Coffeespoons

from Jonathan Bass This is the last week of January, and I have not finished one single book since the year started. In total, it's been 26 days since I've actually finished a book. I mention this because, in the last couple of years, going this long without finishing a book is highly unusual for me. Usually, at this point, I'd pick up a short YA read or a graphic novel and have done with my guilt of going so long without finishing anything. Except that this time, I strangely have no guilt. "What book are you reading?," you might ask. Well, obviously from the blog title, I'm in the middle of Wolf Hall . Smack in the middle of this 650 page tome. But no, it is not the book's fault. Funnily, a couple of weeks ago, I was telling a friend that I was reading Wolf Hall and finding it awesome. I said that, thus far, it seems to be the most readable Booker prize winner I've read. Which puzzled her, because it was taking me forever to get through. I was...

A year ago today, I started this blog. And though I've had blogging ups and downs, I've always been proud and happy to be a book blogger, mainly because of the great community. One thing I'm especially proud of is that I have a lot of countrymen who are also book bloggers. Some of them I know personally, while others I only know through their blog. However, regardless of how I know them and whether I agree with them, I love reading what they have to say about books So, this is me turning my nose up at those who say that the Philippines is not a reading nation. A few weeks ago, I read an article written by one of our premier writers  (I was clued in by another fellow Filipino blogger ). For the most part, I agree with it. Except for this part: The university presses — particularly Ateneo , the University of Santo Tomas , and the University of the Philippines — are producing an avalanche of excellent titles. And so are the commercial presses — Anvil , New Day , and indi...

( What is a 555 Review ?) Read: 7 August 2009 How I got it… bought it, brand new Why I read it… I think I first became a fan of Christopher Moore by just reading the blurb for this book, without having even read any of his books yet. For the record, though, this is the second Moore I've read.  When I finally read one of his books, Bloodsucking Fiends , I wasn't disappointed. What's the story? Charlie Asher, described as a "beta-male," is all set to have a wonderful life with his beloved wife and their newly born daughter. But, as luck (or fate) would have it, Charlie's wife dies soon after giving birth. Strangely, Charlie sees a tall man in a green suit standing beside his wife on her deathbed; the man is surprised that Charlie can see him, because no one else apparently can. Soon, Charlie finds people dying around him, while objects around them start glowing red; Charlie has become the newest Death Merchant--tasked with retrieving and keeping ...

Kinda late on this one. My only excuse is that I think I got tired from spending roughly 16 hours working on my blog and reading blogs, and generally spending time in front of the laptop last Friday and Saturday, that I took a long break from my blog on Sunday. Anyway, here's what I've been able to accomplish for this Bloggiesta : replaced my header so that my face is no longer there.:) placed tabs on top of the blog for easier navigation updated my Reviews sorted by Author and Reviews sorted by Title posts removed the sorted reviews from right column and placed them as two of the tabs consolidated all my reading challenges into one post, which may be accessed through the tab on top cleaned up and organized my Google reader backed-up my blog replaced a few dead links from old posts got a gravatar I'm pretty happy with this list. Though I didn't get to finish all the tasks I originally listed, who's to say I can't continue? Yeah, I discovered Blog...

A few posts ago, I mentioned books I'm looking forward to this 2010 . Well, the Guardian gives us more books to look forward to in the first six months of the year. From this long list, I'm especially looking forward to Diana Wynne Jones' Enchanted Glass , Markus Zusak's Fighting Ruben Wolfe , Ian McEwan's Solar , and Marilyn Chin's Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen . Speaking of upcoming books, here's another one that has an interesting concept-- memoirs in six words. Ever since I saw it, been trying to come up with mine. How's this--"Had a life before discovering internet"? Heard about that Warren Beatty biography that reveals he slept with 12,775 women? Well, here's a hilarious parody-- A Reading Slut's Confession . So, how many books have you slept with? Oh, and because I'm seriously worried about storage issues for my books (my house can only really have so many bookshelves), here's some advice from some authors and a bookst...

