In the Shadow of No Towers

Spotting a sale sign at a bookstore always activates a panic button in me. It never fails to elicit that heart-pounding, wide-eyed excitement at the prospect of finding a book  to add to my shelf, and after years of practice I think I’m fairly proficient at spotting a gem in the bargain bin. Still, I can never get enough of that heady feeling of getting a great book at an outrageously low price.

Just last month, after the Art inFiction book discussion, the Fully Booked Greenbelt branch was on sale, and because there was a line for our dinner table at Chili’s we couldn’t resist the lure of the bargain tables laid out in the storefront. Something shiny caught my eye as soon as I reached the table. Bingo — In the Shadow of No Towers by Art Spiegelman, and, hold your breath, at 80% off, marked down from P958 to under P200! (around $4, never mind that it’s a bit scuffed, it’s a ginormous board book!).

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Green Reading

We’ve all bought recyclable bags, turned off our lights for global energy-saving ceremonies, replaced our appliances with newer energy-saving models, and favored organic produce and cosmetics over conventional mass-produced items. There’s a whole load of buzzwords to go with the “green movement”: energy efficiency, sustainable development, carbon footprint, climate change, and all that jazz, but very few people actually understand what ecology is.

Get a Grip on Ecology by David Burnie is a handy compendium of green knowledge that explores ecology — the fascinating study of the network of relationships between living things and the environment, printed on recycled paper in green and black ink. I actually spotted it at a bargain bookstore, thought it looked interesting, then cheapo me thought it was too expensive and wishlisted it on BookMooch instead. A copy soon came up and was sent to me a few weeks later.

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Rose is Rose

I read “It Takes Two to Tickle,” my first Rose is Rose comic over ten years ago, and it was one of my favorite books. I must have read it twenty times over!

Rose is Rose is a comic serial by Pat Brady, about the Gumbo family composed of Rose (the mom), Jimbo (the dad), and baby Pasquale, running since 1984. Rose and Jimbo are the sweetest couple, and Pasquale is the cutest baby ever with his garbled babbling, and the comics generally deal with everyday situations in the Gumbo household.

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Squee! James Jean rocks!

One book off my Christmas wishlist!

fables

I happened to pass by a bookstore today and I couldn’t resist getting one of the books on my Christmas wishlist.

I normally have more self-control (riiight), but Fables’ cover artist James Jean was in town and he was signing autographs so I was sold. I rushed to the counter get a copy and almost didn’t make it (the booth was packing up by the time I got through paying)… but James Jean was super nice and signed my book anyway! Squee!!!

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Trese

trese

I’m not really into action comics or graphic novels, but I have to admit I was really intrigued when I spotted these Trese comics at the Visprint booth at the Manila International Book Fair last September.

I’d already heard about it on some discussion threads over at FFP, so the first book was on my list for the book fair and I bought a copy on the first day. On the 4th day of the book fair, I dropped by the booth again and spotted the author Budgette Tan and artist Kajo Baldisimo signing autographs, so I couldn’t resist getting a signed copy of the second book.

I read both books during the read-a-thon (books 152-153 of 2009, but I’m backlogged with reviews for around 20 books — aieee!) just in time for Halloween, even if the review is a few days late.

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