Required Reading 2014: March

February couldn't have flown fast enough if I wanted it to - I was too busy with the online discussion and in the preparation for the offline discussion of the book club's book of the month, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: Stories by Raymond Carver. And while it is always fun to be discussion moderator for my favorite bunch of bookish people, I can’t say that I didn’t feel just a teeny weeny bit relieved when it was done.

Apart from Carver’s book, which I had to reread for the discussion, I was able to finally (!) finish Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, which is long overdue anyway. The lone title I picked for my February reading list, The Tudors by G.J. Meyer, will be carried over to this month, as I am still reading it and currently at page 154 (23%) of the book. This is going to be another long haul, the book having 600+ pages. Another tome, I know, after Wolf Hall, but I need to follow up on this Tudor history obsession. Besides, it isn’t often that I actually pick up non-fiction, so I need to get this obsession out of my system.

On to March!

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I picked only two books for this month’s reading list:

•  A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li – From the I Dare You To Read activity over at the book club, I was dared by my good friend Benny to read this. This collection of short stories is one of his best reads for 2013, and I picked it because I figured I could use one short story or two whenever I feel saturated by the royal intrigues and such. Also, I figured I could get started on the Dare, too.

•  The Alienist by Caleb Carr – The book club’s book of the month. My sister Maria is discussion moderator, and the theme is psychological thriller.

I know I probably overshot this month’s reading list again but that’s okay. Why rush, right? :)

Book Club Discussion Mod, Take Two

Last weekend was my second time to be moderator for my book club's monthly online-and-offline book discussion. The first time I moderated a discussion was in November 2012 for Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian, supposedly with horror as theme. This time, the theme for this month's discussion is short stories, and the book club chose Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: Stories.

The other contenders for book of the month were Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies (moderator's choice), Junot Diaz's Drown, and Kazuo Ishiguro's Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall. Carver's most popular collection of short stories won in both the online and offline polls, and while it wasn't my personal choice, later on I actually felt thankful that it did win -- the stories, being highly subjective and open to interpretation, were a rich source for a stimulating discussion.

The face-to-face (or what we have coined as "F2F") discussion was held at Cafe Adriatico, Remedios Circle, Malate, Manila (when I'm F2F moderator, the choice of Manila as venue is a given) and was a well-attended affair -- I had counted 24 people, excluding myself, to be there based on the event RSVP and sign-ups for the activity that I prepared, but 27 people showed up! To be honest, I was worried that the area I reserved for our purpose might not hold our number, but thankfully, it did. But it was a huge challenge to be on top of the discussion when there are so many people wanting to talk all at the same time. We did create quite a racket that day, much to the obvious annoyance of the waitstaff.

Cover (Story) Girl + All I Want For Christmas

Cover (Story) Girl
by Chris Mariano

Boracay is one of my most favorite places on earth. It’s not just because of the beautiful beach, the lovely white sand and the breathtaking sunsets – it is also a place that holds so many memories for me and my family. I have been there several times already – the last three was with my husband and daughter – and after each visit, I always end up feeling excited and looking forward to the day when we can go back.

So when Chris Mariano, a writer who I only came to personally meet last December (but have known online since 2010), fellow Sweet Dreams reader/collector and an alumna of Mina V. Esguerra’s #romanceclass last year, came out with this novella set in sunny Boracay, I just knew I had to read it. In fact, I began to read it on my family’s most recent vacation in the island last December, and was quickly drawn into the love story of local boy/Mr. Museum Gio and Korean actress Min Hee.

In a nutshell, I totally, completely adore this book. I love how it was written – I am a sucker for simple, clean prose. The exchanges between Gio and Min Hee, more particularly the romantic ones, completely did me in. (I will never forget "One for coconut. One for vanilla.” – and if you want to know the scene and the context in which these were said, you have to read the book!) The story was told in the third person POV of Gio, and you don’t get to read a lot of contemporary romance novels narrated from the guy’s point of view. The characters were fun and entertaining: Gio wasn’t the typical hot, gorgeous hunk of a guy but he was charming and cute – the kind of guy you’d be proud to bring home and introduce to your mama. On the other hand, Min Hee was more frivolous and quirky, and she was perfect for Gio because she was his perfect opposite. I also love how the novella explored various facets of Boracay, providing the reader with snippets of island life and the many things it has to offer: island hopping, water activities, and of course, calamansi muffins. YUM.

The New York Trilogy

by Paul Auster

The last time I remember feeling this mentally exhausted from reading a book - a good exhaustion, mind you, if such a thing exists - was when I read George Orwell's 1984 a couple of years ago. For me, 1984 was pure intellectual calisthenics, and even if I knew I still had questions in my head when I finished reading it, it was all good. The New York Trilogy was all that, and more. Until now, months after I've read it, I'm still reeling when I recall the stories.

