Bibliophile heaven at Manila Int'l Book Fair

"Sa convention po ng mga madre?" the taxi driver asked me when I said I was going to the SMX convention center. I checked my reflection in the window, wondering what could suggest that I was headed for a convention of nuns. "Naghatid ako doon ng mga madre kanina," he tells me. So that explains it, I thought to myself as I settled in for the ride. I was on my way to the 31st Manila International Book Fair - an event that I hadn't been to for years. I remembered that it used to be a field trip in elementary, and I would be given some money to buy myself a book. Eventually I stopped going to book fairs, but I couldn't remember why. Five minutes into the fair, I remembered. I stopped going to book fairs because I found the experience stressful. Over 150 exhibitors from local and foreign publishing houses and bookstores, all in one area. Discounted books, books that come with giveaways. A 20-peso ticket that lets you roam up and down aisles and aisles of books, not to mention several forums and seminars spread out over five days. It seems like every bibliophile's dream.

The only trouble is, there are a lot of bibliophiles, and the crowd can get tricky. When I arrived, the aisles were already filled with people trying to get in and out of the booths. Every so often, I could hear someone apologize for bumping into someone else. The nice thing was, no one seemed to be in a bad mood. Perhaps the shelves lined with books on everything anyone could possibly think of had a calming effect. As for me, I was having a hard time deciding where to look first. I figured the only way was to do it systematically, so I headed for the farthest corner of the hall and decided to make my way from there. The usual suspects were prominently present, with their respective trademarks. Anvil Publishing, Inc., C&E Publishing House and National Bookstore took up large areas, with their house, globe and red carpet, respectively. VeePress had a kiosk that never seemed to run out of people, and when I approached it I saw that they had several Kindles on display. I spotted University of the Philippines Press, as well as Ateneo De Manila University Press and University of Santo Tomas Publishing House. Adarna House was a children's favorite, especially with their storytelling session. There were several booths with religious and spiritual material, from St. Paul's to The Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of the Philippines, where an elderly lady sat deep in conversation with the bookseller. A group of women were going from booth to booth collecting free stuff, while Logico salespeople roamed around trying to get people to come to their booth. Just when I was wondering what Logico was, one of the salespeople approached me and insisted that I sit down at their booth. I sat for a while and listened to his speech about Logico flashcards, but when he started telling me about "substraction," I politely declined his special discount offer and made my way to the other booths. I was approached three more times by their salespeople, who seemed to be everywhere. On the other hand, their strategy seemed to be working on some people, who left the booth with a Logico kit to take home. I browsed the bargain boxes and tried not to elbow anyone around me. There were some really good discounts, prices marked down up to 80 percent. Some shoppers had carts full of books, while others looked like they were just browsing. In the end, I bought Papa's House, Mama's House by Jean Lee Patindol, winner in the 2004 PBBY Awards, and Mahabang-Mahabang-Mahaba by Genaro Gojo Cruz, winner in last years Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature. Adarna House was selling old titles for 35 pesos, and new ones for 55 pesos. I wasn't really planning to buy anything, but the discounts were rather tempting. I left the hall before I got anything else. I figured I could always go back, since the fair runs for three more days. - GMANews.TV The 31st Manila International Book Fair is at the SMX Convention Center from 10am to 8pm until September 19, 2010. For the events schedule, please visit http://www.manilabookfair.com/schedule.htm