The Contemporary Reader

January Current Reads

2012-01-27T12:34:00.002+08:00

Before January ends, I want to share with you guys some books that I'm reading lately.

It's ironic to note that I'm reading three books, almost juggling them, to use the term lightly. I used to think that a person should only read a book one at a time, to give the story justice and to give the characters their time to grow on you and to feel the threading of the storyline and one's daily life.

But time has been such a commodity lately. It's a currency with a very high trade off so since it's very precious I only trade it off with the most pressing of tasks. Well, anyway, so much for that tired old excuse right?

My January reads are pretty diverse, if I do say so myself. I love that all these books were either lent or given to me. It makes it all the more special to end the first month of the new year!

It's Like This Cat by Emily Neville

Fresh and full of insightful adventures, this story by Emily Neville is an engaging read. It is a YA novel that touches on a lot of values and affords us a glance of what it was like to be a boy in 1970s Brooklyn.

I love that it features the simple life that young boys used to lead, the active lives that they lead unlike today's boys who spend more hours locked up in their rooms infront of the TV or PC and Game consoles, "PWNING" other players as if it is significant to the world, or playing keyboard warrior to make their lives more interesting. It's makes me think how sad the world we're living in now is.

It's Like This, Cat makes me miss the sense of wholesome adventures that seems to be waiting just around the next block, waiting for you to pass by on your bike with a little cat on your bicycle basket. I have a review on this book in the next post, so stay tuned for that!

Breathe Deeply by Yamaaki Doton

A dramatic, deep manga that all of you should look into! Its story revolves around the question of ethics and morality. The manga starts innocently enough, but it already has a tinges of its darkness at the first few pages. Two boys, Sei and Oishi, vie for the affection of their childhood friend and classmate, Yuko, despite her being confined in a hospital for a terminal heart defect.

My copy of the Manga given by the publisher. Beautiful rough, shady artwork. The intricate detailing of the characters in the manga is astounding.

The helplessness of having experienced someone you care for die every so slowly everyday never left their hearts and minds as they grew up, delving in the genetic/medical field because of a deep-seated desire for closure and answers, haunted by her memories everyday.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

This is an intense read, I will tell you that much with all honestly. There are a lot of things going on in the book. A lot of obvious disconnect in events but they are interconnected by a single, fine, morose thread.You can't think that a calculated Assassin group who take justice to their own hands by shoving a finely crafted, barely-there ice pick would be interwoven with an ardent editor pushing a ghostwriter to re-write an award winning novel of epic proportions.

As I said, there are a lot of things going on. It is a true Murakami novel: It is sharp and hazy, borderline nightmare-like, made of the confusing things that makes sense of things in the end.

His thickest book yet but is thoroughly engaging. And the fact that Jay Rubin translated this made it to my lise of 2012 Epic Novels. I have so much story to go but it is an adventure in itself.

The book has pages that spell out the title! I thought it was so cool to discover each one as I went along!

These three books are my current read but only It's Like This Cat can be seen within my book bag, as the other two are as thick as nothing else and my shoulders cry out in pain when I lug them around everywhere! :)

Thank you so much for reading!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received Breathe Deeply by Yamaaki Doton from the publisher One Peace Books for the sole purpose of a book review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Best Holiday Gifts Have Hardbound Covers

2012-01-10T14:19:00.000+08:00

Me with the gift I received from WHO ELSE!

I love it when he's in Ninja Mode. I got this suprise when I went and opened my locker.

And also a support bookmark for the terrible calamity-tragedy that happened in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City. For more information and how you can help, click here and here.

Book Wishlist: Einstein's Dreams

2011-12-08T10:48:00.001+08:00

I don't have a copy of this though I dearly wish I did.

I did read snippets of this in a local bookstore and was so thrilled, excited, so at peace and left wondering. Could this be real? Is time really a circle and a mirror at the same time? Are all choices at all points of time really carried out in different worlds?

It is an extravagant but quite wondrous thing, the idea presented in this book.

I am just sorry that the book is priced expensively for a small copy but I am saving up for it and I can't wait until I can buy.

Have any of you read this already? What did you think?

Schoolgirl by Osamu Dazai: Melancholic Contemplation

2011-11-28T22:34:00.000+08:00

Arriving all the way from USA, I had a tiny traveler plop down right in front of my desk.

The moment I held the book, I immediately focused long and hard on the book cover. I've had my small share of contemporary Japanese novels and each had very interesting designs, but not one is as gently arresting as this Schoolgirl by Osamu Dazai published by One Peace Books. Soft yet stark. I'm not one to judge a book by its cover, but it certainly is a good way to hold the interest of the readers.

A closer look at the cover would remind one of things that are "beautiful in its simplicity". Everybody knows the Japanese aesthetics, a "set of ancient ideals that include wabi (transient and stark beauty), sabi (the beauty of natural patina and aging), and yûgen (profound grace and subtlety).*" Reflecting at these values, it's wonderful to observe how the cover follows the flow of wabi and yugen, isn't it?

But a book should offer more than just what meets the eye. Here is the book blurb:

"The novella that first propelled Dazai into the literary elite of post war Japan. Essentially the start of Dazai's career, Schoolgirl gained notoriety for its ironic and inventive use of language. Now it illuminates the prevalent societal structures of a lost time, as well as the struggle of the individual against them - a them that occupied Dazai's life both personally and professionally."

Contemporary Reader's Book Preview for Schoolgirl

The book, at the first few chapters that I read, is wonderfully compelling and had underlying tones of melancholia. It's almost the same kind of sadness you could feel on a Banana Yoshimoto novella, though the narration of this Dazai book has a sad, young voice where a Yoshimoto is the distant but resonating voice of pure loneliness.

There are several lines in the pages that hit me like a kind, self-effacing bunch of bricks, one being:

Exactly.

(highlight is mine.)

I used to classify myself as a morning person. And I do believe that somehow I am still one if I could just get out the nagging anxiety of the magnitude of things I have to do throughout the day and the rest of the night until I can sleep and shut the world out again.

"I never have confidence in the mornings," the Schoolgirl novel seems to mock me now. I wake up with more than just a greasy face, I wake up with a sense of dread about how... generally dreadful I look. I whine in my head about the unfairness of a company dress code that prevents me from donning on comfortable layers of huge shirts and denim pants all the time so I don't have to wear clothes that never seem to fit me psychologically.

On a happier quote:

I had this stint once where I was so into English royalty, the Victorian - Edwardian - Regency periods, and then I discovered a small path of French History in the era of Rococo and I was in love. With the curvature, golden frills, bouffant gowns, and everything that is delicate and lovely and printed royal floral walls, draperies and wing-back chairs. You name it, I love it. But there is so much art amidst all that beauty in Rococo. There is not one single flower that is not chiseled or not painted by hand, weaved and sewn to perfection. Despite what others may think as ostentation, everything in the Rococo designs I personally believe stands for the perfect virtue of beauty. "Which is why I love rococo."

I am well on the way to finishing the book, it's a small book as from what you can see below. It doesn't take too much space on my bag, so it's always on hand when I find a quieter nook and have some time to read.

I'm enjoying Schoolgirl one page at a time :) It's nice to savor the good things in life, and also Dolcetto wafer rolls:

Full review as soon as I finish! Check it out soon!
Thanks for reading.

How huge is your To Be Read pile?

2011-05-21T17:18:00.003+08:00

Over the course of the week I received two packages with a lot of books in them. Don't we just love receiving books in the mail? Well, you and me both!

I had the honor of receiving books from Andy Batangantang and Iyadls who are totally generous and without compare.

From Iyadls I received John Fuller's The Memoirs of Laetitia Horsepole and Nedjma's The Almond: The Sexual Awakening of a Muslim Woman both of which I really love! I especially am looking forward to start reading The Almond, because it has been a year since I started to look for it.

A couple of days after the previous book parcel, I was surprised it was followed up with a bigger one! I almost rolled around in complete glee. Andy gave me David Borgenicht's Worst-Case Scenario Almanac, Kim Edwards' The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Nicole Galland's Revenge of the Rose and finally Brenda Rickman Vantrease's The Illuminator.

I added all the books I received in my to-be-read pile. As you can see below, I can't house the books in the little carton box anymore!

I am kind of embarrassed at this point, as there are so many titles waiting for me, so many books nearby who need my love and I can't spare the time to read as much as I want. I'm juggling 2 other work aside from my dayjob so I'm often really tired. My work requires a lot of concentration and writing so I can't really do any work and read at the same time.

I'm trying hard to speed up reading my current book, Grotesque, not because I want to finish as fast as I can but the story is really building up. There's a lot of wickedness in the book, but it's not without wisdom.

Thank you for reading my blog!
Goodluck on your reads as well!

In other news - Cartoon Meme

2011-05-11T19:05:00.003+08:00

X-Posted at my tumblr account, strawberryshortcut.tumblr.com - You should drop by sometimes. ;D

The Picturesque is always The Grotesque

2011-05-06T06:13:00.007+08:00

I've been slacking off in the blogging department but let it not be said that I remain the same when it comes to reading books! I am currently reading Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino, who may have just earned a spot in my very exclusive Favorite Author's list. :) Read my earlier review about her novel, Out by Natsuo Kirino.

