Fantastic Books and Where to Find Them. // July 23, 2010

… LOL not really. But this post is about a fantastic book, so the title half-counts! So, I’m sure that y’all have books that you love so frakking much, but come by so infrequently, that whenever you see them, you buy it and think of a wayward soul to give it to. A friend of mine buys Franny Billingsley’s “The Folk Keeper,” and he gave me a copy a few years ago. (It’s a gorgeous children’s book, really.)

While I do have a lot of books that I feel this way towards, I’ve only done it twice, and both times, I bought the same book. It’s not “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” because, while that is My Favorite Book In The Entire World, it’s not that hard to come by. Also, for some reason, it is expensive. But anyway. The book I am talking about is John Green’s “Looking For Alaska.”

“Looking For Alaska” kind of shot up to Internet popularity, when this particular quote invaded Tumblrverse. I was floored, and I wanted to read it immediately, but couldn’t find it anywhere. I found Green’s “An Abundance of Katherines” and “Paper Towns,” no problem, but I spent an inordinate amount of time looking for “Looking for Alaska.”¹ Finally, however, out of the kindness of his heart, Armando who is a Tumblr friend from the UK, sent me a copy of “Alaska” and okay, finally, I understood what the fuss is all about. It’s overposted, and has somewhat reached a “Perks”-esque² notoriety, but I get it.

Anyway. I gave the book away on this site, when I first found a copy here in Manila. (Still haven’t figured out what to get the runner-ups, oops.) And I found another copy of the book two weeks and sent it to Raymond. He got it earlier this week and has been reading it and is reportedly liking it so far.

Because it had a dinky, girly cover, I made a sort of book sleeve that I held back from posting until the book got to him. I’m posting pictures because I worked hard on it, damn it. Behold, my masterpiece!:

Looking like a serious craft project with a cutting board. It wasn’t. I just needed to cut stuff.

Close-up of the lettering! Kinda badly rendered, but at least it is not pink.

The back!

The quote on the back goes: “I’m not going to be one of those people who sits around talking about what they’re gonna do. I’m just going to do it.” And, you know, it’s a promise I intend to keep.

Anyway, I just wanted to ask if you had any books (or anything, really—albums, films, what-have-you) that you love so much, you’re willing to shell out a few bucks or spend some time to let someone know about them? Would love to hear about them, if you please.

———
¹ See what I did there? (back)
² Where haven’t you heard, “And I swear, in that moment, we were infinite”? Stephen Chbosky’s book, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” is really, honestly beautiful, so it’s kind of sad how this quote has turned into a little joke. I still love it, though. (back)

 

American Cemetery with my dad! // May 24, 2010

Went to the American Cemetery with my dad on a Saturday morning. Mostly because I had to go there for work, but also because I’d been wanting to go there for a while now. I’d talk about it, but I’d just let these pictures speak for themselves. It really was a beautiful place, though. Kinda surprised that something so pretty and clean exists in the Philippines.

It’s really, really hot when we went there, but it feels so nice to walk around, that I definitely want to go back there to spend an afternoon reading or something.

Me & my poppa!

Fake light leaks! I miss messing around photoshop, to be honest.

I don’t know what they are doing, exactly.

Hi, hair.

Heart lit up whenever I saw a rosette beside a soldier’s name.

The mosaic murals of battle scenes were really pretty.

This tree looks like its bark is made out of feathers.

Made me want to watch The Pacific. (I’ve started watching the pilot — be proud of me!). I like it, so far, but I’m not super hooked yet.

More photos! Of tourists, more mosaics, and pretty things. Continue reading American Cemetery with my dad!…

 

Just-Because Give-Away. // April 20, 2010

So, today, I snapped out of my hermitic ways and went to the bank to pay stuff and deposit other stuff. I also had lunch with my parents. Needless browsing through Fully Booked led me to one of my favorite books that I, and it seems, everyone else, can’t find in the Philippines. (I also watched Kick-Ass, but that’s another story.)

Surprise!

I read John Green’s “Looking for Alaska” late last year when a gracious Mr. Villa sent it over for me. I (and the rest of Tumblr) have been raving about this, but they’re not so easy to find here. ANYWAY.

Here is where you come in.

» WHAT YOU DO: Comment with what you want your last words to be. I don’t want an entire paragraph or a novella, okay? Make it short & sweet & yours.¹ Only one entry per person, please.
» DEADLINE: I’m leaving this post up until April 30th, then I’m going to pick the winners.
» ANNOUNCEMENTS: Announcing & e-mailing the winners on May 1 on Nothing Spaces. Remember to enter with a valid e-mail so that it’ll be easy for me to contact you.
» PRIZES: ONE copy of John Green’s “Looking for Alaska” & FIVE consolation prizes.

There! That’s basically it. I’ll be leaning towards Filipino-based answers, because the book is hard to find here & I’m iffy about mailing it because I’ve had several packages that have gotten lost in the mail, but I will still consider international answers anyway.

OKAY. Let’s see where this goes.

———
¹ Famous people’s last words are an important part of the book. I thought it fitting to be some sort of criterion for this contest.

 

 

follow me on Twitter