The New York Trilogy is composed of essentially mystery stories: City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room, separately and successively published in the foregoing order. I say "essentially" because the stories were peppered with questions, one mystery on top of another, and just as you begin to think that you have all the answers coming near the end of each story, you'll realize that you've stumbled upon yet another, bigger question - and you have no answers after all.

City of Glass started out good. Daniel Quinn, a detective-type story writer, receives a phone call meant for a certain Paul Auster, but for reasons only he knows - curiosity, boredom? - he goes and pretends that he is Paul Auster, who would turn out to be a private investigator. Quinn plays the role of Detective Auster to the hilt until he hits a snag in the course of his accepted task. What then?

Ghosts is a story about colors mixing and getting muddled and providing more confusing things to ponder about. Blue is a detective hired by White to watch Black and report everything - White even goes so far as to provide Blue an apartment with a direct and unobstructed view of Black's apartment right across the street. But somewhere in the middle of the surveillance, it would seem that the Colors are playing entirely different roles from what they were first made out to be. Are we getting warmed up yet? :)

Required Reading 2014: February

It's only the first day of the second month of the year, but to me, it feels like the new year has been around for quite a while already. But where did January go?

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Rewind to a month ago. I said I only had one book to conquer for January, and that book is none other than Hilary Mantel's Man Booker-winning work, Wolf Hall, the first in the Thomas Cromwell Trilogy. While I must admit that I am still reading it right now (200+ pages to go out of 600+!), it's because I'm buddy-reading it with several friends at the book club and we've agreed to read portions of it at a specific time - more or less a hundred pages per week. Since the book is around 600 pages long and we started on the first week of January, my reading will then be extended up until February. There's absolutely no problem with that, though - for as long as I will enjoy and understand the book, I don't mind taking the time to read it.

But I also managed to finish reading two short books in January:

• Project 17 by Eliza Victoria - My favorite Filipino author's most recent release. Very Orwellian in concept. 4/5.

• Oh, The Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss - My daughter's first Seuss - mine as well, hehe. 5/5.

Now on to the month's required reading list!

My sole book for reading this month was inspired by my current obsession over Tudor history, which, in turn, was piqued by my Wolf Hall reading.

Part of the reason why I was having a difficult time reading Wolf Hall, I realize now, is the fact that I barely know anything about Tudor history. So I decided to buy history books to dig up on the subject, knowing that it would be interesting (from Wolf Hall alone, the Tudor story already sounds intriguing!). On one visit to a favorite bookstore, I chanced upon a copy of this book and never let go - especially with a 20% discount to entice me. And this month, it will be for my consumption.

Star the Slytherin Bear and G.J. Meyer's The Tudors

• The Tudors by G.J. Meyer -  If there's any non-fiction I would read, it would have to be something from history. I plan to drink up as much as I can on Tudor history because duh, royal intrigue! :D I'm totally devouring this all month - after I'm done with my reread of Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: Stories, the discussion of which I'm moderating soon. And um, yeah, Wolf Hall. Of course. ;)

What are you reading this month? :)

F2F26 Activities

As this month's F2F moderator for the book club, I am excited for this first activity that I have lined up for my bookish friends.

Activity #1: The F2F26 Post-Valentine Exchange

Our first activity for F2F26 involves Valentine and gifts/tokens. (view spoiler) Nothing cheesy here guys, so read on before you groan or roll your eyes at me. :P

How does it work?
The participants in this activity are required to bring three Valentine tokens for three friends, and (hopefully) receive three Valentine tokens in return. Why three? Just to make sure that everyone gets at least one – some people may confirm their attendance at the F2F and then back out at the last minute, so we don’t want anyone to go home empty-handed.

Mechanics?
(1) First, GO TO THIS PAGE and SIGN UP no later than February 12, Wednesday. EDIT: You can write your answers to the last question on the same field as the one with your favorite items. :D
(2) On Valentine’s Day, February 14, those who signed up will receive a message from me with the names of the three friends they will give Valentine tokens to.
(3) The Valentine exchange will happen on February 22, the F2F26, after the discussion.

What sort of token should I bring?
Anything goes – use your imagination! Anything made/created by you would be especially lovely, but if you don’t have the time or creative juices to put something together, you can buy something special instead, and embellish (or not, it’s still okay). It could be as simple as a note or a Valentine card with a short message, as sweet as a jar of homemade cookies or a slice of store-bought cake, or as generous as a brand-new book or a gift certificate from a favorite bookstore. If you’re the scrapbooking or artsy-fartsy type, you won’t run out of ideas. You can get ideas from the short questionnaire that everyone filled up in the sign-up form. Be creative! For as long as it’s made/bought with love, it’s good to go.

What else do I need to know?
Deadline for filling up the form is on Feb 12, absolutely no extensions. Please also make sure that you will be present at the F2F. This is the reason why I’m announcing it as early as today – so that you guys can take note and clear your schedule, and make up your mind about going.