I haven't finished reading the entire thing yet, but my interest is very piqued!

The book starts in a bizzare narrative tone: a woman looking at men and herself in terms of how their baby would look like. She dissects a man's wide nose, another's strong chin, a male neighbor's beady eyes, or her co-worker's pudgy stature and matches it with her own appearance, to create the image of how their son or daughter would look like if they would ever have one, however unlikely it might be.

But she continues to narrate and introduce us to the life of a "halfsie" in contemporary Japan. Most of us have the idea that a mixed race offspring have unusual but beautiful, striking features. The narrator herself is one of the two daughters of their Japanese mother and Swiss-Polish father. At 39 years old, she is considered a beauty because of her unique Eurasian look; but ever since she was born, it was her younger sister, Yuriko, who has long surpassed her, and everyone else, in terms of a "perfect beauty". Yuriko, with her perfect face, aristocrat's nose, doll-like lips and with her deep black empty pools for eyes that scare and intimidate the gawkers, including her older sister. She was a perfect, mephistophelian beauty well until her untimely death.

In the case of the novel: beauty is more than a blessing; it is a liability. It is the cause for being hated and isolated. Misunderstood and labeled. The beautiful ones are those who are singled out because they stand out, and the one always on display. As a Japanese probverb goes: Deru kugi ga utareru "The nail which sticks out will get hammered". Because of this beauty and prominence, there is an equal opposite reaction other than adoration.

There is more to this than just a sister sick and raging with jealousy. The complex, exotic-erotic mood of the novel blends so well with the twisted mind of the narrative. I am looking forward to unraveling the story.

Reading Circle Book Hunt Activity

2011-04-24T12:53:00.003+08:00

DAVAO CITY --- There are very few outdoor activities that you can do while walking around with a book in hand, that's why I was very happy to have participated in the first ever Easter Book Hunt organized by my friend, Chi!

A few members of the Davao Reader's Circled were present, including Dom of VillageIdiotSavant (We were so sorry he couldn't stay long! Next time we'll try to be earlier!) as well as Julienne, Chi and me! There were a few more people who joined in on the fun a little bit later, and just a few talks about the books we were currently reading, we all became fast friends.

That's me being surrounded by book worm friends, peace-signing like a boss!

I bought 4 books to give away and at the end of the Book Hunt activity, I also managed to hunt 4 treasures! :D It was a particularly sunny day and the company of my bookworm friends has made it even brighter :)

Turning to Page 2011

2011-01-17T03:06:00.001+08:00

I'm turning a new leaf with House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielwski

Review and quotes to follow-- I'm just about to finish the book! :)

Murakami and Magical Realism

2010-01-06T08:58:00.005+08:00

First a general disclamer: I am not going to expound on Magical Realism because I'm no academic expert (nor a Literatec... yet!) plus I haven't really read up on a lot of books in that genre except popular ones like Senor Vivo and the Cocoa Lord and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman by Louis de Berniers, Perfume by Patrick Suskind, Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, The Satanic Verses by Salman Rudshie, House of Spirits by Isabelle Allende and selected novels by Gabriel García Márquez and Haruki Murakami. What I know about Magical Realism are gathered from those books I've read and what Wikipedia has to say about it.

But for me as a reader, Magical Realism done right is nothing short of AWESOMEFASCINATINGOHMYGOODNESSMOAR! It simply captures me and keeps me turning the book page after page. It's like real, ordinary life with its seemingly common occurrences made extraordinary with the presence of fantasy: a mix of folklore, fable, dark mystery and legends. Though it seems odd at first and possibly unbelieveable, this is where the talent of the writers lie. They make it so natural, so believeable that you'd simply accept it as a part of the character's world and the character's life and with the distant thought that maybe, one ordinary day at some ordinary place, it will happen to you, too!

I just read Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami. It's such a pain to get a hold of a copy from where I am... I had to resort to borrowing from a very good friend who's a huge bookworm and an avid Murakami fan as well.

What started as what I thought was a normal slice-of-life novel with quirky characters suddenly turned into something surreal and dark. I should have known, this was Murakami I was reading for goodness sake!

The novel starts with the narrator, a 24-year-old teacher known simply as "K". In the novel, we are introduced to Sumire, a socially and domestically inept girl with a penchant for writing crazy novels with dreams of being published and becoming a big author someday. Though the narrator and Sumire are very close, we learn gradually that the narrator has an unrequited love for her, as unfortunately, Sumire doesn't have feelings for him as a man. They manage to get along quite nicely with their same love for Jack Kerouac and other popular literary authors.

The novel steadily rises after it has introduced Miu, a beautiful woman who Sumire meets and falls in love with. The cincher is that Miu is 17 years older than Sumire and is already married. Miu takes Sumire under her wing and employs her in her small wine business. She takes Sumire along her business travels around the world, leaving K behind to wait for Sumire's postcards and letters. A sudden twist in the middle of the story happens when Miu calls from across the globe and suddenly says that something strange happened to Sumire, that she disappeared "...like smoke." And after that, we are taken in to read revealing stories about Sumire and a strange cat that disappeared completely after climbing into a tree, the world of dreams that Sumire was always writing about, as well as Miu's own tale about riding a high ferris wheel, looking into her own apartment window and seeing herself inside there having carnal relations with a man she loathes.

The twist is a bit jarring for me in a good way. Like waking up in the middle of an afternoon nap in a place I've never been to before. The beauty of the novel lies in Murakami's stringing of words, of sentences, of thoughts and of the stories of each characters together. Even in this light novel, his Magical Realism is present in various elements. Its incredible how fantastic the situation may seem, especially with Sumire's sudden disappearance and Miu's The Other World seems dark and mysterious.

The ending is pretty much Murakami, as most say that his endings are pretty unsatisfying. Though for me it does feel like his endings are a huge mental cliff that left me with an unresolved feeling. But I loved it, the ending was deep and moving.

I can't wait for the next book from him. I hope to read South of the Border, West of the Sun next.

Atoning

2009-09-15T12:25:00.005+08:00

Okay so it's not a clever title. Well, I am currently reading Atonement by Ian McEwan (wow, I've been at this book for aaaages) and I am trying to atone for the lack of posts lately!

We were having--- actually we still are having a tough time at home. We're moving!!! Been pretty busy with the repairs of the new home and packing all our stuff. *Sniff, Sniff* I feel really sad leaving our home. We've lived there for around 13 years. Hopefully we can all scramble and leave before September 18. And ugh, it's such a downer to spend September 19 unpacking and decorating our home. It's my birthday, I was planning to host a Crab Party! :(

Anyway, I thought I would just like to share my favorite quotes on Atonement, if you don't mind. I love this book. Everytime I read a passage that struck me, I hastily jot it down.
The book is wonderfully written, it is so erudite! The story itself makes me contemplate on the dynamics of family, the strength of imagination of strange and extreme thoughts; it makes me believe in love despite the distance and the struggles all lovers face. I am still bristling with Briony. I'm currently at the part where she sheds her childhood precociousness and has finally been shot down to reality and have grasped the gravity of her lies. But I still remember what she did when she was a child, and like Cecilia, I simply CANNOT forgive her.

So, onto the quotes, shall we?

The world, the social world, was unbearably complicated, with two billion voices, and everyone's thoughts striving for equal importance and everyone's claim on life as intense, and everyone's thinking they were unique, when no one was. One could drown in irrelevance.

In a story you only had to wish, you only had to write it down and you could have the world.

The strangeness of here and now, of what passed between people, the ordinary people that she knew and what power one could have over the other, and how easy t was to get everything wrong, completely wrong.

Cecilia wondered, as she sometimes did when she met a man for the first time, if this was the one she was going to marry, and whether it was this particular moment she would remember for the rest of her life-- with gratitude, or profound and particular regret.

The cost of oblivious daydreaming was always this moment of return, the realignment with what had been before and now seemed a little worse.

It might hurt, it was horribly inconvenient, no good might come of it, but he had found out for himself what it was to be inlove; and it thrilled him.

Above all, she wanted to look as though she had not given the matter a moment's thought, and that would take time.

There was no confusion in her mind: these too-vivid untrustworthy impressions, her self-doubt, the intrusive visual clarity and eerie differences that had wrapped themselves around the familiar were no more than continuations, variations of how she had been seeing and feeling all day.

But what of sadness itself, how was that put across so it could be felt in all its lowering immediacy?

Finally, you had to measure yourself by other people-- there really was nothing else.

That he worked late she did not doubt, but she knew that he did not sleep at his club, and he know that she knew this. But there was nothing to say. Or rather, there was too much. The resembled each other in their dread of conflict, and the regularity of his evening calls, however much she disbelieved them, was a comfort to them both. If this sham was conventional hypocrisy, she had to concede that it had its uses.

Even being lied to constantly, though hardly like love, was sustained attention.

How guilt refined the methods of self-torture, threading the beads of details into an eternal loop, a rosary to be fingered for a lifetime.

As the distance opened up between them, they had understood how far they had run ahead of themselves... This moment had been imagined and desired for too long, and could not measure up.

One person waiting for another was like an arithmetical sum, and just as empty of emotion. Waiting. Simply one person doing nothing, over time, while another approached.

