tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339359402012-01-30T23:04:12.043+08:00fixated on fictiondementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.comBlogger1611100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-50989630004692641452012-01-30T16:51:00.000+08:002012-01-30T17:06:53.067+08:00

"With respect, sir, this is hardly the time to be thinking about your stomach." "Don't worry, Inspector," said Puri. "There will be no thinking involved." (p64) Vish Puri, Most Private Investigator, is back on a new case where the stakes are higher. It's a case that has most of India talking. The victim: rationalist Dr Suresh Jha, who dies when a sword is driven into his chest. The murderer:

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-59425109237573329042012-01-26T19:50:00.000+08:002012-01-28T21:06:12.320+08:00

Readers who enjoy their adventure stirred with some romance will find much to like in The Trident of Merrow. The story moves swiftly, following two separate crews: the Sea Drake, where Tosh is imprisoned by the pirate Jebediah Blud and a powerful Strega witch with an agenda, and the Gallows Jig, captained by Tosh’s childhood friend Germaine . From mutiny and sea monsters to airships and ancient

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-74495003463078659332012-01-20T20:22:00.003+08:002012-01-20T20:22:52.165+08:00

Nadine Gordimer wasn't required reading when I was a Lit undergraduate but I wish she had been. The 1991 Nobel Prize winner for Literature is always asking questions through her text -- questioning social behaviors, facilitating political discussions especially those concerning her country, South Africa -- and does it with a deft hand. I actually feel inadequate just attempting to describe her

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-30795093849491385352012-01-18T13:08:00.000+08:002012-01-18T13:16:35.290+08:00

In her latest book, Mina Esguerra combines contemporary teen romance with hints of Philippine mythology to offer a satisfyingly-layered and unique read. Here, Hannah already has a job helping out at the Guidance Office but on top of that, the Sun God has also asked her to fill in for the Goddess of Love temporarily. Not exactly the easiest job for a sophomore on scholarship who's still trying to

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-87661356307008274512012-01-05T01:52:00.000+08:002012-01-21T22:33:50.352+08:00

Maybe it's not good to start the new year -- and a leap year at that -- by declaring that I can totally relate to the Designated Ugly Fat Friend (DUFF). That's who I am and I don't think there's any harm in admitting that. In Kody Keplinger's The Duff, Bianca Piper starts a hate-love relationship with Wesley when he acquaints her with the term. Not exactly the most promising start to any kind of

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-11165587363855524812012-01-01T12:51:00.000+08:002012-01-05T01:21:49.412+08:00

One of my resolutions for the new year is to put varied content on my blog. Other than reviews, I've decided to start featuring different kinds of readers, highlighting one every month. For January, I asked award-winning travel blogger Nina Fuentes of Just Wandering (which recently bagged Nuffnang's 2011 Asia-Pacific Blog Awards for Best Travel Blog) to answer a few questions about her reading

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-45827474344280568692011-12-31T02:01:00.002+08:002011-12-31T16:46:37.299+08:00

I got this meme from Meann a.k.a. The Girl Who Read. It looked too much fun to pass up! Plus, it's a great way for me to wrap up the year. The literary characters and authors mentioned here are only some of my 2011 favorites. On the first day of Christmas, I'll give Turnip Fitzhugh from The Mischief of the Mistletoe one large Christmas pudding. On the second day of Christmas, I'll give

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-19347800507599719162011-12-24T21:30:00.000+08:002011-12-24T21:45:16.515+08:00

The Girl Who Chased the Moon was part of my best friend's birthday present for me. Not only does she know that I like Sarah Addison Allen, she also assumed that it had something to do with astronomy, an expectation that I had earlier shared as well. Halfway through the book, I realized that we were a bit off, but that didn't keep me from enjoying the book. The story moves quickly, and in Ms

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-43535134921784512932011-12-22T11:01:00.003+08:002011-12-22T11:01:45.244+08:00

I used to think, if we kissed in every time zone, it would always be the blue hour in which I loved you. It still is. The literal lightning bolt lodged in your family tree. The erased surname. The alibi bone placed inside you. A secret takes on a shape beyond language, becomes tangible, something potentially broken in half, for the world to see and give words to. - from Jeffrey McDaniel's

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-35199787636237554632011-12-19T22:32:00.003+08:002012-01-01T18:12:52.900+08:00

Ever have those books that you want to read but never seem to have the time to buy? For Christmas, one of my best friends Kaoko gave me Laura Joh Rowland's The Concubine's Tattoo. It's been on my TBR list since forever since I've always been partial to books set in Asia or have Asian elements in them. With the additional mystery element, I was really eager to read this. But since I kept seeing it

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-23358062229471381682011-12-16T00:49:00.000+08:002011-12-16T00:50:59.688+08:00

Upon having dinner with Cel and Chachic last week, I was reminded of how little YA I've been reading these past few weeks. Not because there is an extreme lack of it in my library; my friend Oz has kept me well-supplied. But since I kept shuttling back and forth Manila since September, most of the books that I have bought and borrowed have remained in the city even when I had already returned to

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-37102149663335044842011-12-12T13:00:00.000+08:002011-12-12T13:00:03.629+08:00

Ever since I read Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Angel, I've been eagerly awaiting its sequel. Clockwork Prince still has a lot of the elements that I enjoyed from the first book, especially the melding of Victorian romance and fantasy -- a true guilty pleasure read for me. But I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed by the absence of a pronounced challenge posed by the Magister's automatons,

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-71242249563292876102011-12-10T15:59:00.001+08:002011-12-11T02:35:22.904+08:00

My youngest sister and I are attempting to 'buddy-read', and we decided on Kathryn Stockett's The Help, about the life of domestics and their employers in Jackson, Mississippi during the sixties. The story unfolds through the eyes of three people: Aibileen and Minny, two black women working for different families, and Skeeter, a fresh graduate who is best friends with both of their employers (or

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-82130451392395640042011-12-05T15:04:00.000+08:002011-12-06T00:54:01.308+08:00

Got my copies in the mail today!

