Hello August!

It's August and it's officially the first day of the Pinoy Reading Challenge 2012. I'm extremely excited to start this challenge despite the fact that I have not finished my current read yet. But I'm hoping that I'll be able to finish Whitney, My Love today.

To be honest, I still haven't bought the books for the Pinoy Reading Challenge. Simply because I still don't know where to start. Maybe I'll start easy by reading the Trese series. Then follow it up with a book written by Rizal or one of are national artists. Looking forward to perusing the shelves of the major Manila Bookstores tonight.

Mood: Giddy Excitement ;p

List of Filipino Authors and Their Books

Below is a list of Filipino Authors that I've gathered around the net. This is an evolving list and I do not claim that it is 100% complete.

Ambeth Ocampo
Rizal: Without the Overcoat


Arlene J. Chai
Eating Fire and Drinking Water
The Last Time I Saw Mother
On the Goddess Rock


Bienvenido Santos
The Praying Man
Villa Magdalena
You, My Brother


Bo Sanchez
8 Secrets of the Truly Rich
Don't Worry, Be Happy
How to Find Your One True Love - August 4, 2012; 4-Hearts
How to Turn Thoughts into Things
How to be Really, Really, Really Happy!
You Can Make Your Life Beautiful


Bob Ong
ABNKKBSNPLAko?
Alamat ng Gubat
Ang mga Kaibigan ni Mama Susan
Ang Paboritong Libro ni Hudas
Bakit Baliktad Magbasa ng Libro ang mga Pilipino?
Kapitan Sino
Lumayo ka nga sa Akin
MACARTHUR
Stainless Longganisa


Budjette Tan
Trese #1: Murder on Balete Drive
Trese #2: Unreported Murders
Trese #3: Mass Murders
Trese #4: Last Seen After Midnight


Carlos Bulosan
America is in the Heart
The Laughter of my Father
The Cry and the Dedication
My Father's Tragedy


Edilberto K. Tiempo
Cracked Mirror
Cry Slaughter!
Farah
More Than Conquerors
The Standard Bearer
To Be Free
Watch in the Night


Edith L. Tiempo
The Alien Corn
A Blade of Fern
The Builder
His Native Coast
The Jumong
One, Tilting Leaves


F. Sionil Jose
Ben Singkol
Ermita!
Gagamba
Po-on (Dusk)
Mass
My Brother, My Executioner
The Pretenders
Sherds
Sin
Tree
Viajero
Vivora


Francisco Balagtas
Florante at Laura


Jessica Hagedorn
Charlie Chan is Dead
Chiquita Banana
Danger and Beauty
Dangerous Music
Dogeaters
Dream Jungle
The Gangster of Love
Mango Tango
Pet Food and Tropical Apparitions


Jessica Zafra
Twisted (Series)


Jose Rizal
Noli Me Tanghere
El Filibusterismo


Karen Francisco
Naermyth


Kerima Polotan Tuvera
The Hand of the Enemy


Linda Ty Casper
Awaiting Trespass
Dread Empire
Dream Eden
Fortress in the Plaza
Hazards of Distance
The Peninsulares
A Small Party in a Garden
Ten Thousand Seeds
The Three-cornered Sun
Wings of Stone


Lourd Ernest H. de Veyra
Super Panalo Sounds!
The Best of this is a Crazy Planets


Lualhati Bautista
Bata, Bata... Paano ka Ginawa?
Dekada '70
Desaparesidos
Gapo


Marisa delos Santos
Belong to Me
Love Walked In


Melisaa dela Cruz
Blue Bloods (Series)
Fresh off the Boat
The Beauchamp Family (Series)


Miguel Sijuco
Ilustrado


Mina V. Esguerra
Fairy Tale Fail
Interim Goddess of Love
Love Your Frenemies
My Imaginary Ex
No Strings Attached - August 3, 2012; 3-hearts
That Kind of Guy


N.V.M. Gonzales
The Bamboo Dancers
A Season of Grace
The Winds of April


Nick Joaquin
A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino
The Woman with Two Navels


Peter Bacho
Cebu


Ricky Lee
Amapola
Para Kay B


Samantha Sotto
Before Ever After

Zoilo Galang
A Child of Sorrow

Pinoy Reading Challenge 2012

August is just around the corner. For us Filipinos, we also know August as our "Buwan ng Wika". As such, it's just fitting that this month will be dedicated to anything and everything Filipino; Literature included.