I hope you enjoyed a few of the quotes as much as I did. I picked these because the passages struck a chord in me. It's like these thoughts were the things that I felt but I could never verbalize. Reading them is like finding something significant and whopping in triumph because you have finally found something actual for those abstract, intangible thoughts you can't put a finger to.

The Facts Behind Yann Martel's Short Stories

2009-08-09T10:48:00.001+08:00

When I picked this up from Booksale, I was amazed to find it priced so low for a hardbound book, and from such a popular author, too!

The book is a collection of four award-winning short stories written by Yann Martel. The stories are: The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, The Time I Heard the Private Donald J. Rankin String Concerto with One Discordant Violin by the American Composer John Morton, Manners of Dying, and The Vita Aeterna Mirror Company

My favorite is the is the first one featured, Helsinki. First I must tell you how awesome reading this melancholic, subtle, erudite story is and second, how Yann Martel's style of writing is so different from what I read in Life of Pi.

Helsinki begins in a most depressing manner: the protagonist has found out that his closest friend is dying of AIDS. He goes to the hospital and gives all the comfort he can provide to his friend. One of the ways he thought of to help his friend take his mind off the pain and the despair is through writing. With an Encyclopedia to trace the important events in history from the early 1900's until the 1980's, they collect tidbits of historical events and used it as the backdrop for their fictional saga about the Roccamatios family of Helsinki. And here the premise becomes more complex as it unfolds. I was simply so amazed at the juxtaposition: historical events all over the world, and how it affects and reflects a life.

The ending of the short story was very moving, and it seemed, for me, all the other stories were subpar. It kind of felt real -- the heartfelt kind. If you see this book anywhere, give it a chance. The title story is a killer.

Davao Reader's Circle Chapter 0808

2009-08-08T22:46:00.007+08:00

I've mentioned our group one or two times in this blog so I thought I would just like to share :)

DRC Members

A small gathering of book enthusiasts form the Davao Reader's Circle. More than a year's worth of books, coffee, conversation, fun times and we're still at it. The main goal of DRC is to expand each members author list and genre, and challenge us to read books that we normally would simply pass off. I myself have broadened my reads a bit: I've read my first sci-fi novel, one that I really liked! I read Dom's The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester! I also borrowed a lot from other members and have shared plenty of my books, too!

What I like best is that we all get to talk about our current reads, our recommended reads, books we've recently purchased, the best deals from book shops, new titles, authors, and more. Most of all, it's simply fun to to be with other people who share the same interest as you do! And for me, nothing beats hanging out on a Saturday night with the DRC members :)

Fun books!

Teaser Tuesdays

2009-08-05T00:17:00.004+08:00

My very first meme! Hahah! I saw Frances and Dar of Peeking Between the Pages (one of my most favorite reviewer EVER!) do this booklover's meme, so I thought I could join in on the fun, too! Anyone can! :)

RULES:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

MY TEASER TUESDAY:

"Hello!" said the Baconian brightly. "Can I take a moment of your time?"
I answered slowly:
"If you expect me to believe that a lawyer wrote A Midsummer's Night's Dream, I must be dafter than I look."

I'm currently reading The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde and I didn't think it was even possible to find something to love in every page. Its like, wham, wham, wham, and it gets me everytime. I love reading about books that talk about books in a fashion that doesn't seem too academic and so stiffling and boring to read.

I'm really enjoying this novel! At the same time, I can't wait to finish the book and yet I don't want to! It's such an easy, enjoyable read. It's spiffy and kind of cool. I think I have a new hero now. When I grow up I want to be a LiteraTec like Miss Next! xD

Yay Moleskine + Booksale Book Hauls

2009-08-02T09:33:00.016+08:00

My Own Moleskines!

Just like what I confessed to Sir Ralph of Comatoria, I don't think I can summon the nerve to write on these precious moleskines. I have bad handwriting and I make erasures like mad! But I can't just have it laying around unused, too, as it defeats the purpose of having a moleskine. Maybe I'll use 1 moleskine notebook so I can practice writing poetry? Hmmmmm! *scratches imaginary beard*

Life of Pi (Deluxe Hardbound, Illustrated) -Yann Martel

Once again, thank you TopazHorizon and Avalon.Ph!

In other news, I promised myself not to buy new books, but I couldn't help it. I went to Booksale NCCC before going to Chi's CineAste film screening at StreetCafe, Jacinto (I watched "Cabaret" 1975, before I had to run out because my sister sounded very urgent with her texts-- which turned out to be a fake emergency! Arrgh! I missed the 2nd half of the movie!)

Anyway, here are my finds weee:

Just Jane: A Novel of Jane Austen's Life - Nancy Moser
The Queen's Fool - Philippa Gregory
Mr. Muo's Traveling Couch - Dai Sijie <3

I Won TopazHorizon-Avalon.Ph's Giveaway!

2009-07-30T13:20:00.005+08:00

Yes, someone will be writing on a moleskin very soon... Me! Eeeyoooo! :D
I won The Moleskin Giveaway by TopazHorizon, sponsored by Avalon.Ph! Wow, I can't even concentrate on my work now, I'm so happy! I get to win Moleskine Large Cahier Ruled Black Set of 3 PLUS a PHP 500.00 gift certificate for the Avalon.Ph Online Store!

A friendly Avalon Representative has contacted me about the prizes and I am so giddy. This is my first win in the internetz yey me!I've given them my mailing address and contact number to ship the Moleskins to me, and I also used the gift certificate to buy myself:

Life of Pi: Illustrated Edition by Yann Martel

You can't imagine the burning fire in my chest right now, being able to buy this beautiful book! I love love love Life of Pi (read my review here) and I adore Yann Martel (Author of The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios-which I'm going to review soon, too!). I am beyond happy. Thank you so much to both Frances / TopazHorizon and Avalon.Ph!

I am one lucky barnacle!

I've Updated My Wishlist: YA Reads!

2009-07-29T08:55:00.001+08:00

NICK & NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST
by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Cohn and Levithan contribute alternating chapters in this high-energy romance that follows two high-school seniors through a single, music-fueled night in Manhattan. Nick, the "nonqueer bassist in a queercore band," is playing with The Fuck Offs, when he spots his ex-girlfriend, Tris. Once offstage, he propositions a girl he has never met, hoping to make Tris jealous: "Would you mind being my girlfriend for five minutes?" Norah, also heartbroken (and hoping Nick will drive her home), agrees. What begins as a spontaneous ploy turns into something surprising and real in the course of one night as Nick and Norah roam Manhattan, listen to bands, confront past hurts, and hurtle toward romance. - Booklist:

PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS
by Michelle Zink

An ancient prophecy divides two sisters-
One good...
One evil...
Who will prevail?
Twin sisters Lia and Alice Milthorpe have just become orphans. They have also become enemies. As they discover their roles in a prophecy that has turned generations of sisters against each other, the girls find themselves entangled in a mystery that involves a tattoo-like mark, their parents' deaths, a boy, a book, and a lifetime of secrets.
Lia and Alice don't know whom they can trust.
They just know they can't trust each other. -Book Blurb

WINTERGIRLS
by Laurie Halse Anderson

Problem-novel fodder becomes a devastating portrait of the extremes of self-deception in this brutal and poetic deconstruction of how one girl stealthily vanishes into the depths of anorexia. Lia has been down this road before: her competitive relationship with her best friend, Cassie, once landed them both in the hospital, but now not even Cassie’s death can eradicate Lia’s disgust of the “fat cows” who scrutinize her body all day long... Struck-through sentences, incessant repetition, and even blank pages make Lia’s inner turmoil tactile, and gruesome details of her decomposition will test sensitive readers. But this is necessary reading for anyone caught in a feedback loop of weight loss as well as any parent unfamiliar with the scripts teens recite so easily to escape from such deadly situations. - Booklist

Library Lounge Lizard's Signed Book Giveaway!

2009-07-27T10:48:00.004+08:00

Win A Signed Copy of Rachel Vincent's "My Soul To Take"

LLL's contest will run until
July 31, 2009.

Simply FOLLOW, COMMENT, AND POST! Head off to Library Lounge Lizard now. Goodluck!

The Fairy Godwommin of Books

2009-07-23T00:38:00.011+08:00

Angeli Chi is one of the members of the Davao Reader's Circle, and in a span of a year of book club meet-ups she has become one of my Most Adored People Evarr. Not only does she have the capacity to read any genre of book that catches her fancy (unlike yours truly that sticks to Contemporary Fiction --with a little bitty sprinkling of Sci-Fi and Fantasy), but she has an open mind and an inquisitive nature that never fails to hook you in.

