MIBF 2010: The Loot

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!

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A Good Year (Flips Flipping Pages September book discussion)

Today I took a break from the Manila International Book Fair for a much awaited occasion — the Flips Flipping Pages September Book Discussion: Peter Mayle‘s A Good Year, paired with a mini wine appreciation seminar at the Cyrano Wine Shop.

I’m afraid I didn’t have time to reread the book, with the MIBF under way, but I read it last year. Unlike the others, I had very low expectations before I read “A Good Year.” I read Mayle’s Chasing Cezanne and expected it to be a thrilling art heist, but it had to be the most lackadaisical chase ever, as the team in pursuit of the forged painting stopped to dine at practically every restaurant they walked past! Figuring plot isn’t one of Mayle’s strong points, I set out to read A Good Year just to enjoy it. And I did. I enjoyed reading about the Provencal wine industry and its quaint practices, and Mayle can write the copy of an ad for garbage bins and I think I’ll still enjoy his prose.

Anyway, while the group in general was disappointed with the novel, we all enjoyed the wine appreciation seminar!

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The Clone (or what I brought home from MIBF Day Two)


As my longtime readers would probably know, I’ve been looking for new lighting gadgets for my bedtime reading, as my Harry Potter Lumos Lightwedge is hopelessly out of commission (battery leaked and stuck to the very narrow terminal and won’t budge!) and I managed to disembowel my Really Tiny Book Light after just a couple of months (the flimsy light is now in two broken pieces; what a rip-off).

I didn’t get to spend much time at the Book Fair today (mostly busy working at the co-located events and running after people to interview), so I only got a couple of books (will tell you about them in another post) but I managed to spot a  “Light Panel” (read: Lightwedge clone) in one of the booths.  I was pretty desperate because I have been living without a reading light for some months now and it’s been driving me crazy, and the thing was only P100 so I decided to get it.

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Day One at MIBF 2010


Just got home from the first day of the 31st Manila International Book Fair. The opening day always goes by in a flurry for me (most of the work is concentrated on this day), but I know a lot of you are waiting for updates so I’m doing a Day One post so you can get a feel of this year’s book fair.

I’m sorry I don’t have a lot of photos for day 1, I didn’t have much time to go around or browse — I only managed to pick up a bunch of books half an hour before closing, imagine! In general the rough guide I posted yesterday doesn’t miss the mark, but I’ll list down the promos (that I remember from today) in this post.

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The Rough Guide to the 31st Manila International Book Fair

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, and before I knew it, voila — it’s now the eve of the opening of the much-awaited Manila International Book Fair, the biggest book event in the country!

Now I know a lot of you have been waiting for the rough guide to this year’s book fair like the one I posted last year. A bit of the background — the nature of my work requires me to attend the Manila International Book Fair year after year (contrary to popular belief I  don’t actually get to shop until the last few days!), and this is the sixth year running now. While I generally make my rounds, I do have some top picks for the must-see booths.

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