I’m tired but I’m grinning like a bandit, because I made off with a lot of loot on the last day of the Manila International Book Fair, making up for the odd book I was able to squeeze in during the first days of the event.
The five days of the book fair was quite crazy for me, because aside from my work at the book fair, I also had work for all of the co-located events happening in the function rooms on top of the exhibit hall, and with one event opening every day it took all of my energy just to keep up with the schedule. I didn’t even have as many photos of this year’s book fair as I did last year; I simply didn’t have the time!
But I all know what you want to check out: the loot! And I must say that I don’t remember having as much of a haul from the book fair in the recent years. I usually end up taking home anywhere between fifteen to twenty books; but this year, I got over three dozen! And I spent a fairly reasonable amount, I must add.
That’s me, invading the Book Fair with my minions!
So you already know I bought a bunch of books on the first day: The Dangerous Book for Boys, a bunch of Adarna picture books, and another bunch of coloring and activity books.
On Days Two and Three, I got a fairly modest (for me, in a place full of books) number of books, including a couple of books for other people. Over at the National Book Store booth, I got a Pendragon book (P100) for Flipper friend Chloe, who’s trying to complete the set for her son Liam. I also got got Paco Underhill’s Why We Buy (regular price, 20% off) for my sister, who has been in search of this book for several weeks now.
I also got myself a copy of Supremo: The Story of Andres Bonifacio (P50) and a bunch of locally-published chapter books at Bookmark; and a beautifully illustrated copy of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (P150) again at National.
And then, because I saw on historian Ambeth Ocampo’s Facebook fan page that he was scheduled for a signing on Friday, and his latest book, Looking Back 3: Death by Garrote just came in fresh off the press, I skulked around the Anvil booth until he got there, and was first in line for the signing!
I wasn’t able to go on Day Four, as I needed a break and it coincided with the FFP September Book Discussion. But then I was back today, the last day, when clearly some panic-buying was in order! I got sixteen books today, not one of them over P50, and all but one (the Butch Dalisay from UP Press) from the National Book Store booth! NBS rolled out some real goodies today!
In fiction, I got a copy of 1984 National Book Award winner Old Timer and Other Stories (P50) by Butch Dalisay, Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising (P30); Barkbelly (P30) by Cat Weatherill; an elegant copy of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (P50), David Levithan’s The Realm of Possibilities (P50), and ta-dah, one book I’ve been hunting down for weeks: Looking for Alaska (hardcover at P30) by John Green!
I got two picture books: Stone Soup (P20) by Marcia Brown for my Caldecott collection, and The Book that Eats People (P30) by John Perry and Mark Fearing.
Then I got this amazing box of Millennium ephemera, including a Millennium book of records, a model of the Millennium dome, facsimile documents, a time capsule kit, models of great millennium buildings, posters, wallcharts, and historical timelines. It was only P20 so I got three boxes: one for me, one for my cousin Dianne (who wasn’t able to go today), and another for a friend’s kids.
I also got a bunch of books for my trivia addiction — all for P30: Post-it: Ideas that Stick!; Living Language Ultimate French textbook; The Complete Idiot’s guide to Fun FAQs, TV Guide’s Book of Lists, Mr. Jones’ Rules for the Modern Man by Dylan Jones; and the runaway winner: 1,000 Places to See Before You Die.
I’m glad I didn’t splurge in the first few days of the book fair — the final day loot was so much worth it!!!
This is the last of my MIBF 2010 posts, and it’ll be a whole year until I post book fair articles again, so I hope you enjoyed the reportage. See you at next year’s MIBF!
Hey, Bloo, congratulations on the haul! I love that Millenium book, by the way. Got the Dome thing for Rayce and we made the model together.:)
I can’t wait to do the dome myself! :D I love models!
Congrats on the loot! Mine is composed of more recently-published books (except for a couple of baby books) so I got them with the 20% discount at National. I was disappointed that I didn’t see the exhibit with the book leather covers, though. Or did they not participate this year?
Aklat Eklat was there, they had a small display at the IBON booth. You can still order from them online — aklateklat.multiply.com
Great haul indeed! I saw some of those books, but none were marked down to P30 yet. My only NBS finds at this year’s MIBF were two sealed HB copies of Tea for Ruby by Sarah Ferguson for P150 each. And with the Cat in the Hat toys you so kindly got me, my youngest nephew and nieces have their Christmas presents already :)
Your nephew and nieces will have loads of fun with Cat in the Hat!!!
