Tired but Happy Feet at the Book Fair

My wife and I went to the Book Fair last weekend: she for work, me for book hunting. There were 7 aisles of booths chock full of books! Big name bookstores were there, as well as the publishers themselves.

Here's my catch for this year:
Indio Bravo: the story of Dr. Jose Rizal by Asuncion Lopez-Rizal Bantug, the granddaughter of Rizal's elder sister Narcissa. The basis of this book was derived from the manuscript of the Commonwealth Biography Contest entry Ms. Bantug wrote about her granduncle, of which she won third prize. Artwork is done by National Artist Bencab.

Supremo: the story of Andres Bonifacio by Sylvia Mendez Ventura. Through exhaustive research, Ms. Ventura documents the largely undocumented life of Andres Bonifacio up to his execution at the hands of his own Katipunero brothers.

By Sword and Fire: The Destruction of Manila in World War II, 3 February - 3 March 1945 by Alfonso Aluit. Contains photos and day-to-day account of the war that left Manila in ruins.

I got these books because I became keenly interested in re-educating myself about our history, particularly about Rizal and Bonifacio. Phil, this is all your doing! :-)

The three books above cost me P350.00 from Bookmark. Great deal!

I was actually thinking of doing a blog on purely adobo stuff. Ask recipes from friends and relatives, cook it myself (not that I'm a great cook), and have a couple of "judges" try it out. And then I saw this book advertised in Yummy Magazine (which I buy occasionally just to look at the photos and work up my appetite). So I looked for this book at the Fair and here it is! I have read a first few pages containing anecdotes and the Filipino love affair with adobo. Did you know that anywhere in the country, there is a dish called adobo? There may be differences in preparation, but regardless of dialect, there is bound to be adobo in the region. It's unifying food! Who knows, I just might find myself mystified by the many ways adobo is cooked and try it out!

I was just taking a walk around when I spotted the spine of these books. Doctor to the Barrios! I read these back in grade school! And I loved these so much that I borrowed these more than once. It was like meeting old friends when I saw these books. I forgot Doctor to the Barrios in Baguio; I have started reading that. So I'm jumping to these other titles. They're stories about Rural Reconstruction Workers in the 70s, their life and experience with the Barrio locals. Very interesting reading.

To top it all, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Dr. Juan Flavier wrote these books! I didn't know it was him back in grade school. I have high regard for the man.

See the book with the butterfly on it? It's about Advanced Origami. I took a peek inside and wow! The figures were amazing.

Alas. This was the book that got away. I ran out of cash. This one was 1,495 pesos less 20% discount. I'll save up and buy it as birthday present for myself.

I also attended a Filipiniana.net seminar which I thought was going to last only for a few minutes but turned out to be a full hour. Sorry, it was lunchtime and I was so hungry. At any rate, it was an interesting overview to the site, where you can view books and images for free, with mini-projects within. The virtual Blair and Robinson looks most promising.

It was another interesting Book Fair. Last year, I had craft books. This year, it's mostly material related to the Philippines. I wonder what will it will be next year.