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Now blogging at http://sumthinblue.com!

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:13:00 +0000

Rereading El Fili

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Mon, 25 May 2009 11:58:00 +0000

After rereading the Noli a couple of months ago, I waited a while before starting on its sequel El Filibusterismo (book #80 of 2009), because I wanted to gather up the courage to read it again. Like everyone else who's read both novels, I've always found El Fili more challenging than the Noli, and I wanted sufficient time to focus on the novel so I could better understand it. I ended up taking it along on a couple of trips out of town this summer. The review is also a challenge to write -- it's not easy to comment about a book that has been read and reread by generations of Filipinos, written by a man revered as national hero for more than a century now. Again, to my non-Filipino readers, a bit of an explanation: Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo are two novels written by the Philippine national hero, Jose Rizal. Originally written in Spanish, and a catalyst for the change in political thinking in the 19th and 20th century Philippines, both novels are required reading for high...

No rants this time (Angels and Demons movie)

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:31:00 +0000

I enjoy reading Dan Brown, especially the Robert Langdon novels, because while you need to suspend your disbelief while reading the books, Brown knows how to build up a good chase. I'm also a sucker for art thrillers, and I love the interesting artsy details that are incorporated into the novels, traversing artistic hotspots such as the Louvre and Vatican City, and dissecting the works of Leonardo Da Vinci, Galileo, and Bernini. Other than that I love scholarly protagonists (e.g. Paul in The Historian, Sherlock Holmes) and Robert Langdon hits the mark on that aspect. I distinctly remember the first time I read Angels and Demons: in ebook, format beamed to my phone from my computer, because I was in my last semester in college and I couldn't afford to buy brand-new books then. Angels and Demons is one of the scariest books I've ever read, and I remember getting even more scared a couple of months later, when Pope John Paul II died and I was imagining an Angels and Demons scenario...

Kare Kano Marathon

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:41:00 +0000

I like reading manga series when I can read them from the first volume. Luckily, I was able to mooch books 1, 2, and 4 of Kare Kano: His and Her Circumstances by Masami Tsuda from local moocher Cizi (books # 77-79 of 2009) and I’ve got book 3 on its way from the Netherlands. Kare Kano is a romantic comedy featuring the seemingly perfect Yukino Miyazawa and her school rival Soichiro Arima. Yukino is the #1 student in her high school, and is admired for her beauty, talent, and intelligence. But beneath the perfect façade, Yukino is a control freak playing a part, as she is a brat and a slob at home, studying obsessively to keep up her grades. When she enters high school, the new student Soichiro shows up and gives her a run for her money. The perfect façade cracks, and Yukino plots to take him down and regain the attention of her peers, but she didn’t plan on falling in love with him in the process. Yukino has more in common with Soichiro than she thinks, because Soichiro is keeping...

Back shortly

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:35:00 +0000

Hi everyone! Just got back from covering an interisland race, so pardon the lack of posts for the past seven days. Will have one up tonight though, and will resume regular blogging soon :) Thanks!

The Perks: Bookstore Privilege Cards

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:00:00 +0000

This week I achieved a goal I'd set for myself a couple of years ago: to acquire privilege cards to three major bookstores in the Philippines: National Book Store, Powerbooks and Fully Booked. Having privilege cards to all three is convenient, albeit potentially hazardous to my wallet, because if I want a book from any of the three bookstores (haha, yes, I do buy brand new and full-priced books!), I won't have to worry about not having a privilege card to one store and having to postpone buying until I get to the other store. To those who are planning on getting privilege cards to these stores, I also want to summarize the process of acquiring one and the benefits of each card. So here's the lowdown: 1) Powerbooks' Powercard / Powercard Plus- The first privilege card I actually got was the Powercard, which I got in 2005, because I began to buy books with my own money when I started working and I saw it as a great investment, especially with the Harry Potter books coming out. By the...