Aside from her volunteer stints at the Davao Museum, she also has a ton of things she does everyday as she freelances and travels around Mindanao on top of everything else. Now, she has a new task that she set up for herself, which I have dubbed as a "Fairy Godwommin of Books" (Been reading "Once Upon An Enlightened Time by James Finn Gardner" because Chi left it on the couch!) An excerpt from her own Facebook account:

On July 1, I announced that I'd be fairygodmother to booklovers and find books you want most but can't seem to find in bookstores and booksales. The deal is I'm gonna work my book radar, find you your top 3 most wanted books and when I find all three, I'll give you an extra book of my choice as a gift. You don't need to pay me a bookhunting fee. I'm doing it for the pleasure of finding books and learning about what you are interested in reading. You just pay me the cost of the books you asked me to find. I will try to find you the best copies there are of your books available in the booksales with the best price (the most affordable). This is the gallery of granted book wishes. :)
- Taken From Your Most Wanted Books - Gallery

If you click on the link you will find several books that she has successfully unearthed for her friends: a beautiful copy of Lolita, some Ernest Hemingway, Clan of the Cave Bears and the like!

During our last DRC meetup, Chi encouraged several members to put their 3 most wishlisted books. I scrambled to find a pen and sort out my jumbled wishlist to see if I can think of 3 books I wanted to have ASAP. My list comprised of The Twelfth Wife by Indu Sundarensan, The Pillowbook by Sei Shonagon, and another title which I forgot! Drats you, bad memory!

I am trying to win her attention with this post, buttering her up so she will do my request first, before anybody else!

Thanks, Chi!

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CONTEST GIVEAWAY

In other news, Topaz Horizon has just posted an incredible giveaway of Moleskine notebooks sponsored by Avalon.ph ! It's kind of surreal how I just subscribed to France's blog this morning to expose myself to the more finer things in life... and voila! My goodness! Tonight I'm hanging to a lucky chance to win a Moleskine Large Cahier Ruled Black Set of 3.---which I've coveted this past year but never got the money to buy.

And such a beautiful, beautiful question, too: What Is Your Favorite Book And Why?
....Where do I start? :D

Join the contest by clicking on the banner above!

My Booksale Book Hauls

2009-07-19T08:33:00.000+08:00

The Cider House Rules by John Irving

"Set among the apple orchards of rural Maine, it is a perverse world in which Homer Well's odyssey begins. As the oldest unadopted offspring at St. Cloud's orphanage, he learns about the skills which, one way or another, help young and not-so-young women, from Wilbur Larch, the orphanage's founder, a man of rare comapssion and with an addiction to ether.

Dr. Larch loves all his orphans, especially Homer Wells. It is Homer's story we follow, from his early apprenticeship in the ophanage surgery, to his adult life running a cider-making factory and his strange relationship with the wife of his closest friend."

Okay, so I have read this book in highschool, and I have to admit it didn't make much sense to me and I don't remember anything except for this particular scene where this girl runs away and the people in the orphanage believe that she'll do well in life anyway because had with her the book "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë. See, I'm not kidding when I told you I don't remember much! I bought this for Php 50.00($1) to read it again, and hopefully this time my brain will digest it better than when I was 15!

The Diving Bell and The Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby:

"Already being greeted with extraordinary acclaim--the astonishing, profoundly moving memoir of a man afflicted by locked-in syndrome, a state of virtyally total paralysis that leaves the victim, in the author's own words, "like a mind in a jar."

In 1995 Jean-Dominique Bauby was the Editor in Chief of French Elle, the father of two young children, a forty three-year-old man known and loved for his wit, his style, and his impassioned approach to life. By the end of the year he was also the victim of a rare kind of stroke to the bain stem. After twenty days in a coma, Bauby awoke into a body that has all but stopped working: only his left eye functioned, allowing him to see and, by blinking, to make clear that his mind was unimpaired. Almost miraculously he was soon able to express himself in the richest detail, blinking to select letters one by one as a special alphabet was slowly recited to him, over and over again. In the same way, he was eventually able to compose this extraordinary book."

I acquired this book in Booksale for Php 45.00 ($0.90) and I can't quite contain my excitement! I watched the film version and it was the most awe-inspiring among all the French films I've seen (well, I've only seen 5 so far anyway). It's not only because of the story itself, but because of how well the entire thing it translated so well in screen. And the cinematography.... oh my gosh, don't get me started on the cinematography, because it blew me away.

Coffee and Books

2009-07-18T13:54:00.011+08:00

If there's one thing that goes together so perfectly like peanut butter and jelly, you and me, meat loaf and mashed potatoes, it's coffee and books. Just the thought of me reading a favorite book on a soft lounge chair, sipping from a warm white mug with my favorite mix of espresso, milk, choco syrup, whipped cream and cinnamon powder gets me so pleasantly elated like you wouldn't believe! That's my kind of rest and relaxation, my "ahhh, this is the life" moment, but I'm sure I'm not alone.

Davao Readers Circle, the book lover's club I'm part of, love their cup of coffee as much as I do! We all go around the city to visit coffee shops, hang out and discuss our latest reads and share books to members. Our meet ups haven't been as regular recently, but we hope to remedy that soon! We all feel that there are so many things to catch up to. I miss those guys and I'm looking forward to meeting them again. So whenever I think of coffeeshops and books, the DRC is always the first thing in my mind.

I also saw Bookworm Readers' cute promotion of Suzanne Selfors' new novel, Coffehouse Angel. The title is just waiting to be read... Imagine reading about Coffee, Friendship and Love all in one book over a warm cup of coffee! If that's your kind of thing, head off to Bookworm Readers: Second Edition now to read all about it.

Dream When You're Feeling Blue

2009-07-17T08:21:00.000+08:00

I couldn't ask for a better book than Dream When You're Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg to show me a bittersweet perspective of what's an "everyday life" like at the onset of World War II.

The story centers on the Heaney family of Chicago, a full family of 8; Frank and Margaret Heaney has their hands full, raising 3 daughters and 3 young sons in the midst of the crucial Allies vs. Axis war in the 1940's. The three sisters Kitty, Louise and Tish are very close, and each has their own love story with a soldier (or soldiers-- in Tish's case) deployed in the war.

The novel begins as Kitty and Louise says goodbye to their sweetheart Julian and Michael, both soldiers in the Marine and the US Army, respectively. Kitty has awaited this day with anxious anticipation, her hands wrung, hoping against hope that Julian would propose at last, like how Michael proposed to Louise days before their leavetaking.

In just a few months, the war grows thick and alarming. The loved ones left behind do everything they can to support the war. Back home, there are no more hot showers, the most common commodities like meat have become a luxury; flour, coffee and sugar come in rationed coupons, and children save for victory stamps and scrounge for steel to take part in the war effort in exchange for few pennies. Families desperately tune in to the news, write religiously to their sons and husbands in the front, proclaiming their pride and support in the war, but inside simply dreading the worst.

I've always known that Elizabeth Berg writes poignant stories about the struggles and the losses, and this story is no exception. It's not just for the three sisters, but the entire family and the country as well, and it is well told in a simple, light narrative. But her endings are so bittersweet that you can almost taste it. I've yet to know another author that makes me depressed even with a (surprising but) happy ending.

Kapitan Sino by Bob Ong

2009-07-04T10:52:00.005+08:00

I've long been looking for this new book, since it's always sold out. It's been a two-month wait until new stocks arrived and I couldn't be happier when I saw the book on shelves!

BOOK BLURB:

"THERE IS SOMETHING STRANGE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD... Naunahan na naman ang mga pulis sa pagtugis sa mga holdaper ng isang jewelry shop. Bago noon, may iba na ring nakahuli sa isang carnaper; sumaklolo sa mga taong nasa itaas ng nasusunog na building; nagligtas sa sanggol na hinostage ng ama; tumulong para makatawid sa kalsada ang isang matanda; tumiklo sa mga miyembro ng Akyat-Bahay; sumagip sa mag-anak na tinangay ng tubig-baha; nag-landing nang maayos sa isang Boeing 747 na nasiraan ng engine; at nagpasabog sa isang higanteng robot. Pero sino ang taong ‘yon? Maililigtas nya ba sila Aling Baby? At ano nga ba talaga ang sabon ng mga artista?"

Get your copy now and start LOL-ing :D

The Stories behind the Intricate Allegorical Tapestries

2009-06-09T23:47:00.006+08:00

The Lady and the Unicorn, tells the story of a set of wall tapestries and the engaging story behind its creation.

The novel presents an artist, Nicolas des Innocents, who designed the tapestries through a commission by a high-ranking person. Though Claude is a brilliant visionary and artist he is known in his city as a man with a propensity for chasing anything with a skirt. When this artist meets his employer's wife and daughter, he is immediately drawn to them, most especially the young girl named Claude. Thus he began courting for her affection.

His seductive ways land him in bed with any girl he meets. One to love a whirlwind romance, he seeks out more and more. The tapestry links all the characters in complex weave of silk threads and beautiful patterns, showing off a tapestry that is an allegory of desire and love.

I'm really happy I had the luck to find this in Booksale yesterday! They're having a huge sale and I bought this for only P20! Sure, the book's not in mint condition, but it's more than acceptable! I love the inset pictures here, as they provided all the six tapestries in full color pages. What fortune :)

He Ran Away and Joined the Circus

2009-06-01T09:44:00.006+08:00

Jacob Janowski is a 90-or-93-year-old man spending the rest of his remaining years in a nursing home, desolate and alone, he reminisces about his sad but chaotic life as a member of the renowned circus, Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth.

Way back then, Jacob was a veterinary school freshman at Cornell. He was just about to take his finals when he heard the devastating news about the death of his parents in a car accident.
His mind blanks as his world collapses on him. Without warning or reason, he ran away and found himself working for a circus.