I have to admit that I am not fond of reading Filipino literature. Somehow I made myself believe that it is reading material meant only for school work. I guess it stems from the fact that the only Filipino literature I've read are all assigned school work. Now, I find myself in need to change this aversion for Filipino literature.

If you know me, you'd know I love challenges. So, to motivate me into reading Filipino literature, I've decided to create a reading challenge revolving only Filipino literature.

"Filipino Literature refers to works written by Filipinos; whether it's written in the vernacular or not."

I'm not a fast reader. But I do know that some of you are. So, I'm setting challenge levels for this.

Level 1, Tampisaw (Wade): Finish 2 Pinoy Lit in the month of August.

Level 2, Lutang (Float): Finish 5 Pinoy Lit in the month of August.

Level 3, Langoy (Swim): Finish 10 Pinoy Lit in the month of August.

Level 4, Sisid (Swim under water): Finish 20 Pinoy Lit in the month of August.

Level 5, Lunod (Drown): Finish 40 Pinoy Lit in the month of August.

As a bonus, participants who read 10 Pinoy Lit written in the vernacular will be given the Makata Achievement Award.

The only rule for choosing reading material for this challenge is that the author should be Filipino. You may read a novel, a collection of short stories, a collection of poems, a graphic novel, a pocketbook, etc. It may be a work published locally or internationally. Your choice. Just read Filipino.

If you are interested to join, please leave a comment stating:
1. your target challenge level
2. the link to your blog post declaring your participation in the challenge
3. the link to your challenge progress page

I hope you encourage others to join this challenge by providing a link to this post. I will provide buttons for this challenge soon.


Note: Non-Filipinos are also encouraged to join the challenge.

Resource: Filipino Authors and their Works

Not Exactly a Romance Reader

Not a lot of people know that I am a hopeless romantic. I believe that true love exists. I believe that true love may never be forced. I believe that true love comes naturally.

Despite knowing that I do believe in true love and romance, I am one of those that do not dabble into reading historical romances. It irritates me to read of women who wait for a knight in shining armor, a prince, or a handsome rogue that will sweep them of their feet and take all their worries away. In my head, those things are so unrealistic. Such stories basically suggesting that a woman can never be truly happy if they do not have a man in their life.

When a friend of mine, unsolicitedly, lent me a book entitled “Whitney, My Love” by Judith McNaught. I cringed and said, ” I don’t read romance novels”. To which she replied, “Humor me and read this one.” The book has been with me for almost some time now and I’ve been putting off reading it. But, earlier today I’ve decided to read it and on page 17 the heroine says “I cannot abide a heroine who is too perfect, nor one who is forever swooning.” Hmmm… I found myself in the heroine and thought I just might enjoy reading this.

So, here I am, about to call it a night after reaching page 172 of the book. I’m thinking, “maybe I am a romance reader after all.”

Mood: Grateful

Coming Soon: The Pinoy Reading Challenge 2012

Here in the Philippines we dedicate the month of August for our national language. We call it "Buwan ng Wika". I think it would be apt to dedicate the whole month of August to reading any of the following:

1. books written in Filipino

2. books written by Filipino authors

3. books published in the Philippines

Just a thought. This just sprang to mind now since we are starting the second half of July. My objectives in starting this challenge is:

1. to support the Filipino writers and publishers

2. to provide a venue of solidarity in being Pinoy

3. to expose(or even introduce) readers to Pinoy literature

... at least for one month.

I'll be posting more about this before the month of August. For now, if you are interested in joining me in this challenge please follow me and/or leave a comment. Also, start listing the books that you'd want to read for this challenge.

