Book-lovers never go to bed alone

If there's one thing I eagerly await for once the second half of the year kicks in, it would definitely be National Bookstore's annual sale! Imagine scoring books with prices as much as 70% off! If that's not enough, all imported books are at 20% off, and all books from Filipino authors are at 5% off! Forgive the exclamation points, it's just that aside from shoes, nothing excites me more than a good book :)

I am a total bookworm. My love for reading started at a very early age. I remember forcing myself to learn how to read just so I can read those fairy tales my mom used to tell me about. By age 5, I can already read on my own, and thus started my love affair with books. My father used to joke that when I was young, if made to choose between a book or food, I always chose the book! You should see my bookshelves here in my parents' house and in the pad I am renting with my friend/ officemate Ar. I would gladly take photos of them but they are not yet that organized. One of these days maybe.

This month-long sale has been a tradition for me, really. For this year I scrimped a bit though because I have already spent more than necessary for the past two weeks. Boo impulsive buys but yay for items-that-are-too-cute-to-not-buy. Will blog about them next :)

Last Saturday, I got these from NBS - SM North EDSA:

Cosmopolitan Philippines September 2009 ish, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City

Cosmopolitan magazines are one of my guilty pleasures. Yes, I think some of the articles were just rehashed versions from previously-released issues and they kinda get redundant already but I will keep on buying them. I don't know, methinks my month will not be complete without getting myself my monthly Cosmo fix. I got my Little Women for only Php79.20 (down from Php99.00) and my Sex and the City for only Php239.00 (down from Php299.00).

And on Monday, I got these from NBS - Malabon Citisquare:

Grammar for Smart People, Edith Hamilton's Mythology, a collection of Grimms' Fairy Tales, and Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys

I already had my own copy of Mythology before but a good friend-turned-boyfriend-turned-ex never returned it. Mythology (especially that of the Greeks) is one of the things that fascinates me and even though I already have a number of books on this topic I couldn't resist having my own copy of Hamilton's again. I got this for Php156 (down from Php195). Fairy tales are another thing that amazes me, and now that I'm - ehem ehem - a little bit older I figured it would be nice to read the real stories and not rely so much on the Disneyfied versions, yes? Snow White as told by the Grimms still gives me the creeps x_x I got it for Php79.20 (down from Php99). Now, the best buy of them all is Anansi Boys. I got it for only Php169.50 (down from Php339) That's 50% off! I almost didn't see it because it was lying at the bottom of a stack of books. Good thing I have an excellent eye for good buys :)

Not included in the photos is my Julie and Julia (My Year of Cooking Dangerously) by Julie Powell. I got it for only Php75 (down from Php579!), It is the book where the new movie of Meryl Streep and Amy Adams is based from.

I should really impose a rule on myself. I haven't finished the elbow-deep books I have at the apartment yet here I am buying new ones again. But who could resist good books, right? Certainly not me! I'm sorry, but I still can't stop thinking of those books by Neil Gaiman and Paulo Coelho that I have yet to own.

Now here I am in my parents' home, stuck inside with the heavy rain pouring outside, ready to curl  in with one of my new books. Indeed, book-lovers never go to bed alone :)