Moleskine is the legendary notebook, used by European artists and thinkers for the past two centuries, from Van Gogh to Picasso, from Ernest Hemingway to Bruce Chatwin. We now have large Moleskine notebooks at the store. At the moment they are the large classic notebooks and reporter notebooks and they each retail for P850.

Moleskine notebooks look nice and use only acid-free paper. They are a pleasure to write or draw in. For more about the history of Moleskine, visit the website and visit a Moleskine-dedicated blog.

Here are some titles our customers were looking for the past three or four weeks:

• Angelina Jolie: Notes From My Travels
• As a Man Thinketh
• The Classic Ten: The True Story of the Little Black Dress and Nine Other Fashion Favorites
• The Complete Locations of Star Wars: Inside the Worlds of the Entire Star Wars Saga
• Dynamic Light and Shade
• Education of a Coach
• For One More Day
• Ghost World
• How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got A Life: A Novel
• Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron
• Lists to Live By for Every Caring Family
• One-L
• No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories
• Schaum’s Outline of College Physics
• The Simpsons Library of Wisdom
• Supernatural: The Official Companion Season 1
• The Ultimate Success Secret
• The Writings of Florence Scovel Shinn
• The Wheel of Time series

Flight, Volume 4 by Kazu Kibuishi
A full-color graphic anthology of short stories by some of the hottest creators in the field, FLIGHT, Volume Four is the newest addition to a great success story in graphic novel publishing.

Since 2004, when the first Volume of Flight burst on the scene, the publication of subsequent volumes has become a highly anticipated annual event. Artists are constantly contacting Kibuishi (the editor of the Flight volumes and himself a contributor), asking to be included in the next volume of Flight. So it’s no wonder Flight has ascended so rapidly in the graphic novel universe, becoming a fan favorite and developing a rabid following. Each contributor’s story in the anthology represents a labor of love, and that fact shines through in the overall quality of the series.

Baltimore: Or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire by Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola
From celebrated comic artist Mike Mignola and award-winning novelist Christopher Golden comes a work of gothic storytelling like no other. Reminiscent of the illustrated tales of old, here is a lyrical, atmospheric novel of the paranormal—and a chilling allegory for the nature of war.

“Why do dead men rise up to torment the living?” Captain Henry Baltimore asks the malevolent winged creature. The vampire shakes its head. “It was you called us. All of you, with your war. The roar of your cannons shook us from our quiet graves…. You killers. You berserkers…. You will never be rid of us now.”

When Lord Henry Baltimore awakens the wrath of a vampire on the hellish battlefields of World War I, the world is forever changed. For a virulent plague has been unleashed—a plague that even death cannot end.

Now the lone soldier in an eternal struggle against darkness, Baltimore summons three old friends to a lonely inn—men whose travels and fantastical experiences incline them to fully believe in the evil that is devouring the soul of mankind.

As the men await their old friend, they share their tales of terror and misadventure, and contemplate what part they will play in Baltimore’s timeless battle. Before the night is through, they will learn what is required to banish the plague—and the creature who named Baltimore his nemesis—once and for all.

Read the online review

The Marvel Encyclopedia: The Complete Guide to the Characters of the Marvel Universe
Marvel Comics’ character roster boasts some of the best known and most popular characters ever conceived-heroes that are international household names, both as comic book stars and movie stars, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk and Wolverine. This unique, one-volume encyclopedia contains more than 1000 of Marvel’s greatest, with full details of their powers and their thrill-packed careers. The encyclopedia’s range of spectacular art features eye-popping work by Marvel’s finest artists, while the authoritative text is supplied by a team of top Marvel comic book writers. In addition, double-page features, illustrated with classic covers, trace the fascinating story of Marvel Comics through the decades. The Marvel Comics Encyclopedia is an essential book both for new fans and for those who grew up loving the excitement, heroism and humor of the Marvel Universe. Includes a foreword by Stan Lee.

Also available: The DC Comics Encyclopedia

To those who are expecting books this month, our latest shipment arrived last week. If you have not yet received a call or message from us, please drop by the store.

Back in stock are the following favorites:
300
100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know
100 Words to Make You Sound Smart
1000 Places to See
Lonely Planet the Travel Book : A Journey Throught Every Country in the World
Ology books including: Dragonology, Egyptology, Pirateology, Wizardology and the latest one, Mythology
PostSecret : Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives
Secret Lives of Men And Women : A PostSecret Book
The Dangerous Book for Boys
The Secret
The Time Traveler’s Wife
The World is Flat

New to the store are:

Lyrics by Sting

• Collected lyrics written by Sting, along with his commentary

• Who should read it: Fans of Sting and his music.