They don’t make them like they used to

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Wed, 13 May 2009 01:00:00 +0000

Romance novels were very big with the girls in my high school, and it was then when I read all the Judith McNaught and Julie Garwood romance novels I could get my hands on. These days, I’ve outgrown the romance novel phase, but I still read them once in a while, for that happily-ever-after fix. Judith McNaught’s Every Breath You Take (book #77 for 2009) came out in 2005, way after I finished high school, but I didn’t get myself a copy until recently, because it was available on BookMooch. The book takes us back to Chicago, back where McNaught’s popular Paradise is set. William Wyatt, grandson of wealthy philanthropist goes missing, and the police suspect foul play, casting suspicion on William’s estranged half-brother, Mitchell Wyatt. Kate Donovan meets Mitchell Wyatt on the tropical island of Anguilla, and a romantic encounter develops between them. Kate soon finds herself entangled in a web of deception and a high-profile murder, and must struggle to keep herself and her loved...

Store in a cool, dry place

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:30:00 +0000

Several weeks ago, I spotted the book Shelf Life by Rosie Walford with Paula Benson and Paul West (book #76 for 2009) at Book Sale but it was priced P170 (around $3.50) so as amusing as it appeared to be, I decided to pass. Whenever I’m in Book Sale and a book I like is too expensive (i.e. over P100, that's around $2) and I don’t think I’ll lose sleep if I don’t buy it right away, I usually pass because I’m always hopeful that a cheaper copy will turn up sooner or later. This Sunday, I found a copy of Shelf Life at another Book Sale branch and it was only P90 (under $2), so I decided the book belonged on my book shelf. Shelf Life, subtitled “A celebration of the world’s quirkiest brands,” is a pictorial collection of local products from all over the world that have funny and peculiar (often suggestive) brand names. I’ll let some photos from the book do the talking, just pardon the whacked-out angles as my scanner is currently out of commission. Dutch brown sugar I wonder...

A narf, a seamstress, and the orchestra (Picture book roundup #5)

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Mon, 11 May 2009 03:58:00 +0000

It’s been a while since my last picture book roundup, mainly because I haven’t had the time to put some protective plastic cover on my new picture book acquisitions (and you know I can't read a "naked" book). I got three picture books that came already encased in plastic, so here they are in today’s roundup: Lady in the Water: A bedtime story by M. Night Shyamalan (illustrated by Crash McCreery), Lucy Dove by Janice Del Negro (illustrated by Leonid Gore), and Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin by Lloyd Moss (illustrated by Marjorie Priceman), books 73-75 for 2009. Lady in the Water is based on the film of the same title. Having watched that documentary about M. Night Shyamalan on cable that turned out to be a hoax (a guerilla tactic for the pre-publicity of The Village), I still get the creeps reading this book, which, in a cautionary tone, tells the reader about the narf, the “lady in the water,” a rare type of sea nymph that could be living right in your backyard. The narrator enumerates...

The Great Book Blockade of 2009

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Fri, 08 May 2009 23:46:00 +0000

When my book club friends and I came back from our trip to the Mountain Province, one of the first things that caught our attention was the issue now known as The Great Book Blockade of 2009, brought to public attention by Robin Hemley. tsk tsk tsk... Bad news for Pinoy Book Lovers The issue has been a hot topic in the Flips Flipping Pages forum and all over the blogosphere. Here is the email that has been circulating: FW: No More Newly Imported Books in the Philippines; the Reason Why Monday, May 4, 2009 3:51 PMIn the last few months, the importation of books into the Philippines has virtually stopped. (I've noticed it at Fully Booked) The reason why is explained in this article by Robin Hemley, a University of Iowa creative writing professor currently on a fellowship in the Philippines . If you have no time to read the article (and I suggest you do), the essence is that because the Bureau of Customs has decided to impose duties on the importation of books into the Philippines...

Doggone it!

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:29:00 +0000

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm not a fan of talking animals. I love animals (I have a pure white shorthair cat named Missy, and a shih tzu- maltese mix named Macky), but in books, they're usually one of three things: a) sickeningly cutesy, b) wise and all-knowing, or c) sarcastic and wisecracking. The persona in Peter Mayle's A Dog's Life (book #72 for 2009) belongs to that third category, unfortunately. Now I'm a big fan of Peter Mayle, but this is probably my least favorite book of his, not that it isn't well written (he's one of the best contemporary writers I've read), but because I just couldn't get myself to buy the fact that it was a dog talking to me. A Dog's Life is about Boy, the Mayles' dog, and how he goes from unwanted puppy to abused servant to thieving stray, and finally as a member of the Mayles' Provencal household. In all fairness, the idea of a dog narrator is quite original, and Boy is very eloquent (with an astoundingly sophisticated...

