Slip of the Pen

Yesterday was the closing day of the world’s largest floating book fair docked at Manila’s South Harbor — the MV Doulos. Having heard that this could be possibly the last time that Manila welcomes the Doulos (the ship is already a whopping 93 years old and will be retired in 2010), me and my friends set aside last Friday, January 21, as our “Recto-Doulos field trip day”.

Recto-Doulos? For the uninitiated, C.M. Recto Avenue is one of Manila’s main thoroughfares and a regular haunt of bargain book hunters. So Friday, in essence, was our “book buying field trip”. The ‘outing’ was a nice reward for ourselves for hurdling the LIRA Fellows’ Night, as well as a self-gift for Christmas.

Pau in white, yours truly with the new (and quite ungainly) short hair in black, Ia in blue, and JC in dark green. Thanks to Pau’s mom for the shot.

The book hunters were made up of my co-LIRA Fellows, JC and Pau (who brought along her very affable mom), Ia, and yours truly. Unfortunately, Kel wasn’t able to come. (Huy, na-miss ka namin! Hehe.)

We were lucky to arrive (around lunchtime) at a queue-free book fair. This drew a collective sigh of relief from us — we’ve seen some Doulos-at-Manila pics showing long lines snaking through the South Harbor.

We got a free ride by offering our unmatched greeting and ushering talents. Just kidding. No, seriously.

As can be expected, the ship’s crew/volunteers were mostly non-Filipino; when we were paying our Php 10 entrance fees, I blurted out “Dalawa po,” not realizing that a Caucasian was manning the booth.

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A few weeks ago, a dog by the name of Randolph Manhattan sent me an email offering condolences for Fischer’s loss and sharing the new book from Random House, A Dog About Town.

Randolph is the star of the said book, which is written from the poetry-loving Labrador’s perspective. If that isn’t an inimitable premise for a novel, then I don’t know what is!

A few days ago, I picked up the book at the post office; Randolph and J.F. Englert had so kindly sent me an autographed copy from New York (thank you, dear sirs!). This blog’s readers know that I have tons of titles in my read-to pile (Exhibit A, Exhibit B), but this book is on top right now, period. (Yes, the First In First Out principle doesn’t apply to my books.) A Dog About Town has certainly piqued my interest, and it’s not just because I’m a dog lover.

I’ll write a more detailed post (a book review, even) after I’ve finished reading this book. For now, suffice it to say that I’m already recommending this title this early! (I do hope Philippine bookstores already have Randolph’s pipe-puffing pose on their shelves!)

My last post about Fischer backfired. Call me sentimental — my dog’s pic made me avoid this blog for some time. That, and every delinquent blogger’s pet excuse — “my day job!”

Well, save for the last post, all I’ve been recently babbling about in this blog are books and LIRA. One more article about both of them won’t hurt.

Sir Rio with some of the LIRA 2007 fellows. I’m the one in stripes and with the long hair. From L to R: (back row) JC Sola, to whom this and the next three photos belong to, Karla, Pau, Christa, Rhodge, (front row) Por, Daboi, Da Man, John, Daisy, Guia.

Last Saturday, Ia and I trooped to the much awaited 28th Manila International Book Fair to — what else? — buy a ton of bargain books, as well as attend the “Araw ni Virgilio Almario”, a tribute to the National Artist for Literature and director of the LIRA poetry workshop who’s also known as Rio Alma. The event was part of Pistang Panitik, a five-day literary festival within the Book Fair that was conceived by sir Vim Nadera.

Sirs Roger Mangahas, Bobby Añonuevo, Mike Coroza, and Tata Funilas, who provided comic relief by walking up to the stage wearing a Rio Alma mask, stunning sir Rio’s good friend Roger and distracting him from his talk.

Of course, the fellows of this year’s Palihan sa LIRA were out in full force to support sir Rio. We helped out in the usual chores — preparing the exhibits, ushering in the audience (”Bagay na bagay ang polo mo ah!”), giving out leaflets to Book Fair attendees (”O, mambugaw muna kayo ng ating event”), giving the loudest applause, and whatnot. The programme was good; the critics/presenters were the distinguished trio of Rogelio Mangahas, Roberto Añonuevo, and Michael Coroza. El Batch Presidente and UP Writers’ Club member Pau Hernando was the emcee.

Sirs Michael Coroza and Romulo Baquiran Jr. with Batch Sidhay. Notice the substantial loot I’m carrying; later that night, my left hand was sore.

The small Exhibit Room was jampacked, with many more Book Fair strollers peeping in from time to time. Unfortunately, some members of the audience, mostly students, weren’t paying attention to the talks. That’s respect for the country’s National Artists for you. Curiously, some of these short-attention-span gits were seen avidly lining up for sir Rio’s signature after the programme.

Ia and I having a not-so-sweet-but-sweet-enough moment. JC, thank you for this shot! Hehehe. Nagulat na lang ako noong nakita ko ‘to.

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Fancy title, no? Truth be told, I just had to link up all four books that I’m featuring today. This batch is the first attempt to make sense of this imposing read-to pile, courtesy of a wallet that opens faster than you can say, “Buy!”

Chronicling the World Real

Visions of the World: A History of Maps by Jeremy Black
Php 2,099
Fully Booked, SM North EDSA: The Block
February 5, 2007

The first addition since the wit-skit-brit triumvirate, this is the most expensive book I’ve ever bought. The book charts the history of maps from the pre-Gutenberg era to the modern age, and charts it well for the reader’s eyes: there are large, full-color maps in almost every page! In short, this is the dream book for cartographer- wannabes, such as myself. Yep, I am one.

