Posts tagged national book store

It’s been a while since I last fired a series of bullets in this godforsaken Cormac McCarthy-esque landscape of a book blog, so I figured I’d post one now. Not that anyone actually noticed that it’s been a long while since nor that anyone wondered why my last couple of posts were about films based on books and not about books, period. The last unordered list I posted was of the books that I fortunately rescued from the deluge that was our fourth-floor apartment’s bathroom faucet’s totally unexpected four-in-the-morning wake-up call; the one before that was of the books I rescued from the bargain bin of Powerbooks on the first day of the bookstore chain’s crazy-amazing month-long sale; and a list before that was of the books I got from a Fully Booked branch up north where I sought refuge after I rescued myself from a literal daylight robbery near to where I usually eat fried chicken and fries. Apparently, I’m great at rescuing. And this past week saw me rescuing more books, from book sale tables and long-forgotten spots on bookstore shelves, and—again—myself, from the claustrophobic cubicle of boredom. Enter: another stack of bullet points. Light Boxes by Shane Jones. A slim but not inexpensive novel, which I finished while lining up for An Education at Cine Europa last Saturday night, about former balloonists waging war on the month of February. Go figure. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner. When I’m not busy incriminating myself on Twitter, I may be power-searching for and bidding on books on eBay. This one, purportedly containing one of the longest sentences in Western literature, is my latest catch. The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace. Included in the Penguin Ink series of reprints featuring cover illustrations by famous tattoo artists, this is the amazing first novel by the author of the more amazing Infinite Jest. The Hundred Brothers by Donald Antrim. A novel about a hundred brothers. Postmodern hilarity ensues. Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan. I first read this on my office computer, by way of a pirated e-book version which I, being an electronics engineer in a company chiefly concerned with electronics engineering, cleverly renamed, Voltage and Current Calculations. Of course I had to get the “real” version. Thumbsucker by Walter Kirn. A novel about “the King Kong of oral obsessives” by the author of Up in the Air. Money by Martin Amis. One of the two books I got for only Php50 at the National Book Store stall at the Manila International Book Fair at the SMX Convention Center in SM Mall of Asia last Saturday. The Tent by Margaret Atwood. The other book I got for only Php50 at the National Book Store stall at the Manila International Book Fair at the SMX Convention Center in SM Mall of Asia last Saturday. V. by Thomas Pynchon. V is for very rare. Also from the aforementioned book fair, but purchased at well over Php50. V is for very expensive. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. A significant portion of this novel is told through a series of PowerPoint slides. Also, Egan is significantly sexy. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman. For weeks I practically had to pester Fully Booked to carry copies of this book. Evidently, my pestering has come to a satisfactory conclusion. C by Tom McCarthy. Imported from Singapore by the lovely Ysa. Tom McCarthy, I’d like you to meet Man Booker.

It’s been a while since I last fired a series of bullets in this godforsaken Cormac McCarthy-esque landscape of a book blog, so I figured I’d post one now. Not that anyone actually noticed that it’s been a long while since nor that anyone wondered why my last couple of posts were about films based on books and not about books, period. The last unordered list I posted was of the books that I fortunately rescued from the deluge that was our fourth-floor apartment’s bathroom faucet’s totally unexpected four-in-the-morning wake-up call; the one before that was of the books I rescued from the bargain bin of Powerbooks on the first day of the bookstore chain’s crazy-amazing month-long sale; and a list before that was of the books I got from a Fully Booked branch up north where I sought refuge after I rescued myself from a literal daylight robbery near to where I usually eat fried chicken and fries. Apparently, I’m great at rescuing. And this past week saw me rescuing more books, from book sale tables and long-forgotten spots on bookstore shelves, and—again—myself, from the claustrophobic cubicle of boredom. Enter: another stack of bullet points.

