Brain Food Part 1

The city is teeming with popular nightspots and hangouts where people go to be seen or to check out those who want to be seen. And I… prefer the alternative solitude of the offbeat and the less trendy. Not that I begrudge those who enjoy those pursuits it’s just that I enjoy a less frenetic pace. The daily grind is maddening enough.

To this day, I could spend hours inside a bookstore – preferably the bigger ones because there’s more to browse. When I was living in New York, I loved going to the Strand in Union Square and Barnes and Noble in Lincoln Center. There was just so much to see and flip out over.

As far as bookstores are concerned, outside Powerbooks in Greenbelt and Fully Booked in Promenade in Greenhills, I just love going to Book Sale. Yup, closest thing to the Strand here in Pinas.


Here are a couple of stuff I got over the last couple of weeks from my fave bookstores:

• We Just Want To Live Here by Amal Rifa’I and Odelia Ainbinder.
People who love blogs should read this. Its like reading Joe Kubert’s Letters From Sarajevo except this is in Jerusalem. Rifa’I is a Palestinian girl and Odelia is an Isreali who is rendering her mandatory military service. They became friends on a student-exchange program in Switzerland and remained friends after the Intifada of 2000. Got this at Book Sale for a hundred smackers.












• Fools Rush In by Bill Carter.
The cover alone of a young boy walking with a gun in one hand and a book on the other will grab you. It’s an intense story of the author’s experiences in Bosnia. Got this from Borders.













• Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini.
A 21st century Catcher in the Rye in the age of the Internet. A fresh and funny read. For those of my generation weaned on Bill and Ted, this is righteous. Got this at Powerbooks for P395.













Do check these books out. They're great reads.