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Showing posts from February, 2014

Cover (Story) Girl by Chris Mariano

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Summary from Goodreads : 1) She has amnesia. 2) She’s on the run from her father’s creditors. 3) She’s enjoying her last days on earth. Ever since Jang Min Hee walked into Gio’s small museum, she’s given him one excuse after another about why she’s vacationing at scenic Boracay Island. Rarely has Gio’s neat and organized world been shaken like this. Soon he finds himself scrambling over rocks, hiding in dressing rooms, and dragging her out of bars. But how can Gio tell what's true from what isn't? Their worlds are getting unraveled -- one story at a time. I am going to go on ahead and say that I enjoyed Cover (Story) Girl. More than anything else, the setting stood out for me. I have never been to Boracay. What I know is whatever I got from the media. And that is, that the island is a party place. The Vegas of beaches, if that makes sense. So I was quite surprised when Cover (Story) Girl depicted a different Boracay. That the island has a history, and a culture that is

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

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Summary from Goodreads : The action is set in Sicily, where Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon, has recently defeated his half-brother, the bastard Don John, in a military engagement. Apparently reconciled, they return to the capital, Messina, as guests of the Governor, Leonato. There Count Claudio, a young nobleman serving in Don Pedro's army, falls in love with Hero, Leonato's daughter, whom Don Pedro woos on his behalf. The play's central plot shows how Don John maliciously deceives Claudio into believing that Hero has taken a lover on the eve of her marriage, causing Claudio to repudiate her publicly, at the altar. Much Ado About Nothing is my first Shakespeare. A deliberate choice for the fact that it's one among the Bard's shortest and lightest plays, and therefore one of the easiest to get into. But truth be told, I struggled with this last year, and ended up dropping it a little less than halfway through. But this 2014, I resolved to attack this again with re

Talkfest Thursday: Literary Matchmaking

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Talkfest Thursday is a feature that acts as a discussion post of sorts, where I will feature a topic (usually literature related), of my choice, and then proceed to talk about it at great length. This will appear, at least once a month, on a Thursday (or more depending on how cooperative my brain is). I initially wanted to do a favorite literary couples list, since Valentine's Day is near, just like what I did last year (or was that the year before?) but I realized that I haven't read that many books with notable couples in them. I am then prone to repeating my old list. So I decided to have a bit of fun. These pairings won't ever happen, seeing that they are born on different pages so I consider them as ships that will never sail, but whose only sole purpose is to amuse me and waste quite a number of hours of my time. Hee.   1.     Cersei Lannister  (ASOIAF Series by George R.R. Martin) and  Thranduil (The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tokien (specifically the Thranduil in The

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver

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Summary from Goodreads : This powerful collection of stories, set in the mid-West among the lonely men and women who drink, fish and play cards to ease the passing of time, was the first by Raymond Carver to be published in the UK. With its spare, colloquial narration and razor-sharp sense of how people really communicate, the collection was to become one of the most influential literary works of the 1980s. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love contains 17 short stories. They feature common people and depict everyday struggles and issues pertaining to relationships be it with friends, husbands, wives, parents, sons, and daughters.  To be honest, during the first few stories, I found myself baffled. They end so abruptly and very loosely. No concrete resolutions, no definite conclusions, no closure. At some point, I started yelling: "The End!" after each story, just to signal my child-brain that this is well, the end. I found it quite challenging too, when it somes

Required Reading: February 2014

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Required Reading Report: January 2014 1. We Learn Nothing: Essays by Tim Kreider - A very perceptive, and reflective collection of deeply personal essays. The perfect starter for my 2014 reading year. I loved it.  2. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman - I wasn't quite as taken with this, as I initially thought I would, but I did enjoy it for it's extensive analysis of pop culture and how the author creatively ties them with human life. 3. The Nerdist Way by Chris Hardwick - I have yet to finish this. But my early thoughts on it: I find it to be a less stiff and less formal approach to self-help. I like that it's conversational, much like how one would talk to a friend. January also paved way for the introduction of a new blog feature called Talkfest Thursday ,  which you will now be seeing regularly on my blog. Once a month, at least. (I hope :D)  Required Reads: February 2014 Check out I Like It Dog-Eared for more info February is of course, V