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-79601269602742076122011-12-02T22:10:00.001+08:002011-12-02T22:35:40.280+08:00

Despite being firmly of the medieval European vein, Scriber is an epic fantasy that manages to deliver freshness, deftness, and a fair dose of gender sensitivity to the genre's tropes. It moves from mystery/scavenger hunt to epic battle to morality tale but does it in an effective and seamless way. In this book, the Kingsland is being threatened by a group of rebels who seem determined to burn

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-59554130041365288412011-11-23T16:30:00.000+08:002011-11-29T17:11:22.500+08:00

It was one of those days again -- I needed a quick fix but my visit to Book Sale didn't yield much success in the YA department. I found a number of choice titles, though: Thomas Pynchon, Julian Barnes, Paul Theroux. At the last minute, I decided to add the Tokyopop translation of Mishio Fukazawa's Witches' Forest. It promises to be an RPG fantasy, which I didn't mind at all because I usually

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-23500174341371615192011-11-18T10:44:00.001+08:002011-12-24T11:11:18.161+08:00

Apparently, you can view a bottle containing Thomas Edison's last breath in the Henry Ford Museum, but there are also reports that there are 41 other bottles around. How do you know which one contains his final moment then? Oh, you had to be there. My poem "The Forty-Two Last Breaths" appears in TAYO Literary Magazine's 3rd Issue (Print Edition). Do check it out, and if you're feeling generous,

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-53192284250876543022011-11-17T18:03:00.000+08:002011-12-11T02:37:02.710+08:00

I've had this on my Amazon wishlist for a few years now but just bought it last September, not realizing that 1) Boris Akunin also wrote the Sister Pelagia series that I often see in local stores; 2) She Lover of Death is part of a different series; and 3) I wasn't starting where I should. Despite my ignorance, there were plenty of things that I liked about She Lover of Death. In turn of the

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-59638176579831221432011-11-12T22:12:00.001+08:002011-11-12T22:28:01.181+08:00

I’d say that Battlehawk may be the one to try if you like a quieter sort of fantasy, but somehow that statement doesn’t seem to give justice to the action in this book. Though the novel doesn’t have any dungeon-crawling or dragon-slaying, it still boasts of its fair share of sword fights and battles, calling to mind the weight and grimness of early European history. Battlehawk is the story of

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-39943947795813918362011-11-09T20:56:00.000+08:002011-11-09T20:56:11.717+08:00

While I thoroughly enjoy Japanese anime/manga/cinema/literature, I've always felt a little uncomfortable around the film Battle Royale. I like it enough, don't get me wrong. It's become iconic in its depiction of violence and fear, as it depicts the story of 42 students from Section 3-B of Shiroiwa Junior High who have been chosen to participate in the Program. The novel opens in 1997, and in

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-23930196761012215522011-11-02T18:58:00.001+08:002011-11-02T18:58:59.467+08:00

I know, I know. I haven't had a book review here in weeks. First, there was that trip. Then, there was this. I was fresh out of college when I first heard of Avalon.ph (under a different name then, if I remember correctly). I'd buy books from Jasper and other members of the auctions community. I would even meet up with him at Megamall (I lived in Muntinlupa then). I got a lot of fantasy books

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-19870619564668040782011-10-25T03:07:00.000+08:002011-10-25T12:28:18.367+08:00

For the first time since Liv and I have started traveling together, we chose to set the itinerary aside and just make most of our decisions on the spot. We got lost. A lot. We lost our way around subway stations, around underground markets, even in the streets just behind our cheap hotel. Downtown. In the suburbs. But then again, we didn't mind getting lost. We laughed and smiled when we walked

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-16821896828080493512011-10-17T10:00:00.000+08:002011-10-25T01:18:19.393+08:00

By the time this post goes up, I should be in Korea, getting my fill of trendy little cafes and charming indie pop bands (wait for me, Standing EGG and Sweetpea!) and fangirl delusions. I've nixed Lonely Planet for Chinggay Labrador's Popped Too. I have Korean phrases written down on trusty index cards for emergencies: Please don't make it spicy or Where is the toilet? But the real experiment

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-44226994749470925442011-10-15T02:23:00.001+08:002011-10-15T12:15:42.309+08:00

Though the premise of Look Homeward, Clockwork Angel makes it look like your standard-issue adventure fare, it plumbs unexpected depths to make the reading experience quite worth your while. It opens strong on the action as it tells the story of the crew of the airship Masamune: its captain Violet, mechanic Tibbs, and former Inspector Moriarty now on the wrong side of the law. The prose is

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-42145333284115713612011-10-02T00:26:00.000+08:002011-10-03T20:19:30.833+08:00