Note: This challenge is not only for Filipinos.  ;p

2nd Filipino ReaderCon

September of 2011, I attended the first ever Filipino readers conference. I'm sure some of you are asking "What's a readers conference?" Well... it is, literally, a gathering of filipino readers in one place talking about the state of reading in the Philippines. You can learn more about this conference at the official website of the Filipino Reader Conference. 

Last year's conference was a half-day event where-in book clubs, blogging, writing and publishing in the Philippines were tackled. The event was well attended and most sessions went overtime. There's simply too much to talk about. I guess, just like me, the organizers felt that a half-day event is simply not enough. I'm happy to learn that this year's conference is a whole-day affair. 

This year's event is themed "United We Read". It will be held on August 18 at the Filipinas Heritage Library. The Filipinas Heritage Library is located at Makati Avenue, Ayala Triangle, Makati City fronting Olympia Bldg. and Peninsula Manila.

If you want to receive updates for this event, I encourage you to like the ReaderCon Facebook page and RSVP for the event here.

As an added treat, the organizers have decided to hold the first Filipino Readers Choice Awards. Eligible for nomination would be books published in the Philippines within January to December of 2011. Categories are as follows:

• Children’s picture book
• Chick lit
• Novel in English
• Novel in Filipino
• Comics / Graphic novels
• Short story anthology
• Essay anthology
• Poetry

Online nominations are on-going until July 22. Have you nominated your favorite Filipino-published book? Now is your chance to do so.

Getting Acquainted with Mr. Grey

I've been hearing about this book for quite a while now. It seems a lot of people are hooked. I've seen local female celebrities tweeting about it, FB friends updating their status to married to Mr. Christian Grey. The hype is almost comparable to the hype for Edward Cullen of the Twilight Saga. This piqued my curiosity.

I've read the Twilight Saga and even though I found some irritating grammatical errors, I still found the  story itself interesting. Somehow, with all this talk, I thought maybe it's the same with this book.

I've decided to hunt for the book. 3 days ago, I was able to purchase the ebook copy for the trilogy and started reading it immediately. It was not a difficult read. I actually finished Book 1 yesterday. I still don't know how I feel about the book or the story in it's entirety. Just like Anastasia Steele, I'm confused and a bit disoriented.

To me, Fifty Shades of Grey is erotica that's so vivid I can't help but think it has happened in real life. It's a bit disturbing, really. I can't even begin to rationalize how one person can be in love with someone who have expressed his intentions of physically hurting me. I know Christian Grey is pictured as a super sexy man; (To be honest, I'm actually wondering who would play him if this book was turned into a movie.) But still, being beaten up is not something I'd ever find pleasurable.

In the middle of reading the book, and too much sex prose, I wanted to stop and just continue reading Salt Dancers. Yes, I'm a little bothered when reading descriptive sexual acts. Why? Because, I'm single and it reminds me that I'm not getting any. Nuff said. Hahaha... Anyway, it's a good thing that I've decided to read until the end of book 1. It gave me something to look forward to in book 2 (and 3). Oh... And no, I'm not going to summarize the book for you. If you are curious, then read it.

Rating:

No Reading Night

Tonight, I'm taking a break from reading to watch the American Idol Finale.

I am rooting for Phillip Phillips. But, I would not feel bad if Jessica wins. She's half-pinay after all.

Reading Diary: LOTR Day 2

Ok. So, I only have 10 minutes of every day to read Lord of the Rings. That's not even enough time to finish a chapter. Anyway, this post is not about me ranting about not-having-enough-time-in-a-day-to-read. This post is me sharing my state of mind prior to reading the book. I guess the photo above gives you a clue.

I do remember sharing that I've read LOTR a long time ago. I was grade 3 to be precise. From what I remember, it was kind of difficult to read. Sorry guys, I guess at that age my comprehension level was limited to sentences of simple construction. Plus, I remember that this book was pretty good in making me fall asleep.

I guess it would be an understatement to say that I dreaded re-reading this book. But, I wanted to give it another chance. Thus, the need for chocolates.

