An Invitation to Bookmooch

Been mentioning Bookmooch endlessly in most of my posts here, so I thought I would share with you how we whet up the appetites for mooching in this part of the bookmooch world. Hopefully, this will mean one, two or more new bookmoochers in the Philippines or the rest of the world.

The whole concept of Bookmooch is giving books you have and finding books you want. For bookworms, this is a great way to 'let go' of our fondest treasures because you are assured that your book is going to a new 'home', and just being dumped in a cold dark place [exaggeration for emphasis]. While the normal transaction is 1 book for 1 point if a local mooch or 3 points for international mooches, the more creative bookmoochers have devised promos and contests to spice up our mooching life. This is also a great way to make more friends and interact with fellow bookworms on a more personal basis.

In the Philippines this has meant that we have had mooching parties timed on special occasions. The first was our Halloween party, then a quick early Christmas get-together in November and the latest was our New Year bash which had the highest attendance of 30+ folks. 

The event is fun-filled with lots of food and goodies, mooching sessions, book swaps, the signature bookmooch jeopardy game and in the last party we even had a book auction to raise funds for our favorite Philippine bookmooch charity, the Quezon City Public Library. Click on the links to see what bookmooch parties are all about in the Philippines. 

So this time around, I have decided to start the new year by cleaning out my inventory through a promo. I am offering highly wishlisted books and bestsellers as a free giveaway for a corresponding number of mooches. Hopefully a great way to move my inventory and share great books for practically free. Some of the premium titles I am offering used to be on my bedside table [Thanks for the pix, Blooey!], but will eventually find their way to a new home.

Take a look at these offerings, and maybe you too can sign up... 

2009 CLEAN-OUT PROMO

Have 60 books left in my inventory, and would like to clean out. Following Blooey’s format, offering wishlisted titles, bestsellers and smaller size coffeetable books for the corresponding number of mooches as indicated. Plus free libreria bookmarks and scented highlighters, while supply lasts.

Mooch now!

Mooch 3 books and get 1 of the following:
1. Every Book Its Reader, Nicholas A. Basbanes, trade paperback, NBS Booksak
2. A History of Warfare, John Keegan, paperback, brand new
3. Great Novels of Jane Austen, paperback
4. The Portable MBA, hard cover
5. Boutique a 60s cultural phenomenon, Marnie Fogg, paperback

Mooch 4 books and get 1 of the following:
1. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak, hard cover
2. Lost, Gregory Maguire, trade paperback
3. Widdershins, Charles de Lint, trade paperback, like new
4. The Medici Conspiracy, Peter Watson, hard cover
5. Off The Cuff, Carson Kressley, hard cover

Mooch 5 books and get 1 of the following
1. The Historian, Elizabeth Kostovo, hard cover
2. A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini, trade paperback, brand new
3. The Decoration of Houses, Edith Wharton, paperback, brand new
4. The Greeks & Greek Love, James Davidson, hard cover, brand new
5. Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde, hard cover, brand new

In search of the P99 books

It's September and it's bargain book sale season in the Philippines with the month-long National Book Store cut-price sale which has been going on for as long as I remember being a bookworm.

Since the start of the sale, I have been to 10 or is that 11 or 12 branches so far: Katipunan Avenue, Trinoma, Quezon Boulevard, Mall of Asia, Avenida, Shang Mall, Podium, Megamall, Greenhills, Eastwood, Greenbelt, Galleria, in the last two or so weeks. And I topped this off by stopping at the Bestsellers store in Galleria after my NBS Galleria raid.  It's been a bookstore a day or even 2 a day, after work or as a weekend treat.  Great way to keep your mind off the things that you don't want to dwell on, like the looming book deadline and other even bigger things.

What is all the frenzy about... well for bookworms, the scent of a sale is enough to get us going. Books at discounted and even low low prices- that is heaven!  I must confess I do like brand new books, the ones that smell freshly minted and so crisp and clean. And I am very partial to hard covers and big books, that's why the library

 cum house I live in is full.

But after this dizzying dive into bargain sales I have discovered that I can get more for my money and still have the same hard cover stash, but in greater numbers.

