Back to the Manila International Book Fair

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Twenty more days ’til the Manila International Book Fair (MIBF): five straight days of books, books, and more books,  enough to drive a book lover to madness!

I always look forward to this annual event, ever since I was in third grade, when I first went to the MIBF on a field trip with the school Reading Club.

Even back then I was already a voracious reader, and the MIBF was such a magical place — I had never seen so many books all in one place!

My friends and I happily spent the day poring over all sorts of books, going from booth to booth, strategizing on how we could best spend a couple of weeks’ worth of pocket money. And after we had settled on our books, we made the rounds again, this time to collect freebies from the various booths,  chase down the mascots, listen to a story or two, watch some cartoons, and of course,  take note of books we planned on begging our parents for as soon as we got home. Continue reading “Back to the Manila International Book Fair”

Now reading: The Black Circle (The 39 Clues Book 5)

book5bFinally, I got my hands on a copy of The Black Circle by Patrick Carman, Book 5 of The 39 Clues.

It’s a bit delayed because I miscounted the months and thought it was coming out in September, when the worldwide release was actually August 11. Whoopsies.

Anyway, readers of this blog know I’m a big fan of the series, comprised of The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan, One False Note by Gordon Korman, The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis, Beyond the Grave by Jude Watson, and now this latest installment by Carman.

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Healthy reading (FFP August Book Discussion)

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For the month of August, the Flips Flipping Pages (FFP, the book club I belong to) book discussion was all about health, moderated by our very fit Flipper Jan.

A lot of us, myself included, were apprehensive about the topic, seeing as we’re book club friends and not gym buddies, and we flex our muscles carrying stacks of books, not dumbbells.

On a personal note,  I joined the discussion because I am still trying to come to terms (haha!) with my post-college body (*sigh* those college jeans…).  All my life, I’d always been skinny, up until after a couple years at work, when genetics (ugh, the family hips) and the sedentary life of a desk worker kicked in. The discussion was very timely for me, as I wanted to explore getting into a regular fitness routine that I can do at home, and make healthier diet choices.

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And the winner is (My Deathly Hallows Giveaway)…

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Thank you to all those who joined my Deathly Hallows Giveaway! I received 45 entries in total, and using a random list generator, I assigned random  numbers to all the giveaway entries.

I was supposed to post this tomorrow, but I’ve got a health book discussion (and a bikram yoga session) with my book club, Flips Flipping Pages, so I decided to announce the winners tonight.

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Uglies

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A couple years ago, I found myself in a bookstore, at a loss, and called a friend to ask for any good books she’s read lately. She recommended Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

I looked it up in the bookstore and read the cover — “In a world of extreme beauty, anyone normal is Ugly”. and “Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?” — and Iremember thinking it was such a sick concept.

Because I’m not really into sci fi, dystopia, or any of those spoiled, rich-kid, sex-crazed YA novels that seem to have proliferated over the recent years, I didn’t buy the book. I added it to my BookMooch wishlist though, in case it would come up and I could find out what the fuss was about.

Shortly after, it did come up on BookMooch, and I got to mooch a copy. Then it was  in my TBR for about a year when I decided to bring it with me on an out of town daytrip for a meeting with one of my clients a few weeks ago, and finally settled down to read it.

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