It’s the 36th Manila International Book Fair! It’s an event where dozens of publishing houses and book sellers come together at SMX Convention Center (beside SM Mall of Asia) to sell their products, usually with discounts. The event runs from September 16 (Wednesday) to 20 (Sunday), 2015. 2 years ago, I went on a weekend, and there weren’t a lot of choices for me. This year, I made sure I went on opening day, so that I had better options. Also, last time I was only looking for familiar books, but this time I got more adventurous and purchased Filipino books.
Ticket to the event is 20 pesos I think, 50% off on students, but I got my free ticket from OMF Literature (where I got my ticket last time). There are other publishing houses and book sellers that give away free tickets, you just have to search them online.
I arrived at SMX at 1.30 pm, and left at around 6 pm. Traffic wasn’t too good so I got home at around 8.30 pm. Very tired, but very satisfied!
Below are the books I purchased, grouped by publishing houses/book sellers. Asterisks mean they’re for the niece and nephews.
Anvil Publishing
- Fast Food Fiction Delivery – (Original: P 220) P 176
- Kwentaxi by Mae Paner aka Juana Change – (Original: P 175) P 140
- My Penmanship – Nursery * – (Original: P 365) P 292
- Soledad’s Sister by Jose Dalisay- (Original: P 275) P 220
Total: P 828
Church Strengthening Ministry
- For Richer & For Poorer by Chinkee Tan – (Original: P 400) P 100
- Till Debt Do Us Part by Chinkee Tan – (Original: P 300) P 100
Total: P 200
Fully Booked
– They provided raffle coupons for every P 500 purchase. I got 9 coupons. They’re going to give away 3 Samsung Tabs. Or something like that.
- Deadpool Volume 1 – (Original: P 1,470) P 1,176
- Divergent Series Boxed Set Hardbound by Veronica Roth – (Original: P 2,599) P 2,079.20
- X-Men: Days of Future Past – (Original: P 1,720) P 1,376
Total: P 4,631.20
Mindwerks – The Toy Shoppe
- Creative Blocks * – (Original: P 350) P 315 x 2
Total: P 630
Vibal Group*
- Ang Bago Kong Kalaro – P 60
- Ang Hardinerong Tipaklong – P 56
- Big World for Little People – P 60
- Elisa Explores – P 56
- Halimaw – P 60
- Handog Kay Isabella – P 60
- Hayan na si Kidlat – P 60
- Jose Rizal – P 52
- Klekkluk – P 60
- May Lakad Kami ni Tatay – P 60
- Noah and the Great Flash Flood – P 60
- Noong Nakaraang Taon – P 60
- Piyesta sa Hardin ni Lola Benita – P 60
- Si Puyinggot at si Puyanggit – P 60
- Si Tak-Tu – P 60
- The Empty Window – P 52
- The Little Red Hen – P 48
- The Proud Little Island – P 60
- Uldok, The War Hero – P 56
- Why Do Birds Build Nests – P 56
- Why Do Squids Squirt Ink – P 56
Total: P 1,212
Grant Total: P 7,501.20
I used my credit cards for my purchases from Fully Booked, Mindwerks, and Vibal Group, so I will feel the hit next month. I’m still undecided if I will come back. On the one hand, I want to go back and search for Filipino books. I was particularly looking for crime novels, but only found Soledad’s Sister from the list I made before going to MIBF. On the other hand, National Book Store will have another sale next week, in all their branches, so maybe I will just save my money for that one. And, the traffic going home from Mall of Asia was terrible, so I don’t want to experience that again any time soon.
Have you been to MIBF? What were your purchases?