Anyway, I read the first 2 chapters last night. I must say, it's not as bad as I remembered.

My current mood for this book? Hopeful!

Quickies

It's nice to come across this quote. It's a great reminder of how to live life. 

Reading Diary: LOTR Day 1

The first time I read Lord of the Rings was in grade school. Back then, I didn't really understand most of it. The writing, I felt, was a bit old and I found myself dozing off after reading a few sentences.

The only reason I continued to read it was because my busmates from La Salle GH High School were raving about how awesome it is. Confession: I was a bit boyish back in the day and these High School busmates of mine were the epitome of cool. I wanted to have something in common with them. As such, I endured and finished the book. To be honest, I did not hate the book. But, I did not like it that much either.

Years later the movie came out and I did not expect that I'd enjoy it. But, surprisingly enough, I did. I liked it enough to want to read it again. Only, I never got around to doing so.

Now that Fellowship of the Ring is TFG's book of the month for June, I finally have a reason to start.

Plus, this could be the second book for my Chunkster Reading Challenge.

Here's to finishing LOTR... again.

I'm Back

Just like anybody, I do hate excuses. As such, I'm not going to waste this post by giving you excuses to explain my very long absence. It's easy to say that I got too caught up in work... which is true. But then, saying that would mean I'm more committed to my work than to my personal projects... this blog included. 

Truth is, for the past 2 months, I've been super-stressed with too much work. I've discovered that part of the stress comes from the fact that I no longer have that much needed "me" time. I no longer get to spend an hour or two reading a book while enjoying my venti soy latte or milk tea. I no longer have my Sunday afternoons scouring Booksale branches for award winning finds. I no longer get to interact with people with the same passion for reading.

It's time I put an end to that. Bottomline is reading books and talking about them makes me happy. Sharing my thoughts makes me happy. Sharing my finds makes me happy. Having friends who enthusiastically share their thoughts on books makes me happy.

So, here I am. Again making a promise to myself that I will set aside at least 30 minutes of everyday to the simple joy of reading.

I'm back my friends. Please forgive me for the long absence.  

Kindle Giveaway at ficbookreviews.com

It's the anniversary of ficbookreviews.com and they're giving away a Kindle. Click the button below, if you want to enter the giveaway.

Saturday Dreams: Blue Blood Series

Last Sunday, after an art-coaching session with one of my students, I had lunch with a few friends at Hainanese Delights. We were done with lunch, coupled with a lot of chit-chat at around 2pm. But, we still wanted to talk a little bit more prior to attending mass at the Shrine. We decided to attend mass at around 5pm. What to do with the 3 hours? We were a bit too stuffed to go for coffee or milk tea right away so we decided to walk around Galleria for a little while.

Suze Orman: Tough love girlfriend!

As you know, I just created my Twitter account last week. One of the people I admire, Maria Ressa, is on Twitter and I am following her there. Today she posted a link to an article written by Panjee Tapales. The link lead me to the Rappler article Suze Orman: Tough love girlfriend!

It is a feature article on Orman's 2-hour talk on financial health in her recent visit here in Manila. Through this article, it is brought to our consciousness that the financial situation we are in was brought about by our attitude towards money. The article mentions that fear, anger, and shame are the 3 main obstacles for financial success. Not quite what I expected to learn when reading about finances. But, the article rings true and is worth reading; whether you are in a financial rut or not. I won't spoil your reading pleasure by re-hashing the article here. But, I do hope that you visit Rappler and read Panjee's article.

Here's to an abundant outlook in life.

Saturday Dreams: The Magic by Rhonda Byrne

This next Rhonda Byrne book is scheduled to be released on March 6, 2012 and I can't wait to get my copy. I've read Rhonda Byrne's "The Secret" and "The Power". Both books have been instrumental in my journey to self-mastery. I'm looking forward to reading "The Magic"   because I'm sure, just as the title suggests, it will add a little magic to my life. 

I'm pretty sure that after reading this book and applying it's lessons, I would end up having a wonderfully magical life stemming from an equally wonderful and magical me.