Jacob's talent with animals (and his unfinished veterinarian degree) lands him as position as the official circus vet. As he travels all over the country suffering from the after effects of the Depression, he becomes an important member of the circus, after managing to find a niche in the big crowd of dirty laborers, midgets, freak show clowns and the top circus performers.

The novel presents a harsh condition of a poor economy, starving circus members, abused animals and brutal, greedy owners. Yet there is beauty in this ugliness and chaos as Jacob falls in love with the circus, with its beautiful horses and morose monkeys, angry lions and the extremely special Rosie the elephant; and finally falls for a married showgirl where all trouble ensues. The story simply engulfs you from the first page to the last.

Louis de Bernières Package

2009-05-31T16:55:00.007+08:00

For us who love to read books, it's hard to pinpoint a single favorite book from all our reads. Some say they love all their collection, others haven't found it yet, others have 3 or 5 or 10. If you asked me 3 years ago what was my favorite book of all time, I would've just given you a blank look and say "it's kind of hard to pick one..."

Now, there's no other novel I call my favorite book but Captain Corelli's Mandolin. I love it so much that I even made it a point to make my review of the novel as the first post for this blog. I love its long, sweeping story, the style of writing, and it just captured my wholehearted interest and my imagination. Just leave the film version alone. I hated it and, most of all, Louis de Bernières himself hated it. I've been a fan of Louis de Bernières since then, and have searched long and hard to get my hands on his other novels. I got a hardbound copy of Red Dog last year from China, and I was so happy to get it for free. When Booksale opened in NCCC Mall, I couldn't quite believe my eyes when I happened to see a hardcover edition of Birds Without Wings. I thought that I would have an insanely difficult time finding the few remaining novels. But what do you know! Voilà! His first three novels just arrived from England yesterday morning.

Mr. Postman delivers !

I couldn't wait to open it up and devour the contents. I am absolutely happy and giddy with excitement. When I'm happy and giddy with excitement I jump around, giggle to myself, and go 'omgyay!' all over the place. I present to you the books that I've been waiting for 2 painful months!

I am lucky, lucky, lucky.

Audrey Heburn Makes Toshi Okada Thirsty When She Smiles

2009-05-30T09:45:00.011+08:00

In Audrey Hepburn's Neck, we are introduced to Toshi Okamoto, a quiet boy who lives in a Ramen shop with his quiet parents in an idyllic seaside village in Hokkaido.

At 9 years old he feels the stirrings of first love with the beautiful and ethereal Audrey Hepburn as he sits with his mother in a cramped theater. Mother and son are both transfixed: "No Japanese woman has a neck like that."

The novel has the surreal feel you get reading about errie quiet protagonists, love and obsessive tendencies, and getting lost in cross-cultural translations. Toshi's story revolves around the Japanese economy crash, anti-foreign sentiments, and post-war cause-and-effect.

I love how it presents westernization and prejudices both overtly and covertly, working in between the Japanese and the Americans, the Americans about the Japanese, and the Japanese against the world.

The writing style is simple, direct and with a hint of sadness as it goes back and forth from the present and back to the past. The curious thing that most readers are quick to wonder upon is how Alan Brown, obviously of caucasian descent, undertakes the writing of the story from the prespective of a Japanese man with deep-seated troubles with a fascination for all things American.

The New Dangerous Liaisons

2009-04-24T16:56:00.005+08:00

Philippa Stockley writes A Factory of Cunning, a story about a French aristocrat who shipped herself on English shores, dodging a trip to the guillotine along with her friends back in her scandal-torn home land.

She takes the chance to re-establish herself under a new name, Mrs. Fox. And though she arrived in London destitute and homeless, it was not long until she found guileless but wealthy people to attach her claws to and take her place at the pinnacle of high society.

The story is set in the late 18th century London, a time where strict morality were enforced yet sexual exploitation and cunning were at an all-time high.
Mrs. Fox plans devious tricks and gets the upper hand among her peers. She influences men and women --though men most of all-- in her lies and incredible drama. The novel centers on how the infamous Mrs. Fox and her amoral tendencies just to get what she wants using her quick wit and powers of seduction.

I'm just about finished with it and all I can tell you is that it's saucy as nothing else. The cover caught my eye and the price wasn't so bad too. I picked it up for P75 during Booksale's ongoing Summer Sale.

It's Called A Break Up Because It's Broken

2009-04-15T09:01:00.003+08:00

There are those times that we beg, pray, wish with all our might that there's a guide that will tell us what to do or what decisions to make during life's most crushing, crucial parts. Well, guess what, one book on how to get over one is now available in your nearest bookstore.

I consider myself one of the very lucky few, I've never experienced a real break-up. Yet. But once, I nearly did and I felt all the mass of the entire universe was sitting on my chest. I can't imagine what it must feel like for the real thing. I think I will combust entirely :(

I read this book, It's Called A Break Up Because It's Broken by Greg Behrendt and Amira Ruotola-Behrendt, hoping to get some sense of what to do when time calls for it. I'd like to get equipped for that when the situation comes, so this one book is seriously one of my best arsenals.

The book teaches women/ladies/girls how to keep their dignity during and even after a break-up. Most of the time we have no idea that the things we do makes it worse; this book will open your eyes (though puffy from crying) and make you realize that you deserve something better than all that heartache.

If you're going through a difficult break-up, this will serve as a guide on the do's and dont's and when you start to back slide! And if you're on the process of finally getting over, this book will help you get over your confusion, feelings of dejection and even loneliness. There's no better book for helping you switch perspectives on a break-up: this time you think about you. Not you AND him, but just you. Added with straightforward wit, humor and lighthearted break-up stories to make you feel less alone in your sadness.

'Wishlists' Do Come True :D

2009-04-07T10:38:00.002+08:00

Lucky Find!

I was at a loss for words when I unearthed The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery today in Booksale (yet again--This shop is decimating my budget daily ; ;)

I only went there because I had nothing to do at home after I finished watching Antique Bakery [Trailer] [Info] and to think I swore to myself I wasn't going to buy anything!

It was just sitting there, in a lonesome pile... waiting for me I guess. This book has been in my Wishlist since December 2007! I kind of can't believe I have this now. It feels surreal I'm getting the books I almost thought I can never acquire.

The Teahouse Fire
"Set in late nineteenth century Japan, The Teahouse Fire is the story of Aurelia, a young French-American girl who, after the death of her mother and her missionary uncle, finds herself lost and alone and in need of a new family. Knowing only a few words of Japanese she hides in a Japanese tea house and is adopted by the family who own it: gradually falling in love with both the Japanese tea ceremony and with her young mistress, Yukako.

As Aurelia grows up she devotes herself to the family and its failing fortunes in the face of civil war and western intervention, and to Yukako's love affairs and subsequent marriage. But her feelings for mistress seem doomed never to be reciprocated and, as tensions mount in the household, Aurelia begins to realise that to the world around her she will never be anything but an outsider."

...The only problem is I have bought more books than I can read and I have to make time for all of them. I can't wait to read this, I even cheated and read the first 10 pages when I sat down in the mall cafeteria, drinking apple shake. I can tell it will be an awesome read.

Oh yeah, today I also got glasses. My vision is still 20/20 but I work 10 hours straight on a computer, so I guess I needed a little protection for my eyes. I hope this multi-coated lens will live up to its promise.

Rare Book From My Favorite Author

2009-04-06T19:15:00.005+08:00

Told you I'd buy it! :D hah, goodbye budget!
Booksale: P125

Anne Boleyn Revisited

2009-04-05T12:18:00.008+08:00

One of the novels that got me hooked to reading novels about England and Old Royals is the book "I am Mary Tudor" by Hilda Lewis, which in my opinion is one of the strongest Mary Tudor novels to date. I still remember it being written with a clear and concise voice, and the historical facts well-researched and thorough.

These kinds of books fed my curiosity about life in general inside the royal court. It's the intrigues, the devious strategies and the abominable going-ons of that era that I love reading about.

Just last night I went out to Booksale. Lo and behold, a hardbound copy of The Queen of Subtleties by Suzannah Dunn was staring at me from the highest level in the bookshelf! I love how I lunged at the book, almost toppling the entire tower of books above it. I couldn't reach it, so good thing there was a nearby tall guy who I barked orders at.

"Get it for me!" I screamed, like a crazy person.

I got it before this small girl, who was also walking toward the bookshelf with a purpose, eyeing the book like a crazy person.
Tough luck. You can't get it even if you tried, I thought smugly.

So in the end I got the book and I broke my budget for the week. This book did not come cheap. :( And then I saw "Bird Without Wings" by Louis de Bernieres!!!! I couldn't afford the two. I put The second book on reserve under my name. Sigh. I hope to get it before Monday night!

"Bird Without Wings" by Louis de Bernieres

Books on my Wishlist

2009-03-29T20:14:00.007+08:00

Oh, why do I want books that are impossible for me to buy?!