I went during the 1st day of MIBF sayang I wasn’t able to go back on the last day coz I need to attend to 2 weddings (whew)! My loot was composed of looking back 1 and 2 sayang I didn’t know there would be a 3 and a book signing ggrrr, Real Living mags 2 back issues, Summit bks TAble for two & their latest book (which I got at discounted prices bout 50 php off for each book :) ), and from NBS all 20% off Madeline Wickham’s Cocktails for three at paperback , Sophie Kinsella’s can u keep a secret, undomestic goddess, shopaholic ties the knot and shopaholic and sister all paperback , which makes not just a dent but a mark on my wallet which is trying to catch its breath whew. But surely will be back next year.
Wow, great haul Ella! Undomestic Goddess is my all-time favorite Sophie Kinsella book.
Aw man! I didn’t visit the book fair on the last day. Lucky you! You found a copy of Looking for Alaska! I’m looking for a cheap copy too. Hope to find it ASAP. Give me your book hunting lucky charm, bloo!
Nice loot!
Ishay, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I found it, I took it out of the shelf with shaky hands, and was momentarily shocked that it was hardbound and only P30!
Hi! I was there last friday and found a copy of lois lowry the giver for P50 and neil gaiman’s smoke and mirrors also for P50 all at NBS Booth.
Wow! Those are good finds, mye :) I got my Lois Lowry boxed set at a National Book Store branch last month for about P400. Nifty, considering how much I love boxed sets.
TWO WORDS: THIRTY. PESOS. ;)
I know! Squee!!!
Blooey, thanks a lot for the Pendragon, Liam and i just read your blog and he is so happy you got it for him! But im drooling over the 1,000 Places To See Before you Die…great book..i love trivia books too!
Hi Chloe, things are kind of busy at work this week (I have another event on Thursday), I’ll try my best to send the book by next week at the latest.
Blooey! Ang swerte mo. Php30 HB for Looking for Alaska? Where did you find it? I was there last Saturday. =P
In one of the bottom shelves! :) I couldn’t believe it! I can lend it to you when I’m done, if you can’t find a copy. Hopefully I’ll have read it by next month (gulp!)
Wow! Andami. Haha. I went to the book fair Wednesday and Saturday. Mga 15 books rin siguro nabili ko. Sulit talaga to go there! Bibliophiles paradise. :)
Yay for MIBF! :)
hehe i loved ur 1000 places to see before u die and the tv guide list wow 30 pesos!! *drools* thanks sayang talaga can’t come sa last day
Nagpanic-buying talaga ako, hehe!
Actually I read it na in pdf format. Pero siyempre I want a copy of the book. :) Pero in fairness, panalo ka sa hunting skills mo! hahaha!
Maganda, Jo?
YES! Becuase of this excerpt, I desperately looked for a copy last year pero unfortunately hindi siya available dito so sa net ako naghanap. =)
“Just like that. From a hundred miles an hour to a sleep in a nanosecond. I wanted so badly to lie down next to her on the couch, to wrap my arms around her and sleep. Not fuck, like in those movies. Not even have sex. Just sleep together, in the most innocent sense of the phrase. But I lacked the courage and she had a boyfriend and I was gawky and she was gorgeous and I was hopelessly boring and she was endlessly fascinating. So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane.”
galing! I’ll move it up my TBR
Great finds!!! Swerte mo sa P30 finds sa NBS. First day lang ako naka punta at hindi na rin ako naka balik dami ko kase work. Meron ako sinundan sa pila sa NBS nun first day 10k ang bill nya. Grabe kung may ganun lang ako money pambili ng books.
Sayang Ray-ann. Lumitaw lang yung mga P30 nung Sunday
I was there on the last day but decided not to buy anything from NBS right away when I arrived because ang daming tao! As in! Parang sale ng damit na siksikan talaga dun sa mga bargain tables sa labas ng booth. Nashock talaga ko. First time ko kasi makakita ng ganito karaming tao just for books?!
So I went back to the NBS booth nung mga 6pm na kaya maluwag na. Guess that was a wrong decision because I saw very few 30 peso books then. Nakakainggit yung trivia books mo! :P
And I was gonna get that Levithan book but returned it at the last second. Hehe.
Hahaha!!! The best time to buy is the morning of the last day — first dibs on the great books and the crowd isn’t as crazy!
They unpacked the P30 in the morning, and then everyone just went wild!
nice kainis its only in sept? wala ba sa december na event? The 1000 places to see before you die looked cool and the Millenium one too
:D September lang, hehe