Crafting a believable mystery based on an oddball premise can prove to be a challenge, but one that Gary Marshall embraces with tongue-in-cheek wit and panache. Coffin Dodgers is a light, fast-paced mystery punctuated with genuine comic moments and the usual concerns of a twentysomething life: boredom, work, romance, and the presence of beer. It slightly borders science fiction, with mentions of

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-61150455792913775862011-09-29T09:20:00.001+08:002011-10-02T00:27:11.520+08:00

I had mentioned in a previous post that a few friends and I have formed an informal book club to encourage us to finish our reading piles. We're all readers but we tend to like different genres so it was hard for us to settle on a common title; I think the only thing we agree on is manga, and even that's still subject to further de-classification! In the end, we decided to go with a travel theme

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-86004387352059404832011-09-23T19:53:00.002+08:002011-09-24T18:19:59.337+08:00

Fantasy and romance are two of my favorite genres, which find a satisfying balance in the YA title Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia C Wrede & Caroline Stevermer. Taking on the form of an epistolary dialogue between two cousins, the book is a quick and light read that follows cousins Cecelia and Katherine through their many magical and social (mis-)adventures. In the story, Kate gets to experience

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-61391789149395322542011-09-21T13:28:00.000+08:002011-09-22T21:04:33.765+08:00

I took this book everywhere until I was done with the last page. Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone takes place in a richly-imagined, layered, and lyrical universe -- an Elsewhere that exists along with ours -- that makes it difficult to put down. Karou, an art student in Prague, runs strange errands for her family, errands that take her to Paris, Saigon, San Francisco, Marrakesh in the

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-21058400687600138852011-09-17T15:15:00.000+08:002011-09-18T00:02:50.893+08:00

In this compilation of alternate history stories, crime and science fiction meld seamlessly to create a collection that explores two essential questions: 'Whodunnit?' and 'What if?' Science fiction writer, editor, and Hugo and WFA nominee Lou Anders is at the helm of Sideways in Crime. The collection features 15 short stories from authors Kage Baker, John Meaney, Stephen Baxter, Paul Park, Jack

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-3114756557801794402011-09-09T23:09:00.000+08:002011-09-09T23:10:27.323+08:00

It's just five days until the 1st Filipino ReaderCon and The 32nd Manila International Book Fair (Words Without Borders)! The MIBF is an annual event that brings local and foreign exhibitors together, all striving to help cultivate a love for reading. It is organized by Primetrade Asia, which is also one of ReaderCon's sponsors. I've always loved going to the MIBF. It is often held during the

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-20901838619647503092011-09-08T14:39:00.002+08:002011-09-08T20:54:04.867+08:00

With giant To Be Read piles plaguing us, my friends and I decided to encourage each other to attack these with an informal book club. For starters, we just decided on a general theme (travel) and picked books that we already have (win-win for everyone). Some of my friends chose books from established travel writers like Paul Theroux and Peter Mayle while others went with fiction. A friend even

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-50198284503137612842011-09-07T10:42:00.000+08:002011-09-07T10:42:20.344+08:00

You have to be always drunk. That's all there is to it—it's the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk. But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk. And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again,

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-80479881597635400332011-09-06T20:22:00.000+08:002011-09-07T10:05:18.145+08:00

As a countdown to our 1st ReaderCon, I'm joining the other Pinoy bloggers in doing this Filipino Friday meme. Every Friday, we're asked to share our answers on different questions, and last week's question was all about Filipino literature. Again, I'm a little late to the party. Being a Lit major and a writer for our university's literary folio really broadened my awareness of Philippine

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-52163231543763310082011-09-04T10:21:00.000+08:002011-09-23T18:13:49.721+08:00

The Incident Report was an impulse buy after seeing it mentioned in a copy of Bookmarks Magazine. What first intrigued me was that the story unfolds as a series of incident reports filed in a library. Miriam, one of the librarians employed by the Public Libraries of Toronto, keeps an observant eye on the different violations, threats, and other disruptive behavior that occur within their walls.

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-15038489983616671142011-09-01T22:20:00.005+08:002011-09-07T10:12:43.194+08:00

For months now, my teenage sister has been trying to get me to read Stephanie Perkins' Anna and the French Kiss. The premise reminded me of the Janet Quin-Harkin titles in the Sweet Dreams series (Exchange of Hearts, Lovebirds, and Ghost of a Chance, to name a few), where the Heroine is forced to go to a new country/state/town for a set period time (anywhere from a summer vacation to a year),

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-77660128460203601682011-08-29T13:16:00.004+08:002011-08-29T15:33:30.361+08:00

As a countdown to our 1st ReaderCon, I'm joining the other Pinoy bloggers in doing this Filipino Friday meme. Every Friday, we're asked to share our answers on different questions, and this week, we're taking on what it's like to be a book lover in the Philippines. I don't usually find new books in Aklan. Yup, I live outside of Manila, where the nearest city is an entire province away. It was

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-3036537083058877552011-08-26T16:41:00.002+08:002011-09-07T10:13:42.947+08:00

It's been years since I last read any of AS Byatt's works, so when a friend handed me Little Black Book of Stories I immediately jumped at the opportunity. My friend claims that the book is actually mine -- something I had lent her many many years ago (probably close to a decade) -- but it had completely slipped my mind. Upon re-reading, only two of the five stories in this collection came back

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-32662221354478742922011-08-24T19:42:00.004+08:002011-08-24T20:21:47.798+08:00

