open house

Why do you like reading? And what’s the best book you’ve ever read? Only one book.

I like reading because I think it’s the cheapest entertainment available to me (I once bought a book from a bargain bin for five pesos) with the greatest possible reward. I also read to learn, and to improve my writing.

Just the one book? Ah, you’re harsh. It’s just impossible to choose one, but if you insist, I’ll say Joshua Ferris’s THEN WE CAME TO THE END. But of course there are others. I’ve read a lot of books (and intend to read more, hundreds more) and I’m fortunate enough to fall in love with many of them.

Thanks for dropping by, Stranger.

hi! are you still studying french? or are you currently enrolled at alliance de manille?

Hello!

Oh, I’m afraid I’m not enrolled at Alliance. I did enroll last year, but had to withdraw because they changed the schedule at the last minute and it overlapped with my work sched.

What website do you spend the most time on?

Oh dear, probably Twitter. Does that make me shallow? It does, doesn’t it?

How many countries have you traveled to?

None, sadly. I don’t own a passport just yet. And I lack the funds.

What did you eat for breakfast today?

Oatmeal. And that will be my answer tomorrow. And the day after. Because my life is horrible.

If you won a million dollars what would you do with it?

Buy a house. If I get me my own place and put a stop to my renting days, then I’ll probably – PROBABLY – start acting like an adult. Haha.


Got a question?

twisted 8 1/2

  1. Ooh littol shiny black book! With pictures of cats!
  2. I enjoy reading about gadgets and how they compare with the dinosaur age as much as the next person, but there were too many product reviews here. I want to read essays, not ad copies.(Though to be fair to Zafra, she makes an effort to make her product reviews personal by adding anecdotes.)
  3. I wished there were more movie reviews, or reviews of plays, etc. The book is loaded with gadgets, gadgets, coffee maker, gadgets.
  4. I wished the essays had dates.
  5. Still, a handful of interesting pieces here. I especially liked that essay about the streets of the metro. (Bwenja! Hell Poyat ! Bwenja! Hell Poyat!)
  6. But there were funnier posts on her blog. *whine*  I wished she included those.

The Mighty Reading List!

Hunger Games

The Unnamed

Catching Fire

Mockingjay

We Are All Welcome Here

The Year of Fog

The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint

Notes on Extinction

Wild Mind

The Spooky Art

on the side: Twisted 8 1/2, Storm of Swords, Scott Pilgrim, PSF V (last few stories!), new! 100 Bullets

philippine speculative fiction iv and v

Disclaimer! I have stories in both volumes.

Writers and critics here and abroad have reviewed the fourth volume of the Philippine Speculative Fiction series, and Don Jaucian has written a review of PSF V, so I’ll keep this short: I like PSF V more than PSF IV. I was actually giddy while reading the fifth volume, excited by the new names and the sheer number of good stories that managed to make it into the book. PSF IV, unfortunately, had more misses than hits for me. There were stories that I didn’t like at all, and some of the stories I liked were just “okay”.

For PSFV IV, I couldn’t decide on my favorite story, but it would either be “The Secret Origin of Spin-Man” or “Breaking the Spell” or “The Paranoid Style”. Other stories I liked, in no particular order:

The Rooftops of Manila

The Sewing Project

The Dance of the Storm

Mang Marcing and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

A Retrospective on Diseases for Sale

Haya Makes a HUG

Sky Blue

Hopscotch

* * *

For PSF V, “Embedding” is easily my favorite. Fast and fresh and exciting. I had fun reading that story.

Other stories I liked:

A New Hospital

A Yellow Brick Road Valentine – It was an enjoyable read, but I felt the references to the Wizard of Oz were forced.

Carbon

Death and Noy

If We Catch Fire – I wasn’t too fond of the tedious back story and narration, though

Leg Men

New Toy

Sink

Strange Weather

The Creature

The Goodlyf

The Left-Behind Girl

Very Short Fairy Tales

* * *

The Mighty Reading List!

Hunger Games

The Unnamed

Catching Fire

Mockingjay

We Are All Welcome Here

The Year of Fog

The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint

Notes on Extinction

Wild Mind

The Spooky Art

on the side: Twisted 8 1/2, Storm of Swords, Scott Pilgrim, PSF V (last few stories!), new! 100 Bullets