Author: Sumthinblue

Potted Potter Manila

I was hemming and hawing over watching Potted Potter since the Manila run was first announced; there are so many theatre shows this year and it’s so hard to choose which ones to watch! Last Thursday, however, it was late afternoon when my cousin Dianne and I came across Ticketworld’s Last Minute Tickets promo and we decided, fingers crossed, to head straight to RCBC Plaza after work and take our chances that there were still some seats available.

As luck would have it, we two hard-to-please Potter fans (who have done crazy things in the name of Harry Potter, including but not limited to birthday parties for Harry Potter and Severus Snape and a (combined) growing collection of over 150 Harry Potter books in different languages), both having a bad week and in dire need of a lift, scored half-price orchestra tickets to Potted Potter on the spot!

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Fated and Alyson Noel

Before I left on my Angkor Wat vacation in late July, I got to interview New York Times bestselling YA author Alyson Noel, who was in Manila to promote her latest book, Fated, with a book signing organized by National Book Store and Powerbooks.

It was a rainy night, but we paid no heed to the downpour, as we were having a sumptuous Filipino dinner at Cafe Juanita. Alyson very gamely tried out the spread of local dishes, including crispy pata, kare-kare, torta and many more, while we discussed our mutual love for Judy Blume (squee!), the Hispanic influence on Filipino culture, and of course, her books and her work as a writer.

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Cut-Price Loot!

Life seems to be passing me by in a blur all year. This morning I realized it was the last weekend of the National Book Store Cut-Price Sale (and I hadn’t shopped since the first week) hence I squeezed in a panic trip to a couple branches today.

Technically, I shouldn’t be book shopping, as I’m in the middle of packing all my books in boxes (20 boxes so far, and not even halfway through!), as the bulk of our home renovation is about to begin and my books have to go into storage. But my sister has been warning me I can’t buy any books while the renovation is ongoing so I’m currently in panic mode (because yes, how will I get through book fair?!?).

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Ready for ReaderCon?

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.

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