So, it's been almost 24 hours since I started my bloggiesta, and I estimate around 6 of those hours, I spent fixing my blog. I'm still not done with everything I'd like to do (ah, will I ever be done?), but here's what I've accomplished so far Catch up on last year's reviews. Fix and update my right column. Partly done Clean up my tags. Improve my banner. Done Get a better background. Organize my archive page. Done Get a gravatar and a favicon. Gravatar - Done Put tabs on top of the blog for easier navigation. Done Not bad, if I do say so myself. After posting this, I actually plan to improve the tabs on top of the blog. My hubby helped me figure out how to create links within an image so that the tabs can be in the banner itself. So fun to finally learn how to do stuff.:) Though I haven't officially joined any mini-challenge yet, I have been checking all of them out. And these are the ones that I've unofficially "joined." Challenges from last ...

And it's finally Bloggiesta! I was supposed to go to the mall to do some shopping, but decided to forego that and enjoy the next few hours working on my blog. It's Bloggiesta, after all; the mall's always there.:) Ok, for those who aren't part of bloggiesta, but are curious enough to find out what's going on (in case you might want to join next time), here's the starting post from Maw Books Blog . I tell ya, the links to the old mini-challenges are good stuff. In my previous post, I listed down stuff I wanted to do for my blog, but, since I started checking out other Bloggiesta participants, I think I'll add this: putting tabs on top of the blog for easier navigation For fellow Bloggiesta party-ers, enjoy! I know I will.:) Oh, and feel free to leave comments on what you think I could work on for my blog. Now, I'm off to fix my right column and work on my banner...

When the first Bloggies ta happened, I was newer to the blogging scene and was merely lurking through Maw Books Blog . But I did follow the posts, and I got good tips about fixing up my blog. At that time, too, I was more or less freelancing, so there were days I'd spend around 8 hours or so just tinkering around with my blog or blog-hopping. Kinda like a mini-bloggiesta just for me. Well, this time around, I figured I'd officially join the Bloggiesta 2nd edition , scheduled for January 8-10. I even have my nachos and salsa ready.:) One thing I really enjoy about book blogging is the wonderful community, so I like taking part in community activities such as this. And, of course, I do need to work on a lot of things on my blog. Here's a list of things I need to do, though I'm keeping my options open because I've a feeling I'll get good ideas during the bloggiesta itself: Catch up on last year's reviews. Fix and update my right column. Clean up my tags. And h...

Read: 4 August 2009 I'd been dreaming of buying this book for a while, but kept putting it off. I love vampire stories, and the blurb of this hooked me--"Bram Stoker meets Mark Twain." Fortunately, I got it in one of our book club book swaps, courtesy of Peter . Capt. Abner Marsh, Fevre Dream 's main character, used to be a prosperous steamboat captain and owner, but no longer. Due to some disasters, he lost his fleet of boats. One day, he is approached by Joshua York, a mysterious gentleman who offers him enough money to build the grandest boat the Mississippi has seen, with certain conditions. Joshua wants to co-captain the boat, though the daily running of the steamship will be left to Abner. Periodically, Joshua might have peculiar requests, which are to be obeyed at all times and never questioned. The temptation of a boat grander and faster than what currently plies the Mississippi pushes Abner to agree to Joshua's requests. And so the Fevre Dream is built, n...

If you read my 2010 reading list , you probably noticed that there are quite a few tomes in there. So, one of the challenges it makes sense for me to join is the Chunkster Reading Challenge , hosted this year by caribousmom . There are three levels to the challenge, and because I've always been a voracious eater, I'm signing up for the third level: Mor-book-ly Obese - This is for the truly out of control chunkster. For this level of challenge you must commit to 6 or more chunksters OR three tomes of 750 pages or more. You know you want to.....go on and give in to your cravings. Yep, I'm real good at giving in to my cravings. So, culling from my original reading list, here are the books I intend to read for the Chunkster Challenge: A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (1474 pp.) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (822 pp.) Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake (511 pp.) Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham (700 pp.) The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor ...

