BOOKS, DINNER, AND A MEETING

I attended the 27th Manila International Book Fair for the first time around three (3) weeks ago. I was very excited, to say the least, because the last time I really bought books was in Cebu TEN YEARS AGO. This trip also serves as 'date' with a co-blogger, Ruby of When Excrement Hits the Ventilation. She came all the way from Ortigas for this meeting. Unfortunately, Jerome of Bridget Jones is a Man didn't make it. *cracks whip*

The Manila World Trade Center is very sleek and modern...

...and vast! Wow! Opened in January of 1990, its 10,810 meters of floor space makes it the largest contiguous exhibity facility in the Philippines.

Books, books, books!

Ruby during dinner at Mann Hann at the Mall of Asia

I bought coffeetable books from Bookmark, my favorite Filipino publishing house. Too bad they don't have bookstores open anymore. These are mostly photography and cultural stuff. Fil-Spanish architecture to be exact. I don't know how I got myself interested in this stuff. Must be the Manila blog i'm doing. Would you believe all these were only worth Php 1, 250?! Yes, you got that right. Kasi books that normally sell for Php 3,000 in bookstores were being sold here at Php 250-300 each! Amazing. Unfortunately, I didn't get to walk around much. The books were really heavy and I was getting hungry.

A-ha! Old and new titles: A new one by Miclat, a really old one by poet/writer Tony Perez, and one Capampangan cookbook by Chef Gene Gonzalez. Oh yeah, an entire book of architectural guide from noted conservationist-architect Augusto Villalon. Now comes the reading part. I wish I have the time to do just that.