Coffeespoons

Read: 4/18/09 5/5 stars! It has taken me a month to actually blog about this book. Why? Because after reading it, I was so astounded and, plainly, just in love with it that I could not write about it or did not know where to start. I did not think I had the words to do justice to how much I fell in love with the book. But given how much I really want to share the merits of this book with everyone, permit me then to talk about this book in a way that will in no way capture it's impact for me but at least give you an idea of what I loved about it and why. The King's English is the name of an independent bookstore in Salt Lake City, Utah. The owner, Betsy Burton, put it up back in 1975 with a business partner. And though Ms. Burton has a different business partner now, The King's English still stands and holds its own against the big-chain bookstores and dot-coms dominating the bookselling market today. So, yes, it's a non-fiction book. And as a testament to how much I lov...

I came across this blog of a fellow high school teacher, msmazzola . As an English teacher myself and blog-experimenter, I'd like to heartily support her research project . So, here are my answers to her senior project meme. More power to you, msmazzola. Perhaps we can exchange teaching notes one day.:) 1. How long have you been blogging? I started blogging only January of this year, 2009. 2. Why did you start blogging? I set up a blog because I really wanted to talk about books I had read. I had recently joined a very active book club here in the Philippines that whetted my appetite for talking more about books with other book-lovers. I figured that, aside from the face-to-face discussions we had, there were other venues that I could use to talk about my passion. I slowly discovered blogging through the other book club members, too. So, given that I had time to blog, as i was on study leave, I started blogging. 3. What have you found to be the benefits of blogging? Whereas ...

Read: 5/11/09 5/5 stars Why am I reading Peter Pan ? Two simple reasons: (1) I hadn't read it before, and (2) I was looking for an intelligent and short read. Albeit it took me around a week and a half to get through this short book, mostly it was due to work pressures that prevented me from getting much reading done. And in the short bits that I was able to snatch some time to read Peter Pan , what astounded me is how charming this book is and a distant, distant contrast to perhaps any movie or play adaptation I had seen. Granted, the movie adaptations I had seen were cute and charming in themselves, evoking a mischievous Pan. But Barrie's book shows a highly intelligent treatment of his characters. Pan isn't just a mischievous boy who refuses to grow up. In his sense of fun and adventure is a certain ruthlessness, simply because he is a child. Interestingly, though, Pan is extremely compelling, even if he is heartless. His heartlessness isn't borne out of malice, but ...

TEASER TUESDAYS is a weekly event, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading , where you ‘tease’ others with a little bit from the book you’re currently reading, making them want to read it, too! Feel free to play along! You simply... My teaser: "But from true literature, we mustn't ever cower, not in Boston. And we shall not now" The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl, page 17

I have been out for the past week and a half, travelling around the country and doing work-related stuff. And the work's not done yet... I leave again tonight and will most likely not have time to access the net for leisure in the next 4 days. The surprising thing is, next to my children and my family, the thing I miss most, albeit a distant second, is surfing through the net and blogging! Sadly, I haven't been able to sneak in any reading time, either, so I won't really have much to blog about. Nevertheless, in case some people are wondering where I am--I'm around, mostly in the real world. Though I have to say, once in a while, my life feels incomplete without my connection to the cyberworld. :) Anyway, I hope to soon resume my book blogging activities. Enough with the real world for a while.