( What is a 555 Review? ) Read: 18 July 2009 How I got it… Bought it, from the local second-hand bookstore chain Why I read it… I read 1/3 of Paul Auster's New York Trilogy (City of Glass), and I loved it. I wanted to see if Auster is really as good as I think he is. Bottom line: he is. What's the story? David Zimmer, a literature professor who lost his family in a tragic accident, is also about to lose himself through depression. He rediscovers laughter and, consequently, life when he watches a silent film comedian called Hector Mann. He dedicates himself to writing the definitive book on Hector Mann, an underrated comedic genius who mysteriously disappeared back in 1929; at the same time, he also undertakes a translation of Chateaubriand's work, Mémoires d'outre-tombe , which he entitles Memoirs of a Dead Man . When his Hector Mann book gets published and gains acclaim, he receives a letter from a woman who claims to be the wife of Hector Mann; she says that Mann is...

There are a couple of things I feel I need to do, book-wise, before I can finally lay 2009 to rest. This is one of them. I gave a reckoning of my year already, and greeted everyone for the new year, but I've yet to post my best reads for 2009. Unfortunately, I'm not as imaginative as some of the other book bloggers who had fantastic categories for their "Best of" lists. Instead, I'm just going to go with the classic top 10, something which I also had to do for the 50-Book Challenge Shelfari group . By the way, don't go to the Top 10 Reads of 2009 thread in that group if you're already worried about your growing TBR; reading different people's lists will only worsen the TBR situation. You have been warned.;-P Anyway, of the 100 books I read in 2009, these are my top 10 reads. I had to work hard to whittle it down to 10, but, for good or for ill, here they are, in the order in which I read them: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood Housekeeping by Maril...

Read: 6 July 2009 I'm a big fan of The Bard. It all started when I saw Mel Gibson as Hamlet. How ironic is that? Anyway, the time I saw Mel Gibson's Hamlet, I was also into my "classic mode," which meant that I read a lot of classics at the time. For fun and of my own choice, not because I was required to. So, it was no big leap for me to decide to read Hamlet , for leisure. And although now I feel that Gibson overacted as Hamlet, I was initially drawn in by the beauty of Hamlet's death scene and the highly oedipal interpretation of the Closet scene. From Hamlet , I jumped to Romeo and Juliet (which I did not like as much, and still don't, romance notwithstanding). Then to Taming of the Shrew-- this time, thanks to the Moonlighting version (does anyone else still remember that series? By Jove, I loved Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd in it!). By then, I had graduated from college and started teaching. I decided to teach Midsummer Night's Dream to the jun...

2010 is the year when I will take up again and finally finish A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. 2010 is the year when I will pare my TBR to a mere one row or less on my main book shelf. 2010 is the year when I will once again take on those book lists I started keeping track of some years ago, and get some substantial mileage in. I like a challenge, but I’m wary of officially joining reading challenges. Not for anything, but knowledge of myself. I know that I can go berserk just joining challenges that I like the sound of, then feel immensely depressed when I find myself unable to keep up with the challenge. Also, sometimes I feel limited by a reading challenge. For instance, I only really kept track of my quantity reading challenge because I knew I could decide which books I wanted to read. I didn’t feel limited by a specific genre or author or whatever. So, it took me a while to figure out what my reading goals this year would be and which ...

I've often felt guilty about the size of my TBR, so this is the perfect challenge this 2010 to alleviate my guilt. Miz B is hosting the 2010 TBR Challenge , and it's a beautifully simple challenge. All you have to do is pick 12 books that have been languishing on your TBR for six months or longer and commit to reading them this year. You can also come up with an alternate list of 12 other books, in case you really don't feel like reading a book from your original list. I'm excited to knock off at least 12 books from my TBR this year, so here's my list: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster The Sea by John Banville Titus Groan by Mer...