I've struggled in vain to search for these books by Indu Sundaresan. Wag na lang kaya akong umasa?! Hahah. If you can get this book, please by all means get it and send me a line or two. I'd probably die in frustration in envy :D

Here is why I would love to get my hands on The Twentieth Wife and The Feast of Roses:

Taken from AllReaders.com.
"The Twentieth Wife tells the story of India's controversial Empress, Mehrunissa, who later became known as Empress Nur Jahan of the Mughal Empire. She was the daughter of refugees fleeing Persia for India. She grew up in Emperor Akbar's palace grounds because of her father's position in the royal court. At the age of eight she sees Prince Salim and decides she will one day marry him.

Salim and Mehrunnisa fall in love over the years, but are unable to marry because of Mehrunnisa's bethrothal to a soldier. Despite time and distance their passion for one another does not die.

Intertwined with this love story are the accounts of the politics of the Mughal Empire, not only in relation to who will succeed Emperor Akbar, but also politics within the women's quarters. "

Taken from Google Book Search:
"The love story of Emperor Jahangir and Mehrunnisa, begun in the critically praised debut novel The Twentieth Wife, continues in Indu Sundaresan's The Feast of Roses. This lush new novel tells the story behind one of the great tributes to romantic love and one of the seven wonders of the world -- the Taj Mahal.

Mehrunnisa, better known as Empress Nur Jahan, comes into Jahangir's harem as his twentieth and last wife. Almost from the beginning of her royal life she fits none of the established norms of womanhood in seventeenth-century India.

Mehrunnisa is the first woman Jahangir marries for love, at the "old" age of thirty-four. He loves her so deeply that he eventually transfers his powers of sovereignty to her.

Power and wealth do not come easily to Mehrunnisa -- she has to fight for them. She has a formidable rival in the imperial harem, Empress Jagat Gosini, who has schemed and plotted against Mehrunnisa from early on. Mehrunnisa's problems do not just lie within the harem walls, but at court, too, as she battles powerful ministers for supremacy. These ministers, who have long had Emperor Jahangir's confidence and trust, consider Mehrunnisa a mere woman who cannot have a voice in the outside world.

Mehrunnisa combats all of this by forming a junta of sorts with three men she can rely on -- her father, her brother, and Jahangir's son Prince Khurram. She demonstrates great strength of character and cunning to get what she wants, sometimes at a cost of personal sorrow when she almost loses her daughter's love. But she never loses the love of the man who bestows this power upon her -- Emperor Jahangir. The Feast of Roses is a tale of this power and love, the story of power behind a veil."

Murder: Asian Women Do It Better

2009-03-27T23:22:00.006+08:00

The story begins with four friends-- Masako the seemingly level-headed 'leader' of the group , Yoshie the long-suffering and self-sacrificing mother of two, Kuniko the vain who spends more money than she can ever afford in a lifetime (and the least sharpest of the group), and Yayoi the timid--- working the graveyard shift for a Bento-making factory.

Each of the women in the book has a story to tell. Their lives are trapped in hard circumstances and dreary daily routine alternating between work and home. Each one of them has a hopeless, dysfunctional relationship with either their husbands, their family, or themselves.

43-year-old Masako's cool demeanor and hardened heart hides her depressing relationship with her son who hasn't opened his mouth to speak since three years ago. Masako's husband, driven with his own work has simply ignored all other inhabitants in the household and sleeps apart from his estranged wife.

At 50, Yoshie is the pillar that holds her family together as she cares for her invaild yet manipulative mother-in-law and her teenage daughter who has recently developed some strange habits like dyeing her hair and aquiring items that she nor her mother could not afford. Yoshie is hard pressed to find money to make ends meet, and yet she could not afford to take on and shoulder another debt.

Kuniko is 29 years old and has long been drowning in debt with her excessive sprees, buying the latest replicas of designer bags, shoes, suits and other things. She lived with a good-for-nothing partner in her apartment, but after a while he leaves her taking all the savings that they made and since then has never been found. Kuniko is at a loss, sinking with all her mountain of bills and debts, with creditors at her heels. But that doesn't stop Kuniko as she lives from paycheck to paycheck to buy her a fashion item or two, and then budget her remaining money to buy food and pay her rent.

The lovely 34-year-old Yayoi completes the group. When she's done with graveyard work she becomes a full-time mother and homemaker often cutting her sleeping hours to a few measly hours to spend time her two sons. The situation with her husband, Kenji, worsens over the course of their marriage. He becomes a philanderer who gambles away money at an underground club, obsessed with a stunning hostess who has no interest in him except to take his money. The plot thickens as Yayoi breaks down and snaps when she finds out that he has emptied their life savings. That night, she murders Kenji with her own two hands.

The friends come together gradually as Yayoi asks for help on how to dispose the body and plan to cover up the entire thing to get the full amount of Kenji's insurance, costing up to millions. Lured by Yayoi's promise to split the money, Yoshie and Kuniko agree immediately while Masako has a strange reason only she understands. The story continues in a grisly, bloody manner as the women become deeply involved not only in one murdered body, but in several...

This book is just utterly, OUT THERE. It's dark, deep, and distressing. Not to mention that the book is not told by a cop or a detective trying to solve the mystery, but told by the murders themselves. I'm not one to like murder and mystery genre much but wow, this is the reason why the author, Natsuo Kirino holds the Naoki Prize in Japan's Top Mystery Award.

Books on My Wishlist

2009-03-26T11:22:00.003+08:00

The King's Daughter by Sandra Worth

Book Blurb: Seventeen-year-old Elizabeth of York trusts that her beloved father’s dying wish has left England in the hands of a just and deserving ruler. But upon the rise of Richard of Gloucester, Elizabeth’s family experiences one devastation after another: her late father is exposed as a bigamist, she and her siblings are branded bastards, and her brothers are taken into the new king’s custody, then reportedly killed.

But one fateful night leads Elizabeth to question her prejudices. Through the eyes of Richard’s ailing queen she sees a man worthy of respect and undying adoration. His dedication to his people inspires a forbidden love and ultimately gives her the courage to accept her destiny, marry Henry Tudor, and become Queen. While her soul may secretly belong to another, her heart belongs to England.

If you happen to have a copy that you want to sell... :3 I'm looking out for it.

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

2009-03-20T18:43:00.002+08:00

Finally, I have a bit of free time in the evenings (6pm - 9pm) to do the things I normally would not have the luxury to. Now I can go out and have fun before the mall closes, watch some DVDs in the bedroom before the kids go to sleep, and read this nosebleed-inducing book which is around 5 or 6 inches thick? ; ;

I got this book late last year from Bookmooch and until now I haven't the chance to read it yet. It's a daunting challenge to finish the book, it's the thickest piece of paperback novel I will have to finish.

I'm well used to thick books, as I have thicker books in my shelf like Irish Myths, Legends and Folklore by W.B. Yeats, The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco, Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pesl and so on but it's understandable because they're hardbound and the paperback version of those are just the normal size you'd expect.

But man, A Suitable Boy is frightening. My nephew, Hisashi, asked innocently how many years it would take me to finish. He's so cute!

I started this just last night, and I quite like it! Though I've always known I would love the story. I've watched out for this book since forever and I'm so lucky to find someone generous enough to part with it. It's hard to find a copy of this as I can't find it in National Book Store, Powerbooks, and Goodwill Philippines.

I'm looking forward to trying quarter of a chapter per night. Or a whole chapter if get into the thick (haha no kidding!) of the story enough. Though the review will not come for a long time! :D

Beauty Behind the Veil

2009-03-12T00:42:00.003+08:00

"Kabul Beauty School" is the story of Deborah Rodriguez and her journey as a volunteer worker in Afghanistan. She has her own personal reasons why she chose to focus her energies into helping the women of Kabul uplift and help themselves. Deborah, or "Debbie" as she is fondly called by those who know her, realize that there are rigid rules and conduct guide that Afghans place on their tradition-bound women. The cultural gap seems too wide to cross and sometimes both the Afghan women and Debbie have a hard time in all their communications, and it's not just a problem of language, too.

Back in America, Debbie was an expert beautician. But little did she know that fate had another plan for her other than being part of a volunteer U.S. medical team. She uses her expertise and mastery of the beauty industry to realize that she just might give the one of the most helpful service to all the women presently living in Afghanistan: a grand scheme to set up the Kabul Beauty School.

This idea was not just to make a salon right smack in the middle of a war-torn city, but to create a whole academy for Afghan women who have always placed a high price on beauty and have a long-standing and proud culture of beauty salons before the Taliban burned the establishments to the ground. Debbie spearheaded the campaign in the midst of challenges and death threats from extremist opposition. Through the help of beauty companies and international sponsors, the Kabul Beauty School was formed and had its first batch of trainee beauticians in 2003. Debbie trained the women to master the fundamentals of cutting hair, coloring techniques, and makeup. The School's goal is to empower the women to become financially independent through the income that they will be generating from their work in the salon.

The Kabul Beauty School was a success. Western and other foreign women from different peace groups, and wives and daughters of diplomats who have been living in Kabul have now a place to go for a good haircut, manicure, hair dye that they desperately need. The Afghan beauticians who have passed the School's training are now earning cash that they have never earned before and being a part of the Kabul Beauty School now gives them a sense of power, which is a surprising feat for a country so traditional that women were never seen as anything of value.