Austenland by Shannon Hale

• Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, is ruining her love life: no real man can compare. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane’s fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined. Decked out in empire-waist gowns, Jane struggles to master Regency etiquette and flirts with gardeners and gentlemen—or maybe even, she suspects, with the actors who are playing them. It’s all a game, Jane knows. And yet the longer she stays, the more her insecurities seem to fall away, and the more she wonders: Is she about to kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?

• Who should read it: Millions of Austen fans.

Lottery by Patricia Wood

• This is Patricia Wood’s bestselling first novel. Perry’s IQ is only 76, but he’s not stupid. His grandmother taught him everything he needs to know to survive: She taught him to write things down so he won’t forget them. She taught him to play the lottery every week. And, most important, she taught him whom to trust. When Gram dies, Perry is left orphaned and bereft at the age of thirty-one. Then his weekly Washington State Lottery ticket wins him 12 million dollars, and he finds he has more family than he knows what to do with. Peopled with characters both wicked and heroic who leap off the pages, Lottery is a deeply satisfying, gorgeously rendered novel about trust, loyalty, and what distinguishes us as capable.

• Who should read it: This book will appear to readers of Forrest Gump.

Math Doesn’t Suck : How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail by Danica Mckellar

• From a well-known actress (Danica Mckellar played Winnie Cooper in the popular TV show The Wonder Years) and math genius—a groundbreaking guide to mathematics for middle school girls, their parents, and educators. It is in middle school when math scores begin to drop—especially for girls—in large part due to the relentless social conditioning that tells girls they “can’t do” math, and that math is “uncool.” Young girls today need strong female role models to embrace the idea that it’s okay to be smart—in fact, it’s sexy to be smart!

• It’s Danica McKellar’s mission to be this role model, and demonstrate on a large scale that math doesn’t suck. In this fun and accessible guide, McKellar—dubbed a “math superstar” by The New York Times—gives girls and their parents the tools they need to master the math concepts that confuse middle-schoolers most, including fractions, percentages, pre-algebra, and more. The book features hip, real-world examples, step-by-step instruction, and engaging stories of Danica’s own childhood struggles in math (and stardom). In addition, borrowing from the style of today’s teen magazines, it even includes a Math Horoscope section, Math Personality Quizzes, and Real-Life Testimonials—ultimately revealing why math is easier and cooler than readers think.

Spook Country by William Gibson

• Read this online review

StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup’s Now, Discover Your Strengths by Tom Rath

• Just like in the bestselling book, Now, Discover Your Strenths, this book has a unique code for accessing the upgraded StrengthsFinder assessment website for determining what your real strengths are. (A strength is defined as a natural talent or inclination. It is not just a skill that can be learned or practiced.) The book will give you a more customized version of your top five strenths and more ideas and strategies for action.

• Who should read it: This book is especially popular with managers and leaders but is for anyone who wants to know what he really, truly is good at.

I spent an entire Saturday by myself at the bookstore (on account of the staff coming down with the flu). This was something I had not done in a long while. I am writing this because I have always intended to put down the experience of owning and running a small bookstore in our blog but also because I wanted to remember how much I enjoyed myself.

The day started with two young boys from the bakery across the parking lot coming in almost right after I unlocked the front door. I watched them for a while, making sure they were of the responsible sort. At least one of them was and the other (the younger one, I suppose) seemed to listen when he was told what to do by the taller boy so I left them to do what they wanted which was to read to each other and to play with the toys on the children’s table.

Throughout the day customers would come in looking for this and that item. Some we had (Dinna Revilla’s “Riches in Foreclosures“) and some we did not (birthday cards). Someone came in looking for a book by Ned Vizzini. I asked for the title of the book and he said, “It’s kind of a funny story.” It took me a beat to realize he was giving me the title of the book. I should remember to re-stock “Banker to the Poor,” the memoir of Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank which extends financing to the poorest of the poor in Bangladesh. Someone was looking for it.

When I was not attending to customers, I answered mail. They were mostly requests for books. I also read short stories from the internet. I read old favorites like Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and W. W. Jacobs’s The Monkey’s Paw, some I had not read before like Flannery O’Connor’s Good Country People, and then The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell I am not sure if I have read or not.

I also answered a few calls; one was from a customer in Carmona. The strangest was from a customer of the Japanese restaurant upstairs (Omakase). She left her glasses on the table where she sat but she could not get in touch with the restaurant so she looked us up instead. I called the restaurant myself and told them what happened. I hope she and her spectacles have been reunited.

The grandmother of a six-year old boy who liked to read and had just won an award in school came in. She was looking for books to give as his reward. My last customers for the day were two ladies who bought magazines. They were talking about how they did not read books anymore, not like when they were younger, when they absolutely had to read. Now, one said, she reads magazines. The other said DVD’s have replaced books (they do enjoy their Korean DVD’s). Ah, how unfortunate and difficult for a bookseller to hear. But, they were very nice ladies and I imagined it was all said with a hint of regret.

