Happy second birthday, blog!

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Tina

Oh look it’s January 9. Can you guess what happened on this day two years ago?

Yep, I started this blog. So, yay, Happy second birthday, One More Page!

Color me surprised once again, that my book blog is still thriving. It’s even more active compared to my personal blog, which by default should have been more active given my propensity to talk. But I guess it’s a sign of growing up, too, because instead of talking about myself, I talk about something I’m passionate about: books. And words.

A little story. Sometime before 2011 ended, my friends and I were talking about our plans for the coming year and I mentioned something about my life plan involving books and words. I don’t know if I will eventually quit my job and write full time (although that sounds lovely) or if I’ll switch careers and get a job related to books and writing even if it’s so far away from my course. I don’t know anything. But one thing I know: I see myself working with words and books in the future. I’m pretty sure that’s my life plan. Moving towards that is another question (and another post, for the personal blog).

But anyway, I think I wouldn’t have really figured that out if I wasn’t reading so much and blogging about the books I read. So in a way, this blog is sort of living out that dream, or moving towards that life plan. Now I don’t want to pressure myself with all that life plan talk and any pressure would make me not want to do this anymore. I’m still determined not to let things get to me, and to still have fun with this. :)

And thank you. To the 170ish subscribers, to everyone who take the time to visit (even the spam bots) before they check out dakine backpacks at RockyMountainTrail.com, and everyone who has left a comment or sent me email through this blog. Thanks for reading through ~~some of the drivel~~ the things I write. Thanks for making this twice as fun. :)

So again: happy birthday blog! I hope you’d have many, many more years to come. :)

Holiday Swap Package!

Posted on December 26, 2011 by Tina

On my way home earlier, I was just thinking of what mail I should expect this week. My packages usually arrive at home from Wednesdays to Fridays (yes, my packages get delivered right at my doorstep — our postman is awesome), and when I remembered that, I felt a bit sad because I would have to wait a bit more before I can get anything — if I do get anything this week, that is.

And then when I got home, I saw this:

Holiday Swap 2011 - 1

I knew what it was immediately, so I put my bag down and started opening it right there, not even bothering to change or get some dinner first. I know there’s a book inside. I wonder what else? I sure hope there are no free cigars inside.

Inside was a wrapped package, a card, a snowman Pez dispenser, Pez candy and…”snow”!

Holiday Swap 2011 - 2

Because I wanted the suspense, I opened the card first. Here was the message:

Holiday Swap 2011 - 3

Hope your holidays are full of frosty fun!

I hope you enjoy the books I have chosen and the touch of snow I’ve sent. I figured you didn’t get a lot of it there!

Happy holidays!

My Santa is right — we hardly have snow here. Lots of rains lately, but snow — never.

And so I finally opened the wrapped package:

Holiday Swap 2011 - 4

Yay! I finally have a copy of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs! It’s one of those books on my wish list that I sorta kinda forgot was there. :) My Santa did her research well! Thanks so much to my Santa, Cassandra from Indie Reader Houston! Thank you for putting together such a thoughtful package. :) This just totally made my Monday, and I’m so glad it arrived just a day after Christmas. Nothing like opening another package to keep the Christmas spirit, yes? Happy Holidays!

Happy book birthday, Alternative Alamat!

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Tina

Ever since I started my book blog, I’ve made it a point to read and review local stuff. You know, books written by Filipinos (or even half-Filipinos) even if they are not necessarily set here. I mean, I read so much of the foreign stuff, so it’s just right that I should also read (and write about) things from my homeland. It’s not just about loving your own, but also because I think we have a lot of good stuff out there but people just need to know about it.

So with that, I am very excited to blog about Alternative Alamat: Stories Inspired by Philippine Mythology, which is out today! :)

Alternative Alamat

Philippine mythology is full of images that ignite the imagination: gods of calamity and baldness, of cosmic time and lost things; the many-layered Skyworld, and weapons that fight their own battles; a ship that is pulled to paradise by a chain, and a giant crab that controls the tides… yet too few of these tales are known and read today. “Alternative Alamat” gathers eleven stories, by contemporary authors of Philippine fantasy, which make innovative use of elements of Philippine mythology. None of these stories are straight re-tellings of the old tales: they build on those stories, or question underlying assumptions; use ancient names as catalysts, or play within the spaces where the myths are silent. What you will find in common in these eleven stories is a love for the myths, epics, and legends which reflect us, contain us, call to us–and it is our hope that, in reading our stories, you may catch a glimpse, and develop a hunger, for those venerable tales. “Alternative Alamat” also features a cover and interior illustrations by Mervin Malonzo, a short list of notable Philippine deities, and in-depth interviews with Professors Herminia Meñez Coben and Fernando N. Zialcita.