Family Ties

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:49:00 +0000

Have you ever wished you were born to a different family? The thought is something most of us have probably entertained while growing up, especially during the not so few times our family drives us up the wall. But no matter what we do, family will always be family, and there's not very much we can do about it. This is the theme behind Get Real by Betty Hicks (book #71 of 2009), a young adult novel that explores the concept of family. The neat freak Dez feels ill at ease with her eccentric, messy and geeky family, while her best friend Jil feels constricted by her affluent, cultured and picture-perfect parents, and both would have loved nothing more than to switch places. Jil, an adopted child, and grabs at the opportunity to meet her birth mom and sister, and Dez cannot understand why Jil is so eager to trade in her perfect life. I actually just mooched this book from a local moocher and it was one of those filler mooches that I made to help the owner economize on shipping...

Idyllic Ibbotson

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Thu, 07 May 2009 02:45:00 +0000

(I'm baaack! Please bear with me as I get through the backlog of reviews.) I actually started reading Eva Ibbotson's children's books -first - Which Witch?, The Island of the Aunts, The Secret of Platform 13, The Haunting of Hiram, Dial-A-Ghost, etc., and really enjoyed them. Her children's books are crisply British, and often involve supernatural creatures, and they're humorous and delightful. I'd have to advise you to read them separately and far between, though. There comes a point when you've read so many of her ghost stories that they tend to feel like you're reading the same story all over again. My Eva Ibbotson stash I was delighted to discover Eva Ibbotson's book The Star of Kazan, a wonderful, old-fashioned story about the orphan Annika set in the time of the Austro-Hungarian empire. I found a depth and sensitivity to Eva Ibbotson's work that I did not find in her children's books, and I found that I liked this side of her better. Last year, on my birthday, Dianne gave...

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Sun, 03 May 2009 07:00:00 +0000

I'm really not a big fan of the drama genre. I'm escapist by nature, and straight drama (*coughoprahsbookclubcough*) is really not my cup of tea. This is why there are books in this genre that have been languishing in my TBR, because I'm reluctant to read them and I have to space them out. I picked up Kim Edwards' The Memory Keeper's Daughter (book #68 for 2009) because it's not very thick and I figured I'd make a dent on this sector of my TBR. I'd been forewarned by my Flipper friend Islandhopper that the book was highly dramatic, so I was prepared for the worst when I picked it up. I find that there are some books that are very thick but I can read fast, like The Historian, and some thin books that take me forever to finish, like The Reader. The Memory Keeper's Daughter is somewhere in between, it wasn't very thick, but it wasn't moving quickly enough for me. The novel unfolds in 1964, and Dr. David Henry's wife Norah gives birth to twins in the middle of a blizzard. The second...

I'm not sure it's a good idea...

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Fri, 01 May 2009 05:00:00 +0000

... for a rabid book hoarder (such as myself) to get ahold of a book like this: Miller's Collecting Books by Catherine Porter (book # 67 of 2009), which I found in a pile of bargain books at National Book Store. I'd been reserving this for a nice leisurely read, and finally grabbed it off the TBR pile during the 24 hour read-a-thon, appointing it my last read for the event so that I wouldn't be pressured to rush through it. The book is a nice hardbound volume with thick, glossy pages and lots of colored photos. Published by Miller's (an antiques price guide that has paved the way for the average person to start collections, or buy and sell with confidence), the book is an excellent guide to all the basic information you need to know about collecting books: the parts of a book, bindings, illustration techniques, printing processes, and finally more than a dozen chapters on what kinds of books you can collect. The introduction sounds like a call from the mother...

In my mailbox

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:00:00 +0000

I dropped by the post office today, to pick up some packages before I set off to Sagada. Here's what I got: 1) My third copy of I Capture the Castle, from Heather in Oregon. I am still choosing which one I'll give Mika (my best friend), but I'm keeping two copies for myself... I just love this book! 2) The British kids edition of Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix, which completes my British set. I mooched it all the way from Switzerland, and the moocher Suprig (a real sweetheart!) also sent me some chocolate ladybugs, gummy hearts, and and Ovaltine bar! Yay. and 3) an amazing smorgasbord from wired_lain in Japan (I just love mooching from her!): two Tarepanda books, a Japanese version of Howl's Moving Castle, a penguin bookmark, a Laputa postcard, a sanrio stationery set, willy wonka fun dip, a goody bag filled with almond and cashew roca and some chocolates, a roller stamp, and... sweet potato Kitkat! Thanks so much!!!! And here's my version of packing light for my trip to...

