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| (My cellphone camera and photography skills both suck so I compensate by an even worse photo editing attempt.) |
This may come to no surprise to anyone, but—here it goes:
I went to this year’s Manila International Book Fair.
I read literally the first book I grabbed in National Book
Store, and boy did it not fail me. There are random categories in my head where
I shelf my books and the two of my favorites are the
Books-I-Thought-I’ll-Hate-But-Didn’t, which Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park belongs to (because
damn, that book is so good, I consider Park one of my top fictional boyfriends)
and Books-I-Knew-I’ll-Love-And-Did, which the first book I read from this
year’s haul is placed in.
So without further ado, here’re the new entries in my
bookshelf (or at the corner of my bed because I’m hella lazy and would probably
forget to shelve them properly for a good solid week or two):
1.
Trouble Is
A Friend Of Mine by Stephanie Tromly
I think I’ve mentioned before I have a humiliating and
particularly peculiar attraction to the likes of Archie Costello and Elliot
Allagash. They’re calculating and brilliant to the bones, which is, dare I say
it, really ho—cute *coughs* I mean. Philip
Digby is like a toned-down nice guy version of Archie Costello, which is
honestly a good thing.
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| (Source) |
Of course, this one
is not without faults. One of the characters (a few, actually) comes off a bit
sexist; and there’s some girl hate going on. I only hope the sequel actually
strays a bit from that path—and I hear it just might, so here’s hoping. Also,
if you want a strictly realistic young adult novel, then this one probably
isn’t for you. I saw someone commenting the same in Brian Katcher’s The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak about
how it got a bit too movie-like and crazy at the end, which I was verily
alright with.
Nevertheless, the
book promises Veronica Mars meeting The Breakfast Club; and the mention of
John Hughes movie alone made me snatch the books faster than I would a
soft-baked cookie. I’m glad I did because I shipped the two characters in my
books so much; it hurts.
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Guys like Costello, Allagash, and even Artemis don’t
always have a solid love interest. Hence, the pair I ship is like a slightly
warped glimpse of what that would be like. I would probably do a review on this
soon, because it was so, so good. I pretty much declared that sentiment every
few minutes or so and laugh out loud enough for my sister to tell my mom I’ve
gone nuts.
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| This image is as blurry as my future. |
2.
Outlander
by Diana Gabaldon
BookTuber Sasha Alsberg aka abookutopia greatly recommends Diana Gabaldon’s books. While I
might not be entirely sold on the premise, I thought to give it a go. Besides,
the last time I saw the first book in the series was when I was in a large
bookstore in Singapore completely and utterly *gasps* broke.
3.
The
Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe and The
Suffragettes
For someone who likes reading horror, it’s definitely weird
it took me this long to read Edgar Allan Poe’s works. But then, I saw this
little gem with an incredibly seductive price that I finally bought it.
As for The Suffragettes,
it’s the Suffragette film trailer
that made me figuratively give my privileged self a bitch slap and realize that
voting really matters. And that it should never, ever be taken for granted. I
think it only follows to read about the details and take a look at these brave
people’s trials.
4.
Anne of
Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
I read The Blue Castle and
loved—still do—it to pieces. It was about a single AF woman Valancy who feels
like my soul sister. She’s twenty-nine and her life pretty much sucks; somehow,
I have an eerie feeling this is a peek of my future. Then, things go the Last Holiday for her and she finally
lets go of her inhibitions and start living—all while thinking she might be
near death.
Now I thought the author is super cool and I better be
reading more of her books. That was when I stupidly realize the author is Lucy
Maud Montgomery, who just happens to write one of the most beloved characters
of all time: the infamous Anne Shirley. So yeah, I scoured far and wide for a gorgeous
softbound of this lovely book, by which I mean I squirreled my way amidst a mad
crowd of hardboiled bookworms.
***
Seriously, though, book fairs are like feeding fest for
vampires, except bloods are books and we, bookworms, are headstrong booklovers
who will claw their way to find the perfect book. In layman’s terms, I’m
calling this book fair and my book haul a success.
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