Debbie's story is full of energy, humor and packed with power. It is a story about the women who have struggled and are desperate to survive. Sadly, after going through fighting against cultural restrictions and bureaucratic battles, the Kabul Beauty School was shut down. But the book remains a testament of solidarity in the most trying of times and the coming together of the women of Kabul in an effort of freedom and independence.

Love, Liberation and Literature

2009-03-10T08:00:00.008+08:00

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is set in the early 1970's at the onset of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Universities have closed down, scholars were exiled or thrown in jail, and books, deemed dangerous, were confiscated and burned in city squares. Anti-intellectual ideas were at an all-time high and the regime had managed to overthrow modern thinking.

This novel by Dai Sijie is a story about two city-bred and educated teenage boys, 18-year-old Luo and the 17-year-old unnamed narrator of the story. Both were sent to be "re-educated" in an extremely remote mountain village called Phoenix of the Sky.

The rural community is made up of peasants, lowly farmers and merchants who were given the authority to teach and guide the boys away from bourgeois thinking. The two young men have noticed that the villager's ideas primarily based on their folklore and superstition, and what little the government feeds them. As the villagers sought to forcibly humble the teens' sophisticated ideals, they were given manual labor duties and other tasks that involves hard, distasteful and dreary daily chores involving fertilizing the farms with excrement and other wastes, and coal mining.

Life was pure drudgery and the only respite was a small stint watching films to be retold to the villagers. Other than that, it was back to the wastes and the coals for them. It was one fateful day that they meet a pretty and enchanting young girl, the daughter of a popular traveling tailor from another village. She was bright; had a sweet face and an engaging personality, and so it was not a surprise when Luo fell in love with her, though causing a minor rift between him and the narrator, who also found the girl to his liking.

It was at that time when they also met another young man being re-educated at another village, whom they befriended and called "Four-Eyes". The four have a complex relationship together, tight and bound as the spine of the prohibited books Four-Eyes was hiding from the entire village. These books were their ticket to rebel against and free themselves from the oppressive ideas of the government and the superstitious villagers. Luo stole the forbidden books to secretly educate the Little Seamstress. They pored over the contents of each bound books, read Hugo, Dickens, Romain Rolland, Dumas, and Tolstoy. The Little Seamstress focuses on these all new ideas and worlds that she was thinking and experiencing for the first time in her life.

Luo only wanted to introduce the Little Seamstress to a world where she has never stepped in before, through the trove of books. However, as the girl absorbs all the information she has begun to understand the world and her desires completely. Her transformation goes beyond what the two boys expected and the novel ends with the Little Seamstress leaving behind the entire village, the two heartbroken boys and all the backward ideas she grew up with. She fled the mountains as the power of these literature intoxicates and overwhelms her, but was the source of her freedom and liberation as the newfound ideas and ambition propels her to search of a different life for herself.

I was left hanging and astounded, but deep inside I've always believed that literature could literally transform a person and change his or her ideas in life. There's no more apt ending for this short but extremely wonderful novel full of the greatest literature in the world.

Aicha's Lucky Find No. 1

2009-03-09T10:21:00.007+08:00

THIS JUST IN:

I have found this magnificent piece for me in Booksale last night. When I looked up at the tall bookshelf I couldn't breathe and I choked. I got it and was supremely gloating about this beautiful, perfect book that I've always thought was way beyond my means to get.

I love, love, love Pride and Prejudice. I adore to the fullest extent both the charming, clever Elizabeth Bennet and the most dashing and desirable Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.

My Shelfari/Bookmooch wishlist consisted of:
* ~~An Assembly Such as This~~ (borrowed from a friend)
* ~~Duty and Desire~~
* These Three Remain
* The Darcys & the Bingleys
* Mr. Darcy's Daughters : A Novel
* The Darcy Connection: A Novel
* The Second Mrs. Darcy: A Novel
* The Confessions of Fitzwilliam Darcy
* Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife
* Mrs. Darcys Dilemma
* Two Shall Become One: Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy

and now I can strike another book off with flourish! :D

* ~~The Confessions of Fitzwilliam Darcy~~

I'm so excited to read my new, lucky find but I guess I have to wait?! I have a long list on my TBR pile. And I'm currently reading An Assembly Such As This! It would've been such a great next read. Boo, I have to go through at least 20 books just to read The Confessions.

AVALON.ph 10th Anniversary

2009-03-05T01:14:00.002+08:00

AVALON.ph has been one of the very few online stores to cater to Pinoy bookworms and readers. It's been 10 years now and they want to party like it's 2009! For their 10th birthday bash, they're giving away a signed copy of Interworld by Neil Gaiman yours for the taking as long as you enter your favorite Neil Gaiman quotes from any of his published fiction, non-fiction, or comic books in their AVALON.ph blog comments section.

This is divine. I've owned and loved Neil Gaiman's American Gods, Coraline, Stardust, Sandman: Book of Dreams and the elusive (and expensive!) Sandman: The Dream Hunters. So of course I'll enter this contest!
My most memorable quote will be from Sandman: The Dream Hunters where the Buddhist Monk journeys into the realm of dreams, gets lost, and finally encounters a man fishing on a pond.

“I seek the King of All Night’s Dreaming,” called the Monk. “Am I going the right way?”
“How can you not go to him?” asked the first of the men, “when all the ways are his?”
-From Sandman: The Dream Hunters

Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami

2009-03-01T20:43:00.003+08:00

My favorite quote:

"I'm looking for selfishness. Perfect selfishness. Like, say I tell you I want to eat strawberry shortbread. And you stop everything you're doing and run out and buy it for me. And you come back out of breath and get down on your knees and hold this strawberry shortbread out to me. And I say I don't want it any more and throw it out of the window. That's what I 'm looking for."

"I'm not sure that has anything to do with love," I said with some amazement.

"It does," she said. "You just don't know it. There are times in a girl's life when things like that are incredibly important."

"Things like throwing strawberry shortbread out of the window?"

"Exactly. And when I do it, I want the man to apologize to me. "Now I see, Midori. What a fool I've been! I should have known that you would lose your desire for strawberry shortbread. I have all the intelligence and sensitivity of a piece of donkey shit. To make it up to you, I'll go out and buy you something else. What would you like? Chocolate mousse? Cheesecake?"'

"So then what?"

"So then I'd give him all the love he deserves for what he's done."

"Sounds crazy to me."

"Well, to me, that's what love is. Not that anyone can understand me, though." Midori gave her head a little shake against my shoulder. "For a certain kind of person, love begins from something tiny or silly. From something like that or it doesn't begin at all."

- Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

A Boy and A Tiger in A Boat in The Middle of the Ocean

2009-02-20T19:24:00.001+08:00

For 227 days with little to no food, a 16-year-old boy from India shared a small boat with a hungry Bengal tiger...

Piscine "Pi" Molitor Patel from Pondicherry, India grew up with beautiful and exotic animals from his father's zoo. His familiarity with the animals has led him to love and revere these wild animals, observing their behavior and studying their way of living and adapting despite their captivity.

Because of the sudden political instability, the Patel family found that it will not be able to continue the expensive upkeep of the zoo. The father decided to sell the zoo and its animals, start anew and try his luck across the ocean.

Pi and the rest of the family were eager to be able to journey to Canada, to where another zoo has purchased a variety of their best animals. But in the middle of crossing the great ocean the ship sank and the only human survivor was Pi.

In a small lifeboat Pi cowered with fear, anxiety, hunger and all the chaotic jumble of thoughts in his head. Pi had company in that small space, too. An injured zebra, an orangutan named Orange Juice, a frisky hyena, and finally, at the head of the lifeboat, a royal Bengal tiger who sleeps fitfully underneath a tarpaulin cover. Though the lifeboat's inhabitants manage the first few days without any occurences, it didn't take long for nature to do its dirty work. The hyena grew hungry and attacked the poor zebra; and though the orangutan managed to fight back at first, exhaustion and malnourishment became her undoing and she grew too weak to defend her life. After a time, the hyena found Pi and almost makes him his next meal, but it was the exact time that the royal Bengal tiger woke up, attacked the hyena and goes back to sleep without harming Pi.

Because of his upbringing in the zoo, Pi has an absolute understanding of the dangers he is going to face with just him and this ferocious animal...

Pi's life rested on his ability to think of ways to face the tiger down, not to drown in the wide and deep expanse of the Pacific Ocean, nor to become a shark's lunch. Or to succumb to both the screaming pains in his body and the dark pits of despair in his mind.

10 Reasons to Hate Kindle

2009-02-08T15:38:00.001+08:00

(My version of "10 Reasons to Hate Kindle by Dave Rosenthal")

1. You can't leave a Kindle copy of The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco lying on your beach towel when you doze off at Mergrande Resort. D'oh!

2. Cute nerdy guys with glasses won't introduce themselves upon noticing your copy of Forgotten Realms by R.A. Salvatore

3. My favorite cover art and inset graphics such as the illustrations on Hippolite's Island by Barbara Hodgson by can't be appreciated.

4. All books are the same in Kindleworld. You lose the charming, adventurous nature of Red Dog by Louis de Bernières and the melancholy of the loveliest poetry by Pablo Neruda.