Each moment gathers and thickens like awareness between the tips of fingers, explaining how the present can be plausible and lovely, even when later, returning once again to its monastery, the heart sounds the brown notes of its bell-clapper, shaves its head, lies down to sleep with the sorrow of what it will love but cannot keep. - Luisa Igloria, from The Return Soon it will be five years

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-2829102857788495412011-08-22T11:39:00.002+08:002011-08-22T11:43:42.498+08:00

Bonsai Edith L. Tiempo (April 22, 1919—August 21, 2011) All that I love I fold over once And once again And keep in a box Or a slit in a hollow post Or in my shoe. All that I love? Why, yes, but for the moment --- And for all time, both. Something that folds and keeps easy, Son’s note or Dad’s one gaudy tie, A roto picture of a young queen, A blue Indian shawl, even A money bill. It’s utter

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-76937855248102963182011-08-21T14:26:00.002+08:002011-09-07T10:15:26.810+08:00

'In all the annals of romance, it was never the court jester who got the girl. It was always the knight in shining armor, dashing to the rescue in shining breastplate on a snowy white steed,' muses the hero in Lauren Willig's The Mischief of the Mistletoe. He has reason to -- he is more jester than knight, and it will definitely take more than his clashing clothes and social ineptitude to win the

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-79205357883702099012011-08-19T18:00:00.000+08:002011-08-19T18:15:46.280+08:00

As a countdown to our 1st ReaderCon, I'm joining the other Pinoy bloggers in doing this Filipino Friday meme. Every Friday, we're asked to share our answers on different questions, and this week, we're revealing who/what influenced us to read. I grew up surrounded by books. My mom used to be an English teacher at an all-girls school along Katipunan and she taught me to read at an early age. When

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-76359384552425991592011-08-15T18:40:00.009+08:002011-08-31T20:14:24.398+08:00

Friends have always encouraged me to read Guy Gavriel Kay but somehow I haven't gotten around to following their advice until now. I have copies of The Lions of Al-Rassan and Tigana but I always thought that I would start with his latest book Under Heaven, a Tang-dynasty inspired piece. During my last trip to Manila, I couldn't find a handy version of the book so I turned to the ones that were

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-58955299343053700412011-08-13T11:27:00.004+08:002011-08-31T20:15:00.668+08:00

At first glance, Marla Miniano's Fan Girl has a similar plot to Summit's last book, Popped. They both feature girls who go to another country in pursuit of their celebrity crushes. But in tone and approach, both books cannot be any more different. When Cosmopolitan Philippines commends Ms Miniano for her 'heart-wrenching angst,' I have to agree. Fan Girl's story begins in college, when Summer

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-12694990031877362512011-08-12T11:43:00.016+08:002011-08-24T21:57:08.929+08:00

As a countdown to our 1st ReaderCon, I'm joining the other Pinoy bloggers in doing this Filipino Friday meme. Every Friday, we're asked to share our answers on different questions, and this week, it's all about introducing the kind of readers we are. I read everything. Back when I was a Literature major and fancied myself a writer, a college professor told me that I had to be more discerning

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-89659243987083730612011-08-11T12:04:00.007+08:002011-08-31T20:16:04.901+08:00

Don't turn your head. Keep looking at the bandaged place. That's where the light enters you. And don't believe for a moment that you're healing yourself. – Rumi This short verse from one of my favorite poets kept resonating with me as I read Hiromi Kawakami’s Manazuru, translated from Japanese by Michael Emmerich. Twelve years after Kei’s husband disappeared, she is still haunted by the

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-54325092489917008772011-08-10T18:36:00.008+08:002011-08-12T19:54:46.380+08:00

I've been blogging since 2006, but it was only late last year when I found out that there was an entire community of passionate Filipino book bloggers. I was largely unaware that a number of them even have a healthy international audience. I hope none of the local publishing companies and their marketing departments share my ignorance, but on the off chance that they do, then this would be a

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-75935351420383246802011-08-07T15:12:00.009+08:002011-08-07T18:56:06.519+08:00

August brings much rain and cloudy skies so there is little reason for me to stay outdoors at night. In between waiting for the skies to clear, I've come up with a short list of astronomy-oriented books. Please note that this is not meant to be the definitive guide for any astronomer; these are merely my personal favorites that have helped me embrace the field.1. The Firefly Encyclopedia of

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-58932267413573396772011-08-04T13:57:00.005+08:002011-08-31T20:16:11.269+08:00

I've always admired works that subvert and twist the classic fairy tale. In The Child Thief, a darker retelling of JM Barrie's beloved Peter Pan, Brom reminds us that the dark elements are already present in the original story. His task is to lay that darkness bare while bringing the story into the twenty-first century. Here, Peter is still stealing kids away but he's now in the New World,

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-60706393906555461272011-07-28T15:21:00.006+08:002011-08-31T20:16:29.621+08:00

I have to admit that it's hard to review a book that comes in the middle of a series. You want to be able to share something substantial with your reader but must be cautious enough not to spoil anyone. Had HBO not produced a TV adaptation of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, I probably would have been freer with my thoughts. It has, after all, been years since the fourth book, A Feast

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-74735084495617769582011-07-24T21:24:00.005+08:002011-07-24T23:43:16.759+08:00

And once the storm is over you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about. — Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore Over the weekend, just as I finished celebrating what

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-32183466196719213372011-07-19T18:37:00.004+08:002011-08-31T20:17:13.207+08:00

