Friday, July 29, 2011

National Book Store Cut Price Book Sale - Jul 29 - Aug 21


Oh, yes, wonder of wonders, this is the life!

Books I already bought:

Supposedly one of the best fantasy series around.
Got this for Php 215.00 only!
From P315.00 

and believe it or not, this! 
One of the greatest children's classics of all time, so I can brush up on my FRENCH.
Got this hardcover copy for Php 244.00 only
From Php 305.00

So if there's a book you've been wanting to buy, the time is now! :)



Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Arabian Nights

The Arabian Nights Calla Edition illustrated by Rene Bull, Hardcover
"What a wonderful story this is!
The remainder of it is more surprising if the Sultan will permit me
to live this day and allow me to proceed on the morrow"
- Queen Scheherazade
I've heard of the 1001 Arabian Nights but never knew what an amazing story it is until a fellow Read Philippines member posted about it. So as soon as Fully Booked went on sale, I got myself this beautifully illustrated hardcover edition by Calla.

The Arabian Nights Calla Edition Title Page
The Arabian Nights illustrated by Rene Bull - Hardcover

Queen Scheherazade tells her stories to the Sultan in 1001 Arabian Nights
Queen Scheherazade
tells her stories
to the Sultan
It is actually about a Sultan who is so shocked to find his queen unfaithful that he has her executed.  After his brother also experiences the same tragedy with his wife, the Sultan decides that all women are the same so he marries a virgin everyday and has her executed the following morning.  This left the people of the kingdom in consternation for their daughters.  The vizier's beautiful and wise daughter, Scheherazade, comes up with a plan. She marries the Sultan and on the night of their wedding she begins to tell him a story but doesn't finish it. Instead she asks the Sultan to spare her life until the next day to finish the story. The Sultan agrees and the following day as soon as she finishes the story she begins another one without finishing it. The Sultan, again eager to hear the conclusion, postpones her execution once more.   This continues for 1001 nights, thus the title.    

The Arabian Nights illustred by Rene Bull Hardcover
The Story of Aladdin, or The Wonderful Lamp
Arabian Nights is where the famous stories of Aladdin or The Wonderful Lamp,
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and Sinbad the Sailor all came from.  Considered to be one of the great classics of literature, it is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories compiled in Arabic in about 7th century AD.   Here is how stories of sultans, genies, magic rings, and flying carpets all started.

Illustration of the Genie, in Aladdin or The Wonderful Lamp
What I found to be surprisingly unique about Arabian Nights is its use of the framing device, which is a story within a story.  Some stories are complete in themselves, but others are stories within a story, within a story.   For example, the stories of Sinbad's seven voyages are actually stories framed within an original story of Sinbad recounting it to a porter named Hindbad.   Here is the framing structure, each story framed within the story to its left:
The Arabian Nights Framing Structure
Arabian Nights - Framing Structure
I got this Calla edition primarily for its beautiful illustrations and heavy duty quality, but I have read that there are many different editions, some containing only a few stories, others containing all 1001 or more.
Arabian Nights illustrated Calla Edition - Contents

A theme which I found to be recurring is the amassing of wealth by chance or discovery.  It appears in almost all the stories that wealth is usually discovered or found,  and not made or something you work for.  Think about the stories of Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sinbad and how they were all fortunate enough to discover gold and jewelry. All of us dream to be rich and this is probably what inspires our imagination, but this might give kids today the wrong attitude about wealth if told repeatedly.  Although there are several businessmen (merchants) in the collection not all of them gained their wealth through their own business or hard work (perhaps only Abou Hassan's family.)  In fact, the story of the merchant Ali Cogia was about how he cheated his neighbor of a thousand pieces of gold.

Another theme is how women are portrayed in the story.  With the exception of Scheherazade and Morgiana, most of the women are portrayed as unfaithful, evil, and scheming.  Though this is something I didn't find enjoyable to read about, it probably has a lot to do with the culture and times when the stories were originally told.

