Coffeespoons

Libreria last day party. (photo courtesy of Rhett ) Libreria. Where we ate, danced, slept, wrote, scavenged, hobnobbed with writers, spilled drinks, raised hell, got drunk, and oh yes, read, for a year and a half, closed its doors last Saturday. The closing of indie bookstores isn't as alarming in this country, but the closing of this particular indie bookstore is. Because it was our haven, refuge, our treehouse, our clubhouse. And I don't just mean for my book club . It was home, too, to the Filipino Book Bloggers . It was a place we could go to geek out about books and feel like we belonged. So though it was around only for a little while, it has inspired a loyalty in us. Owner and proprietor, Triccie, finally decided to close shop because her work necessitated that she be in a different province for several days in the week and because the bookstore stopped earning money. And I keep thinking that I wish I had enough money to keep the place as it is--a venue for book...

I didn't finish House of Mirth in time for our book discussion last Saturday. When I stepped into the venue, I had only read up to 72% of my ebook. So I was thinking of keeping quiet as I hadn't finished the book (though I did know the ending), but then I'm not the kind who keeps quiet in any kind of discussion. It was interesting that many people from the club identified Lily Bart as a gambler. I didn't see that at all. I mean, sure, she had gambling debts. But you don't really see her engage in gambling in the novel. Being the romantic kind, I pegged her as a rebel. The poor girl seemed to want to get away from the kind of life she was weaned into. Though at the same time, she knows that she'll always value money and beauty highly. Nevertheless, though she had a great number of opportunities to finally marry someone to secure her future, she never saw any plan through. And though she could've fought dirty like many of the people in her set, she never ...

Gillian Anderson as Lily Bart. I did not know about this. ( img src ) So I'm cramming my reading of The House of Mirth. In time for my book club 's discussion this Saturday. I'm at 10% so far in my ebook. And so far, I'm thinking this girl Lily Bart is sassy and perhaps an early version of the gals in Sex and the City. With the City but minus the sex. Unless I'm proven wrong, that is. On the work front, I'm pretty proud of the two webinars we held a couple of weeks ago. The first one was on the basics of ebook publishing . That was me. But the second one was more of the technical stuff in making ebooks . Our three production experts did that. Proud of the webinars because, well, I used to be a teacher. So I'm into educating and stuff. And because I think we had fun. So, hooray, am no longer a webinar virgin! Speaking of which, if any of you guys want to try webinars (both holding and attending them), I highly recommend the guys from Mayer Virtual C...

It's Coffeespoons' 3rd birthday! Three years ago, on this date, I made the first post of this blog live. I always have a certain fondness for that post whenever I read it. It's not one of those things I write that I cringe at (I have a lot of those), mostly because it was honest and I like the sense of history. I started this blog because I was bored and because I love reading. Now, I am no longer bored. Haven't been for a long time. And I still love reading. In my last 2 blogiversaries, it was my custom to outline my advocacies for the year, whether I realized it or not. If you care to check back on my  first  and  second  year anniversary posts, you'll see that it was always about reading and the Filipino reader. That hasn't changed yet. So, this year, I hope I can do more to help push reading and readers in this group of islands where I'm from. This blog, which was meant only to allow me to share my love for reading, has been good to me. I know ...

Ulysses wordle ( img src ) Early this year, during a conversation on Twitter, Jaclyn of a book diary and I decided that we'd have a read-along. I'd never done one before and I thought it might be fun. Besides, I figure that, sometime during the year, I'd need this push in my reading. And so, Jaclyn suggested Ulysses. Perfect, really, since I only went as far as the second page long in my previous readings of the work. We decided we'd check in on each other every 16th of the month, since Bloomsday, the day in celebration of Joyce and Ulysses, happens on June 16. I do not take credit for this idea. To be honest, I stole it from dovegreyreader who ran a Ulysses read-along almost 3 years ago. So, this is the first check-in. Frankly, I'm 6 pages into the text. However, I did read the introduction and the publication history. Around 3 or 4 years ago, I took a course called History of the Book. One of the most fascinating examples of a book with an intricate...

Summary "Madeleine Hanna breaks out of her straight-and-narrow mold when she falls in love with charismatic loner Leonard Bankhead, while an old friend resurfaces, obsessed with the idea that Madeleine is his destiny." - from NPR.org The good stuff It started with the books. And it went on and on with books. The Marriage Plot is replete with references to books. We catch the three main characters, Madeleine, Leonard, and Mitchell, in college and the first year out of it, and much mention is made of their reading material. In fact, two of the characters fall in love precisely because of books, and the other one in the triangle uses his readings and scholarship as a crutch for his unrequited love. However, it is Madeleine's reading list that speaks the most to me, since she loves the narrative and considers herself a "Victorianist," a specialization I would also love to have. (Just to show how much I enjoyed the books, see the list compiled below.) I on...

My new Kindle Touch. Forgive the sucky picture. It was night, I was using my iPad camera, and I really take sucky pictures. I work in digital publishing. So, though I have my own trusty Kindle 3, now being rebranded as the Kindle Keyboard, I was issued today with this new office equipment. Yep, the Kindle Touch. Of course, I did a little happy dance inside.:) I've been giving the Touch a test run, and here's what I found so far... The Good: It's smaller and lighter. I can secure it with a numerical code. There seem to be more setting options. It's easier to transfer books into folders or collections. It's touch screen! The Not-so-good: The screen is deep, so there's a slight shadow on whichever side the light comes from, and it's a bit distracting. (In the picture, check out the shadow on the right edge of the screen. Sorry, I'm a nitpicker.) The keys on the screen are small. Even if the keys on the Kindle 3 are small, too, at le...