Life seemed so simple in the past for book lovers like me. All you had to do was save up for the National Bookstore cut-price book sale and stock up on reading materials for a year until the next sale. When I saw those red signs with the scissors announcing 75 percent off many titles, I would prepare for the annual pilgrimage to the biggest branches of National Bookstore: Quezon Boulevard, Cubao and Rizal Avenue where pickings were best.
I think my collection of Nick Joaquin titles began from those bargain bins. Most of the books carry the pseudonym Quijano de Manila under which Nick wrote journalism: ?Joseph Estrada & Other Sketches,? ?Nora Aunor & Other Profiles,? ?Doveglion & Other Cameos,? ?Gloria Diaz & Other Delineations,? ?Amalia Fuentes & Other Etchings,? ?Ronnie Poe & other Silhouettes.? Six compilations of his journalism were published in 1977. Then National Bookstore in 1980 came up with two more compilations: ?Manila: Sin City and Other Chronicles? and ?Language of the Street and Other Essays.? Reproduced on the covers of both titles was the bust of Nick by Jullie Lluch. The following year, 1981, two more compilations of his journalism were published by National Bookstore: ?Reportage on Politics? and ?Reportage on Crime.? All these wonderful titles, book-paper editions all, for P1 each in the bargain bins, and there seemed to be no takers. Today my ?National Artist shelf? is dominated by Nick Joaquin titles.
While I was happy to buy Nick Joaquin books at rock-bottom prices, it made me shudder to think that my own books would suffer the same fate in the future. Each year at the International Book Fair, I rush to the bargain bins hoping to find my books at P1 each, but I am always disappointed.
Reading Nick Joaquin?s journalism probably helped make me a better historian and journalist. His keen attention to detail and the way he looked at one story from different angles so that, like a diamond cutter, he could find the right facets made his narratives sparkle.
Aside from Nick Joaquin titles, there were the Peso Publications of Alberto Florentino, compilations of literary works by Filipinos made available to everyone. I must admit that though I bought all these titles, which came in two sets, one for poetry the other for prose, I have not found time to read any of them.
The International Book Fair is now held in the huge convention space at the Mall of Asia. You will have to wear comfortable shoes and be fit to carry your loot at the end of the day, but aside from the much needed exercise and the drain on savings it is always worth visiting twice over. I usually spend time in the Anvil stalls to autograph books for people who want them, and when I grow weary, I recharge by visiting the bargain bin of course. It is best to visit the book distributors for hard-to-find imported books, especially academic titles from obscure university presses. Then there are those distributors of books from small presses outside Manila that yield some interesting titles on local history. National Bookstore is also there but be prepared to endure a long wait at the cashier.
The annual book fair draws a big crowd, which proves that there is still a place in the world for printed books.
Books can be downloaded from the Internet, some can be sent and read from a cell phone, and if you are too lazy to read, you can get an audiobook and install it on an iPod to keep you sane and learning in the middle of rush-hour traffic. I was horrified once when some students looked at my syllabus and asked me why I was requiring them to visit the library. One of them even asked, using a very insulting tone, ?You want me to handle a physical book?? At that point I felt like a dinosaur but insisted that much Philippine history was still unavailable on the Net and could only be found in a library, an archive, or a museum. I would like to think that while many of my students complain of my heavy workload, some of them will actually re-discover the joy of reading and become life-long learners.
National Bookstore is everywhere around the country, and so are the bargain bins of Book Sale. If you want just books, you have Power Books, Fully Booked and A Different Bookstore.
Things aren?t what they used to be, but there are more choices these days. In my childhood, there was Bookmark on T. Pinpin off Escolta and its branch in Makati. There was Popular Bookstore on Doroteo Jose (now relocated off Morato in Quezon City), and there was Alemars beside the old Rizal Theater. There was one Makati arcade, now gone, that had two bookstores: the Philippine Education Co., better known as ?PECO,? and Tony Abaya?s Erewhon bookstore that I only realized recently was ?nowhere? spelled backwards.
I?m lucky that my father read a lot and transferred that love for reading to his children and even his grandchildren. I brought my favorite nephew to A Different Bookstore recently and let him read the names of all the cakes in the cold counter of Starbucks. After the chore, he ignored the edibles, headed straight to the children?s section, pulled out a slim version of ?Iron Man,? sat at the kiddie table and started to read aloud. It was wonderful to watch him read and mispronounce words, but the magic was there. I can only hope as he grows from age 5, he will move from Transformers to Tolstoy, from ?Iron Man? to ?Noli? and ?Fili.?
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Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu
