2010 – Page 37 – Bookmarked!

I am the Ultimate Book Geek

As promised, here is the full account of the Book Geek experience, published Feb. 27, 2010, Manila Bulletin Students and Campuses section:

I am the Ultimate Book Geek
by Blooey Singson

I eat, live, and breathe books – ask those who know me and they can tell you as much.

I read over 200 books a year, maintain a blog devoted solely to books and reading, add half a dozen books to my collection every week, trade books with readers from all over the world, discuss books on both online forums and face-to-face book club meetings, and storm bookstore sales and warehouses with equally bookish friends.

So when I saw the announcement for the Book Geek contest on the Fully Booked website, I knew I just had to join. Little did I know that there were bigger things in store for me many months later.

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Zafon book out in May!

The best things that I’ve received in my inbox this week is a newsletter from Carlos Ruiz Zafon, stating that his first ever novel, the novel that launched his writing career, will be available (in English) in May!

Lo and behold: The Prince of Mist!

Hmm, Amazon US says on May 4th (that’s Little, Brown) but Amazon UK (Orion) will release theirs on May 27th (this was also the date on the newsletter, as Zafon is UK based for the moment). The UK edition is so much prettier than the US edition though…

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The Air Up There (Picture Book Roundup #13)

Some of my favorite book have themes of flight — The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois; Tuesday by David Wiesner; and Peter Pan. Maybe it’s because my zodiac’s an air sign, or maybe i just like the carefree, leisurely feeling that flying themes generate.

This month’s picture book roundup covers books dealing with flight, clouds, and other above-ground subject matter: The Flying Locomotive by William Pene du Bois; The Little Cloud by Eric Carle; Night of the Gargoyles by Eve Bunting, illustrated by David Wiesner; Sadako by Eleanor Coerr, illustrated by Ed Young; and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz commemorative pop-up by L. Frank Baum, engineered by Robert Sabuda.

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Love gone awry

Since I joined the A-Z Challenge, I’ve crossed out three names on the list already. I first crossed off Trenton Lee Stewart with the first two books of the Mysterious Benedict Society, which I enjoyed tremendously. I managed to cross off two more: Emile Zola with For a Night of Love (Z); and F. Scott Fitzgerald with The Rich Boy (F).

The two books are published by Hesperus Press, a sophisticated imprint I’m growing fond of (I have Jonathan Swift’s Directions to Servants and a couple other books from Hesperus Press). Hesperus specializes in hard to find novellas and short stories of famous authors, with each book running to only 100 pages or so. I got a bunch of them on sale last year, and while I don’t normally like mass market paperbacks, Hesperus books are a welcome addition to my library — I love the concept behind the imprint and the elegance of the book design.

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More Book Geekiness

Remember when I won Book Geek of the Month last year? Well, today they gathered all the monthly finalists once again for one final showdown: The Fully Booked Ultimate Book Geek Challenge!

I had to miss this month’s book discussion (and The Shadow of the Wind is a favorite of mine, too!) but it turned out to be very well worth it — I ended up taking home the title of Ultimate Book Geek.

I won’t spill the details just yet — am writing an article about it for the Saturday issue of Manila Bulletin (Students and Campuses), so the story will have to wait until then :)

2010 is shaping up to be another awesome year of books!