Guilty Pleasure: Special Edition HP

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:00:00 +0000

I couldn't resist. After six months of longingly staring at it on the bookstore shelf, I finally took home my very own copy of the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Special 10th Year Anniversary Edition, using part of my Book Geek winnings. If you've just "tuned in" to my blog, well, I'm a big Harry Potter fan (^_^), and I collect different editions of Harry Potter books, even in languages I can't read. I haven't counted recently, but I think I'm up to nearly a hundred different Harry Potter books (I know, I know, I owe the readers of this blog a nice long pictorial entry on my collection, but I am still scrounging for time to do that). While my ultimate dream is the collector's edition of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, I have resigned myself to the impossibility of that for the moment, so this is the next best thing (or so I try to tell myself). It's practically the same as the hardbound US edition except for the dustjacket, clothcover, and the front matter. Here are the...

Book Geekiness

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:27:00 +0000

This is a long over-due post on my Book Gook Geek experience over at Fully Booked last month. ... hehe, here's the new and improved banner: A bunch of Flipper friends and I joined the Book Geek challenge, our second time actually, because we are suckers for book trivia and free books and a shot at P5000 worth of Fully Booked gift certificates (just under $100). The actual contest went by in a blur to me, so I'm borrowing my cousin Dianne's (she has her own book blog now too by the way, which recounts bargain book hunting adventures) recap of the event, and also her photos: Blooey and I arrived at Fully Booked High Street at around 3 PM. We went straight to the fourth floor, only to find the venue completely empty (which was unsurprising, since we were about 30 minutes early). We decided to kill time by browsing around and gazing longingly at books we would never buy at full price. I kept asking Blooey whether she was anxious or excited, and she just shrugged and replied that she...

Some vague ramblings...

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:00:00 +0000

In my last entry, I talked about my growing pop-up collection. This time, I’m reviewing two illustrated novels that are part of my growing illustrated novel collection: The Secrets of Pistoulet: An Enchanted Fable of Food, Magic and Love; and the Legend of Villa della Luna: The Sequel to the Secrets of the Pistoulet (books #65-66 of 2009); both by Jana Kolpen (text and illustrations) and Mary Tiegreen (design). the books, in their slipcases, with "peekaboo" windows I discovered the books in Amazon, looking for illustrated novels, and I added them to my BookMooch wishlist until I was eventually able to mooch copies from two different users some several months apart last year. Book 2 arrived first and I shelved it until I got a copy of the first book, and so I wasn’t able to read them right away. I was actually very excited to read the books because they were so pretty from the outside, with their own cardboard slipcase and a “peekaboo” window that showed a teaser portion of the back...

Pixie Hollow Pop-up

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:00:00 +0000

I’ve been oh-so-slowly building up my collection of pop-up books because elaborate paper engineering is fascinating, but the books are so expensive that I rarely get a chance to acquire them (er, translation: never full price; mostly chance finds at bargain stores, and not brand new). Pixie Hollow Pop-up (book #64 of 2009) is the latest addition to my small pop-up collection, composed of Pirateology, Vampyre, Mommy?, Dr. Seuss Pops Up, and Alice in Wonderland Pop-up. I’m not a big fan of fairies or pixies because I find them capricious and not very likeable, but Triccie knew I just started collecting (her own collection is amazing!) and she had an extra copy so she reserved it for me for mooching (gosh, a lot of my prize finds are from Triccie!!!) Storywise, Pixie Hollow Pop-up is typical Disney – fairy fluff, and very few words in total, but it’s a good example of the recent trend of fairly complex pop-up books (and other children’s novelty items) in the mainstream. I guess...

