Have you heard about this? (Thanks, JBCC, for the tip-off!) Some books--paperback bestsellers by Michael Crichton, Danielle Steele, Barbara Taylor Bradford--can be had for P10-P20. The Oxford Edition world literature classics go for P99. Those bearing the Anvil imprint constitute the bulk of the merchandise on sale, ranging from P30 to P100 or so (the banner outside the office/store says prices go as low as P2).
Quite a number are not in mint condition, by the way--these books are clearly from non-moving stocks, so you get the occasional creases, brown edges, dents and nicks on the spine, etc. But, with some patient browsing, the bins yield good finds.
Anvil's bestsellers such as Jessica Zafra's
Twisted series and Danton Remoto's books are here, along with fiction and poetry by a host of Filipino authors, from Nick Joaquin and Ninotchka Rosca to more contemporary names; anthologies by the likes of Rene Villanueva, Bienvenido Lumbera, Virgilio Almario, Butch Dalisay, Joey Javier Reyes (his award-winning collection of essays,
Porn Again, is a recommended read); cookbooks and travel books and memoirs and dictionaries and children's titles; even Pinoy horror and ghost stories, such as the multi-volume
Spirit Questors tales by Tony Perez.
One or more of these books might just make the ideal Christmas gift for your loved ones. In my case, since I've read, or at least have a copy of, many of the must-have titles, my haul amounted to only five choices--for a grand total of P170:
Invented Eden: The Elusive, Disputed History of the Tasaday by Robin Hemley, P30
Culture and History by Nick Joaquin, P30
The No-Sweat Exercise Plan by Dr. Harvey Simon, P50
The National Artists of the Philippines 1999-2003, P30
The National Artists of the Philippines Vol. 1, P30
Not bad, especially the valuable National Artists round-up. Recently published titles, displayed more prominently on shelves near the entrance (including the Cory Aquino memoriam collection
Cory: An Intimate Portrait, edited by Margie Juico, and a raft of new recipe books--apparently they're a hit nowadays in the age of celebrity chefs), are also on sale at 20-percent off.
(
Update: Jessica has just
announced that her new book,
Twisted 8 1/2, will be in stores soon, for P100. It sells for P80 at Anvil now.)
The sale is only until this Saturday, December 12. Anvil Publishing is at 8007-B Pioneer St., Barangay Kapitolyo, Pasig City. From EDSA going to Shaw, the warehouse-type building is on your right, before reaching Pioneer Center. Tricycles at Robinsons Pioneer can bring you there.
You going? Happy hunting!
[Photos taken with a Sony Ericsson W995] 