Nevertheless, there is always some value or lesson to be learned in all of the stories, such as the importance of honesty, loyalty, and bravery.  Here are some of my favorites:

Ali Baba and the Forty Robbers
I loved this story primarily because of Morgiana and the role she played in it. While women are usually portrayed as scheming unfaithful wives in several Arabian Nights stories, in this particular one Morgiana, who starts out as a maid in her master's house, is the epitome of loyalty, wit, and beauty.  In the end her master rewards her by offering her his son's hand in marriage.
Ali Baba and the Forty Robbers in The Arabian Nights
Ali Baba and the Forty Robbers

Morgiana of Ali Baba and the Forty Robbers in The Arabian Nights
The beautiful and loyal Morgiana, in Ali Baba and the Forty Robbers

The Fourth Voyage of Sinbad
What struck me was the husband-wife burial custom that was described here.  When a husband or wife dies the surviving spouse is to be buried with him/her.
The Story of Sinbad the Sailor in The Arabian Nights
The Story of Sinbad the Sailor

The Story of Abou Hassan, or The Sleeper Awakened
In this story Abou Hassan and his wife find their funds to be wanting so they worked as a team to execute a humorous ploy on the sultan in order to earn some gold.  I loved their teamwork in this story which to me made it one of the lightest and most entertaining stories in the collection.

The Story of Aladdin; or the Wonderful Lamp
Perhaps the most popular in the collection. Disney's rendition was similar but omitted several elements from the original story. These elements included a magic ring, Aladdin's mother and how her persistence was able to help obtain the Sultan's consent for Aladdin to marry the princess, Aladdin's wedding, the evil magician who tried to take the lamp, and Aladdin and his wife's new palace built by the genie.
The Princess Buddir al Buddoor in Aladdin
The Princess in The Story of Aladdin
The Magician in Aladdin in The Arabian Nights
The evil Magician in The Story of Aladdin

The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Perie Banou
A story about three princes, it reminded me of Ibong Adarna from Philippine Folklore.   This is where the flying carpet came from, not from Aladdin. 

So there you go.  I hope I was able to inspire you to pick up the book and start reading :-)

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Invite Your Friends to Join Read Philippines and win Fully Booked GCs


To all booklovers out there, this is your chance to win Gift Certificates from Fully Booked for free!
Click on the link to find out how.


Saturday, July 9, 2011

Fully Booked Sale - SM MOA, Greenbelt 5 (July 8-10)


20% off!

Fully Booked Mall of Asia
July 8-10, 2011
 
Fully Booked Greenbelt 5
July 8-10, 2011
 
Sketchbooks
July 8-10, 2011


* Local, consigned and N-coded items are not included in the sale


Saturday, July 2, 2011

The Mad About Books Book Fair

Super value books all in one place
Jun 27-Jul 3 -  Market! Market!

If you are looking for great book deals, this is the book fair to go to! I went to Market! Market! today to see for myself what this book fair was all about.  I arrived at around 5 pm and saw that it is essentially all the used and value book merchants in one place.

The participating merchants were:
Booksale
Chapters & Pages
Pick-A-Book
and of course, National Bookstore's sale books
Books for Less, where are you?

I particularly loved this GIANT BOOKMARK and its wonderful words of wisdom! :-) 
Nice Giant Bookmark!
There were activities, too.
Scholastic
and this storytelling that I happened to hear featuring the "Red Riding Hood"
Storytelling

To cap it off, there was even a surprise appearance by Clifford!


As for me, here were my finds:

For my own nostalgic reasons:
for P25 only

for P50 only
for P45 only


For my niece Tina:
for P120 only - very good cond'n, with illustrations in every spread
 For my nephew-in-law Vince:
for P75 only - excellent cond'n with full color illustrations


So there it is!  Happy Shopping!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Fully Booked Sale - Rockwell, MOA, Greenbelt 5 (Jul 1-3)


Enjoy 20% off at Fully Booked Rockwell!



Yes!  Time to go on my book shopping spree!!!

Click here for directory of Fully Booked Branches

Receive 20% off on cash and card purchases of regular items.
N-code, local and consigned items are not included in the sale.