One of my plans I set for my Summer 2020 is to visit various bookstores. I love seeing physical copies of books. I love checking the front and back covers masterpieces written by Filipino and international authors as well as walking between the shelves. However, my plan was shelved due to COVID-19 pandemic. Going to stores is challenging nowadays as I do not have a private car use for travel and the health risk is still there as the virus is invisible.
Good thing that I have my book buying experiences online. From May up to this month, I am visiting Facebook pages of publishing houses to check available titles. To help fellows, I pledge to support local writers and publishing companies. The latest works I ordered are from University of Santo Tomas (UST) Publishing House. I ordered from their shop on Shopee. That was the time Aklatan 2020 was held.
Aklatan is a book fair showcasing books of local publishers. It started in 2019 at SM Megamall based on the article written in the Lifestyle section of Inquirer.net by Ruel S. De Vera. This year's Aklatan transpired online through Shopee. The event was slated August 16- 18, 2020. I learned about it from the news sites. I really marked the dates as I do not want to miss out the sale.
I was able to check the participating publishing houses. I decided to shop on UST Publishing House only. My fingers were excited to scroll and swipe pictures of books. As a Creative Writing teacher, I searched for poetry books. I love collecting book of poems. I love studying the styles of poets because I dream to become one of them. I have published my first poetry anthology on Wattpad. My ultimate dream is to produce printed forms of my work. I am really ambitious. As an English teacher, I want to produce a literary work. It is like validating my career. I am not good enough, that is why I am reading poetry of different poets to improve my writing.
The first book that caught my attention was Incision by Allan Popa. The book's original price is 250 pesos (Php 250.00). The sale price was 200 pesos (Php 200.00). I have the author's name before. It is the reason I bought his book. The second book I added to my cart was Body Haul: Poems by Allan Justo Pastrana. The front book cover convinced me to by the book. The book's original price is 200 pesos (Php 200.00). The sale price was 160 pesos (160 pesos). I was supposed to buy another poetry book, but I changed my mind as I want to pursue creative nonfiction writing.
As a blogger, reading memoir and narratives can help to strengthen my writing muscles. I checked the shop about their offerings. Falling Into the Manhole: A Memoir written by John Jack G. Wigley completed my shopping activity. The cover also attracted me. What made me to buy it is the product description. I love coming-of-age literature. The brand description stating it is about boyhood to adulthood narratives of the author made me to purchase it. The book's original price is 220 pesos (Php 220.00). I got it for only 176 pesos (Php 176.00).
The merchandise subtotal was 536 pesos (Php 536.00). I paid 80 pesos for the shipping fee. My 2 Shopee coins lessen the price of my parcels. I spent 614 pesos (Php 614) and I chose cash on delivery mode of payment. The app flashed that my order will be delivered on August 28. It arrived three days earlier.
I did unpacking video of it, but I do not have ample to edit. Actually, I really searched for the time to write this post. I am really busy in my profession. There are topics that I was unable to write on my blog. I do not want to make this one outdated or non- existent. Those books are still on my reading list. As of now, I am reading Titser Pangkalawakan of Joselito Delos Reyes. I will also write a blog post about it.
Attending book fair is part of my bucket list. Inasmuch as I want to attend one, I cannot as book fairs near my area are held in Metro Manila. I hope that there will be more of these events online. Now I am saving money to participate in Manila International Book Fair 2020 which will be held online in November.
What are your best buys in Aklatan 2020? Comment it down.
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