So back to the narrative of what I did in every NBS branch I visited.  I started by just sorting through, thinking I would find a good read or two. But when I dug into the P99 bin in the NBS Katipunan branch I was hooked. I think I took home 3 bags of books, my excuse was that it was mostly for adding  to my BOOKMOOCH inventory, mostly hard covers that were selling at 99 pesos each. Hardcovers go for at least P1,000+ [$21-$23] when they get to the Philippines!!! And here I  was all these years paying full price for books that would get to the P99 bin in a year or even less.

So that first night that I got home I sorted through the books, such a pleasure to open the plastic bags and go through the books one at a time. [I miss my bookstore owner days, especially when the books I ordered arrived.  It was my special activity, only I could open the boxes.  And sort and tag and mark and wrap :-) Those were the days when I had Libreria.] 

After sorting, I realized I didn't have many of the titles [fiction mostly]  in my library so I decided to go back and start visiting other branches.  On my visit to a third or fourth branch, I encountered a fellow bookmoocher, JoelG, who pointed the way to the p99 bin and spent time talking about our purchases. He also told  me about some other titles he had found in other branches. The rest of the bookmooching Filipino addicts shared their own finds online on our Shelfari and Ning discussion groups, and that further fueled the fire.

Among the many treasures I found were The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad, Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, What is the What by Dave Eggers, Divisadero by Michael Ondatje, The Thirteenth Tale, Three Cups of Tea, The Abstinence Teacher, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, Alexander McCall Smith's The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and other titles, Suite Francaise, and even a Raymond Feist title.  At bargain, bargain, bargain prices... in hard cover or at least trade paperback, in great condition.

But finding them wasn't that easy. I sorted, I dug, I kneeled, I dug, I re-arranged and I dug, I table-hopped and I dug, and I went round and back, and I dug again. I kid you not, yesterday in the Greenhills branch I practically fixed the display tables while I was digging. Guess my bookstore owner caring for books will never go away, pity the books all piled and bothered...

The saga is about to end, as the sale reaches its end-stage. While there are 11 more days before the sale ends, most of the branches have little to show and to sell anymore. The last two days were disappointing, like waiting for Christmas and waking to find you skipped a day or a season. For those who want to catch the tail-end, try the Bestsellers store at the top level of Galleria or the Katipunan Avenue branch, they still have a whole table full of P99 books. Sadly, the other branches that I have been to have less than a tabletop to offer... and the good titles are all gone.

But the good news is that the bargain gets better, 20% off on the P99 books in Katipunan Avenue. Good enough reason to try and catch the P99 books while you still can...

I am sure the best friend will have a chuckle and a frown and a word or two to say... I hear you already.

New mooches

Came home from the post office today with a stash of 10 packages from bookmoochers around the world. Let me share the treasures that came in the mail today.  

It's like Christmas at the stroke of midnight when you gather round the Christmas tree to open your presents.  And since I know that my presents are all books this time, I am even more excited.  Each package is wrapped so well, with the book enclosed in newspaper, plastic, bubble wrap and enough tape to criss-cross the world several times over.

Hearsay: Strange Tales from the Middle Kingdom, by Barbara Ann Porte. Mooched from Autumn Frymark in Waco, Texas, USA.  Hardcover with dust jacket. 

Have Your Cake and Eat It Too. Illustrated by Mary Engelbreit.  I collect all things Mary Engelbreit and bookmooch is helping me grow my collection.  Mooched from Carrie Ansell in Washington, D.C., USA.  A heartwarming gift book.

Voyage to Atlantis, by James W Mavor. Another topic of much interest to me.  Mooched from Delia in Australia.  

Since I have started blogging, there is more excitement with the arrival of the mooches because now I get to share what I have received online. And even though I have one sure reader for every blog entry I make [that's what best friends are for, among other things], I hope that people who find their way here will get into the mooching habit too.

Back to the mooch loot.  The next package has two books from Sorchah in Illinois, USA.  It's In the Bag: The Complete Guide to Lightweight Travel, by Barbara DesChamps. Yes, I do need to learn how not to bring my entire closet when travelling around Europe.  And Au Revoir Parisienne, by Elmer Williams. I do love Paris, wish I could live there even for just a little while.