Flippers go TagLish

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 06:18:00 +0000

Finally, the much-awaited Flips Flipping Pages April Book discussion successfully took place, after weeks of preparation, coordinating with National Book Store, Anvil, and the staff of Ricky Lee to mount this memorable event featuring the book Para Kay B. It was a great discussion, revealing juicy secrets (please, let's keep everything in confidence!) among the attendees, discussing which chapters we liked best from the book, love, character stereotypes, colloquialism, and Filipino reading habits. The highlight of the event was getting to meet the author, the famous Filipino scriptwriter Ricky Lee, who fast became a Flipper favorite because of his friendly and engaging personality, candidly answering our questions, and showing genuine interest in what we thought of his book, as well as FFP activities, even the book swap, and BookMooch! I also think everyone was able to gain better appreciation for the book after being able to discuss it with fellow book club members and with Ricky...

Surviving the Big C

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Some unexpected circumstances gave me the privilege of attending a book launch today, and when I got there, I was surprised to find the book was about a topic that (unfortunately) hits close to home: cancer. As my friends would know, my dad passed away of colon cancer more than thirteen years ago (right before I turned eleven), and that part of my life went by in a blur because I didn't really understand what was happening; I didn't want to believe my dad was sick. Cancer was a like a death sentence then, and every night I made a prayerful bargain with God that I'd be a very good girl if only He wouldn't take Papa away. We spent so much time in different hospitals that I developed a phobia for them, and I got so traumatized by the whole ordeal that I began developing psychosomatic symptoms, like running a continuous fever every so often, for no particular reason. Anyway, I meant to browse through the book Surviving Cancer: Stories of Hope by Singaporean oncologist Ang Peng Tiam...

Reading in TagLish

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:43:00 +0000

The fourth book I read during the 24-hour read-a-thon is Para Kay B by Filipino scriptwriter Ricky Lee (book 63 of 2009, book 11 of diversity challenge- FFP book discussion selection), the assigned reading for April for my book club Flips Flipping Pages, which will hold the discussion tomorrow (which prevents me from attending Dianne's graduation party, but I'm really looking forward to the discussion). Even before this book was chosen for discussion, I was meaning to get a copy because all the storefronts of National Book Store (to my international readers, NBS is the biggest book store chain in the Philippines) had a poster of the book and I was really intrigued by the full title, which reads: Para Kay B (O, kung paano dinedevastate ng pag-ibig ang 4 out of 5 sa atin) which roughly translated is: For B (Or how love devastates 4 out of 5 of us). The novel, written in TagLish, a combination of Tagalog (a dialect which is the basis for the national language Filipino) and English, is...

Once upon a time, it was a dark and silly night... (Little Lit Roundup)

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:59:00 +0000

and I found myself with two great graphic anthologies! The Little Lit series is a set of comic compilations for kids, edited by the great Art Spiegelman. I have two of them, because I lucked out on new copies at bargain prices -- Folklore and Fairy Tale Funnies (from the NBS Book-sak sale, P200) and It Was a Dark and Silly Night (from the Book Sale warehouse, P170). I decided to read them for the 24-hour read-a-thon because they were easy to read and I wanted to get some variety in my read-a-thon books. When I first saw the Little Lit books, I was literally agape at their visual impact -- it's a smorgasbord of creative juices from an amazing roster of top-caliber cartoonist and children's book artists. Even now that I've had the books for some time now, I still thumb through the pages with reverence. It's like holding an art gallery in your hands! Revealing the actual stories would take away the fun from reading the Little Lit books, so let me just touch lightly on them, so you...

Dahl's Chickens!

noreply@blogger.com (sumthinblue) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:16:00 +0000

I've been a fan of Roald Dahl ever since I discovered he was the brains behind Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (I saw the Gene Wilder movie dozens of times before I found the book in the library in fifth grade) and my favorite Willy Wonka candies that I bought at the school canteen -- Gobstoppers, Pixy Sticks (the jumbo ones!), Runts (I loved the bananas!), Nerds, Dweebs (chewy Nerds), Tart & Tinys, Fun Dips, and SweeTarts -- which led me to believe that Willy Wonka was a real person and that he had a chocolate factory somewhere. In fact, I was devastated (Santa Claus part II) when I eventually found out Nestle was making the candies! UPDATE: My Roald Dahl Collection After Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, I was fascinated with The Witches and Matilda, both of which I’ve read dozens of times. I know a lot of people who were terrified as kids when they watched Angelica Huston’s portrayal of the Grand High Witch in the movie, but I...