the occasion.
I think I’ve been half-excited, half-scared ever since the movie was announced, the way I am whenever a favorite book hits the big screen. Everyone knows I’m not a big fan of film adaptations — I’d be perfectly happy leaving my favorite books as they are, in my imagination, where, in my experience, they’re a whole lot better.
Lately, though, I’ve been quite, erm, reckless (hehe!) in watching film adaptations — I think, now that Harry Potter is over, I’ve conditioned myself to thinking it can’t get any worse. I’ve caught quite a number of them in the past few months — and of books I love, too! — and I admit it hasn’t been half bad. The Adventures of Tintin was awesome (but underappreciated, I think!); The Girl with A Dragon Tattoo was a bit too Hollywood for my taste (too pretty!), and Noomi Rapace will always be my choice for Lisbeth Salander, but the Hollywood version did work well as a narrative. and Hugo — it was, hands down one of the best movies I have ever seen, and *gasp* I actually enjoyed it more than the book!
If you’re a Hunger Games fan like I am, you’re probably counting down the days until Hunger Games hits the big screen in two weeks’ time. It’s getting more difficult to tamp down on the excitement, too, as the buzz is spreading like wildfire across the media avenues and social networks.
Students in Assumption College, Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines Diliman, and De La Salle University Manila get to join in on the fun, with Real and Not Real: The Hunger Games Trilogy University Tour.
Continue reading “Real and Not Real: The Hunger Games University Tour”