The next two hardcover books came from Laurie B in Peabody, MA, USA.  Anne Geddes' Until Now.  I love her innovation in capturing the wonders of children.  King Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory, part of the Great Illustrated Classic series.

It's A Girl Thing, by Jan King from SpongeBob Fishpants in Seattle, WA, USA.  Heard the line "It's a guy thing" a year ago, and when I saw  this title I just had to find out what it meant for us girls. This book was one of the 5 packages in a flat rate mailing envelope.  The nice thing about this form of packaging is that some Bookmooch members let you fill up this envelope so you can mooch more than one or two, sometimes even up to four books and they send in one envelope.  

Eight books so far and four more packages to open, in between text messages and phone calls. My best friend will have a comment in the morning after reading this post. Definitely a comment.

Another package of two books from Suzi in California, USA. The Da Vinci Legacy by Lewis Perdue, a paperback. I enjoy the mix of mystery and history. Many of these types that do entertain and inform.

The Treasure of Montsegur by Sophy Burnham, another papaerback.  Both of these books come with a yellow Bookcrossing sticker, check the link to find out how a book can cross the world just by being left on a bench or a cafe.

Four books from Alina in MI, USA. Mikhail S. Gorbachev An Intimate Biography, by the Editors of Time Magazine.  Burnt Toast and Other Philosophies of Life by Teri Hatcher.  Goldie A Lotus Grows in the Mud, by Goldie Hawn with Wendy Holden. Three more titles to add to the biography shelf.  

And Quick & Easy Recipes ENTREES Food Writers' Favorites, edited by Barbara Gibbs Ostmann and Jane Barker.

The last envelope had two books too, from Kristina in Belton, MO, USA.  Two storybooks.  The Bremen Town Musicians and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, retold by Constance Hieatt.

Sixteen books to add to the library. Still haven't figured out how to make everything fit. Will try to move them books around again.  Even have a few more books to add to "my to be mooched inventory". 

The overflow is contained, until the next notice from the Post Office arrives.

Mooching for books, a treasure and a pleasure

Today I took another trip to indulge the book addiction and retrieved 11 packages from the Central Post Office in Quezon City, from the USA, Lithuania, New Zealand and Singapore.

Thanks to my weekly visits to retrieve packages, the kind lady who releases packages just let me take them home without the required opening to check on the contents. Well, my face is already a regular fixture for them so no hassle.

On the way to work, I proceeded to open each one, slowly so as not ruin any portion of the precious contents. The first one was from Lithuania, two slim tomes wrapped in plastic, both old books written by H.G. Wells. Mooched these from Dovile, a fellow booklover.

Then I opened the one from Singapore, a book about Atlantis, from George. The next one was an old paperback on Stonehenge from Michele in Texas. There was even a beautifully packed coffeetable book on Ancient American Treasures from Glenda in California.

All in all, a total of 16 books received through the Bookmooch network. I read about it from an article in the Manila Bulletin in March, more than four months ago. The concept was interesting: for those with books sitting on the shelves, here was a chance to find a new home for them. The concept appealed to me because although parting with any book is excruciating, the idea of giving the book to someone who wanted it and would take care of it allowed me to consider giving my books away. Especially since there was the prospect of receiving books in return.

So I signed up, ready to send out my books. First had to choose what to give away, believe me, that was not easy. Then listed it in the inventory, receiving 1/10th of a point. With each book I was adding, I was building up points. Enough to use to request for the books I had seen in the inventories of other Bookmooch members.

The point system gives you more points for sending internationally, and also takes away more points for mooching books from abroad. The main expense to a moocher is the cost of sending the book to the requesting party, and with postage also comes packaging. Then again, depending on how much of an obsessive-compulsive bookworm you are, the packaging pretty much varies.

The first book I received was Me & Mr Darcy, from Aspa in Greece, in less than a month since I signed up and mooched a book. The first book I sent out was to Nina in the United Kingdom, a book about getting hitched. She got this 18 days after she requested the book from me, quite fast as I sent it Priority Mail, not knowing there were less costly options for sending out the books.

