Adiós por ahora

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Tina

I really meant to schedule posts and reviews for the next two weeks while I’m gone, but alas, I ran out of time. You know how whenever you say you won’t cram stuff before any major trip weeks before, but still end up cramming at the end and realizing there were just so many things you haven’t done yet and there’s no time?

Yes, that’s me.

Anyway, this is just a notice that I will be out for the next fifteen days. I’m one of our country’s delegates for World Youth Day in Madrid which will happen next week, and afterwards, I’ll be going on a European mission trip with my Catholic community. I won’t be bringing a laptop where I am, so I doubt there’d be much blogging and reading RSS feeds and browsing websites such as www.wholesaleinsurance.net. I’ll be bringing my iPod, though, which is only really good for mobile stuff. I’m not even sure how much online time I’ll have there, so let’s just assume I’ll be offline most of the trip, yes?

Of course I’ll be reading whenever I get some lull time in the next two weeks (aka flights :D). I brought Astrid, my Kindle, with me, to save some luggage space. I’ve got really good books to accompany me so I know I won’t be alone (that, and we’re 18 in the group :D).

So, I bid you guys “Adiós por ahora”. :) Watch out for occasional tweets (I hope!).

Filipino Friday: ReaderCon Intro

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Tina

Filipino Friday

It’s not Friday here anymore, but you know that thing where the day is not over until you’ve slept? Yeah, I’m doing that here.

It’s been a crazy couple of days that’s why it’s kind of quiet in the blog, and it will be quiet again soon because I’ll be off to a trip for the next two weeks! I’m breaking the blog silence to join the first Filipino Friday meme in preparation for the first Filipino Reader’s Conference that will be happening next month (more to that in a future post, hopefully this weekend :D).

So, hi! I’m Tina. I’ve been reading since I was a kid and I’d like to believe that my dad’s reading time with me was what made me a reader. I remember the times he’d read this Pepito the Catfish to me when I was younger, and there was this other book that he used to read to me in the province when we were staying there. Anyway, the first time I truly wanted to start collecting and reading books was when a classmate in Grade 3 brought some Sweet Valley Kids books in school. Ever since then, the bookstore has always been my favorite place to go to when I go out.

I wish I could say I read any genre, but I’m really very biased towards YA, especially contemporary. I’ve learned to love fantasy last year, and right now I’m working on getting to know more sci-fi and classics. My favorite a.k.a auto-buy authors are Sarah Dessen, John Green, Frank E. Peretti, Ilona Andrews, Melina Marchetta, Mira Grant, Camy Tang, Patrick Ness, Stephen Emond, and Mina V. Esguerra to name a few. :) I’m pretty sure I missed someone there — there’s just too many good books by good authors out there.

Comfort reads include anything swoony or funny, preferably both — best examples are The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen and Fairy Tale Fail by Mina V. Esguerra. I like my books with enough swoon. ;) I also tend to like books with zombies and just recently, superheroes.

Two of the best books I’ve read this year: Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta and A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. And just because it’s unusual, I think it’s worth a mention that I thought Unearthly by Cynthia Hand is one of those paranormal books that went against the norm. And because they’re from favorite authors, I also thought Jasper Fforde’s The Last Dragonslayer and Mira Grant’s Deadline are full of awesome. :)

If this post sounds just a teensy bit loopy, I apologize. I’m actually really sleepy right now. :P So, hi! :)

On Pre-ordering

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Tina

So just last week, I realized that I have some 10% discount voucher from Book Depository for their summer sale. I felt bad for not using it, so even if I know there isn’t really anything I want to read now now now, I figure I could use it for pre-orders.

I'm starting to like seeing these buttons. :)

You know I never really thought I’d be pre-ordering any book when I started buying books with my own money. I’ve always seen things like, “Pre-order this from Amazon” and all that, but since shipping is so expensive here, I can never do the pre-order thing. The shipping alone would be more expensive than the book and it’s just not worth it. When Book Depository started shipping here for free, I still didn’t pre-order, thinking I can still wait for local bookstores to get it when it’s out.

Then I remember buying A Monster Calls from Book Depository last April as a prize for one of my birthday giveaway winners. I remember being impressed at the price of the book – less than $10 for a hardbound illustrated book. What a value, right? I decided to order it too, and was I glad I did. Now it’s a whopping $18 in Book Depository.

So now I’m all for pre-ordering books. But only for books that I really, really want. Case in point, my order last week:

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins / A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner / How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr - YAY~

All books were 25% off + the 10% off from the voucher. And they’re all books that I want to read. I know it would take a while before I get them, but I’m not in a rush, anyway. I like the idea that I “have” them now, and can read it as soon as its shipped.

I do have some comments on pre-ordering, though:

I’m not sure about pre-ordering print books in Amazon, but I think the customer isn’t charged until the book is shipped, right? That’s one thing that makes me raise an eyebrow at Book Depository — you get charged immediately for the pre-order. I’m sure you can request a refund to cancel your order, but I think you still have to email? I don’t know, maybe it’s easier if the customer won’t have to go through that channel to cancel a pre-order.
And speaking of Amazon, I pre-ordered some Kindle ebooks a few months ago because there were some books that I can’t wait to have in print. However, pre-ordering Kindle ebooks doesn’t really have much perk as far as discounts are concerned because there are hardly any discounts. The only perk is…well…you get it quick.

