wanted: good books at yosi prices
after reading about the history of penguin paperbacks (or, "How the Paperback Novel Changed Popular Literature" ) i've been suffering from an extreme case of paperback envy. the idea behind penguin was this: to sell quality books for the price of a pack of cigarettes . that's a step in the evolution of literature that we in the philippines seem to have skipped over, for various reasons. but basically, it's a chicken-or-egg scenario out there right now: publishers claim a dearth of readers, while readers can't find any affordable local novels. we have pinoy romance and horror, but what else? where are the celebrity biographies, crappy potboilers, psycho thrillers, sex-soaked shoot-em-ups? they don't even have to be good. penguins were in part a reaction to dime novels--trashy, poorly-printed books that until then had been the norm. we could start with that. no one would mind. just make them accessible. people want to read. i don't care what anybody says...