5. I can't use my collection of random bookmarks: my very first company calling card, the latest receipt that I grieved over or a cute cut-out of a magazine.

6. The 101 Must Visit Destination and the Sandman: Dream Hunters aren't made for electrons.

7. The battery never dies on my paperback of A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

8. I can't bear to part with my stacked bookcase :D

9. If I hate what I'm reading, I can't throw it across the room.

10. I probably will never be able to afford Kindle.

Visit Book Blogs

The Robes of Tradition and The Sanctity of Their Calling

2009-02-06T22:13:00.002+08:00

A beautiful, absorbing memoir of a precocious little girl living far away from her own home, who bloomed with the most exquisite grace and became Gion's Mineko, one of the most famous geisha in her era.

Masako Tanaka was a quiet little girl of independent means. Willful, clever, and often a little too proud, she lived her idyllic life before she decided to agree to go to an okiya to save her parents. She is taken in the Iwasaki okiya when she was barely 5 years old. Masako was going to be legally adopted into the Iwasaki household, and was deemed to be the apparent successor of the establishment. Though struggling to understand the situation as only a little girl can, she adapted to her new environment, came to get used to her small living quarters and had developed a relationship with the women of the okiya. And it was there that she discovered her love for the artistry of dance.
Her enthusiasm for learning and her perfectionist nature was the very mark that the women of the Iwasaki household found curious about her, six years old and ready to take on the brunt of her geisha training.

As the successor of the Iwasaki household, she was re-named Mineko Iwasaki, and from then on she continously studied the geisha arts and trained rigorously under the tutelage of the very best teachers in the dancing school until she was ready for her debut. At the age of 15, she shed her little girl's yukata and donned on an elaborate ceremonial kimono to celebrate her debut as a maiko. Her rise to fame was rocky, especially with the malicious intent of other geisha who try to bring her down. Her beautiful figure, delicate face, and her natural grace and talent for dancing easily eclipses almost all the other maiko. And though miserable and without friends, Mineko managed to master the traditional customs, perfect the dances and become versed with the shamisen. Finally, she "turned her collar" and became a full-fledged geisha by the time she was 21. It was at that time she began to unravel as one of the highest-paid and the most sought after geisha in the history of the Gion Kobu.

Mineko revolved her life around the okiya. She made a choice of dedicating herself to her craft and preserving the age-old tradition of the karyukai.

Geisha, A Life is a biographical work that reveals the intricacies Mineko's life as a geisha until her leaving Gion Kobu. Mineko seems vocal, proud and headstrong. But the pain, sadness and sacrifices that she made as she continues her journey to become a geisha is not something that's easy to overlook. This book is filled with her story and anecdotes about one of the most exotic and rare culture of the geisha.

Saving with Barnes & Noble Coupon Codes

2009-02-05T23:38:00.000+08:00

As every compulsive book buyer may know, only the money in your pocket is the limit!

I myself absolutely adore books, but with the income of a struggling writer I can only buy so much but I always end up wanting more than I could afford. I head off to the nearest book sale for a generous helping of pre-owned books, but I find some of the coveted titles are not there. It's really hard to get a specific title or author, and you're not even sure if it's there or if you're going to find it. The popular authors I love are still hot on the shelves of big bookstore chains, especially the "Mecca" of bookworms in the world, Barnes & Noble. No matter how you love books, you are always hindered by its price tags. Since prices are high especially if the book is on this week's Bestseller List! Contemporary authors are popular and their books are pricey because of the fan base and followers, but it doesn't mean you have to wait until the next sale, knowing you're the only one you know who hasn't read it yet!

I've been to that kind of situation, it's painful I know. And as a voracious reader, I would love to get my hands on some of the books in B&N (actually, there's a lot I really want!). I'm sure booklovers everywhere can empathize with me. Inside the store are so much books there, but we have so little money, right?

But ah, the wonders of Coupon Saver Discount Coupons, are here to save the day, with Barnes & Noble deals.
How would a Buy Two Books, Get the Third for Free sound? It's a heavenly deal, I'm sure. Or a 80% Off for Bargain Books? It would feel like salvation.

These coupons are my lifeline to one of the best books I've always wanted to have. The few on my list of Books-To-Buy are "Everything is Illuminated" by Jonathan Safran Foer, "The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss and the recently released "The Women" by T.C. Boyle. Several more I have to put on hold, though, my wishlist is just overwhelming me. I'm hoping to get some wishlisted titles using the discount coupons above. It would simply relieve me of having to feel guilty about spending it on books, my budget is tight enough as it is...

It's exactly what I need, these Discount Coupons from Barnes & Noble to suit the frugal bookworm me.

His Pride and Her Prejudice

2009-02-04T16:37:00.001+08:00

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife..."

So starts the best love story ever told.

Jane Austen writes this shining piece of romantic literature, Pride and Prejudice, considered as one of her greatest masterpiece. It has the highest fan base among all her novels.

Set in early 19th Century in a society where women were born and raised to meet specific requirements to be eligible for matrimony. They were artistic, musical, all loveliness and graceful submission. Because unlike the men of the era, it is only in marriage that a woman can claim to have a respectable social status and an easy access to wealth.

The Bennett family of Hertfordshire has not one, not two, but five daughters of marriageable age. The book is largely centered on one of the daughters, Elizabeth, the second eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. Elizabeth is a down-to-earth, level-headed woman of quick wit. She is considered as her father's favorite among her sisters and is known throughout Hertfordshire as a handsome and intelligent woman. Elizabeth's best friend is her own sister, the eldest, the equally sensible but more reserved Jane Bennet. She is the sister who is blessed with the most fair looks that easily outshadows any other girl in the country.

The story begins when the Bennet household is driven to an uproar when news arrived that a young man from London, of incredible wealth and of good character, is coming to Hertfordshire to purchase and move in the vacant Netherfield Estate. And Mrs. Bennet was bent on this young gentleman marry one of her five daughters, especially Jane, that she begins to plan schemes to hook this man and ensnare him forever.

The newcomers were welcomed in a small ball held in the Lucases ballroom. Mr. Charles Bingley, the new owner of Netherfield, reveals himself to be a good natured man and is immediately taken to the whimsical atmosphere of Hertfordshire. While his glamorous sisters, Miss Caroline Bingley and Mrs. Louisa Hurst, are less than thrilled to move from London to what they deem as a remote 'barbaric' countryside. Mr. Bingley is accompanied by Mr. Hurst and the aloof and disdainful Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy of Derbyshire

Mr. Bingley and his company are very well received with the neighbors, especially Mrs. Bennet as she perceives that Bingley shows a sure partiality to her eldest, Jane. Mr. Darcy, however, earned the scorn of Elizabeth Bennet with his untoward comment and his coldness to the people in the room. To his chagrin, he finds himself drawn to this enigmatic and witty woman with dark, captivating eyes. Unaware of Darcy's growing feelings for her, she continuously argues and contradict Darcy's point with her own ideas, vexing Darcy but yet holding him in place. She begins to dislike Darcy an even higher kind of vehemence, as she gets to know a certain soldier by the name of George Wickham, and about his story in the supposedly cruel hands of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.

I have to stop now or else I'll reveal everything about this already! It's just so fascinating for me and I absolutely adore the story so much. There's nothing I love most than to read the book again and again when I need something romantic to inspire me and brighten my day!

This novel is entirely a battle-of-the-sexes type between Elizabeth Bennet, a woman of independent thought, with an arsenal of strong wit and a clever humor, going against the formidably aristocratic and proud Fitzwilliam Darcy, who matches her in intelligence and stubborn streak.

A Tale of Love Amidst a Violent Struggle

2009-02-04T12:10:00.000+08:00

There's nothing more fitting as a first post than a feature on my favorite book, Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

This novel by Louis de Bernières is set in the pre-WWII era. It tells of the story of a community in the small Greek island of Cephalonia. It centers on the life of a Pelgaia Iannis, a fiercely independent and loving daughter of a well-loved village doctor, and the apple of the eye of Mandras, a Cephalonian fisherman of simple means.

Despite the idyllic and oftentimes funny going-ons in this small island, there was a sudden tension in the when the Italian forces found their way to their remote village, getting ready to heighten their forces for the upcoming war.

Captain Antonio Corelli is the officer-in-charge of the Italian regiment that settled in the heart of Cephalonia. Polite and cultured Antonio Corelli could not understand the vehemence of the villagers. The tension runs thick as Greek and Italian cultures clash and the people of Cephalonia treat the soldiers with as much disdain as they could muster.

Despite his military position, Corelli is a musician at heart and an extremely talented mandolin player who loves nothing more than to strum his instrument to his heart's desire. Captain Corelli crosses path with the lovely Pelgaia, as he lives in the village doctor's house by forced means. And despite the difficulties and trials between them, Pelgaia and Corelli fall in love.

Their affair lasted for a lifetime, struggling against a great world war and complicated their union because of their allegiances to their own countries. The war ravages the entire world, and especially the small whimsical village of Cephalonia. Corelli and Pelgaia's love are tested by great and incessant life-shattering events.

It is history at a level that readers will be able to understand. Captain Corelli's Mandolin simply unearths lives and stories on different levels, as it is a story of love and a brutal tale of war at the same time.