In My Mailbox (14): Mother’s Day and a Long Hiatus

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Before anything else!

Happy Mother’s Day to all moms out there! :)

Especially to mine:

<3Thank you for getting me all those books when I was a kid even if you’re not too fond of reading, and I know sometimes you think I read too much. :D  Thank you for reading all the things I wrote despite that fact. :) I love you!

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It’s been a long time since I last did an In My Mailbox post. Other than laziness and trying to resist buying books, I went on a book-buying fast during the Lenten season. I could not buy books for myself, but I can buy them as gifts, or receive them as gifts since my birthday falls within Lent. It’s all good, and I ended up using the usual book money for other equally important things, like clothes.

But as soon as Easter morning came, I went to Book Depository and ordered books. :) It felt nice, to celebrate victory in that way. The books aren’t here yet, though, so that will be for another posts.

The books I bought in recent bookstore trips are a different matter. And so after a long hiatus, here’s my 14th In My Mailbox. 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.

In My Mailbox (14)

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House of Shelves

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I found this photo in one of my favorite bookshelf tumblrs and I immediately salivated. WANT.

According to the source page:

This 52 square meter (560 square feet) private home in Japan was designed to artfully store the client’s massive collection of books. With pine shelves covering every wall surface, the open-plan home is a bibliophile’s dream!

Definitely a bibliophile’s dream! All those shelf space — even the steps have spaces for books! I would probably stare at the books all day and re-arrange them every now and then to change how it looks. And I bet I will have more reasons to acquire more books because of all this shelf space. I also love that there’s a little area that acts like a desk (or maybe a dining table) down at the bottom. I would have to live in this house — or at least have a room in my dream house built the same way!

I bet it would be kind of hard to dust this kind of house, though. Imagine all the shelves you need to wipe off every now and then.

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Belated Valentine’s

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Hello everyone! I’m sorry for not being around for the weekend, especially yesterday! I meant to make a Valentine’s post, but I had such a full day yesterday that I was too tired to come up with a post last night. I apologize!

I’d be blogging more about Valentine’s Day in my personal blog, but I thought I’d blog about this one here, since it involved someone from the book world and all. I posted my Valentine’s wish list last Sunday on my personal blog (because you know, wish lists aren’t only for Christmas and birthdays), just for kicks, and in case there’s anyone around who needs some help not just in making my day brighter but for other people, too. I wasn’t expecting much yesterday (because the real thing about Valentine’s Day is to not expect) but imagine my surprise when I saw an email in my inbox from none other than Mr. Steverino/Emo Boy/Lemons/Happyface/soon-t0-be-released Winter Town, Stephen Emond.

Hi Tina, hope this will do for your valentine’s flower. Happy Valentine’s Day! :~)

~Steve

I saw this email while we were having our lunch out and the wifi in the restaurant was terribly slow so I couldn’t load the image. I was so excited to see the attachment that I tried it multiple times with my phone and my iPod but alas, it made me wait. When I got back to the office, I immediately opened my email, downloaded the attachment and I saw this:

OMG SO CUTE. It’s so me! Squeeing over sunflowers and books! :) I love it, I love it, I love it! This is definitely one of the best presents I got yesterday. Thank you so much, Steve!

You guys, this is a really good reason for you to get Happyface (which I really, really loved), follow him on Twitter, like his Facebook page, say hi on his website and follow his Tumblr. He’s awesome, yo. :)

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In My Mailbox (13): The First Weeks of January

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It’s been a while since I did an In My Mailbox post, and it’s not because I went on a book buying ban, but because I was just too lazy to make a post about the stuff I got. I thought I’d be able to make it long into a the new year without buying new books, but alas. Who am I kidding?

So this is a consolidated post for the past three weeks of January, and maybe even some in December. If I can remember what I got back then, of course. :P

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.

BOUGHT:

  1. White Cat by Holly Black – I only got this because Chachic posted a positive review of the book, and see, I’m still easily swayed. It helps that I got the e-galley of the next book from Simon and Schuster, so when I saw this in Fully Booked, I knew I can’t let it go anymore. :P
  2. Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers – Holly reviewed this early this week, and well, consider me sold. I love contemporary and I like reading about high school cliques (sans the scandals, of course), and this one got really good reviews. I’m so glad I spotted this one yesterday when we visited Fully Booked after the FBB/Flippers meet up. :)
  3. Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta – This was actually the first print book I purchased this year. I saw it in Fully Booked Eastwood and didn’t let it go, forgetting that there was a sale that weekend. Pfft. Ah well. :)

GRABBED:

Noli Me Tangere by Jose Rizal, translated by Soledad Lacson-Locsin. At yesterday’s Filipino Book Bloggers/Flips Flipping Pages meet up, someone had this translation of Noli Me Tangere up for book swap. I have been wanting to get my hands on a translated copy of this novel for a long time now, but I wasn’t sure which was the best translation. This one was what Blooey and the Flippers read last year, and is said to be a really good translation. I got it and no one stole it from me, so…yay. Finally!

