The Week in Loot

In case you’re wondering why I haven’t posted in the past few days, it’s because I’m trapped in the holiday frenzy — Christmas shopping to complete, presents to wrap, parties to attend and the horrible city traffic. Plus the dawn masses have started and I wake up at 4am to go, so I’m running on very little energy at the moment. Hopefully normal blogging resumes after Christmas, but I’ll try and post more before then.

Anyway, I was supposed to be shopping for books on other people’s wishlists, but they’ve been elusive so far, and I’ve illicitly gone a-looting for myself (I promised not to buy any more books for myself until Christmas, but I’ve given up on that) because well, the holiday stress was getting to me and book shopping is therapeutic (and yes, I have no self-control)!

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Bookish presents

This Christmas, I prepared something special for my book club friends — bookmarks!

Bookmarks are always a big hit over at Flips Flipping Pages. We have bookmarks for every book discussion we have every month, and we like to give out bookmarks on special occasions, too — we all never seem to have enough of them!

Last year, at the 2009 FFP Christmas party, I set up a bookmark station with leather thongs and charms at our Christmas party so people could make their own bookmarks, but this year, I wanted to try out something different.

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Bookish Bonifacio

November 30 is Bonifacio Day, a day that commemorates the birth of Andres Bonifacio, Father of the Philippine Revolution. I’d been saving a book for this very occasion: Supremo by Sylvia Mendez Ventura, with drawings by Egai Fernandez, which I got at this year’s Manila International Book Fair.

While I’m predisposed towards being partial to Jose Rizal (I can’t help it — the educational system leans heavily on the national hero, but I also went to a school that counts Rizal among its alumni, and oh yes, I love Rizal’s geekiness), I’ve had a soft spot for Bonifacio when my high school Filipino teacher revealed he was a bookworm.

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Last day loot!

I couldn’t help it; I had to go back!

I already made off with a pretty hefty loot from the last couple of times I visited the National Book Store Christmas Book Bazaar, but I wanted to catch the last day of the bargain sale so I wouldn’t have any regrets (yes, you can see how seriously I take book sales) afterwards, and I am so glad I went.

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The Princess Academy

A couple of weeks ago, I had just finished posting my recap of the Filipino Book Bloggers’ Meetup and it was well past midnight when I reached for the book I’d started that morning: my signed copy of The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale.

I had started to read the first chapter, but it was a busy day so it got stashed in my bag until I got home. I meant to read just a few chapters before going to bed, but before I knew it, it was 4 in the morning and I’d finished the book!

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