MANILA, Philippines - National Book Store merchandising director Xandra Ramos Padilla lists books she’d like to give to family and friends, and books that she would save from a fire, read on a plane, and bring to a desert island.
Xandra Ramos-Padilla is probably one of very few people who keep an Excel file to keep track of the ages of her nieces, nephews and children of her friends. The reason is simple: She likes giving books for Christmas and keeping that file prevents her from having to ask the parents the ages of their kids every time December comes along.
“When I go to the houses of my friends, I still see the books I gave them,” Xandra says. “Books make for great Christmas presents, especially for kids, because it helps them to learn, to enjoy and as gifts they won’t be forgotten or thrown away. You’re giving the recipient the gift of reading, the gift of the story and learning.”
Xandra and members of her family, of course, never lacked for books when they were growing up. After all, her grandmother is National Book Store founder Socorro Ramos, and she and her third-generation cousins on the Ramos side have taken active roles in running NBS. As merchandising director of NBS, Xandra says she couldn’t ask for a better job. What, indeed, could be better for a book lover than being in charge of choosing books that the NBS chain would carry? It’s like getting free candy every day!
How does Xandra choose the books? “Several ways. We make sure that we carry the name authors and the celebrities who have books, and also the big series. It seems like people are reading more of the same books rather than obscure books. We do have a few of those that are not very popular with the masses. We attend the Book Expo America in New York every year where publishing houses showcase upcoming titles and where we book our purchases. We also attend events, like past ones have been with Melissa de la Cruz and Jane Fonda. We go through the catalogues. We read the synopsis and if it sounds interesting we bring it in. We also monitor the blogs, magazines, TV.”
This early, in December, Xandra is already making purchases for March next year.
Xandra reflects on the choices kids have for books and there is a hint of envy in her voice. When she was a kid, she says, it was the Nancy Drew and Bobbsey Twins series that started and fed her love of reading. They were given, of course, by her grandmother, Nanay Socorro.
“During my time, you would start with Nancy Drew, then Sweet Dreams, then CS Lewis and there was nothing else but Danielle Steele and Judith Krantz. Today, kids are so lucky because they have so many choices like Percy Jackson, Cassandra Clare, J.K. Rowling. I attended a talk recently with Melissa de la Cruz and she feels the same way about our lack of choices then and the abundance of choices now. There are the ‘bridge books’ or books that bring kids from tween to teen. Our big releases this December are Clockwork Prince, The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers: A King’s Ransom and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever. It’s intelligent reading for kids and adults read them, too. The growth in this category is phenomenal. Everyone wants to read Percy Jackson.”
As a wife and mother of two kids, Xandra says she likes to collect cook books; she reads them and occasionally tries to cook the recipes in her kitchen.
She also belongs to a book club of about 10 members who read one fiction book a month. They meet in the house of the member host (who chooses the book of the month) or in a restaurant. This year, when it was her turn to host, she chose Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Half her club loved it, half hated it. But this book is said to be the next Harry Potter.
Xandra also routinely hosts talks by touring authors that NBS brings in. She recently hosted two by Nicolas Sparks who, she says, signed more than 2,000 books for his fans. That event was phenomenally successful. “He was like a rock star. Pinagkaguluhan siya. When we have book events and I’m interviewing the author, I feel like I’m just in a bigger book club. That’s why I blog about the events (excerptsandconversations.blogspot.com) so that people who didn’t attend get to read about it on my blog.”
Here are some of Xandra’s choices to give to family and friends, and other book choices:
Book for her parents, Alfredo and Presy Ramos: Decorating with Flowers by Elizabeth Reyes, Roberto Caballero and Luca Tettoni because it features homes of people they know and has some aspirational styling.
For her husband: I’ll get Mark the Steve Jobs biography, or 1,001 Places to See Before You Die, which has been updated. I want to inspire him to travel with me. We have a bucket list, and on top of that list is Machu Pichu and Russia. He wants to take me to St. Petersburg to see the Hermitage Museum. My husband is a businessman and likes reading about the impending crash of the world economy or any of the latest business books.
