The 30th Manila International Book Fair (MIBF) is going to end today. I went there yesterday and came home with an empty wallet but a satisfying haul. I wish I can go there today - I’m sure the booths are going to do an all-or-nothing book sale war - but I’m not sure my woeful finances can handles any more additional pressure. Sigh. But anyway, here is my opinionated thought on the week-long book orgy.With Powerbooks out of the scene and with National Book Store being the only major book store chain to have a booth, the MIBF this year had inadvertently made smaller book stores and local publishers shine more brightly this year. I wasn’t surprised when I heard some grumbles from other shoppers that book buying at the MIBF is harder this year. I quite disagree with them. One of the reasons I love going to the MIBF is because it is the only chance one can see local publishers and smaller book sellers in one place. Not only that. MIBF is one of the few times when these exhibitors sell publications that one might not be able to see the light of day in book stores and/or without going to their respective offices. And oftentimes at bargain prices, to boot!

I would give the best seller prize for this year to Bookmark. They gave the best bargain of the entire fair when they sold some of those beautiful hardbound Lacson-Locsin translations of Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo at 200 pesos a copy. I managed to get a Fili but cried a little when I wasn’t able to get a Noli (sob!). Another best seller from Bookmark was some 10 pesos per pack old Philippines photos and scenes as well as the cheap (below 50 pesos) children’s books. Next on the list is, of course, National Book Store. A bargain hunter will always adore a bookseller when it offers at least a 20% discount on ANY book in its store. Their sale during the MIBF (and during the whole month of September, actually) is thus always a goldmine for graphic novel enthusiasts who go gaga over the availability of good selections at bargain prices. I particularly like it that they had offered Oxford World’s Classics at 99 pesos a pop (and with 20% off, that means it's actually just 80 pesos). I bought a complete set of Jane Austen’s work – well almost, since there weren't any copies of Pride and Prejudice in NBS, or strangely enough, in the entire book fair itself. A Different Bookstore also had a good bargain deal but they should’ve paced the restocking of their inventory a little better – many good titles had been sold out during the first few days of the fair and the remaining ones are a bit unappetizing.

There is a tie for the most fun exhibit in the fair between Lampara Books and Diwa Learning System. The prettiest inventory is that of Ayala Foundation; I’ll also give it the gosh-I-wish-I-can-afford-that! prize. The most disappointing sale is that of Anvil Publication – the have great books but sad, unappetizing bargain bins. The most underrated and hope-they-have-a-better-setup-next-year prize is given to National Historical Institute (NHI) – great selection, great bargain, bad booth setup. The hippest inventory is that of Visprint Publishing (love the Bob Ong T-shirt btw), plus we saw Carlo Vergara for the nth time. I’m not much into Christian literature but the OMF Literature booth was jam-packed. UP Press had the best bargain among the few university and organization exhibits in the fair.

Well, that’s it for the 30th MIBF. It had I been a great experience yet again. I hope to see more exhibits in 2010!

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With Jessica Soho, from GMATV's blog on Cory Aquino's death. You can read the transcript here.

"Ako’y nagpapasalamat sa Panginoong Diyos na ginawa niya akong isang Pilipino"

-- Cory Aquino, September 2008

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Dr. Kushner's Personality Type Diet – Robert Kushner
Non-fiction, Diet; ISBN 0312325827; St. Martin's Griffin, USA: 2004.

I found this among my book/TBR piles and read it for my book club's August meet (the topic will be about Health, Fitness and Well-being). I've looked around the web and was a bit surprised that this diet garnered positive reviews from established diet and health sites and was even discussed in peer-reviewed journals.

Despite the hokey title, I found it fun, simple and common-sensical (is that a word?). Plus it has this quiz in chapter two that you answer and then boom, you get to know what your diet, exercise and coping personalities are - it reminded me of those fun quizzes in facebook.

Based on this 66-question quiz, I learned that I'm a "Healthy Portioner" (aka the takaw tingin, who piles too much food on her plate during buffets). But my main problem is that I don't do exercise; in fact I'm both an "All-or-Nothing Doer" (aka the weekend warrior, who's only active in spurts/during the weekdays) and a "No-Time-to-Exercise Protestor" (unless I can exercise while sleeping, of course). It also seems that I'm also suffering from low self-esteem ( "Low-Self-Esteem Sufferer"), not to mention that my life is too fast-paced ("Fast Pacer") and that I have unreasonable expectations ("Overreaching Achiever"). Never realized that I have a lot of issues, so thank you very much Dr. Kushner.

The strength of this book isn't from that gimmicky personality type thing - its the chapters on how to read the ingredient and nutrition labels on the back of products, as well as the few recipes given. They are decent and practical, although the ingredients in the recipes are understandably US-oriented.


2.5 out of 5 stars

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My cat, Shadow, hates Edgar Allan Poe. Of all the books lying around my apartment, it's the one she decided to punch holes into - much to my despair because I like the title of this particular anthology: "Selected Prose and Poetry of Poe" (nice alliteration, don't you think?).

She probably thought I'll get an idea or two of cat-torture from the book. Sheesh, if I were that cruel, I would've named her "Pluto". *rolling my eyes*

By the way, she does have this strange white patch on her chest... hmm, doesn't bode well for me, no? :P

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