Giveaway Alert: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Julie Kagawa is giving away a signed copy of The Immortal Rules. Giveaway is open until March 15. Want this book? Visit her blog here.

Reading Plan: March 2012

For this month, I plan to finish these books:

As you can see, for this month I'm trying to go for diversity. Starting the month with Dance Dance Dance, written by Haruki Murakami, one of my favorite authors. I've read this a long time ago as a borrowed book from my college library. But, I now have a copy. Thank you to Trish,  a former officemate, who gave this to me as a gift last Christmas. 

My 2666 Experience

It took me quite a while to finish reading this book. More than a month actually. It's not a hard book to read, if one is judging it purely based on grammar, sentence structure, and progression. 

The writing was quite simple, but the details lead my mind to think and wander. While reading 2666, I, being an overly analytical person, was already going ahead of myself and forming my own conclusions. Thoughts, that because the writing was too detailed and extended, became more of a distraction. Picture 2 different songs played simultaneously, one slow and monotonous and the other fast and syncopated. What do you get? Noise. Yes, my friends. I read 2666 for more than a month because I suffered from "brain noise".

I'm on Twitter

I've been locked out of my Twitter account for the past year and I've been trying to create a new Twitter account. But, I keep on getting a message that I am currently not allowed to create to do that, I was using my Macbook in these attempts.

Today, while trying to organize my iPod Touch, I discovered that I have the Twitter App installed and that I could access my old account through it. Nice.

On a whim, I logged on Safari using my iPod Touch and tried creating a new Twitter account for Kikay Reader. My fingers were black and blue just because I was crossing them so hard. Hahaha... To make the long story short, the attempt was 100% successful. Now, picture my jumping up and down and doing the happy-happy-joy-joy dance.

I'm so happy, I could die!

I take that back. I don't want to die. I want to tweet.

See you online my peeps! ;p

Book Review: Three Junes by Julia Glass

Summary from Bookbrowse:

Three Junes is a vividly textured symphonic novel set on both sides of the Atlantic during three fateful summers in the lives of a Scottish family. In June of 1989, Paul McLeod, the recently widowed patriarch, becomes infatuated with a young American artist while traveling through Greece and is compelled to relive the secret sorrows of his marriage. Six years later, Paul's death reunites his sons at Tealing, their idyllic childhood home, where Fenno, the eldest, faces a choice that puts him at the center of his family's future. A lovable, slightly repressed gay man, Fenno leads the life of an aloof expatriate in the West Village, running a shop filled with books and birdwatching gear. He believes himself safe from all emotional entanglements--until a worldly neighbor presents him with an extraordinary gift and a seductive photographer makes him an unwitting subject. Each man draws Fenno into territories of the heart he has never braved before, leading him toward an almost unbearable loss that will reveal to him the nature of love.

Rant: T.U.L. Bummer

I spent almost my whole day yesterday creating The Ultimate List saving the list after adding a few Titles. To tell you honestly, I was kind of looking forward to pressing the Publish button  by the end of today.

Almost half-way through the list, after watching the American Idol replay and sleepy with allergy meds, I placed my laptop on sleep mode. Yes, of course, I too went to sleep mode.

No reading yesterday, except for that one hour prior to the idea of the Ultimate List. Sorry, Richard Yates. Revolutionary Road is an easy fast read. But, when an idea hits me, it's pretty hard to concentrate on reading. Putting the idea into action takes priority in eating up my leisure time.

So, I wake up today, went back to my laptop with the list staring back at me. Before, I continuing with the list, I decided to check my Facebook. Facebook being my usual company during breakfast. While doing this, my browser crashed.

My thought bubble was, "Don't worry. Blogger has auto-save. Your work is safe." Well, I was wrong. Nothing was saved.

Does this discourage me from doing the list? Hell, NO! I'll just re-start, publish an incomplete list and update it until the list is complete. That's the plan. If you happen to see the tab for the list and click on it, please know that you might be looking at an incomplete list.