Soon it was closing time and while I was fixing up I was thinking about how much I enjoyed manning the store and that our computer needed an upgrade. It was a good day.

If horror movies keep you awake, you should try reading a horror story. You may not know it yet, but we have an excellent selection of horror fiction at the store. Here are just some of them.

(Note: The Bram Stoker Awards are awarded annually in the United States by the Horror Writers Association for Superior Achievement in the horror genre and are named after Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula.)

The Traveling Vampire Show by Richard Laymon
2000 Stoker Award Winner for Novel

The Traveling Vampire Show

Come and see–
the one and only known Vampire in captivity!

–Valeria–
Gorgeous! Beguiling! Lethal!

This stunning beauty, born in the wilds of Transylvania, sleeps by day in her coffin. By night she feeds on the blood of strangers.

See Valeria rise from the dead!
Watch as she stalks volunteers from the audience!
Tremble as she sinks her teeth into their necks!
Scream as she sups on their blood!!!

Where: Janks Field, 2 mi south of
Grandville on Route 3
When: One Show Only - Friday, midnight
How much: $10

(Nobody under age 18 allowed)

For three local 16-year olds, two boys and a girl, this is a show they can’t miss. Even though the flyers say no one under eighteen will be admitted, they’re determined to find a way. What follows is a story of friendship and courage, temptation and terror, when three friends go where they shouldn’t go, and find much more than they ever expected.

Swan Song by Robert McCammon
1987 Stoker Award Winner for Novel, tied with Stephen King’s Misery

Description: An ancient evil roams the desolate landscape of an America ravaged by nuclear war. He is the Man with the Scarlet Eye, a malevolent force that feeds on the dark desires of the countless followers he has gathered into his service. His only desire is to find a special child named Swan — and destroy her. But those who would protect the girl are determined to fight for what is left of the world and their souls.

In a wasteland born of rage, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, the last survivors on earth have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil that will decide the fate of humanity….

Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon
1991 Stoker Award Winner for Novel

Nightmare Chronicles by Douglas Clegg
1999 Stoker Award Winner for Fiction Collection

Description: It begins in an old tenement with a horrifying crime. It continues after midnight, when a young boy, held captive in a basement, is filled with unearthly visions of fantastic and frightening worlds. How could his kidnappers know that the ransom would be their own souls? For, as the hours pass, the boy’s nightmares invade his captors like parasites — and soon, they become real.

Thirteen nightmares unfold: A young man searches for his dead wife among the crumbling buildings of Manhattan…a journalist seeks the ultimate evil in a plague-ridden outpost of India…ancient rituals begin anew with the mystery of a teenage girl’s disappearance…and in a hospital for the criminally insane, there is only one doorway to salvation…But the night is not yet over, and the real nightmare has just begun.

Wither by J. G. Passarella
1999 Stoker Award Winner for First Novel

Description: The college town of Windale, Massachusetts is proud of its colonial heritage — including the legend of a dark witches’ coven dating back three hundred years. No one in Windale actually believes in witches, or imagines that the blood-chilling history of the Salem era could repeat itself. But three people, unknown to one another, are experiencing vivid nightmares of palpable horror. They alone can sense that a dreadful presence is working its way into their waking lives — and is coming for them.

On a crisp autumn night deep in the New England woods, a young woman’s harmless channeling ritual unwittingly opens the floodgates to terrifying forces that have, until then, lived only in dreams: a breed of demonic creatures with the power to shatter an unsuspecting town.

The Night Class by Tom Piccirilli
2002 Stoker Award Winner for Novel

Lost Boy Lost Girl by Peter Straub
2003 Stoker Award Winner for Novel

Description: A woman commits suicide for no apparent reason. A week later, her son– fifteen-year-old Mark Underhill–vanishes. His uncle, novelist Timothy Underhill, searches his hometown of Millhaven for clues that might help unravel this horrible dual mystery. He soon learns that a pedophilic murderer is on the loose in the vicinity, and that shortly before his mother’s suicide, Mark had become obsessed with an abandoned house where he imagined the killer might have taken refuge. No mere empty building, the house whispers from attic to basement with the echoes of a long-hidden true-life horror story, and Tim Underhill comes to fear that in investigating its unspeakable history, Mark stumbled across its last and greatest secret: a ghostly lost girl who may have coaxed the needy, suggestible boy into her mysterious domain.

In the Night Room by Peter Straub
2004 Stoker Award Winner for Novel

Description: Willy Patrick, the respected author of the award-winning young-adult novel In the Night Room, thinks she is losing her mind–again. One day, she is drawn helplessly into the parking lot of a warehouse. She knows somehow that her daughter, Holly, is being held in the building, and she has an overwhelming need to rescue her. But what Willy knows is impossible, for her daughter is dead.

