Monday, November 22, 2010

I Need More Plastic Cover

I have finished reading House Rules by Jodi Picoult and was supposed to post the book review today, but I had to run some errands. Before going home, I went to the mall and looked at some books. Sadly, the book selection in our local bookstore is totally useless. I can still remember a time when the books on display are pretty readable, but now, everywhere, all I can see are vampire books. Now, I'm not against vampire literature, actually I've been quite obsessed with Anne Rice's Lestat character; it's just that I'm not digging the current vampire phenomena where vampires are not anymore the feared and mystical creatures that they used to be.

But enough about vampires.

So as I was going through all the books, my mood getting bleaker and bleaker at the moment, I found copies of Jane Eyre and other classic literature for Php 99 (that's about USD 2.25). Suddenly, an idea struck me. I remembered that there was a shop for secondhand and surplus books in the mall so I went to check it out. I remember I got my Thomas Harris and John Grisham books from there when I was still in college and money was very limited but I needed a good read. The first thing that caught my eye? A hardback copy of The Brethren by John Grisham! I spent about half an hour digging through piles and piles of old and used books, while imagining myself lounging around the house reading for a whole week or so.

The good thing about secondhand shops, sometimes their book selection might surprise you. I found a good copy of Kiss The Girls by James Patterson and added it to my heap. In the end, I got six books. When I paid for it, my total purchase amounted to Php 360 - about USD 8.20! If I went the brand-new route, I'd only get one book for that price, or 3 copies of the classics, which I've already read anyway. To break down:

The Brethren by John Grisham (hardback) - Php 125 or USD 2.86
Kiss The Girls by James Patterson - Php 95 or USD 2.17
Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata (hardback) - Php 40 or USD 0.92
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells - Php 20(!) or USD 0.46
Love Lessons by Sandra Lee - Php 40 or USD 0.92
Return To Sender by Rebecca Winters - Php 40 or USD 0.92

The last three books I bought with my mom in mind. She has been railing on me to get a copy of the movie, but either I'm going blind or I just can't really find the DVD so I thought to just get the book, since I inherited the bibliophile gene from her anyway. She loves romance novels too, hence the last two books.

Ah... Book retail therapy at its best.

*UPDATE: I just discovered I did not put in the name of the store, it's Booksale, and most malls in Manila have one.








2 comments:

I just have to tell you, ARGH feeds on awesomeness, so if you can, drop him some awesome here, and I promise to give some awesome back :D

Right now, because of my really busy schedule, I'm cutting back on receiving awards. So until further notice, me and ARGH would not be accepting awards. But thank you for thinking of us, we really appreciate it!