manila intl book fair '07

August 29 — September 2, 2007
10:00 A.M — 8:00 P.M., Daily

World Trade Center Metro Manila Financial Center Area, Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue cor. Diosdado Macapagal Blvd., Pasay City, Metro Manila

Go to
http://www.manilabookfair.com/
for more details

ubos na naman ang savings ko...

Ako rin, ubos.

Will anybody be blogging about it? Please post your links on this thread when you do.

I predict that I'll be spending a couple of thousand bucks at the Book Fair, and since this is my opportunity to pick up academic texts I use for work, I may just end up going home with only two books.

What? Nooooo... But I just promised myself I wouldn't buy any more books!!... Is it any good? What are the prices like?

usually discounts range from 5-20% off local publications; more with (usually older) imported ones.

if you want to sample a wide range of publications, the book fair's the place to go. also, if you're a writer/artist, it's your chance to meet and maybe snag book deals with local publishers. if you're a book fan, there's a good chance you'll bump into your idols or have your books signed by them.

was told fully booked won't be joining this year's fair. sigh. i bet it's because they just opened their flagship store on high street and they'll do their own gimmick--just like national book store and powerbooks (they started their sale earlier).

Well, I went to the fair today and I have to say, I was a bit disappointed. There were more nonfiction books there than there were fiction books-- in fact, the only places I was able to find good fiction books were from Powerbooks, National, and A Different Bookstore. I regularly go to all three of those stores, so I didn't find anything I wouldn't have found without going to the book fair. The prices weren't any lower than they normally are, either. Powerbooks didn't even have the hardbounds for 99 bucks that they have at normal branches. I did end up going home with three books, but that's nothing out of the ordinary. I thought it was a bit of a let down.

I'm tempted to call my trip to this year's Book Fair to be a bit of a letdown, too, but maybe it's more accurate to say that I just had a different experience this time around.

I did go home with just two books like I mentioned above, but while they're both non-fiction, they certainly aren't academic. There was only one academic title I really wanted--Anna Powell's Deleuze and Horror Cinema--but that was too expensive for me.

Instead, I went to the Powerbooks area and picked up Peter Hogan's The Rough Guide to the Velvet Underground and David Kalat's J-Horror: The Definite Guide to The Ring, The Grudge and Beyond. I wasn't all that happy with Powerbooks' presence (NBS had much better titles, I thought), but those two purchases were well worth it, and I left the Book Fair happy.

I did, however, go to Fully Booked at the Fort afterwards. It was my first time, and I spent my first half-hour in a daze. There was an academic title I wanted, but I decided I could wait some time before I buy it, so I went home with three collections published by Penguin, all titles I've long wanted to have:

Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories and The Haunted Dolls' House and Other Ghost Stories by M. R. James and Graham Greene's Complete Short Stories.

Also this weekend, my wife bought me Ian Fleming's Casino Royale, while I got her Nancy Holder's Queen of the Slayers.

Eldritch, Fully Booked Serendra is amazing. My dad goes for business books, my brother for sci-fi/fantasy, my mom for self-help and inspiration, my nephew for kids' books, and my sister-in-law and I head straight for the fiction. Afterwards we head down to the graphic novels. And we go every weekend, each of us going home with a small pile of books! They should give us more than the 10% discount with how much business we've been giving them!

I'm not sure I can afford a pile of books every weekend, but I'd certainly like to test my cash flow that way! Great way to spend time with the family there. I still get a dreamy smile on my face when I remember what it was like.

"And we go every weekend, each of us going home with a small pile of books!"

Hi. I'm willing to be put up for adoption in your family. :)

here's my bookfair experience as i recounted it in my blog:

I went to the bookfair yesterday, my yearly pilgrimage. I was hoping I could find some stylebooks and theory books, but damn, those things were expensive. Unluckily for me, I got mugged the other day so my budget for books was slashed by half. (Next time, daydream less during train rides and damn you, thieves!) Anyhow, since I don't plan on eating this week (hah!), I figured I could spend some more on non-food items. Who needs food anyway? On my limited budget, I managed to buy three books: The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, The Incident of the Dog At Nighttime by Mark Haddon, and Me and Mr. Darcy by Alexandra Potter. The first is science fiction, the second's what the bookstores call general fiction, and the third's chick lit. Now, I'm not really a chick lit reader, but I'm a firm Janeite, who reads Jane Austen as if she's a black comedy writer. And I'm in the mood for something related to Austen these days, so I'm giving it a try. My thoughts about the books next time.

fyi: i got robbed of my stuff at shaw blvd MRT and aside from my cash, they also took my credit cards. so this should serve as a warning. hmph. karma'll get them.

this year's bookfair was a letdown for me, too. i didn't buy anything there! although i already bought several books at powerbooks before the fair, and fully booked after. i just noticed there were a lot of titles on religion/spirituality (and sellers/publishers who carry them). hmm, wonder why...

eldritch00, i did the same thing when i went to their flagship store the first time. you know, like a kid stepping into a humongous toy-and-candy store. i literally didn't know where to start. i spent about five hours just basking in books, and spent more than enough money that day--that i'd rather not talk about :)

eyelesbarrow: don't worry, karma's, you know, a real b***h.

fyi: i got robbed of my stuff at shaw blvd MRT and aside from my cash, they also took my credit cards. so this should serve as a warning. hmph. karma'll get them.

Good God. I certainly hope you weren't hurt. My wife told me that a Globe Telecom employee was mugged at the Boni Station...are these new "danger zones" now? Jeez.

On towards lighter matters, I've always been curious about Bester but haven't yet had the chance to buy his books, much less read them.

Also, what "theory books" are you referring to?

anikins, the thing about the publishers of religious texts that surprised me was how I didn't know we had a local chapter for Scientologists.

As for FB's flagship, if I had five hours to ogle and gape, I would have spent it. As it happens, I had to rush and pay for my books to meet my wife on time.

(But I'll be back there. Sometime. Or maybe get some of the stock brought over to a branch of FB closer to me, so I can pick it up from there.)

^ i didnt get hurt. just depressed, hehe. honestly, i was oblivious. it was after work and it was a long day and i was tired, i wasnt that alert. anyway, according to the PNP, the petty criminals are coming out of the woodwork because its the start of the "ber" months. so, take care of your possessions!

bester. i'm still at the first few pages. but so far, i'm liking it. the first thing that struck me about the book is the narrator's voice: it's reminiscent of the voice from the hardboiled, pulp fiction genre, which is not surprising since bester began his career in the pulps.

theory books: i'm talking about literary theory/criticism books :)

Glad to hear you weren't hurt, and almost as depressing as what actually happened to you is how it does seem to be a "seasonal" trend for petty crimes like these. Jeez.

I have a feeling, as soon as I've cracked a few of the books from my ever enlarging TBR pile, I'm going to buy myself a copy of the Bester.

And literary theory is something I'm not quite so familiar with, though I've been interested lately, trying to find intersections between that and the more communication-based cultural theory I'm into.