I wish every day were Saturday

While I wasn't able to spend the full day last Saturday at the 3rd annual Philippine ReaderCon, I did manage to catch the late afternoon sessions, which were all about book clubs. It's the 1st time that I didn't play an active role at the ReaderCon. During the 1st year, I moderated one of the sessions on book clubs here in the country. Then last year, I headed the Registration Committee. This year though, there were just too many things on my plate.

Anyway, this year, I did make it in time for the book club's discussion of Neil Gaiman's Season of Mists, which is the 4th volume of the acclaimed Sandman series. There weren't that many participants this year as compared with the almost fully packed room last year, when we talked about Rafe Bartholomew's nonfiction book about basketball in the Philippines, Pacific Rims. It was still a lovely way to spend the Saturday afternoon though.

Also, there were still several booths set up by the book clubs featuring the wide array of books that they're recommending to readers. I did the usual rounds, picking up several of the lists and bookmarks along the way. Unfortunately, the bookmarks being given away by my book club ran out! Nevertheless, I ended up with lots and lots of bookmarks in my tote.

I also purchased a few books. I bought my very first Filipino chick lit novel, Mina V. Esguerra's My Imaginary Ex. Mina was actually there in her romance class booth, and I asked her which among her novels is a good place to start. But the ones that I was truly excited about is the series of comic books about crime-fighting call center agents, which were appropriately titled Crime-Fighting Call Center Agents. The first 4 issues are just so hilarious!

My ReaderCon loot
Bookmarks and reco lists! Woot woot!

Of course, the book club still didn't want to call it a day, even though the ReaderCon ended at around 5 pm. We ended up having dinner at a newly opened strip mall nearby. R.'s birthday was just next day, so I thought it would be the perfect time to surprise him with a simple birthday cake. It was a 5-layer chocolate cake! It was a very fun Saturday indeed.

So: ReaderCon, Sandman, bookmarks, new books, dinner with the book club, and a birthday cake. It was a great Saturday indeed.

R. was completely surprised with his birthday cake.
I'm giddily clapping as well. :-)
(Photo credit: Jan Ruiz)

Unbearable

In a bibliophile's life, there are always books that people would rave about which you would wonder why. And one of those books for me is Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. It's a book heavy on philosophical themes, a historic period in the then Czechoslovakia, the impact of repressive political regimes on art, and the significance of sex in its 4 major characters. I found it hard to digest. And believe me, I digested a lot of things in my life, edible or otherwise.

TULoB has been a book I've always wanted to read, and luckily for me, it was chosen as the book of the month by the book club for August. So, up it went to the top of my humongous, robust, virile, eye-popping to-be-read pile. (Now if I can only say that to certain parts of my anatomy, no? Life would be awesome. But alas...) I read it in a span of a week, and what a week it was. I felt I was high on drugs the whole time, but not in a good way. In fact, it was almost akin to having taken a date rape drug. You had no idea you already took it, but you know that all's not well and sooner or later you're gonna get fucked.

The novel opens with a study in contrast of lightness and weight. Lightness apparently has something to do with living for the moment and not putting too much importance on things. Apparently it's based on a philosophical idea of Paremenides. (And it was at this point that my eyes glazed over.) Weight, on the other hand, stems from the idea of Nietzsche, which has something to do with eternal return, which Kundera doesn't really believe in, which has something to do with people putting way too much weight on sex, their political ideologies, their husbands and wives and mistresses, which has something to do with me believing that it's all just crappy nonsense. The last time I've heard of something like the eternal return, I was probably watching an episode of Dr. Who.

The concept of lightness and being does lead us to Kundera's 4 main characters, two of which are "light" and 2 "heavy." The heavy characters are Teresa and Franz, characters so heavy that they'd probably sink into the ocean if I threw them overboard a ship. Teresa, the photographer, who marries one of the light characters, Tomas, the doctor and philanderer who ends up cleaning windows by the novel's end. Teresa is someone that I hoped to understand but I couldn't. All this coming and going from one country to another. All the issues she feels with marrying a man who cheats. Lady, you knew from the start what you're getting into when you married that perennially horny Tomas. He'd fuck a tree if you draped a dress over it. Get over it.

I did like one of the light characters though—Sabina. She's an artist coping with the insane standards of the country's socialist regime. Sabina is one who knows how to survive; she literally packs up all her bags and moves to the US when she can no longer stand the artistic ideals of her country. During that time, all art forms should be realistic and any other forms which are otherwise are deemed unpatriotic. Sabina is the only character in the novel who has an epiphany. When a drop of red paint unintentionally falls on a painting she's working on, she stumbles on the wonderful concept of accidental beauty. Yes, like Sabina, I believe that art should be organic and truly express the artist's feelings.

