Book Lust: The 33rd Manila International Book Fair and Other Stuff

Posted by bennardfajardo on September 13, 2012 · 10 Comments 

It’s my first time to attend the Manila International Book Fair since I finally overcame the deal breakers (distance, budget, and sheer laziness) that prevented me from attending the MIBF in the past plus I really saved and prepared for this event because, you know, books! There were a lot of books that I wanted to buy but my dwindling funds prevented me from buying them so I must content myself with 7 books. Here they are:

1. The Subterraneans and Pic by Jack Kerouac –  By way of Allan Ginsberg and one of my past English classes, I have always been intrigued by The Beat Generation and so I bought this book by Jack Kerouac. Also, I am preparing for the month in which I’ll have my Essential Reading of works created by The Beat Generation and this will be a part of that list. I already have On The Road by Kerouac, The Place of Dead Roads by Burroughs, and this book. What’s missing is a book of poems by Ginsberg but the one on sale in the NBS booth is worth 2000 pesos! How I wish I had the money to buy the complete poems of Ginsberg. *sigh*
2. White Noise by Don DeLillo – DeLillo is one of the authors that are in my to-read list since his themes are appealing to me and his works are generally well-received. It won’t hurt me to read his works and broaden my literary horizons so I bought one of his well-known works to see if I can get into him.
3. A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood – I saw the film starring Colin Firth and directed by Tom Ford and I loved it. It was incredibly heartbreaking and thought-provoking and, since I have a rule to read the source material of films that I liked, I bought a copy.
4. A Death in the Afternoon by Ernest Hemingway – This book intrigues me since Hemingway discusses bullfighting in this book in an almost philosophical manner. I find it hard to find an inexpensive copy of this book that is in good condition so I decided to buy this since I will never know when I can find another copy like this.
5. Emma by Jane Austen – Rhena convinced me to buy this because she knows that I am trying to read more female authors and, since Jane Austen is considered one of the premiere female authors in the history of literature, I think it will be good to start with her.
6. Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder – I read this book during my 1st year in college and I loved it so much. It’s a novel about the history of philosophy and one girl’s adventure to solve life’s mysteries. Sadly, I lost my copy so I decided to replace it with another. I hope to reread this soon.
7. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon – I just read Inherent Vice this month and I was surprised by how much I liked it. So I decided that the next step was to buy another work of his and try to ascertain if I would like Pynchon the second time around.
8. What the World is Reading by Penguin Group – This was a free sampler containing excerpts from bestselling titles from the Penguin Group.

All in all, I enjoyed the MIBF even though I am sad, in a way, because I did not buy any Filipiniana books even though I saw a lot that interested me. Oh well, c’est la vie.

In other news, I have also bought, at the beginning of the month, a book that I have been searching for almost a year now. It’s Any Human Heart by William Boyd.

That’s all for this edition of BOOKLOVE. I now have added a lot of books in my TBR pile and I have so little time to read them all.

Filed under Book Love, Books · Tagged with A Death in the Afternoon, A Single Man, Any Human Heart, Book Love, Book Lust, Books, Christopher Isherwood, Don DeLillo, Emma, Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, Jane Austen, Jostein Gaarder, Manila International Book Fair, MIBF, Sophie's World, The Crying of Lot 49, The Subterraneans and Pic, Thomas Pynchon, White Noise, William Boyd