I am so excited to go bookstore hopping this week! More than thrice-postponed, this sojourn into stacks upon stacks of tomes and pre-loved paperbacks is my ultimate favorite when it comes to making school purchases.I'm proud to note that our school library, though tinier than most libraries, is packed with what students actually LIKE to read. I heard that in some libraries, the Harry Potter and the Twilight series were banned by school authorities. That's pointless, actually, as the kids could easily have bought their copies from any commercial bookstore. What librarians and reading teachers must realize is that popular books ought to be discussed in class, and not be treated like forbidden fruit. I remember the many enchanting hours I spent with students, throwing quotes from the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Twilight back and forth in intimate gatherings for readers. Popular fiction opens up many doors for young readers, and banning them in schools is like shutting the doors in their faces.
Once inside a bookstore, I'm drawn to the graphic novel section. In the early nineties, I was devouring them like crazy, and for over a year, I was on a special Sandman diet. From Preludes and Nocturnes to A Doll's House, I've made it my life's mission to read every single one of Neil Gaiman's gothic masterpieces. The DC, Marvel and Image graphic novels were a no-brainer. Where to buy, where to buy…
Besides the ubiquitous National Bookstore, Fully Booked and Powerbooks there are many other nooks and crannies in the metro that hold a treasure trove of books that won’t make school finance officers’ hearts palpitate, given the much lower prices. The aptly named Booksale, with countless branches and one fantastic warehouse in Paranaque, still tops my list of the best bargain bookstore. I have completed book sets from Booksale throughout the years--Crichton, Ludlum, Uris, Anne Rice, and those tingly historical romances by Judith McNaught and Jude Deveraux. I am forever grateful to Booksale!
Sadly, the Scholastic Book Fairs have lost their charm for me. Perhaps it’s because in the last three years, I have been seeing the same old titles, and too many 39 Clues and Clifford the Big Red Dog. Or it could be the dwindling stock of teacher’s references that I know, looking at the online catalogue, Scholastic is famous for. Sure, the company gives us a percentage of total sales in the form of books, but the stuff we get is mostly eye candy.I have yet to check U.P. Diliman's own cache of bargain bookstores. I know I've bought several bestsellers and some classics there during my college days. LOTR:The Two Towers for P10! Beat that! As for the bootleg book stalls in Recto...dare I visit again, after 20 years? I wish I had the time to drop by the university presses of UP, DLSU, UST and Ateneo. Though most of their titles are scholarly, collegiate and post-grad types, and thus more suitable for teachers and researchers.
I’ve been to the F. Sionil Jose-owned La Solidaridad bookshop twice before, while waiting for my dad to finish his dialysis treatments. I would describe the place as quaint, and the books, mouth-watering. All the titles were rare, and unfortunately, quite pricey. I remember buying just two books from there, an anthology/of Langston Hughes poems, and Teaching Shakespeare Into the Twenty-first Century. Wouldn’t hurt to take a detour to Padre Faura to check out the LS.
I'll definitely blog about this bookstore-hopping experience soon. This teacher ain't resting without a cartful of books for the school library, and sigh...for her own humble bookshelf.About alternative bookstores:
Hey! July is Children’s Book Month!
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