For her kids: Sydney, 4, is into princesses right now, so we have the complete Disney collection at NBS, and Fernando, 2, is into cars so he will get the Disney Cars and a Thomas and Friends box set. I just gave him the Thomas & Friends train set. Sydney likes Ladybug Girl Book and Doll set, Fancy Nancy and Pinkalicious.
For her siblings: My brother Anton loves art, so I’m getting him artist Ronald Ventura’s book Realities. My brother’s starting a modern art collection and this would be interesting for him. Ventura was the painter that sold a painting for US$1.1 million at Sotheby’s. I figured, it’s also cheaper to get him the book than an actual painting. My brother Adrian is now a foodie and there are so many choices in the food category. He likes Alton Brown’s Good Eats.
For her nieces and nephews: My oldest niece is Maxine, 14. She likes The Clockwork Prince. The younger ones will get The Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever or the boxed set, or The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers 2: A King’s Ransom, it’s great for nine to 12 –year-olds.
For friends: For our couple friends, I want to give Jenni Epperson’s Food+Fashion. It talks about different occasions and styling you can do at home pero simple lang. Like even for a date at home, you can style it and make it special. Also, Martha’s Entertaining: A Year of Celebrations to a friend with whom I hosted our book club and she prepared a fabulous dinner. Martha’s is complete with recipes and styling.
For fashionista friends: Carine Roitfeld, Alexander McQueen and Christian Louboutin’s books. OrThe Making of Gucci. The books are an access to luxury. As a book they’re expensive, but, say, as a Christian Loubotin item, it’s only 10 percent the prize of a pair of shoes.
For male friends: The Steve Jobs biography. If they like sports, Shaq’s biography. If they like fiction, books by David Baldacci or John Grisham or Haruki Murakami. George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones set is also a great gift.
For foodies and hobbyists: We have a lot of photo books and very good titles in the home and food categories. We have The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adria, Home Cooking with Jean-Georges: My Favorite Simple Recipes and Molto Batali: Simple Family Meals from My Home to Yours.
For décor enthusiasts: There’s an abundance of good references on home décor like The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well by Deborah Needleman, Design Sponge at Home by Grace Bonney, and Live, Love & Decorate by Martyn Lawrence-Bullard.
What she wants to receive for herself: I’ve pretty much bought all the books on my list. But I’d love to give away the books that were my two big projects this year, Face to Face by Bianca Valerio and Fashion + Food by Jenni Epperson. We worked on these books for a year and finally they’re out.
Her favorite biographies: Jane Fonda’s Prime Time, it’s a how to live a full life in the third act. She’s 74 now and she looks great. Also, Then Again by Diane Keaton and Seriously…I’m Kidding by Ellen Degeneres.
Kind of books she would not give as a gift: Diet books. We cannot sell diet books — except the Dukan diet, which Kate Middleton used. That’s a bestseller here. I guess because nobody wants to read on how to starve. If you want to give self-help books, consider giving inspirational titles instead as gifts.
Most prized book, one she would save if there was a fire: Love You Forever, a signed copy by Robert Munsch. I had it signed in 2002.
Desert island book: It should be thick or a series. But I think I’ll go with The Time Traveler’s Wife for sheer enjoyment. Or maybe the George R.R. Martin set of Game of Thrones.
Airplane reading: I like women’s fiction, not necessarily written by women but about women.
Life-changing book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is the reason I came back home. I was living in Arkansas and then Beijing, working for Walmart in their merchandising department. I was reading The Alchemist and I felt the same yearning to go back home because the character went around the world only to find the treasure at home. Also, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.
A sleeper hit at NBS: Before Ever After by Samantha Sotto. It was sold out. We had to reprint and we have new stocks now. And also former French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld’s book, Irreverent. Before, you would not be able to sell a P3,000 book, but now she’s known because of blogs and Twitter, so people want that book.
Would she ever give the Twilight series as a gift?: No, but I would give The Hunger Games series.