Best sources for Filipino books in the US?

As the subject line says: I don't have trouble finding the bigger names over here, but sometimes I'll be reading something or trawling the internet & find a mention of a book, maybe by a smaller press or just one that, for whatever reason, hasn't made it over here. It seems rather difficult--& prohibitively expensive--to order direct from the Philippines. Any good sources or tips I'm missing out on?

(On the graphic novel side of things, I would love to get a hold of Arnold Arre's The Mythology Class but have so far been stymied...)

good question - i'd be interested to know, as well!

Some books considered out of print are actually searcheable, if not available, from abebooks. Since you guys are in the U.S., shipping won't cost as much. However, more recent publications coming out of the Manila printeries are not yet in their catalogue.

Over here, some publishers are conducting their annual inventory sale of items. I recently got another copy of Kelvin Rodolfo's landmark Pinatubo and the politics of lahar: Eruption and aftermath, 1991 from the UP Press to replace my old copy (the binding is the first to give way as it was not smythe-sewn). After my purchase, there are only 9 pcs left of this edition from the UP Press. (Manila-based LThing'ers are encouraged to grab the very last few copies of it. It's at 30% off, too.)

Hope this helps.

Thanks! I looked at the UP press sale link & saw that in order to buy books from the US I'd have to get a banker's check or something like that (which has a not-tiny fee attached to it, @ least it did the last time I had to get one of those). Sigh!

I didn't think about Abe for this one, so thanks for the pointer! I've also looked for some books via Bookmooch, but have had limited success so far.

Someone could start a Filipino-Amazon in the US and make big bucks if they were willing to do the start-up work to establish a consolidatorship. I had lunch with an Anvil editor in July and she bemoaned the lack of an outlet based abroad. I know that in Singapore, the best place for me to find Filipino-published books is Select Books in Tanglin Shopping Centre, but even their collection is spotty.

Just to update--I've had really good luck & service from Kalamansi Books in Hawaii. They've been willing to take requests & even asked me before they went on their most recent buying trip to the Philippines if there were any particular books I wanted them to look out for!

I live in NYC but they ship anywhere & I've always gotten stuff fast. Highly recommended.

That's good to know, diffuse. Philippine American Literary House (PALH.com) used to be well-stocked with contemporary titles, but I think for lack of business, this site is not as active anymore.