Now a little backgrounder: Noli Me Tangere is written by the Philippines’ National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. This is a required reading in high school, but I never really read the novel in its entirety because our copy in high school was the summarized version (no, it’s not abridged, if you’re thinking that’s the term — it was actual chapter summaries that we had to summarize for another report. Hmph). I figure in my life as a reader, I must read this novel at least once in my life. So yay.

The bookmark is one of the giveaways for the Flippers meet-up. :)

GIFTED/BORROWED:

  1. Captivating by John and Stasi Elredge – this is a Christmas gift from my friend RE. I’ve read this one in college and it was one of those good books for women that I really liked. My mom has my other copy of this and I don’t even know where it is right now. Haha. I don’t know if I will read this anytime soon, but it’s nice to know I have another copy here to refer to when I need it. :)
  2. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis – this is lent to me by RE, too, and this is the best C.S. Lewis work according to him. This is only a lending copy though. Heh. I have a feeling I’ll like this one, too, and I’ve reserved it for February reading already. Now to find a copy of this one. Hmm.

WON:

Being Jamie Baker by Kelly Oram. I’ve seen this book from Kai‘s blog, and I added it on my wish list for the sheer pink-ness of it. :P I followed the author on Twitter, then on Facebook for her contest and even exchanged tweets with her during NaNoWriMo. I never expected to win because I’m not really lucky with winning, but lo and behold: I was her second winner! :) Thanks, Kelly!

This kind of took its sweet time to arrive at home, and I thought it would be lost in the mail forever, but good thing it arrived just before 2010 ended. :) I love how pink the book really is. :D The book is signed, too:

EBOOKS:

I got too many ebooks since December. Talk about crazy buying binge? Sort of. :P I also got a ton of e-galleys from Simon and Schuster’s Galley Grab. :D

Bought:

  • Miss Match and Match Point by Erynn Mangum
  • Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John – loved this!
  • Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen – my physical copy is with some friend, so I splurged on an ebook.
  • Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro – loved this, too! Review coming up soon
  • Infinity by Sarah Dessen

For Review:

  • Save as Draft by Cavanaugh Lee
  • Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O’Roark Dowell
  • Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis
  • Red Glove by Holly Black
  • Stay by Deb Caletti
  • Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz

There is probably more, but I forgot about them.

I know I said I won’t be stressing over my TBR, but I really think I should get to reading the other books that are starting to pile up in the apartment, the ones I acquired before 2010 ended. I really should work on that. I should.

Yeah, I always say that. :P I bet most of you guys do too. :P

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Happy birthday, One More Page! :)

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Happy birthday blog! (image from weheartit.com)

Happy birthday blog!

Who would have thought that starting a book blog on a whim last year would last…well, for a year? :)

I’ve attempted to start niche blogs in the past, but they weren’t the type of blogs that people who don’t know me would be interested in reading. The reason why people started “niche” blogs back then was to earn money, but I never felt that I had enough patience and interest (and money!) to maintain a blog that talks about gadgets or tech or whatnot. So I’ve made a lot of blogs that eventually fizzed out: a Pinoy Big Brother blog (it’s my guilty pleasure), a Script Frenzy blog (that only lasted for a week), two NaNoWriMo blogs, and if there was anything else, I couldn’t remember. The only other living “niche” blogs I have are Wordplay (the 365 fiction blog that kind of failed miserably) and this very disgustingly emo romance and whatnot blog. I have always considered opening a book blog, but I felt that the reviews I write were too attached to my personal blog so I never made the move. And besides, if I removed the book reviews from my personal blog…then what would I blog about?

Kidding. Okay, half kidding.

But starting a book blog was one of my good decisions last year, and I think it’s come a long way. I know I’m just one in a thousand book blogs out there, but I’d also like to believe that this humble blog has made waves, even if they are just small ones. :) It’s too far to tell if I would still be doing this in the next five years, but I am pretty sure I will keep on reading and writing about books for the next year. And maybe the next. And the next. You get the idea. :P

Happy birthday, One More Page! To everyone who have been supportive of this from the start, to everyone who’s left comments and followed, to the 100+ Feedburner subscribers, to my inspirations and role models in the blogging world, and to all the friends that I have met online and in real life, I have two words:

THANK YOU! :)

It would not have been a great book blogging year without you guys. <3

Before I forget, though: today is the last day of the Anniversary Giveaway! A comment on any entry from December 24 to January 9 (today!) is all you need to be entered in the contest, where you can win some of my favorite books in 2010!  It’s a little thank you to everyone, and a way of giving back to the wonderful book blogging community. This is open to everyone (at least wherever Book Depository ships). I’ll be picking the winners within the week! :)

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