I was drawn to this because I'm a fan of Sharon Shinn, especially her novel Summers at Castle Auburn, admittedly one of the lesser-known ones in her portfolio. When I found out that my good friend from Celina's Books and Magazines was selling a hardcover edition of Quatrain, which contained a companion story to Summers at Castle Auburn, I instantly snapped it up. Quatrain is a collection of four

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-27783580582398786902011-07-17T00:47:00.010+08:002011-07-17T16:22:25.326+08:00

These are 150 letters that you were never meant to see. Thanks to Bill Shapiro, they have now been compiled and printed to share with the rest the world. In his introduction, Mr Shapiro writes, 'So I started collecting other people's love letters. I contacted everyone I knew, and asked if they would send me any they'd been keeping [...] In the end, I had hundreds and hundreds stacked in my living

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-33701648526617159382011-07-13T20:15:00.002+08:002011-08-31T20:17:28.156+08:00

Sara Zarr's Sweethearts was one of the first books I placed on my Amazon wishlist a number of years ago, but I was only able to buy it last Friday. Long time coming. Outcasts Jennifer Harris and Cameron Quick were best friends--each other's only friend, in fact--when they were nine years old. But Cameron moves away and leaves Jennifer to deal with her share of traumatic memories alone. As she

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-91137962884662919182011-07-11T01:00:00.005+08:002011-08-31T20:17:40.256+08:00

I would love to play RPG with M. Edward McNally. This was the prevalent thought I had while reading his e-book The Sable City, available on Smashwords and Amazon. The story certainly knows its way around different fantasy tropes, combining them well enough to create an adventure campaign that is light in tone and quick in pace. What I enjoyed most about it is that it felt like a throwback to

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-57529369815775321092011-07-08T18:34:00.001+08:002011-08-31T20:18:03.742+08:00

See this cover? I assumed -- incorrectly, if I may add -- that this novel was going to be the easy, breezy read that I've wanted for days (okay, I was looking for a Plot-What-Plot romance). That was the only reason I picked this up from the Booksale shelf. I had to revise my notion when I read that the author had a story nominated for a Pushcart Prize. So I bought it, on the gut feeling that I

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-8348326720684292562011-07-04T10:00:00.004+08:002011-08-31T20:18:32.443+08:00

I am currently in the middle of reading a number of fantasy works and I thought I'd take a break by picking up something lighter. The premise of Dorothy Garlock's The Moon Looked Down doesn't sound that it should qualify for light reading though. In this story set in World War II, Sophie Heller and her family are struggling with anti-German threats and prejudices. But because her father does not

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-43209341022539391812011-07-02T20:20:00.012+08:002011-07-02T22:13:43.099+08:00

I’ve fallen in love with bookstores for different reasons. The size. The layout. The sheer number of books. But what made me go crazy over this small neighborhood shop was its thoughtful selection of titles. Books Actually is an independent bookstore located in quiet Tiong Bahru that's a total haven for book lovers. The bookstore's interiors are very welcoming and don’t feel the least bit

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-48075797230249029482011-06-25T18:34:00.009+08:002011-06-26T11:35:24.197+08:00

Every now and then, we encounter books that can astound us because of its scope and sheer genius. I was fortunate to have read two such books in the past few months, and one of them was David Markson's modern classic Reader's Block.Critics call Reader's Block an anti-novel. There is no spoken exchange here, no setting, no real conflict. What it is is a collection of facts about writers, painters,

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-33654080302282257072011-06-22T19:47:00.006+08:002011-08-31T20:19:04.448+08:00

'A Novel,' it says on the cover of Christopher Barzak’s The Love We Share Without Knowing but it can just as easily be mistaken for a collection of short stories. The book is created from seemingly disparate chapters, told from different perspectives, until you notice that a character in the first story will be mentioned in the next, and another character from that world will be in the succeeding

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-1905138523740001332011-06-20T15:40:00.006+08:002011-08-31T20:19:49.582+08:00

Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind has been bannered about with lofty terms such as 'instant classic' or 'the best fantasy book of the decade'. I may not readily agree with those praises but I will side with them in declaring that The Name of the Wind is certainly an engaging read, a well-drawn fantasy, and an impressive character study. Just not the best in recent years -- that's always such

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-6243928548849018382011-06-13T20:30:00.003+08:002011-08-31T20:20:04.683+08:00

I picked up Beth Revis' Across the Universe on the strength of my fifteen-year old sister's recommendation. She knew I liked sci-fi and YA and thought that I might appreciate something like this. Solid premise. Lovely title. Rest = history. In the simplest terms, Across the Universe is a sci-fi mystery. Sometime in the unknown future, a powerful international alliance called the Financial

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-2729840877877713982011-06-07T16:32:00.004+08:002011-06-13T23:56:56.386+08:00

It can’t already be June, it can’t already be Monday, that’s what they say, that’s what people keep muttering to themselves this morning as they cradle the last of the sleep in their coffee cups, for the precious moments in which they huddle in themselves before they must sign off their lives to something they don’t believe in, to something they think they cannot escape from. - Mariko Nagai, from

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-32689809468403482122011-06-03T17:30:00.005+08:002011-06-13T22:03:50.764+08:00

Been on a Nebula kick for the past few months so when I saw this anthology at a local bookstore, I grabbed it immediately. I'm very grateful that a number of the recent Nebula nominees for short story are accessible online and getting to read an anthology like this really helps me to broaden my range. Two of the 2008 Nebula winners are also favorites of mine, Peter S. Beagle and Elizabeth Hand,