While I didn't like The Unbearable Lightness of Being, I did enjoy the discussion nonetheless. A lot of members consider Kundera's most famous novel as their favorite, and it was interesting to note their opinions and thoughts. I thought, on the other hand, that the novel was just too much work. It's the kind of novel that you deconstruct to fully appreciate and understand. It did make me curious about the Prague Spring and how it affected the lives of artists during the Soviet occupation of this eastern European country. But other than that, I found The Unbearable Lightness of Being, well, simply unbearable in its entirety. Too preachy, the language too flowery, the milieu too European, the characters lacking conflict that I could relate with. It's the kind of book that I'd give to frenemies.

Anyway, here are some pics that R. (best photographer ever) took during the discussion. You can click on them to enlarge.

I have no recollection of what I'm telling here.
Yes, that happens when I talk about books I have no strong feelings on.

Gege, the moderator for this month, gave each member a bowler hat.
The bowler hat figures prominently in the story.
It somehow symbolizes erotic playfulness. Whatever.

And each one of us received this loot.
It had a notebook and a bookmark.
Because one cannot have too many bookmarks.

R. made gorgeous illustrations of the members who attended.
Here's mine.
Yes, I was wearing hot pink shorts that time.

Read this book if:

1. You're a sucker for Kundera.
2. You want to know whether you're a light or a heavy person.
3. You fall for flowery language.

Many an opinion about this book

It's true what they say about the classics, you know. The first time you read a classic, you wonder if you'll read another contemporary novel again. The second time you read it, you find the work richer, more textured, discovering just a little bit more or what makes this novel timeless.

I feel that Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, which a lot of people consider her best work, is perfect for a book discussion. When I read it more than 15 years ago, I marveled at Wharton's beautiful prose and her keen ability to portray New York society. I've reread it in time for our book club's March discussion, and it turned out to be a more rewarding experience.

Yes, it's not the type of book that you would buy at a bookstore, unless you're a literature student. This is unfortunate, for the book raises a lot of interesting questions that would serve as fodder for a very lively book discussion.

Was Wharton writing a novel about Lily Bart, the heroine who seems to make one wrong decision after another? Or was she providing us a portrait of New York society at the turn of the century? Were Lily Bart's actions a product of her upbringing or were they a result of the circumstances thrown her way? And what about that ending, huh? Did she or didn't she?

As expected, I was fascinated to hear the thoughts of the members of the book club on Wharton's novel. Some couldn't stand Lily, other wanted to be her. Others who wouldn't touch a classic with a 10-foot pole ended up liking The House of Mirth. Some couldn't even finish it. There were several opinions about the ambivalent ending. I prefer the ending though. It gives me something to ponder.

So, dear reader, if you haven't read The House of Mirth yet, I suggest you go grab a copy. You're in for a delightful reading experience. For the meantime, let me share with you some pictures.

I facilitated a card game for the book swap.
I was inspired by the games of bridge that Lily Bart participated in.


I counted 24 participants! Woot woot! (3 members not in this picture.)
Twenty-four is quite manageable a number, I think,
as compared to the 30+ who showed up during last year's The Woman in Black discussion.

R designed these 6 bookmarks, with each showing 6 of the book's themes:
private, husband, gossip, downfall, lush, pretty.
(Photo courtesy of R)

I also gave away 4 bookplates to each participant.
R also designed these.

A good book club friend, Iya, helped me with book plate production.
She also packaged each set in ribbons and charms.

A series of bookmarks

It's been the tradition of the book club to come up with a bookmark in line with the monthly discussion. But sometimes, moderators go all out and give away not just one but several bookmarks to mark the occasion.

When I moderated the discussion for The Woman in Black in October last year, I couldn't help but give 4 bookmarks to the participants. I asked R, the designer, to come up with a black and white color scheme.


R also designed the bookmarks for the discussion for the Asian Man Booker Prize-winning novel, Ilustrado. Iya wanted two bookmarks for the event, each showing a funny comic piece relating to the novel.


There was one time when a bookmark served as an invitation for the next month's discussion. Here's the bookmark invite for the discussion on urban fantasy, which was moderated by R.


And being a huge fan of The Hunger Games, we came up with 12 bookmarks for the discussion, one bookmark for each of the 12 districts in Suzanne Collins's YA series.


Last January during our traditional discussion on our best and worst reads from last year, Gege came up with personalized bookmarks. The six bookmarks below show my best read for 2011, my favorite classic, my all-time favorite author, my all-time favorite works of fiction and nonfiction, and my worst read for 2011.


Last Saturday, when we discussed George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, R again designed the series of bookmarks, with each bookmark showing a house sigil.


But the piece de resistance during the discussion moderated by Shani was the Westeros map printed on a huge piece of thick paper. It's not technically a bookmark as it's almost a meter long!


I love the details of the Westeros map! Any fan of the series is sure to want one.