On the same day, author Timothy Underhill, who has been struggling with a new book about a troubled young woman, is confronted with the ghost of his nine-year-old sister, April. Soon after, he begins to receive eerie, fragmented e-mails that he finally realizes are from people he knew in his youth–people now dead. Like his sister, they want urgently to tell him something. When Willy and Timothy meet, the frightening parallels between Willy’s tragic loss and the story in Tim’s manuscript suggest that they must join forces to confront the evils surrounding them.

Oddest Yet: Even More Stories To Chill The Heart by Steve Burt
2004 Stoker Award Winner for Work for Young Readers, tied with Cliver Barker’s Abarat

Dark Delicacies edited by Del Howison, Jeff Gelb
2005 Stoker Award Winner for Anthology

Creepers by David Morrell
2005 Stoker Award Winner for Novel

Description: On a cold October night, five people gather in a run-down motel on the Jersey shore and prepare to break into the Paragon Hotel. The once-magnificent structure is now boarded up and marked for demolition. They are “creepers”: urban explorers with a passion for investigating abandoned buildings and their dying secrets. Reporter Frank Balenger joins them to profile this highly illegal activity for the New York Times. But he isn’t looking for just another story, and soon after they enter the rat-infested tunnel leading to the hotel, he gets more than he bargained for. Danger, fear, and death await the creepers in a place ravaged by time and redolent of evil.

• Oprah Winfrey chooses “Love in the Time of Cholera” as her next book club selection. A feature film based on the book is also set to be released next month in the United States. The novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez has always been a bestseller at the store. We are expecting a new batch of mass market paperbacks of the novel to arrive soon.
• The Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature will be announced on October 11. On the shortlist are: Claudio Magris (Italy), Les Murray (Australia), Philip Roth (USA), Thomas Transtromer (Sweden), Adonis (Syria).

Back in February, we hosted a book launch for Heartbreak, a collection of short stories from Cozy Reads Publishing. We are happy to announce that the young publishing company has come up with its second title (of a trilogy), another short story collection called “First Love: Unforgettable Stories of Getting Weak In The Knees And Falling.”

This cozy read is just as nicely printed as the first one. It has a shiny cover with eleven stories on thick creamy paper inside. Of the eleven, I enjoyed That Familiar Hand by Celestine Marie Trinidad the most. Of course all the stories are about first loves and this one was about that first feeling between two people in their sixties. Here is the complete list of eleven stories and authors:

Project Uno by Elyss G. Punsalan
- Three random words from the story: serendipity, returned, sign
That Familiar Hand by Celestine Marie Trinidad
- First line: His handwriting seemed vaguely familiar.
Room 101 by Belen Morabella
- The only line in italics: Why can’t you forget him?
Summer Interlude by Chona Suner-Narvadez
- Musical acts mentioned: Marilyn Manson, Black Sabbath, Mozart
A Certain Quality by I. P. Goze
- Theme song: Could It Be Magic by Barry Manilow
A Kiss Is A Kiss Is A Kiss by Karen Manalastas
- Lola says: Don’t be too hard on him.
What Ever Happened To…? by Sally Magdiwang
- Last line: Huy! Excuse me, are you still listening?
Meeting at San Agustin by Ana Maria S. Villanueva
- Last line: He didn’t ever want to let go.
Love, Digitally by Jason Paul Laxamana
- Online handles: Midnighter, Porkyupine
The Seatmate by Raymund P. Reyes
- Symptoms: daydreaming, loss of appetite, singing, restless tossing, pimples
Note to Self by Isabel Reoja
- Advice: Go for broke.

“First Love” is edited by Faye Ilogon.

We’ll be having a shipment of books arriving in a few days. We are expecting them to be at the store in a week or two, on the fifteenth, at the earliest. We will be posting titles when they arrive.

I got a chance to read the latest issue of The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories yesterday. My favorite story this time was the one called “Y” by Sharmaine Galve. It is science fiction (the author’s first) about a man who wants to change the world through… Let’s just say it deals with the issue of how much of what we think, feel, or act depends on our genes. In her notes the author tells us outright that her story was “borrowed” from works of a lot of other authors. The premise may not be unique but I enjoyed the story anyway.

I enjoy reading the Editor’s page as much as the stories in the digest. In this issue, editor Kenneth Yu mentioned other publications that are open to short story submissions. He mentioned The Philippine Free Press, The Philippine Graphic, and Story Philippines. Story Philippines was the only one I found online in a few short seconds so here is a link to its submission guidelines.

You should also visit the digest’s blog here as Kenneth Yu posts many interesting links, articles, and insights. The digest is on its third issue and I expect it will go on for more. I am waiting, waiting for an issue of mystery/detective stories. There have been some mysteries in the digest including “Homer’s Child” in this issue and my favorite story from the last issue, “Beneath the Acacia.” But, I guess, I want more.