Il Dolce Far Niente, Part Uno

The title has been obviously inspired by Eat Pray Love, the most recent film I've watched. It's the time of the year where I usually feel so lazy. Blame it on the intermittently slow workload, holiday spirit and, horror of all horrors, a major bus strike? Oh well. One sure-fire way of cheering myself up is to take a peek at my camera and sort things out. That being said, I noticed my drafts have piled up and I don't want to be buried in a mountain of drafts, do I? So, here goes another random post from two weekends ago.

One of my quirks is to try new things, relatively speaking. So when my officemate and I were homeward bound one night, we tried this coffee & hot choco vendo machine near Ayala MRT just because.

The news literally came alive in Manila Bulletin 3D edition. Some images are best viewed using the 3D glasses.

General rule: I dread deep-fried food. But the rule admits of an exception - Twistix potato! As a certified cheese lover, I had my crunchy and uniquely shaped potato sprinkled with lotsa cheese.

Twistix potato is the best when paired with peppermint mocha frap! Trust me on this. This is an unhealthy breakfast combo but it isn't a crime to deviate from health standards once in a while, right?

I can't imagine my weekends without going to Booksale. It's a foolproof way to keep me sane in this phase called "the sweetness of doing nothing".

I never really produced a sane idea when I'm dead tired from doing nothing at the office, thus I captured all these random stuff.

Trip to: Booksale (Ver. 2)

When: September 25, 2010

Last Thursday night, an officemate, who is a fellow bookworm, tagged me in her Facebook status which goes like this:  

Super sale at Booksale - dela costa. Got 3 titles for only P20 each. [Ms (my name)  go na!]

A sudden surge of adrenaline pumped my bookworm veins upon reading it. So I made a mental note to go to that particular Booksale branch the next day, which is Friday. However, I cancelled that much-awaited trip sometime in the middle of Friday afternoon due to a very entertaining singing contest at our office. I consoled myself that I can always visit the Shopwise Arcade branch in Cubao because it's much nearer to our house. True enough, I wasn't disappointed. After patiently peering at the titles on book shelves, I finally settled on these four (4) books.

Total cost: Php 100 only

The four books are:

1) Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

2) The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama

3) Are You Somebody: The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman by Nuala O'Faolain 

4) Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

I was and still am giddy with happiness with this book haul of mine. I recently finished reading the books I bought at the MIBF. As always, I'm looking forward to more interesting and cheapskate finds at Booksale. :)

Booksale

Shopwise Arcade, Araneta Center

The 31st Manila International Book Fair

When: September 15-19, 2010

I've never seen a lot of books in my entire life until last Saturday when we (BF & I = inseparable) went to the 31st Manila International Book Fair in SMX Convention Center. An obvious exception would be big libraries in big universities, that is. However, this is by far the biggest book fair I've witnessed. From law books to medical books to fiction bestsellers to kiddie books to Precious Hearts Romances (PHR) paperbacks... Hahaha! :) Every genre imaginable!

A souvenir shot

 A candid fact about me is that I've passed through a stage in my semi-bibliophile life wherein I read and collected Valentine Romances and PHR. Yes, funny but true. In mid-1990's, I felt it was almost mandatory for me to actually read those Pinoy love stories since I had to learn the Tagalog language as casual as I can. Imagine this, I was only a minor then and yet I was confronted with Pinoy romance which, I think, almost equaled Mills and Boon and countless historical romance titles. That stage only contributed a lot of idealism (note my sarcasm here) to my search of love. Cheesy, eh? I couldn't thank myself enough for a successful au revoir from cheesy and unrealistic story lines called romance. So, the on-going Martha Cecilia's Kristine series on primetime TV isn't actually new to my ears. Gosh.

Okay, so we went to the book fair and the most populated area is the National Bookstore. Why not? The largest bookstore chain offered a 20% discount on all titles, even the new ones. Amazing. I was tempted to grab them all, but I can wait for my birthday. To you-know-who, you know what I mean! :)

With one of Rex Bookstore's mascots

Just beside National Bookstore is my other favorite publishing company (really huh?!) which goes by the name of Rex! All law books are being sold with 5% discount. Anyway, I bought two interesting books from NB. Pretty cheap.