The digital edition of “Alternative Alamat”, co-published by Flipside Digital Content, may now be purchased for US$4.99 at the Amazon.com Kindle store and for PHP235.00 at Flipreads.com, and will soon be available at the Apple iTunes and Barnes & Noble Nook stores.

I’ve been hearing/reading about this for a long time now, from the Rocket Kapre blog and through its editor, Paolo¹ and it’s really cool to see it out in the world now. And the release is just timely because I still need to buy presents for some friends, and this is the perfect one to give for them. :)

You can read an introduction to the contributors and an overview of the stories included in the anthology here, and also some interviews of the authors. There’s also a spotlight on the book (and the editor!) up at the Flipside blog if you still need more info. :)

Now, to finish reading those books I have lined up so I can get started on this. :)

Who is celebrating his birthday today, too — Happy birthday! [↩]

In My Mailbox (21): Sales and Komikon

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Tina

In My Mailbox is a weekly book meme hosted by Kristi from The Story Siren, where bloggers post about what books received that week, be it via mailbox, library or store. I wasn’t expecting to write an In My Mailbox post this week, but three things happened:

I finally reached my word count quota for NaNoWriMo.
Eastwood went on sale.
I went to Komikon 2011.

And so, I ended up with these:

The Song of the Quarkbest by Jasper Fforde (Fully Booked) – Aaron told me last week that this book was already available in Fully Booked, just on the same day I wrote a Want Books post about it. I had a copy transferred while making a personal deal with myself to catch up to quota before it arrived. And I just that. I cannot wait to read this. :D
Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis (Fully Booked) – I borrowed a copy of this book from my friend RE early this year and I loved it. He told me that if I see a copy of this, I should grab it immediately. I saw one and grabbed one. :) I can reread this book anytime I want now, yay!
Filipino Heroes League Book 1: Sticks and Stones by Paolo Fabregas(Komikon) – I already bought a copy of this months before which I lent to my brother and is currently missing. Anyway, yesterday I got to meet the author, Paolo Fabregas, at Komikon, so I bought another copy so he could sign it. And he remembered my review, too, so yay!
My FHL copy signed by the author :)
High Society by Paolo Chikiamco and Hannah Buena (Komikon) – Of course I had to get a copy of this, after reviewing it just recently. :) Dibs on a pretty special colored cover because of that review too. Thanks Pao! I had it signed by him, but not by Hannah because we don’t know how she looks like and so we weren’t able t “stalk” her during Komikon. :( Maybe next time, then. :)
Signed High Society
Tabi Po by Mervin Malonzo (Komikon) – We were hanging by the Flipside booth talking to Honey when she plugged this comic to us. It was the black and white version, and it seems pretty scary given the illustrations shown in the colored version in the iPad. Eep. Still, it looks interesting (and it was only P30, so why not buy, right?) If you’re more of a colored comic person, you can buy a copy from Flipreads.com :) I hope to read and review this sometime soon.
Signed!

And being a Trese fan, I cannot pass up something like this:

Signed glossy Trese poster in plastic case :)

It’s so pretty. :) Actually, we call it a placemat because it kinda looks like one. But this is going on my wall, once I’ve organized my room. Gotta love the detail in this one. :)

And there goes my week. Before I reward myself with anything else, I must get to 50,000 words on my NaNoWriMo novel first. Onward!

The Hunger Games Trailer

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Tina

Okay, everyone and their dogs and cats has probably watched this from when it was released last night (Manila time, anyway), but it’s one of the things I really kind of must blog about.

“I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!”

Goosebumps all over. :O

In My Mailbox (20): Where did all these books come from?

Posted on October 23, 2011 by Tina

This is me catching up on a couple of weeks of In My Mailbox posts again. It’s always more fun to post when you have more books to post about, right? :) Plus, I was out of town last weekend and I was just too exhausted to take photos and come up with an IMM post. Anyway, so many books in the past weeks — even I am surprised at my stash. Look:

Wee~

So, what did we get in the past few weeks?

I attended the launch of the fourth (and much-awaited!) Trese graphic novel at Robinsons Bestsellers two weeks ago. I’m not really a graphic novel person, but I loved Trese and I’ve been waiting for the fourth book ever since I finished all three a few months ago. :) The event was a success if you were to judge only with the number of people who attended (dress code was black, apparently :P). I do think it was an overall success because not only was it a full-house event, but also we got our books signed. :)

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