'New Book' Ritual

Today I woke up with this nagging feeling that I need to go to the bookstore and buy a book.  So I went to the secondhand bookshop in the mall and got four books.  It did not cause a dent in my budget so it was okay (just a bit worried that the books might not be that good, crossing my fingers!).  The books are:

Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear
A Dangerous Dress by Julia Holden
Back in the Game by Holly Chamberlin
Fat Hoochie Prom Queen by Nico Medina - I remembered this from Dash and Lily's Book of Dares but I thought this was just a made up title.  So when I found this in one of the shelves, I let out a chuckle and grabbed it. :D

When I got home, I do the first thing I always do for my new books:  

1. Wrap the cover in plastic, for hardbound books with jackets, I use a double-sided adhesive to tape the jacket to the cover then wrap it in plastic.  
2. Put my name in the front page and the year I bought the book.  
3. Open the book in the middle, smell it (I am addicted to the smell of new books), open other pages again and smell them too, then run my thumb through the pages.  
4. Turn the pages as fast as I can, checking the page numbers to make sure there are no missing pages, blank pages, or any other inconsistencies.

I've been doing this since I was in high school, and even did it for my school books.  So how about you?  What's the first thing you do when you get a new book?  Any practical or quirky ritual you'd love to share? 

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.