Anatomy of a mind

By Larice Peñamante


Tucked away in pockets of university life must be words that lift the soul and books that change your life. Sometimes realization hits you when you're at that small bookstore browsing through hard-to-find tomes and pop books. For some, reading is a passion that takes you places or, as an aphorism goes, expands the mind.

“If you are from this university, chances are, you are an avid reader,” said Rene Bauca, who mans Manong's, a makeshift bookstore along the AS Walk. Originally a clothing and trinkets store in 2002, Manong's became a full-fledged bookstall in 2005. The shift was gradual; he would bring a few books to his stall and be amazed as they sold out faster than his other wares.

Manong Rene says he earns enough to get by, no small feat for someone who opened the stall intending to oversee his then freshman daughter in 2002. His daughter, Abigail, graduated last year form the College of Business Administration, but Manong decided to stay on. “For a man who loves books,” he said “this is the life.”

Manong is intrigued by the reading community in UP. “They read because they love to read books, but they read not only to entertain themselves but also to learn,” he said. This is how he describes the UP student, whose horizon knows no bounds. They are just as likely to read Malcom Gladwell's The Tipping Point as Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues. He quipped, “Nagugulat nga ako dito, walang naghahanap ng Bible. Pero Satanic bible ni Salman Rushdie may nag hahanap.” That's why he makes sure he reads most of the books he sells not only to expand the mind but also to know the author's style and the types of books the students read.

The students already know who the good authors are. “By nature they like to read, kaya marunong ang mga taga-UP,” he said. Books by popular authors, new releases and even the classics are always in demand, he observed, either because the books are required in class or most likely are just very popular.

Marino Villarin, who owns Soft Pages at the University Shopping Center, agrees insofar as what books are popular. “Fantasy and science fiction are standards,” he said. But with DVDs enjoying a surge in popularity, he believes students have become lazier. “Instead of reading Hamlet, they will just watch the movie.”

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Best selling books
1. Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
2. The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee Harper
4. Mythology by Edith Hamilton
5. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez

Best selling comic books
1. Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Waterson
2. Peanuts by Charlie Schulz
3. Dilbert by Scott Adams
4. Garfield by Jim Davis
5. The Far Side by Gary Larson

Best selling books of the semester
1. For One Day More by Mitch Albom
2. Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho
3. Life of Pi by Yamn Matel
4. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
5. Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder

All time best selling book by a local author:
Women with Two Navels by Nick Joaquin