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-8261533857091448882011-06-02T19:29:00.007+08:002011-08-31T20:20:55.538+08:00

This is not a review. I first heard of Patrick Ness thanks to an old Amazon recommendation in 2009. Later, he was mentioned in an io9 article, which somehow legitimized my desire to find his books. In 2009, I found both The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer in Bibliarch Glorietta, and the rest was history. I remember not even managing to climb the stairs of my lonely apartment

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-43908867709731429632011-06-01T22:27:00.002+08:002011-08-31T20:20:42.795+08:00

Joining the Whodunit Reading Challenge hosted by Gathering Books has really encouraged me to read more mysteries, even if my challenge is technically over. I tried to widen my reading range when it comes to the genre, and one of the authors I discovered is Diane Wei Liang, whose The Eye of Jade was quite satisfying -- but not exactly for its mystery. Mei Wang is an independent woman who has

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-44139083031545110042011-05-31T08:00:00.002+08:002011-05-31T16:48:48.081+08:00

Tucked among Pagoda Street's stalls of kitschy souvenirs and Asian memorabilia is this gem of the store that will make any fan exclaim, "Blistering Barnacles!" Yup, it's an official Tintin Store in Singapore. I've loved Tintin ever since I started reading those big comic books at our grade school library. Lucky for me, two of my younger cousins also got into the series as they were growing up,

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-58150155037905311472011-05-30T00:06:00.003+08:002011-05-30T00:15:58.351+08:00

Always, we keep coming back for more. It's only been months since I last saw three of my closest friends but it really feels longer. So off we went to visit old friends, celebrate a birthday, shop our wallets dry, drink our hearts out. Only our idea of a nightcap is a warm pot of berry-flavored tea.One more for the road.

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-78828662075697747962011-05-29T16:22:00.010+08:002011-08-31T20:21:19.344+08:00

A short visit to Singapore really put my reviews on hold, but after coming home with 17 books, I'm quite confident that I'll be back writing at a more regularly pace. I picked a few of my finds to keep me confident during the plane ride home, and one of them is Xiaolu Guo's UFO in Her Eyes. In the near future, a peasant woman from the tiny Chinese village of Silver Hill reports hearing a big

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-87646630519061711522011-05-17T23:26:00.006+08:002011-08-31T20:22:07.882+08:00

What Ma Jian has created with The Noodle Maker is a collection of lifestyles and ideals that grew under China's Cultural Revolution, were affected by the years that followed the adoption of the Open Door Policy while still under the Party's all-seeing gaze, and survived the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square incident. Here, a professional writer and his friend the professional blood donor meet

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-9104691200713202962011-05-09T18:29:00.006+08:002011-08-31T20:22:21.750+08:00

The Native Star is the third 2010 Nebula-nominated novel that I've read, and with its combination of fantasy and historical romance, it's by far the most satisfying to my reading tastes. I'm not too sure how it will fare in the voting, but I'll definitely be rooting for it. It wasn't hard for me to love this story. Set in an alternate version of America in 1876, MK Hobson has created a world

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-52704610144677290612011-05-07T18:12:00.012+08:002011-08-31T20:22:46.821+08:00

There has always been a sharpness in Kazuo Ishiguro's work that makes me feel inadequate and ill-equipped to write a review. His Never Let Me Go is one of my favorite books of all time but I couldn't even begin to find the words to do it proper homage. I'm attempting anew with Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall. In his sparse yet carefully-nuanced narrative style, Mr Ishiguro

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-27224134983559524562011-05-04T11:44:00.002+08:002011-05-04T12:35:22.545+08:00

All I'm missing is a hammock and my own private beach. In a few days, I'll be leaving our little home and heading to Manila and Singapore. Not too keen about spending the rest of the summer in the city's sweltering heat but the prospect of shopping and seeing old friends is enough to excite me. Orchard. Clarke Quay. Holland Village. Bugis. Chinatown. Sentosa. Marina Bay. Here I come.

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-55715235728354437692011-04-30T14:36:00.002+08:002011-04-30T14:44:20.009+08:00

So I tried to be invisible. It's surprisingly possible. -Angela Chase, My So-Called LifeBeen out sick for the past few days and couldn't even enjoy the luxury of reading. Then house guests descended, and not being a particular fan of them, I've taken to lurking in corners and empty rooms. I hope I'll be back to regular programming soon.

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-40231853239872443232011-04-21T19:35:00.009+08:002011-08-31T20:23:05.488+08:00

I like scaring myself through film and literature. So when my friend lent me a stack of books which included Sarah Waters' Gothic The Little Stranger but reminded me to save it for last, I didn't listen at all. Its eerie mood beckoned to me more than the other books and I went with it willingly. The Little Stranger is told through the eyes of Dr. Faraday, a country doctor who finds himself

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-87846918592295722122011-04-13T21:06:00.003+08:002011-04-14T12:47:17.648+08:00

I was very pleased when I found that my cousin left behind his copy of Michael Dirda's Classics for Pleasure. Mr Dirda is a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic for the Washington Post, and for a while now, I've had my eye on his collection of essays on book recommendations.I'll be brief: If you're looking for a list that contains Shakespeare or Tolstoy or Dickens, then you should look elsewhere.

