Books! Books!

I got this in the mail last week. It was just a postcard but I lingered on it as if I was reading a lengthy letter. Kaya tuloy sabi ni Mom, “Excited ka na ba?” with a hint of sarcasm.

On the dates mentioned, Powerbooks branches in Greenbelt, Glorietta, Alabang and Trinoma will each have a special area for Powercard and Powercard Plus holders with book selections whose prices are marked down between 30% and 80%. Non-card holders are encouraged to apply for Powercards to be able to participate in the sale. I don’t know if other forms of identification will be required upon application for entry to the sale area. If not, then anyone of my female friends can pass for Judith and really, I am willing to lend my card just so many people can buy books. But I’m assuming we will be required at least one more photo card to be sure. Also, I’m hoping that the selection would be awesome, otherwise, maghihintay na lang ako nung regular 20% sale nila on all books every quarter.

Since the unfortunate Glorietta blast, our weekend routine spent there, particularly ‘yung pagtambay sa The Java Man to read, was stopped. Today, my Mom went with my plan to hear Mass at the Greenbelt chapel which also meant making tambay again in Powerbooks Live. Ang sarap nang feeling, pati yung distinct combination of paper and coffee aromas, na-miss ko talaga. So while Mom was off shopping in Landmark, yung mga promdi kong pamangkin nag-no-nosebleed na sa storytelling session with sosyal kids and teachers (to be fair to my nieces, they pulled it off well kahit obvious na hindi sila belong sa crowd na yun, but it’s an amusing sight, with a bit of sadness para doon sa ibang bata who chose to walk out of the session dahil, “Hindi naman namin maintindihan, puro Ingles kasi eh!”), ako naman I flipped through books of different genres. Four hours went by swiftly. Bigla ko tuloy naisip na wag pumasok tomorrow. Hahaha!

Anyway, what interested me among those I read the first few chapters of were Against The Day by Thomas Pynchon (which I regret not keeping an e-book of, kaya ang moral nito ay itago ang mga bagay na bigay ng ex-fling especially if related sya sa gawaing pinakamahalaga sa iyo), books by Daphne du Maurier, and the paperback copies of Marquis de Sade‘s works. The ones of de Sade, I was happy to see na they’re conveniently in trade paperback copies na. I used to read chapters of Juliette and Justine but I did not buy them because (1) they’re expensive for my price range and (2) the book covers always made my Mom cringe dahil naeeskandalo sya. Na hindi ko nga maintindihan kasi kung naloloka sya sa mga hubad na tao sa isang libro, bakit kung humingi sya sa akin ng apo, parang nagpapabili lang sya ng tinapay sa Bread Talk?

One of the reflections of my semi-financial distress is my surprising capacity to resist buying books. It may sound weird but I really felt my chest hurting when I left the shop and wala akong bitbit ni isa. Kahit yung naka-sale lang. Would you believe, there’s a copy of Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, And Other Writings for P250 (down from P1019) yet hindi ko binili! The de Sade trade copies only cost P349, ka-price lang halos ng mass market paperback! If it was two years ago, nabili ko na lahat yan, and more, impulsively. Ngayon, nada. Zilch. And it’s not because I don’t have money. I do but I still have to pay for fare and food, you know. Welcome to the prelude to my Great Depression.

At best, I am hoping to get good finds in the upcoming sale. I took the liberty of allotting money for it since payday ko na rin next week. I hope they will include books of Michael Chabon and Junot Diaz in the selection. I know na yung mabibili ko doon will add to the 857 books unread in my collection pero what can I do? Forever na ang addiction na ito. This is love. ♥