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Bibliophilia.

August 12, 2010    |    0 COMMENT(S)

There really is no greater elation for a bibliophile like me than buying new books. ON SALE.

As much as I enjoy buying new earrings, shoes, and clothes, still nothing comes close to that feeling of satisfaction after purchasing a brand new (or sometimes, even really old and used) book. No matter how much it costs, just leafing through its pages filled to the brim with stories and prose is enough to make every penny worth it.

Today I had a merienda date with my grandparents at Cafe Mary Grace in Trinoma. It's cake and pastry heaven, I swear. I think half of my mother and I's accumulated dessert-related expenses go to that shop. Anyway, it's conveniently located in front of National Bookstore and just above Fully Booked, so it's technically a piece of gustatory heaven sandwiched between bibliophilic heaven. The call of the "Up to 75% off!" signs were more than enough to lure me in.

And what did I get out of literary paradise?

The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis, The History of Tom Jones by Henry Fieldings, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and Sexing The Cherry by Jeanette Winterson. Four books for only Php 648 (!)

They are all part of the Vintage Classics Collection, packaged in pairs depending on the theme. I've been looking for these books for more than a month now, especially The Rachel Papers, which is said to be an edgier version of Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye, albeit set in London. I've scoured National Book Store in Katipunan and MOA, and even Fully Booked and Power Books, but to no avail. So when I saw those books in the lowermost shelf of the Classics section was priceless, I literally went "Oh!" -- I think my heart skipped a beat then went out of sync for a minute. I told myself I just had to buy it, lest I end up regretting the seeming last chance of getting my hands on them.

An afternoon of delicious cakes and great books. I am a very, very happy kid.


It strikes me as fascinating that despite all the reading I've been doing for (exasperating) academic purposes, I still find reading a pleasure, a way of relieving myself from stress. Although there are days when I just want to close my eyes and never see words again, for the most part I still really do find satisfaction in just lying in bed and reading. I never get tired of it. I hope I never do.



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