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-59011103218020422532011-04-09T22:45:00.003+08:002011-08-31T20:23:25.476+08:00

After reading Juliet Marillier's Heir to Sevenwaters last January, I didn't know how obsessed I would be over the rest of the series. Thanks to a friend who shared with me the other four books, I spent the last few days just reading in my room. The series is such a lovely marriage of fantasy and romance that it really refused to let me go. Given that, I thought it would be better to share my

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-21136282092782857272011-04-05T23:30:00.002+08:002011-08-31T20:23:51.709+08:00

Flavia de Luce is now one of my favorite detectives: witty, unflappable, a force of nature. We met last year through Alan Bradley's The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and since then I've been eager to be part of her new adventures. Good thing it wasn't such a long wait until The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag. In this mystery, Flavia (always at the right place at the right time) meets

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-60634323132419912662011-04-03T21:02:00.002+08:002011-08-31T20:24:07.890+08:00

'It's in the telling, always. It's in the old, old telling,' so declares the author in "Oakland Dragon Blues," one of the stories in Peter S. Beagle's newest collection, Sleight of Hand. Mr Beagle is a master storyteller as evidenced by this gathering of thirteen tales of the fantastic, showcasing a wide range of settings and characters (from centaurs lost in New York to a cop helping a bitterly

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-75526239631870691632011-03-29T17:30:00.002+08:002011-08-31T20:24:40.929+08:00

I'm not quite sure what I expected from Anne Brashares' My Name is Memory. The story's premise is somewhat akin to The Time-Traveller's Wife which moved me, and knowing that this was geared towards more adult readers, I approached it with a determination to like it. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed. Daniel and Sophia are old souls that keep on coming back after every death. Daniel's

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-77197708968232312011-03-27T21:53:00.000+08:002011-03-27T21:53:00.519+08:00

It is raining where I am. It's been raining for the better part of two weeks. To write this is a feeble attempt to cling to sun-melted mornings and an afternoon falling in love with a hammock. Get out the map and lay your finger anywhere down, the Indigo Girls sing, and while I love the rain, today it makes me wish that I can take their advice.I'm imagining myself understanding the poetry of

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-78219947836310230482011-03-26T08:38:00.003+08:002011-08-31T20:25:19.109+08:00

It's no secret that I am big fan of fantasy. When I was much younger, I would really be engaged in the popular fantasy series of that time (Dragonlance, McCaffrey, Brooks, Eddings, Jordan). Despite all those different worlds that I have frequented, I would always end up picturing my heroes to be Anglo. Over time I would encounter fantasies with a markedly Arabic or Asian tone, thus rearranging my

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-23468221539903170352011-03-21T21:34:00.002+08:002011-08-31T20:25:30.196+08:00

Situated after the Philippine-American War, Erwin Castillo's The Firewalkers reads part-saga, part-Philippine history lesson. It hovers on the edges of magical realism and fantasy but underneath the lyricism is a severely political thread. This particular edition is actually composed of two stories: the titular work and a shorter tale called The Watch of La Diane. What intrigues me about both is

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-91932122922567365852011-03-17T09:19:00.002+08:002011-03-17T09:59:35.429+08:00

Let's ride a trade wind like paper airplanes.Let's watch the sky wheel & wheel 
from under straw hats. - from Mike Dockins' Poem of Low LatitudesIt was the last hurrah of a three-week vacation in Manila, even though the Manila trip wasn't really a vacation or that this last hurrah wasn't even in Manila. I probably confuse you. But there was nothing confusing about that weekend in San Pablo where

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-81916353812930827362011-03-09T22:51:00.004+08:002011-08-31T20:26:08.998+08:00

One of my favorite fictional Victorian pairs is that of the mystery-solving duo of Lady Julia Grey and Nicholas Brisbane. I have loyally followed them from Silent in the Grave to their most recent adventure in a lush yet remote region in India via Dark Road to Darjeeling. While I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books of Ms Raybourn's Julia Grey novels, I was a bit disappointed with the third one

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-37646069898412245252011-03-08T09:51:00.006+08:002011-08-31T20:26:20.058+08:00

Stuck in Manila for a week more and with most of my friends at work, I turned to Eloisa James' Desperate Duchesses series loaned to me by my best friend. I finished this six-book series in three days (the first three on the first day) so I guess you could call me a 'desperate reader' at that time! Set in the Georgian period, the series revolves around a group of young duchesses and their many

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-40160485779483286312011-03-06T23:20:00.005+08:002011-03-06T23:29:31.680+08:00

It does no harm to the romance of the sunset to know a little bit about it. -Carl Sagan, Pale Blue DotCame home from my first meeting as an official member of the Astronomical League of the Philippines. I'm humbled each time I realize just how little I know. Still, here I am, star stuff and luminous.