Book haul: The Way We Were: Remembering Diana by Paul Burrell (Php 100) and The Gospel of Judas (Php 50)

I love to read anything about Princess Di. I even cried when she died. I picked this controversial account about The Gospel of Judas because it reminded me how head-over-heels in love I was with Dan Brown's Angel & Demons and Da Vinci Code. :)

Trip to: Booksale (Ver. 1)

One thing that thrills me is a trip to Booksale. Yes, it's my secret retail therapy. Not a secret anymore, I guess. Whenever I feel sad or when something didn't turn out right, I'd seek refuge in the printed pages of a book. If it's food, then that would be emotional eating already. Anyhoo, I have no specific genre in mind. As long as the book -

(a) carries an interesting topic - which, I think, is subjective, or 

(b) is tagged as bestseller or has an award-winning author, or 

(c) is priced way much lower than its first bookstore appearance; or

(d) AOTA -

I'd buy it right away. What follows is a souvenir shot of my recent book haul. I'm hoping for more to follow.

(a) The Greenhaven Press Literary Companion to British Literature: Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

(b) The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller

(c) Dingers!: A Short Story of the Long Ball by Peter Keating

(d) A Matter of Character: Inside the White House of George W. Bush by Ronald Kessler

(e) The Plot Against Social Security: How The Bush Plan is Endangering Our Financial Future by Michael A. Hiltzik

(f) My Sergei: A Love Story by Ekaterina Gordeeva with E.M. Swift

(g) Pat Nixon: The Untold Story by Julie Nixon Eisenhower

Worthy to note is that I only spent Php 195 for these 7 books. Such a steal, right? Booksale, a cheapskate bookworm heaven, really makes reading affordable. :)

Booksale
Shopwise Arcade, Araneta Center

Nancy Drew: America's Favorite Sleuth & Mine Too!

If there's one thing I'm candidly pleased about my younger years, then it's my being a big Nancy Drew fan. Oh yes, I have read all the 56 volumes of  The Nancy Drew Mysteries Classic Hardcover Series - from The Secret of the Old Clock to The Thirteenth Pearl. I started sometime in Grade 4, patiently asking the school librarian when will the next hardcover be available. I was that persistent to ask and wait back then. When I reached sophomore high, I checked off all the titles in the list! Then the Nancy Drew Case Files paperbacks became more popular.

 As a pre-teen, I looked up to Nancy Drew as my role model. This daring heroine is ever brave in every face of danger and unafraid to be both feminine and smart. And now, I find this very nostalgic to write an entry about my favorite sleuth. When I was looking for some worthy reads in Booksale, I found this book and bought the same off the bat. The illustrations of the book and the sprinkles of  trivia throughout were more than enough to bring me back to the childhood days spent reading Nancy books.

I dreamed about this so many times, knowing in the back of my mind that I would probably never actually make a big deal out of it, because the great value of being a bookworm instilled in me by my mother pulses through me too prominently. With this, I thank Nancy Drew for all the values she had managed to instill in my young mind back then, save for my very own blunders. LOL!

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

I never thought I would find this novel an interesting read. For one, I bought this on sale which made me doubt the quality of its plot. But I was never the type who would judge a novel by how a writer moves within the plot. Everytime I read a book, I have two grand expectations:

1. I expect the writer to write in an interesting manner (crisp and smart writing, that is) without compromising the main goal of the plot; and 
2. I expect the writer to eventually inspire me via his/her writing style and the superbness of the novel's message.

With her bestseller novel The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd fulfilled my parameters.

Her writing style is admirable I was inspired until the last page of the novel. As I leaf  through the pages, the element of surprise was constantly there. The story was set in South Carolina in 1964, but Kidd managed to strike a balance between country style writing* and the contemporary stuff. And of course, the bees! It was very creative of Kidd to let these honey makers contribute so much to the story. I have not seen the film version but, come hell or high water, I will.