QUALITIES I NEED TODAY: Determination and Focus

The Ultimate List

Last year, around May, I joined the Goodreads - The Filipino Club (TFG). I've noticed that most of my friends from this group are following reading lists. Up to that point, I didn't know they existed. The only list I am familiar with are the best-seller lists that bookstores display to entice us to buy the most popular books.

It was through TFG that I first heard of the 1001 Books To Read Before You Die, the Man Booker Price, Pen/Faulkner List, Pulitzer List, and National Book Awards List. This got me curious as to what other lists are out there. So, just like anyone with a computer and limited internet access, I googled for information.  Aside from the above mentioned lists, I found the Nebula Awards list, the Modern Library Top 100 list, and of course the Oprah Book Club list.

Being an avid reader of Fantasy, the Nebula list was the one that piqued my interest. But, then again, if I read only those books I just might get sick of reading fantasy and decide that it's not my favorite after all.

Since, I am reading a lot lately (As opposed to my usual 10 books or less a year), I've decided to stretch myself and go beyond what is comfortable to read. As such, books from all these lists, plus TFG's very own Top 100 books, will be added to my reading schedule.

If you are OC like me, you'd cross out the books from each list once you've read them. But somehow it's quite difficult to remember from which list the book came from if your following many lists. And you end up wasting time trying to look for the title just to cross it out. Thus, the birth of THE ULTIMATE LIST. What is it exactly? It's a compilation of the titles from all the lists I am trying to follow.

I'm dedicating a page for this. Watch out for it in the next few weeks.



Oh... Don't worry. I do not intend to read all of the books in the list. I'm not that crazy. Besides, I still want to read YA, Romance, and Non-fiction books. Plus, I do have other interests and a life apart from reading.

Book Review: Japan Took the J.A.P. Out of Me

Japan Took the J.A.P. Out of Me is a memoir written by Lisa Fineberg Cook. I stumbled upon this book in one of my spontaneous Booksale hunting whims. For those not in the know, Booksale is the haven for bibliophiles on a budget. It is a place where the persistent bargain hunter will be rewarded with Php10-finds. Japan Took the J.A.P. Out of Me is not one of those Php10-finds.

As far as I can remember, I've been obsessed with anything Japanese. Just the mere mention of the word puts my antennae stand up on attention. Oh... and a somewhat recent romance with someone of half-Japanese decent who recently moved to Japan for good somehow ups my interest for this book. Part of me is wishing I was the offered marriage and asked to move to Japan. Hahaha... Crazy wishful-thinking.

Quick React: 2666

I just finished reading this book over lunch and my initial reaction is "Huh?"

Honestly, I don't really know how to go about reviewing this book because in my head I'm still waiting for that non-existent next page. Anyway, I would definitely be needing time to gather my thoughts and compose a readable review.

Bear with me while I do a lot of head-shaking that could probably put things in the proper perspective. Whoah... Huh?

I'm Joining the Off the Shelf 2012 Reading Challenge

Earlier today, I signed up for the Chunkster Reading Challenge. In that post I kind of made a confession that most of my TBR pile are chunkster books. But, just like any book addict, I am addicted to buying books. Most of them I forget to go back to when I see a book that I'm more interested in reading.

More than 3/4 of the books on my shelf have yet to be read. Some of them have pages that are beginning to yellow. Yikes. That's just wrong.

I came across Book Ardour's Off the Shelf Challenge and, just like the Chunkster Reading Challenge, this just might push me to slowly but surely narrow down my TBR pile.

And because my Goodreads challenge for this year is to read 48 books, I'm thinking that my Off the Shelf Challenge Level should be Making A Dint (30 books)


Challenge Timeframe: January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012

My Challenge Level: Making a Dint = 30 books

Oh... I don't think I need to add the Extra Challenge part. That would just be too much pressure for me.

I'm Joining the 2012 Chunkster Challenge

Last year, around May, I created a Goodreads account and challenged myself to read 40 books before 2011 ends. I barely made it but I did. This year, I'm challenging myself to read 48 books for Goodreads.