  • Light Boxes by Shane Jones. A slim but not inexpensive novel, which I finished while lining up for An Education at Cine Europa last Saturday night, about former balloonists waging war on the month of February. Go figure.
  • Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner. When I’m not busy incriminating myself on Twitter, I may be power-searching for and bidding on books on eBay. This one, purportedly containing one of the longest sentences in Western literature, is my latest catch.
  • The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace. Included in the Penguin Ink series of reprints featuring cover illustrations by famous tattoo artists, this is the amazing first novel by the author of the more amazing Infinite Jest.
  • The Hundred Brothers by Donald Antrim. A novel about a hundred brothers. Postmodern hilarity ensues.
  • Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan. I first read this on my office computer, by way of a pirated e-book version which I, being an electronics engineer in a company chiefly concerned with electronics engineering, cleverly renamed, Voltage and Current Calculations. Of course I had to get the “real” version.
  • Thumbsucker by Walter Kirn. A novel about “the King Kong of oral obsessives” by the author of Up in the Air.
  • Money by Martin Amis. One of the two books I got for only Php50 at the National Book Store stall at the Manila International Book Fair at the SMX Convention Center in SM Mall of Asia last Saturday.
  • The Tent by Margaret Atwood. The other book I got for only Php50 at the National Book Store stall at the Manila International Book Fair at the SMX Convention Center in SM Mall of Asia last Saturday.
  • V. by Thomas Pynchon. V is for very rare. Also from the aforementioned book fair, but purchased at well over Php50. V is for very expensive.
  • A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. A significant portion of this novel is told through a series of PowerPoint slides. Also, Egan is significantly sexy.
  • The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman. For weeks I practically had to pester Fully Booked to carry copies of this book. Evidently, my pestering has come to a satisfactory conclusion.
  • C by Tom McCarthy. Imported from Singapore by the lovely Ysa. Tom McCarthy, I’d like you to meet Man Booker.
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell is a rare example of a contemporary novel that, upon learning of its existence and its apparent excellence from various media outlets or through word-of-mouth, I’d be absolutely willing to shell out good money (or a couple gift certificates, as it were) for. I’d set out to have it as soon as possible. I’d keep my eyes peeled for any sign of its availability in local shops. I’d grab a copy the moment I see one… or put off buying it until the first day of the month-long markdown of a popular bookstore chain. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell is Read Hard! Book Club’s selection for the most part of August, and you’d do well to join us and join in the fun: Not for the first time, we apologize for the delay in announcement. We knew full well that the slated end of our A Clockwork Orange discussion was a couple of days ago. We should have announced the theme and the candidates for our next round by then, but something came up while Zet, Carina, and I, having picked a new theme, were in the process of choosing which titles to put up for voting. That something was this, the Man Booker Prize 2010 Longlist. We perused the impressive list and, after much cajoling involving a positive review by the Dave Eggers and a sort of report on the relative accessibility of the longlisted books, we decided to suspend voting by Read Hard! members and we instead unanimously voted for David Mitchell’s The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (click for synopsis and author bio) to be the fifth Read Hard! Book Club selection.  We hope you don’t mind our taking matters into our own hands, so to speak. After hearing a lot of good things about Mitchell’s latest novel, we’ve grown confident that it will make for a great read and that you’ll end up thanking us for recommending it. Hah! So, please grab a copy of the book, available in both hardcover and trade paperback editions, and join us as we spend the first three weeks of August—that’s from Sunday, August 1, to Saturday, August 21—reading and discussing The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.  [reblogged from readhard]

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell is a rare example of a contemporary novel that, upon learning of its existence and its apparent excellence from various media outlets or through word-of-mouth, I’d be absolutely willing to shell out good money (or a couple gift certificates, as it were) for. I’d set out to have it as soon as possible. I’d keep my eyes peeled for any sign of its availability in local shops. I’d grab a copy the moment I see one… or put off buying it until the first day of the month-long markdown of a popular bookstore chain.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell is Read Hard! Book Club’s selection for the most part of August, and you’d do well to join us and join in the fun:

Not for the first time, we apologize for the delay in announcement. We knew full well that the slated end of our A Clockwork Orange discussion was a couple of days ago. We should have announced the theme and the candidates for our next round by then, but something came up while Zet, Carina, and I, having picked a new theme, were in the process of choosing which titles to put up for voting. That something was this, the Man Booker Prize 2010 Longlist.

We perused the impressive list and, after much cajoling involving a positive review by the Dave Eggers and a sort of report on the relative accessibility of the longlisted books, we decided to suspend voting by Read Hard! members and we instead unanimously voted for David Mitchell’s The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (click for synopsis and author bio) to be the fifth Read Hard! Book Club selection. 

We hope you don’t mind our taking matters into our own hands, so to speak. After hearing a lot of good things about Mitchell’s latest novel, we’ve grown confident that it will make for a great read and that you’ll end up thanking us for recommending it. Hah! So, please grab a copy of the book, available in both hardcover and trade paperback editions, and join us as we spend the first three weeks of August—that’s from Sunday, August 1, to Saturday, August 21—reading and discussing The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. 

[reblogged from readhard]

readhard