I got a wonderful treat today.
About a couple of weeks ago, I lamented the fact that I missed a sale opportunity at the Robinson's Place Manila. My target was to check out National Bookstore or Power Books and get myself a new book. Needless to say, stuff happened (or didn't happen) and I wasn't able to buy a new book.
Then I remembered something that lifted my spirits.
Every year, for a few days in September, the Manila International Book Fair would be my mana from heaven. Originally held at the World Trade Center, they moved to the more commercial location of the SMX Convention Center in Pasay. So, knowing that I would have another chance to purchase books for (a bit) less, I felt better.
Then I promptly forgot about it.
Needless to say, it was a combination of having the memory of a fish, sleepless nights and being busy with work that made me forget about the event. Thank the heavens for Marvin, though, who had taken note of the event schedule after we had a conversation about it and decided to surprise me with a book hunting date. Even if I did find out about the surprise a couple of days early, I was still immensely pleased and grateful for my very thoughtful boyfriend.
I missed last year's event, so I looked forward to the experience again. We got there as near to the mall opening hours as we can, in order to avoid the crowds. It can get pretty packed in the afternoon, and people tend to be short-tempered when they can't find the books they want and have to suffer through long cashier lines. National Bookstore was, as expected, the star of the show, with the largest floor area covered and situated at a prominent location, and was where I got my finds. Marvin found his at the UST Publishing and Anvil Publishing stalls.
The downside of the event? Power Books didn't have a stall, but since it's mother company, National Bookstore, was already represented, I wasn't feeling too bad about it. What I missed were other book lover's haven. There was no presence from the Fully Booked and A Different Bookstore establishments. I felt a little bad about it, because these two brands carried more sci-fi and fantasy genre books than National Bookstore, and would have given me more options.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed my finds. I felt a lot better after I realized something else. The SM Mall of Asia was having a mall-wide sale right that very moment. Which means, the Fully Booked branch in the mall would be on sale as well. And so, my book shopping date continued right across the street.
So I ended up getting six books in total this year. I got "The Hunger Games" trilogy by Suzanne Collins, to prepare me for the movie next year. I am very much interested about the concept of the first book, which reminds me of "Battle Royale" by Takami Koushun. I also got the "City of Bones" by Cassandra Clare, which is the first book of "The Mortal Instruments" series. Then I got two more from Fully Booked, which were "One Day" by David Nicholls and "Elantris" by Brandon Sanderson. I'm particularly excited about the last one to see how Sanderson writes when he's not working on the "Wheel of Time" series.
So, the new reading material will be enough to occupy me for some time.
I think it'll last me a couple of months. :)
Happy reading, everyone!!Labels: Book Sale, Books, Elantris, Event, Manila International Book Fair, Musings, One Day, Reading List, The Hunger Games, The Mortal Instruments
