"for He satisfies the hungry and fills the thirsty with good things."

2.16.2013

Retail therapy: Book-shopping!

I have not been ignoring this blog again on purpose. It looks like it, but no. It's just that I've been through one of the (and I know I keep saying this already) craziest weeks of my existence finishing up my masters thesis manuscript. Oh yes, and now it's done and I have a short interlude before I begin to get running again for the defense preparations. So I have to get things up on this blog.

I'm taking a break from the usual food-related post to say I've been book-shopping! This is just my way of celebrating things and taking advantage of breaks. I love LOVE books and I always always have to be reading something. I get so caught up reading that I usually am not able to do anything else. So when I'm doing some stuff that needs concentration, a big project or something of the sort, I have to go on a reading hiatus. I have to force myself to.



Now is the perfect time to walk into a bookstore and so i did. And wow, just wow! This is one of my best bookstore experiences. Haha. I walked into Booksale at SM San Lazaro and bought four books! Booksale is one of those stores where if you find something you have to get it then and there or else they'd be gone the next time around. It's like an ukay-ukay for books! Haha. 
Anyway, for the record, I'm soooooo happy with what I got. Here they are:
 The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. Yeah, I know, I have owned like three other PDL's. But those have been given away or gotten "lost" and this is a hardbound copy! This was the first book I saw that I really liked to buy. I actually went into the bookstore planning to get a new short (this description is subjective) novel but then I saw this and went into a book-shopping frenzy. :D
This is going to be a good addition to my "book collection" since I like going back to this one time and again and before getting this I only had my sister's copy to borrow. And, of course those who know my salvation testimony would know how much this book means to me.

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. One volume edition. I saw this last week as I passed by the store because it was on the front shelf. I was surprised to still see it today. As much as love series style novels, I hate having to buy multiple volumes or boxed sets of finished editions ("hate" does not mean I never did it though). So even if I had wanted to read this for ages and ages (since high school!) I never got myself to buying even a single volume. And that is why I love this find! Last year I finished reading the full Narnia series AND learned that Lewis and Tolkien have been good friends. So, yes, this is my next project now.

The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory. This is what i had in mind when I went into the bookstore today but I picked it up third. It is described on the back cover as an "English Historical Fiction". Years ago, I saw a copy of Gregory's other novel, The Other Boleyn Girl and I was intrigued by it. I never bought it though and so when I saw this I decided to get it.


The Tribulation Force by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Another volume from a series. Before anything else, I would like to say that this is a controversial book of sorts in christian circles since it tries to illustrate what happens during the last days as described in the book of Revelations. But at the end of the day this is just a fiction book and the authors do not attempt to cover that fact or claim that they are infallible in their interpretation. Obviously, one has to read this with those in mind.
Personally, I did enjoy reading the first book in the series, Left Behind, and I have been looking for this next book for years. I saw a new, full priced, version of this last week in another bookstore along with all the other books in the series. I almost, almost bought it. It was expensive and I'm so glad I did not purchase! This was the last book I saw just as I was going to the cashier and happened to look at the Religion and Spirituality section. I already had four books in tow then and I had to put back one of them (a true to life murder mystery-not good for me). 

I looked like a geeky nutball as I went to the cashier all smiles with a load of goodies. I have to say this again, I love books, those big and bulky sheets of paper. I love holding them, smelling them. I've read a couple of e-copy books and the experience isn't just the same at all. And lastly, reading gives me a natural high. I get motivated to ponder and to write. Always when I read a book I tend to acquire the author's writing style (or narrating style) and so I had to put this post up before reading anything lest I begin sounding like (a bad version of) J.R.R. Tolkien or Rick Warren. 

Whew! What a long post eh? This makes me realize I really have to pursue the idea of setting up a personal blog so I can focus on posting yummy things on here again. But allow me this break, for now.

 

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