Before I started writing, way back in elementary school, my pen was used (alongside crayons and markers) to draw maps of fictional worlds, nations, cities, and heck, even residential subdivisions. (Kind of explains my addiction to SimCity years later). I was so enamored of maps — foreign or local — that I became peerless in geography and history class. While my contemporaries were watching Dragonball Z, I was scrutinizing Genghis Khan’s conquests, the routes of the barbarian invasions of Rome, the extent of Imperial Japan’s WWII gains, and the mad Scramble for Africa.

My early enthusiasm for cartography rubbed off on my grade school classmates; days after I petitioned them to create ‘nations’ to populate our ‘world’, they turned in colored maps that detailed their kingdoms/republics/empires’ boundaries, cities, and landmarks — complete with flags. (For the record, months later we were participating in a ‘World War’. As can be expected, the conflagration culminated in my side’s triumph and ‘annexation’ of the make-believe lands. The makings of megalomania? That is why I titled my Philippine Star essay, Learning Early.)

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Shit, it’s been almost a month since my last post? The joys of LIRA — the main course has been extended until the end of August!

I will be the first to admit that the title is a bit paradoxical. Prodigal pertains to “profuse or wasteful expenditure”, and for yours truly, spending money on books isn’t wasteful expenditure. In fact, books are some of the best items a person can invest in, both in terms of material and immaterial value.

Maybe the analogy I’m gunning for here is with the Prodigal Son — I, a former bookhound, have now been fully restored to being a bibliophile. Or so I declare.

The descent to near-dyslexia (like many things I write, an exaggeration) was the descent to programming and a college lifestyle that didn’t allow much time for reading. Back in UP, my days had a rehearsed, monotonous cadence — study code, write code, do student org stuff, play video games, exercise, fall sick. Towards the end of my four years, I even managed to squeeze in blogging, which scooped up the littlest remaining time for books.

The ascent to near-bibliomania (which might not be an exaggeration) was the ascent that began last November, when I bought my first books in almost a year. The buying spree gained steam this January, with the addition of three expensive books.

What I failed to write here on this journal for the past six months — February to July — is that I’ve acquired 25 new books. The count would’ve been much higher, if I hadn’t conserved my cash in March and April. And the count will be much, much higher before the year ends, that I can assure my wailing wallet.

The thing I’m loving about this ‘prodigal bibliophile’ pa-uso is that with every book that I buy and finish, the desire to buy more and read more amplifies. It’s good that this coincides with the recent developments in my literary ‘journey’ (Philippine Star-LIRA- Komiks.ph), and better that it tells me: The resurrection is complete, and the phoenix that is my love for books has risen once again.

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Subtitled: So, Now He’s Blogging About Books, Great. A Good Way to Delay Writing Something Meaningful, Eh Corsair?

Books, how can you not live without them when you’re a writer? Inanimate objects with animated universes within, infinities chronicled with infinitesimal dots and finite chapters. They fuel your desire, they inspire, they demoralize, they hone your vocabulary, they humble your vocabulary, they kick your ass, they make you kiss the author’s ass. Basically, they do a lot of things, none of which are negligible.

Maybe that’s the reason I’ve been having difficulties writing regularly the past year or so. I’ve been an ingrate to the hobby that laid the foundations for my love of writing (which began quite late — just early college). So now I’m making amends by promising to buy more books, blog (’boast’ would be more appropriate, hey, humans love to) about them, and to actually read them from now-glossy cover to soon-wretched cover. (Obvious use and abuse makes you look like a genius.)

After my last book-buying binge (which was one-third a fiasco), me, Ia, and my wallet took a dive into Fully Booked at SM North Edsa’s The Block. Only the first two surfaced; the wallet was sucked in whole by the cash register. Curse Fully Booked. Curse its expansive floor scheme and impressive array of books. Curse its addicting diversity. And I’m beginning to sound like a blog advert here.

And so this month’s trifecta of Corsarius-graced books consist of:

The Wit

Many readers of Stephen King are wont to describe him as being gifted with wit. Lots and lots of it. (more…)

It was something I thought a bibliophile like me would never ever do.

Prior to yesterday, it has been almost a year since I last bought a new book, much less finished one. That’s quite unbelievable for a chap who used to devour three full pocketbooks a week back in his younger days. I enjoyed all kinds of books — sci-fi, fantasy, classical, mystery, non-fiction, heck, even musty history tomes and medicine books. (I remember myself poring over a gigantic dictionary for hours upon hours; unfortunately it didn’t turn me into the vocabulary monster I had hoped to be!) Once I saw a book lying around in the house that I hadn’t read yet, I’d set to conquer it.

I finally ended my book-drought yesterday when I bought three books — two fiction, one non — from a certain bookstore in the Power Plant Mall at Rockwell. I don’t know what precisely triggered me to buy three expensive books with my own money, which I had never done before. Was it the sight of so many titles I had never seen in the “regular” bookstores, or the fact that I had a wad of hard-earned cash in my wallet ready to heed my caprice?

Whatever the reason, for the first time in almost a year, I felt that unmistakable thrill of picking out a book from the shelf, browsing it with excited fingers, letting the scent of the pages waft to your nostrils, and finally bringing it to the cashier so it is finally, irrevocably yours.

At the end of the day, I lost 1,600 pesos but gained three gems. Were these gems as truly brilliant as they appeared in the bookstore? You bet…except for one.

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