So, have you tried pre-ordering? Do you pre-order as much as you can to get more discounts? Have you had pre-order horror stories? What’s the last book you pre-ordered, and why? Any other perks you got from pre-orders other than discounts? I want to know.

Oh and P.S. — I will pre-order John Green’s newest book soon, of course. I wouldn’t want to miss a signed book. :)

Dress of Books

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Tina

Interrupting my seemingly daily reviews with a treat I found over at Trashionista. I remember Chachic posting about bookish clutch bags and necklaces, and I’m sure there are bookish t-shirts too…but how about a bookish dress? Moreover, a dress made of books?

Dress made from books - From resonatingtales.tumblr.com

It’s cute, right? But I’d have to agree with Trashionista — I’m not sure how wearable this is. I’m pretty sure there’s a cloth lining inside so the paper won’t be destroyed, but I think this would not last long during summer time here in the Philippines, with our humid heat and all. If you could assure me I’ll be in an airconditioned room the entire time I’m wearing this, then maybe it would be wearable.

But it would make as a nice costume for a bookish party, right? :)

One More Page 2011 Half-Year Report

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Tina

I should have written this one earlier, but of course, where is my time? Anyway, I will take a break from all my reviews to make room for the One More Page 2011 Half-Year Report!

So in the first six months of 2011, here are my statistics (as of June 30, 2011):

Total books read: 65
Total pages read: 17,521
Total print books: 33
Total ebooks: 32

Written by male authors: 17
Written by female authors: 50

Ratings:
5 stars – 13 | 4 stars – 28 | 3 stars – 16 | 2 stars – 7 | 1 star – 1

2011 Challenge Status:

1 of 5 classics
10 of 20 for TwentyEleven
6 of 20 for Filipino Books
15 books for Required Reading

Favorite reads so far:
(Click on the thumbnail to go to the review):

I’m pretty sure I have better stats this year than last year. I had a very bad slump around April last year that stopped me from blogging and reading a lot, but this year, I’ve managed to escape the few slumps that threatened to get me. I am still doing a bit poorly with the classics and I’m lagging behind with the Filipino books, but I think I’ve read a lot more good books this time around than I did last year.

On the book-buying front…I’m proud to say that I’ve learned to curb some of my book buying. While it involves mainly avoiding bookstores altogether, I find that I’m choosier with books that I want to read. I think it’s because I’ve filtered what I really like and am interested in, as opposed to just buying and buying like I did last year.

Other notable things this year:

Two giveaways this year — anniversary giveaway and birthday giveaway. It’s so much fun giving away books. :)
I joined Armchair BEA and it was such a fun experience! It’s so nice being involved more in the book blogging world. :)
I got another book writing gig at Female Network. It’s not as easy as the one I used to do at The POC, but it’s certainly helping me write synopsis better and do research. :)
I attended my first local publisher dinner and received review copies. I hope this isn’t the last!

Plans for the rest of the year?

Read at least 2 more classic books. I will just keep on trying. I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to get to my original goal of 10, but I may still be able to reach the 5. Let’s see. :)
Think of other feature posts. I can’t just keep on reviewing. Discussion posts are fun, but maybe I also should try doing blogger and author features, just for fun. And of course, giveaways. :)
Join other blogger activities. Armchair BEA was so much fun that I’m pretty sure I want to join another one. Book Blogger Appreciation Week is coming up soon, right?
Network, network, network. One of my goals last Armchair BEA was to quit lurking, and I think I’ve managed to get out of that…I think. But I think I still need to interact more, leave comments, say hi on Twitter and all that stuff. Just like how I like receiving comments, I shouldn’t be selfish in giving them, too.

2011 has been good for reading so far. How’s yours been? :)

Bookish Tumblring

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Tina

I have a couple of books that I need to write reviews for, but I’m just really in a lazy mood to blog, even if there’s not much work. I don’t think it’s just me — some of my other blogger friends are going to a blogging slump. I’ve been blogging for so long already that this isn’t a strange or new thing for me anymore. I try not to pressure myself in blogging since I do this for fun. I do feel a teensy bit guilty though, not enough to have me pressured, but enough to make me think of something to post.

Enter Tumblr.

I’ve had a Tumblr account for a very long time now, but I’ve only been active in it as of late. There’s so many cool stuff to look at there, especially nice pictures. I don’t really read much in Tumblr, I look. It’s so easy to post pictures in tumblr, and so many people post that it’s also just so easy to look! Dogs, cats, TV show screencaps, memes galore in Tumblr, but one of my favorites (obviously) are the book-related posts. :)

Like these:

Okay this says the girl is really studying, but hey, it could just be reading, you know. The stars around her made me like this instantly. Can I has the same for my room?

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