The House of the Spirits and Some.

I just finished reading a book that I first encountered in high school, but never fully appreciated—largely because I just remember watching the movie as a way to fast-track discussions, as well as productions of other sections in my Sophomore year, each tackling a specific time period of the book. I am referring to “The [...]

Fluff.

Yes, I’m perfectly aware it’s been quite a while since I wrote on this space, and yes, I have been reading. Following the heaviness of “Blindness”, I decided to shift gears to a couple of easy reads. In honor of Sophie Kinsella’s “Mini-Shopaholic” and Francine Pascal’s “Sweet Valley Confidential: 10 Years After” (books which I [...]

On Blindness.

What would happen if you and the rest of those around you were to go blind? Would you have lost your humanity as well? Those two questions summarized for me what Jose Saramago’s “Blindness” was all about. Set in an unknown country at a time that is not far from the present, “white blindness” sweeps [...]

Creeping myself out.

Nobody keeps me awake more than Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Of course, there’s nothing quite like “The Shadow of the Wind”, but I still found myself gripped by “The Angel’s Game” and my latest read, “The Prince of Mist”. Now “The Prince of Mist” was an earlier work, which was just translated from Spanish fairly recently. [...]

Letting Go of ‘Never Let Me Go’

I can now finally let go of Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go.” I say this with much relief, after struggling to finish the book. Don’t get me wrong—I don’t dislike it. It’s probably just me unconsciously delaying the thought of getting lost into something that makes me sad, under the guise of excuses such: [...]

The Eyre Affair—totally off-the-wall!

I finished Jasper Fforde’s “The Eyre Affair” in between those moments when I feel like I’m drowning in silence and sadness. It seemed to be the perfect choice for a bit of escapism, after all. There’s nothing quite like Fforde’s imagination, wherein he recreates a Great Britain in a parallel world, with dodos still existing, [...]

Life on the Refrigerator Door

¡Hola a todos! I hope your holidays have been filled with much merriment and a smorgasbord of food and books. I’m having a satisfying break myself. I did get several books over the past week, and I’ll come around to reading them soon enough. This post, however, is reserved for Alice Kuipers’ “Life on the [...]

Q&A

This is with reference to my previous post on recent (well, relatively) book hauls. I have a massive backlog owing to a major event last week, but I’m back to reading up once again. The first book I cracked was Vikas Swarup’s Q&A, upon hearing it was a light and fast read. Knowing that I [...]

Recent Loots and Some.

I must admit I’ve been devouring Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows once again, in preparation for the movie. I saw it last night, and I was very satisfied overall. The cinematography was beautiful, and the movie’s screenplay was generally faithful to the book (give or take a couple of subplots deleted to condense it [...]

Einstein’s Dreams

Forgive the long period of absence once again. In the weeks leading up to a big event, I don’t get much reading time. Under such circumstances, I would also need a book that doesn’t require me to work my brain cells into double overtime. The brain cells work overtime during regular working hours, so it’s [...]