Day 304 - Fiction / Non-Fiction

I took a photo of the wall at Whitcoulls, New Zealand's "National Bookstore" while waiting for Z&E as they were buying lottery tickets. We had just come from the supermarket, and you can see part of the cart in this photo.

Day 201 - Valentine Love

No boyfriend/girlfriend to give a Valentine's Day card to? Fear not! National Bookstore is equipped with Valentine's Day greeting cards for friends and family as well. Because some people insist that this day is not just about romantic love but love in general, greeting card companies have met their need and made cards for everyone. I'm not sure if the book store aptly labelled those cards, though. I mean, it says "Valentine Friend" and "Valentine Relative" for the cards for friends and family, but for cards for significant others, it says "Valentine Love". But, I thought "valentine love" referred to love in general and not just love between significant others?

Day 122 - Burglar Books

6/11 - My small Lawrence Block collection. I'm lacking 4 books from the series--they're 11 in all. And there are actually 2 short stories, but one is only available in audio (and they don't sell them here) and the other can only be found in a short story collection book (which they also don't sell here)

On my 17th birthday, my friend J gave me The Burglar in the Rye as a gift. Because I read at a glacial pace, I was only able to read it when I was already 19. Looking back, I really should've read it right away, so it might've been easier for me to collect the series. You see, after reading it, I liked it a lot, and so decided that I wanted to collect the whole series, there are only 11 books anyway. Unfortunately, Lawrence Block isn't that famous a writer here, and I think that after the first wave of importing his books, the book stores have stopped. Hence, I was only able to easily buy in the book store, 2 books (The Burglar in the Library, The Burglar who Thought He was Bogart). The rest of these, I found only from concentrating real hard in the small Used Books Store at the train station*. I'm happy because I only got them for P50 each (because you know, they're old), but I kind of wish there was an easier way to find them. Actually, it's taken me 6 years to find these 3 books (Burglars Can't Be Choosers, The Burglar in the Closet, The Burglar who Traded Ted Williams), but I'm optimistic that the other 4 (The Burglar who Liked to Quote Kipling, The Burglar who Studied Spinoza, The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian, The Burglar on the Prowl) will turn up in a book store somewhere, or that maybe one of you would be kind enough to buy them in Amazon.com for me. :)

The main character of this series, Bernie Rhodenbarr, is (obviously) a burglar. But what's great about him is that he's not a "bad guy". Although he does steal things for a living, he's actually a nice guy who defends the innocent, and is sort of a gentleman. He takes women out on proper dates and stuff. Also, he has a day job--he owns a book store. So really, the burglar thing is more of a personality quirk that you kind of forgive him for.

As for the mysteries, the books (all of them so far) actually follow a pretty consistent formula--Bernie plans on robbing a certain place (an apartment, usually) but when he gets there, the item of interest is already gone, and there is a dead body in its place. Naturally, the police will assume that he's the murderer, since he was at the crime scene, and so he has to do some sleuthing to prove his innocence. It's basically the same plot in every book, but what makes it fun to read are the real life drama Bernie has, separate from the sleuthing and burglary, and well, I'm just a sucker for mysteries.

P.S. These were the books in question that I was looking for when I found the slippers I mentioned in Day 119.

*It's MBC Books at the Ayala MRT station.

Day 113 - From the Dream Bookstore

Oh, how I wish I was rich. Or if not, then I wish the bookstores in the Philippines would have more interesting books. I'm glad such a place as Amazon.com exists, because it has everything, but it's just too darn expensive that I can only order stuff like this once in a lifetime.

It's actually my very first time to order anything from Amazon. I've purposefully avoided browsing through that site because I know things are expensive, but I couldn't resist this book. I've wanted to read it since college, but have had no luck when I searched for it in the library or any bookstore in this country. Hence, I turned to the power of the internet. And now I will pay the price, literally. Oh, well.

I got this in the mail today, which is a bit strange since I only ordered it last September 20, and the e-mail from Amazon said that it wouldn't come until October 22. I guess that's their strategy--lower your expectations so when your order comes "early", you'll be pleased. In fairness, it works. :)

Day 90 - Old Books

In search of Julia Quinn, I walked around Manila after my Japanese class. My school is located near a lot of universities so there were a lot of book stores in the area. Most of them sold second-hand books that are cheaper, and you can exchange them with your own old books. This goes for fiction and school reference books as well. What can I say? It's a student area.

I wasn't able to find Julia Quinn, though, and I ended up not buying anything. But there are about a million books there. I'm quite sure that one of these days I will end up buying something, or maybe exchanging the ones I have here at home that have become dusty over the years.

Day 81 - Idol!

Me and Rafe Bartholomew, journalist and (Philippine) basketball enthusiast

I skipped some more days! T_T Oh well, starting today I really will take one photo a day. Although this was technically taken by my friend J. But my camera was also the one used. Anyway...

This is me with Rafe Bartholomew. I attended his book signing in Powerbooks at Greenbelt 3 today. In case you don't know who he is, he's the author of that book he's holding, Pacific Rims. It's about Philippine basketball. And I know, I'm not a big fan of basketball, but I am a fan of the Philippines (it's my country, duh) and the things that are written about us, especially when they're positive (kasi konti lang 'yun haha). :) Plus, I'm a fan of good writing, and Rafe Bartholomew is a really good writer. I wish I could write like that, too.

For my review on his book, see my main blog.

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Short anecdote: While waiting for this book signing event to start, a writer from a business magazine (I forget the actual name) approached me and asked if he could interview me about the book. Anyway, his first question was, "Are you interested in basketball?" and I had to answer, "Um... No."

Hahahaha. Call me a poseur :P Ano ba, hindi naman required na interesado ka sa basketball para magbasa ng libro tungkol sa basketball ah.

Day 79 - Fully Booked

Oh no! I skipped a day! Two days, to be exact. Wala na kasi talaga akong maisipang kunan sa bahay and I've grown tired of talking about my unemployment. So I forgot to take pictures for August 18 and 19. But... there's no rule that the 365 days should be consecutive days... Meron ba? Anyway, even if there is, for the sake of honesty, I won't invent pictures for August 18 and 19 and will just go straight to this one.

This is the view from the 2nd floor of the Fully Booked bookstore in Bonifacio High Street where I killed some time before going with my former officemates to dinner at Off the Grill restaurant in Timog, QC. (I know, anlayo!!!)

It's one of the best bookstores in the world (IMO), simply because it's just so big! It has 4 floors, 5 if you count the basement, and obviously, lots and lots of books. The layout is great, and there's a Starbucks inside! Really, any bookworm's dream bookstore. :) I love coming here.

Day 18 - Paradise v.1

New notebooks in the bookstore

You know how some people say that Disneyland is the happiest place on Earth? Well, National Bookstore* is my Disneyland. Notebooks are my favorite, but I love other school/office supplies, too such as pens, coloring materials, post-its and well, basically everything that can be found in a bookstore. I took this picture while waiting for my friends at lunch time.

*National Bookstore - one of the more famous bookstores in the Philippines