Four months after, I have received 71 books, and am awaiting 72 more. On the giving side, I have sent out 83 books which have found their way to their new owners, with 48 books still in transit. My pending outbox for books tonight has 23 waiting to be mailed.

Every time I see a notice from the Post Office, my heart flutters from the excitement of adding another book to the bulging shelves. Every time I wrap the requested books in plastic and print out the mailing labels, I realize how small the world has become, what with strangers albeit fellow booklovers sharing their most precious of treasures.

I have been asked by my best friend if it is worth the drain on the budget, the price of mailing out a book starts at P48 and goes up depending on the weight and the destination. And I reply, of course, where else would I be able to find old books, rare titles and not pay too dearly to own them. And how else would I be able to add on to my pop-up books collection without going back to New York and its many many bookstores. [Lucky for me, the best friend likes books too, and indulges me while gently reminding me about bigger responsibilities and the long-term situation.]

Mooching through Bookmooch is a wonderful way to grow my library and meet new people who happen to share the same love for books. Even better, mooching through Bookmooch has meant finding treasures galore, not only in the books but also in the booklovers who make mooching such a pleasure.

Give it a try... but be ready to moderate the greed, and the addiction.



Swap books at BookMooch.com

Bookworm heaven in the south...

Today I found bookworm heaven... some bumps along the way, but definitely happiness when I got there.

We took the long way, exiting at Sucat to get to Bicutan, and got lost on the main roads by sheer lack of initiative to ask where the right way was, but finding the warehouse of BOOKSALE, the biggest secondhand booksource in the Philippines was worth the trip.

Getting the invitation to visit and enter the sanctuary was mostly luck... I had heard stories about the warehouse earlier from among my fellow bookworms on Bookmooch and Shelfari. The kind of stories that make every booklover swoon in bookheaven ecstacy. Just imagine being in the stockroom of the biggest source of secondhand books of these 7,100 islands. Surrounded by books of all sizes, shapes, colors, topics and nationalities. Ready to be opened, waiting to be taken home, lying there, ripe for the taking.

Well, as fate would have it, I found a way to make this dream come true. Just yesterday as I took a quick trip to their V-mall branch to take a look around and hopefully spot more rare book bargains, I stumbled on one of their supervisors visiting the store. I asked about their rare books and you can imagine how the conversation progressed to the "warehouse".

The rumors are true... there is a minimum amount to be spent. one needs permission to get in. and yes, it is bookworm heaven...

Once there, despite the overzealous guard who wanted me to leave my bag in the guardhouse [come again? leave my bag, containing my phone, my keys, my purse, my life, with you?], I finally made my way into the warehouse, thanks to Lisa, the friendly and assertive supervisor who I met yesterday.

Grey walls, unpainted. Rooms closed off with door signs indicating the category or type of books within "softbound" etc. Clerks and gofers sorting, moving stocks, unpacking boxes and boxes of books.

I ended up in the operations hub as it were, the place where their top lady veteran supervises the opening of boxes, the sorting and overall movement of the books from warehouse to store.

Oh what haven, this large enough, air-conditioned room with piles and piles of boxes on one side and floor-to-ceiling steel shelves on three walls. Oh what happiness to spot two whole walls of coffeetable books. So off to work I go... one pile after another, choosing and moving books to make way for the rest... organized madness, organized obsessive book addiction.

More than 200 people make their operation run with steady efficiency and move them books all over the Philippines. I asked if I could apply for a job as apprentice to Dolly, and they just laughed. I said they could pay me with books... that's all I need.

I chose to be a good girl today and limited myself only to the coffeetable books shelves, and, as affirmed by my best friend, to come back another day for the rest of the goodies. But the temptation did not stop, as I waited for them to list my choices after they took their lunch break, they let me open some more books full of big, beautiful coffeetable books. They sure know how to sell and sell...

The session was over in 2 hours, with some precious finds already brought home and tucked into already bulging shelves. I did leave a list of the subjects that I would come back for, especially the pop-up books and the old books on history and rare ones on art and travel. And I know they will make sure that I come back for more... one half-explored room and the rest of the bookworm heaven await me.

Abangan ang susunod na kabanata...