But, I wanted to challenge myself a little more. There are a lot of Reading challenges out there. But, the 2012 Chunkster Challenge caught my attention. Plus, I think this would not be an easy challenge. I mean I've been reading 2666 since January 3 and I still have around 200 pages to read. I've been procrastinating. There are days that I only read 10 pages. Eeeek...

Maybe joining the Chunkster Challenge would be motivation enough for me to read faster.

Wordpress or Blogger?

I started my wordpress book blog last year. But, admittedly I don't think I was serious enough in approached blogging as an occasional just-when-I-have-free-time hobby. Last week, I went out for coffee with some of my successful blogger friends and all of them were in agreement that to have a successful blog you have to approach it as a career.

Yes, the nature of the blog itself should stem from what you love to do. Be it cooking, fashion, reading, making money, or whatever it is that strikes your fancy. The content of the blog would be coming from this passion. But, for you to have a successful blog, you also have to approach sharing and writing about your hobbies and interests with an equal amount of passion.

Now, this is not a post about how to have a successful blog. It would be stupid to write about something that I am clearly not an authority or expert of. This post is basically me sharing my experience in using Wordpress and blogger.

I've just been using blogger since February 9, 2012, and so far I could pretty much say that I find it faster in loading. Plus, it has Google friend connect making it easier to follow blogs of friends. And hopefully by doing so, it also makes it easier to get followers. For the latter, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I honestly don't know if I could add this feature in Wordpress. I don't see it any of my friends' blogs. At least those who prefer Wordpress over Blogger.

Google reader is built in on your blogger homepage. It's pretty hard to miss a post made by a friend you are following. As for Wordpress, you have to click on the link of the blogs you follow. Now, this is a serious drawback if your Internet provider is slow and it takes a while for pages to load.

Searching the net, I could see a lot of people prefer Wordpress. Most of them gushing about it's customizability.

But, I'm still not sure which one is better. For now, as an experiment, I'll be keeping both blogs and see what happens.

Dear reader, I hope you follow both or the one you prefer. Either way, I'll be posting the same articles... Well, at least starting from yesterday's post.

Oh... Please feel free to share your thoughts on this by adding your comments. I'd like to know your opinion on the Wordpress vs. Blogger issue.

Book Review: The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

Book Cover

When this book first came out in 2003, I was drawn to it because of the title. It brought me back to my College days, when one of my favorite professors was talking about a Botticelli painting of the same title. I did read the synopsis at the back of the book and even though it piqued my interest, not just my curiosity, I somehow ended up buying other books. 

I Was Not Always a Reader

I just discovered my love for reading. Honestly, when I was younger, I wasn't much of a bibliophile. Just like other kids, I pent most of my afternoons either watching cartoons or playing street games. In pinoy terms, street games equate to patintero, syato, chinese garter, tumbang preso, taguan, langi't lupa, etc. Of course, there's also the non-running, not-so-physically challenging games of trump cards, dungeons and dragons, and gameboy.

By now, I'm sure you already have an idea of how old I am. But, anyway, my age doesn't really matter. I only shared that to show that I was not always a reader.

To tell you honestly, I've only discovered my love for books when I was around 13 years old. I'm usually picked-up late from school so I spent my afternoons doing homework in the library. Some days there's no homework and no schoolmates left to play or chat with and I'm left looking for something to do. That's when I discovered Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins, and Choose your own adventure.

Of course, when I reached High School, I was introduced to arts and photography. This kind of took my mind off of reading. My older sister, by this time, was reading a lot of historical romances and sweet dreams books. I tried reading them, but it did not keep my interest in reading.

By college, my reading list was limited to Engineering books and textbooks. Plus, I discovered cutting class, boys, and dating. You could pretty much guess that my fiction books were left to gather dust.

May 2011, I unintentionally rediscovered my love for reading. Never stopped reading since. Now, I want to share my thoughts about these books.

So here I am, starting a blog about books. And I hope that by doing so, I would inspire you to start reading too.