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-73884070908628162512011-03-05T10:20:00.008+08:002011-08-31T20:26:47.752+08:00

I am generally distrustful of novels that put excerpts at the back of the book instead of actual summaries. It makes me think: a) someone's not doing his job; and b) really? you're going with that? Not the case with Brenna Yovanoff's The Replacement. It was the excerpt that lured me in, guaranteed that I would think about it until I actually bought a copy and read until the last page. In case

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-51579264361770415722011-03-01T19:25:00.001+08:002011-08-31T20:27:05.305+08:00

Jody Linder's family is the wealthiest and most respected family in Rose, Kansas. So when three-year old Jody's young father is brutally murdered and her beautiful mother goes missing, the whole town reverberates with shock and anger. The Linders, led by the powerful Hugh Senior, make sure that the guilty is punished -- in this case, town drunk and wife-beater Bill Crosby. But twenty-three years

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-63869622903020013202011-02-23T15:00:00.001+08:002011-08-31T20:27:21.618+08:00

With all the negative connotations that come with being stereotypically tall, buxom, blue-eyed and blonde, it's a wonder that Elizabeth Peters can still turn her Dr. Vicky Bliss into a charming character. I guess it's the reason why I've been patiently following her Vicky Bliss series for years now. Vicky is smart and self-deprecating (her biggest gripe is that no one takes her seriously, looking

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-25626336425409689472011-02-21T01:28:00.006+08:002011-08-31T20:27:29.974+08:00

Part of me wanted to start on Julie Hyzy's White House Chef mystery series, especially since one of the titles, State of the Onion, won the Anthony Award for mysteries in 2009. But somehow the charming description of Grace Under Pressure won out, maybe because I felt I was getting enough of my spy-and-state-secrets stuff with TV shows Chuck and Covert Affairs. So goodbye, White House; hello,

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-59152985466185936802011-02-21T00:31:00.002+08:002011-02-21T00:54:25.827+08:00

My first astrophoto. Not exactly the best shot since it's too bright but I can't help but feel so pleased that I had the opportunity to learn from a talented, patient, and generous group of astronomers. Dance me to the end of love, Leonard Cohen sings for me tonight. We're still finding out how.

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-72605221434436898332011-02-09T12:33:00.007+08:002011-08-31T20:28:13.240+08:00

To say that I found Ken Follet's World Without End rather disappointing would be an understatement. As someone who was really hooked on his Pillars of the Earth, chronicling the lives and the legacy of medieval lovers Jack and Aliena, I was really looking forward to reading World Without End because it was about their descendants and set in a similar tone, a familiar world. Too similar and too

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-44500760917690705872011-02-07T02:55:00.003+08:002011-08-31T20:28:22.836+08:00

Murder and humor meet in this exotic gem of a mystery. Tarquin Hall's The Case of the Missing Servant takes place in the heart of India and serves up a sharp and entertaining whodunit through its array of colorful, memorable characters. Vish Puri is a middle-aged private eye with a quick mind and an enterprising team (one that includes eyes and ears with nicknames like Facecream and Tubelight,

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-62749777391650119942011-02-03T14:45:00.003+08:002011-06-21T15:59:47.145+08:00

Want Books? is a weekly meme hosted at Chachic’s Book Nook and features released books that you want but you can’t have for some reason. It can be because it’s not available in your country, in your library or you don’t have the money for it right now. Reading the premise of Kody Keplinger's The Duff was enough to make it skyrocket to my Want Books? List. Duff stands for Designated Ugly Fat

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-72609331364120972112011-01-29T13:34:00.006+08:002011-08-31T20:28:43.481+08:00

'He remembered what Chekov said about loaded revolvers: "If a revolver appears in the first act of a play it must be fired in the third act." [...] A revolver can appear in the first act and be fired pointlessly, and despite this it will be a play worth performing...(p180)' So goes a passage from Benjamin Tammuz' 1981 English Book of the Year winner Minotaur. This powerful story revolves around

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-65508302221841444192011-01-28T09:47:00.005+08:002011-08-31T20:29:05.914+08:00

In another life, I am obsessed with anime and manga, Japanese pop stars and movies. I took Japanese language classes. I've stayed at home just to finish an entire series. I wrote fanfiction; I've even made a Japanese-inspired harem game and a manga. One of my lifelong goals is to visit Japan, land of everything for which my fangirl heart beats. (Does that totally destroy any kind of lit street

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-2874081408623220912011-01-25T22:56:00.007+08:002011-08-31T20:29:24.789+08:00

With its command of logic, suspense, and contemporary Filipino elements, FH Batacan's Smaller and Smaller Circles is definitely worth the accolades and awards heaped upon it. This winner of the 1999 Palanca Grand Prize and 2002 National Book Award is a well-crafted Pinoy version of CSI, with two Jesuit priests investigating the grisly deaths of adolescent boys in Payatas. Their investigation

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-33902038943879281612011-01-24T21:01:00.006+08:002011-08-31T21:51:49.294+08:00

Aspirational is a term that we loved to use when I was still in advertising (and by 'loved', I mean a mixture of sarcasm, amusement, and fondness). I don't even know if it's a legit word. "We want it to be aspirational," we were always told, whether we were making brochures for mid-rise condominiums or sale ads for a popular mall. Our team knew aspirational more than we knew the back of our hands

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-57644295149365838322011-01-21T10:30:00.005+08:002011-08-31T21:52:24.513+08:00

Of all of Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld 'sub-worlds' (Death, witches, The Watch, and the wizards), it is the wizards' world to which I least gravitate. Strange as it may sound, I find it easier to relate to a group of city policemen or stories about a hooded figure in black who speaks in ALL CAPS. I thought that I would approach Unseen Academicals with an obligatory air, to just read it because

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33935940.post-63115955344482297652011-01-18T18:09:00.004+08:002011-01-19T22:44:12.489+08:00

Late last year, my good friends Cla and Nina came for a three-day visit. I've blogged about them before, but there's something in the quiet that follows our crazy Ati-Atihan festival that makes me yearn for good company all over again.Rumi writes, "Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you truly love." And this year, I will, I will.

dementedchrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16819021458896570445noreply@blogger.com3