Cozy corner

THEME DAY: BOOKS • I remember a time when most bookstores in Metro Manila were glorified stationery and school supply stores. What books they had were mostly textbooks, reference books and required school reading. A friend in the publishing business once told me that the biggest bookstore chain in the Philippines actually bought 'discards'—I don't really know how to call it: when publishing houses in the U.S. would gather up the remaining copies of almost-sold-out old inventory and sell them by weight. All that's in the past now, thanks to book-loving entrepreneurs who decided about fifteen years ago that Filipino readers deserved more than that. A Different Bookstore is not big and the in-store selection isn't very wide, but the titles and authors are well-chosen, and you can order any book you want that you can't find in the store. They were one of the first bookstores to encourage browsers to sit down and read a few pages—or even an entire chapter—so one can decide whether to get a book or not. If you're a regular customer and you give them your email or cellphone number, they'll inform you whenever they have sales. Many excellent bookstores have opened in the past decade, some larger, some smaller—and even that large chain was forced to re-think its corporate vision and now has better bookstores and well-trained staff—but A Different Bookstore will always occupy a warm spot in my heart.



Take a reading tour around the world through the lenses of CDP bloggers! Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.