And with # 2, the message was crystal clear. No matter where or how you search for or understand your own biological mother, you can always find one in strangers. The sense of belonging respects no color or race. I think the classic issue of racial discrimination only plays a supporting role in this novel. Plus, the fact that Lilly Owens (14-year-old strong girl) is undergoing the usual enemies of adolescence only makes the novel a page-turner.

*If there's country music, then let there be country style writing too. LOL!

Cheap Thrills in Life Series: New Books

Thump-thump-thump. That's the sound of my heart when I entered Booksale store in Shopwise Arcade in Cubao this morning. My heart did a somersault, big mental grin flashed behind my mind and childlike excitement filled me upon seeing lotsa books there. Never mind the fact that I didn't find James Patterson's thrillers.

So here are my latest reading pleasures:

Sue Monk Kidd's bestsellers: The Secret Life of Bees (Php 115) and The Mermaid Chair (Php 70)... Amazing!

 

Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights,(Php 145), Robert James Waller's Old Songs in a New Cafe (Php 35) and Rebecca Wells' Divine Secrets of Ya-Ya Sisterhood (Php 20)

And last but not the least, a tribute to the courtroom drama fan in me... Reel Justice: The Courtroom Goes to the Movies (Php 75).

James Patterson's 4th of July

This is my last James Patterson novel on hand but it keeps me craving for more. Now, it keeps me craving for Women's Murder Club series. I think this is the upshot of my being a Nancy Drew fan in my younger years. I'm officially a Lindsay Boxer  fan, and I aim to buy all her thrillers in no particular order. I think it all boils down to their availability in thrift bookstores in the metro.

1. 1st to Die
2. 2nd Chance
3. 3rd Degree
4. 4th of July 
5. The 5th Horseman
6. The 6th Target
7. 7th Heaven
8. The 8th Confession 
9. The 9th Judgment (available in stores on April 26th according to JP's website)

I hope to catch all of them.

Feeding Frenzy + JP Novel = Happiness

Lazy afternoon goodies

It's one day after Christmas. No work, obviously, since it's Saturday. I'm too lazy to go out and watch any of Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) entries. So as a bookworm/foodie, I found my little corner of the world with another James Patterson book (Judge and Jury this time) and some yummy treats for my own feeding frenzy. As seen in the random shot, I had a bit of  the following:

1. Royce Black Chocolate. It's supposed to be my gift to Mama, but the latter gave her go-signal to devour the choc'lit.
2. Shamrock's Otap. Pasalubong from my lolo. Shamrock's truly the home of Cebu's finest otap.
3. Super cold Del Monte's Fit and Right (Four Seasons is my favorite!)
4. Goldilock's Fluffy Mamon.

All smiles! Never mind the bulges!

The Beach House

I was curious of James Patterson.

A friend once recommended this author to be part of my mainstays. I ignored the recommendation since I was very much hooked to Sheldon and Grisham back then. Masters of suspense and thriller. Mix these two ingredients and you'll find me curled up in bed the whole day. But when all Sheldon's and Grisham's works were too achingly familiar, I stopped it. Sheldon is dead anyway, and Grisham's becoming too predictable.

It's time to find a new author. The Beach House would be the start. Not bad.

I'll try to get a copy of his other thriller novels.

The Bridges of Madison County

I just finished reading this best-selling novel by Robert James Waller. If my memory serves me right, it was sometime in high school that I watched the movie based on this. It was the first movie that made me admire Meryl Streep's acting prowess. This novel brought out the hopeles romantic in me. Again. 

The love story of Robert Kincaid and Francesca Johnson inspired me a lot. Very emotional yet mind-stimulating. I could easily relate to it. I couldn't put my hands on it but there's something that tugged at my heartstrings while reading it.  

 

I had long dismissed that I should stop reading no-brainers. For me, romance fiction belongs to this category. But Bridges was an exception.

I highly recommend it for those who have fallen in love, madly and sincerely.