Good news, good news

People who are into intelligent and racy reading may actually live longer. At least that is what's implied here. This is exactly what I need to hear, especially after knowing that the word "unfriend" is probably here to stay. Since I plan to read all of Collins's novels and Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, I figured I need to live until I'm 80, at least.

I wonder what constitutes "intelligent and racy" reading though. I bet Hawking's A Brief History of Time (which I haven't read) counts for intelligent reading. Are the Gossip Girl novels considered racy? And, can we actually have a book that's both intelligent AND racy. Hmmmm... Offhand, I think I've read lots of racy novels: Judith Krantz, Jackie Collins, and Harold Robbins.

Any suggestions on intelligent and racy reads, dear reader?

Another list

Image from The New Yorker

Telegraph just came up with a list of 100 books that defined the 2000s. Check it here. This decade, the noughties, hasn't been a very good reading year for me, as I used to read at least 250 books every year during the 90s. Now I just average around 50 in a year. (Oh, how work gets in the way of reading.) Still, I was surprised that I've read 56 of them!

I'm not really a big fan of lists as they seem to be very subjective. And I think I'm not sure yet as to how a book can define a decade. Should it rank in a bestseller list? (Probably, since The Da Vinci Code is #2, Twilight is #32, Jamie Oliver's The Return of the Naked Chef is #46.) Should it be political? (Yes, as apparently, Obama's Dreams from My Father is #2.)

The list, however, did get me to think of the best books that I've read in this decade, which is quite challenging. Telegraph did include three of my favorite books so far -- Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White (#91), Irène Némirovsky's Suite Française (#87), and Dave Eggers's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (#4).

How about you, dear reader? Are there books you've read in the 2000s that particularly stand out? I'd like to know about them.

Out for blood

This marketing campaign is pure genius. In line with the publication of the official Dracula sequel, Dracula: The Un-Dead. by Penguin, the publisher is organizing Dracula-themed blood drives in select Canadian cities. We finally get something good from all the vampire trend going on. (Why didn't the publishers and fans of Twilight think of this first? Oh right, Edward and his family are "vegetarians.")

Have you read Dracula, dear reader? The first time I read it when I was 15, I was scared out of my pants. Even though it came out in 1897, it's still scary even to this day. Dracula is one of the best epistolary novels I've read. The letters the characters wrote to one another and their journal entries give them a unique voice.

This dish, which we locals call dinuguan, is one of my favorite.
For non-Filipino readers, it's a stew made of pig's blood, pork, and other variety meats.
Image from Ramen Days

Random funnies

One-half of Speidi can read!

Check out this post on What the Book You're Reading Really Says about You. It's a gas.

This bookseller really hates his customers. Read the types of customers he has come up with.

Can books learn from movies? Apparently, yes. Check it here.

Archie finally chooses

A love triangle no more

At last, after several years of that Archie-Betty-Veronica love triangle, our hero gets down on his knees and proposes to -- Veronica! Read the story here.

Yes, Archie chose the rich, spoiled, bitchy, black-haird beauty over all-American, goody-two-shoes blonde, Betty. Apparently, not everyone is into blondes.

I think Archie made the right choice. Betty has all the makings of a Stepford wife -- perfect but dull. Betty, on the other hand, will grow old into a powerful matriarch of a big clan (a la Joan Collins in "Dynasty").

Do you think the comic book series has finally jumped the shark? So, dear reader, are you Team Betty or Team Veronica?

At least it's hygienic

Koji Suzuki, the man behind The Ring, Spiral, and Dark Water, has a new horror novel. But this time, it's printed on toilet paper. My only question is: Will the books come out in 1- or 2-ply as well?

I am loving the concept already. Who would've thunk this one but the Japanese! If you plan to resell this book, then better come up with a new sales pitch other than "Used Toilet Paper For Sale."

On another sheet...

Ever wonder why the sheets of toilet paper don't stick? They roll out effortlessly from the tube, right? It's all due to a mathematical concept called Penrose tiling.

Look closely at a roll of Kleenex and you'll notice patterns on the surface of the sheets -- the Penrose tiles. These are actually unrepeating patterns, which prevent bunching when paper is rolled.

And because the Penrose tiles are unique, there's no possibility of the patterns of one sheet locking into place with the patterns of the sheet under it. Brilliant, right?

Filipinos and the media

A friend brought this worldwide study to my attention last week. Having been released in 2005, it may be a bit dated though, but I can't find a more recent one on global media habits.

Basically, the NOP World Culture Score(TM) Index details the number of hours people from different countries devote to watching TV, listening to the radio, reading, and logging in to the Internet. Here's what I found out:

• We spend 21.0 hours every week watching TV. Filipinos ranked second in this category; Thailand ranked first.
  

• We listen to the radio for 9.5 hours per week. We're #16; Argentina is at #1.
  

• We read for about 7.6 hours every week. We came in at #4! Indians are the most bookish, with 10.7 hours spent every week reading.
  

• Almost 10 hours of the week are spent online. The Taiwanese, ranking first, are online for 12.6 hours.
  

I just wish that the study could've been more specific. I'd really want to find out what Filipinos are reading. Do we read more magazines than books? Which books are the most popular? I do remember reading a study about the most popular non-school books among Filipinos. If I can find it, I'll share it with you guys.

The dame still matters

Lady, you'll need a larger tote bag for that.

Agatha Christie sets another record! She's now the author of the book with the largest spine ever -- over a foot long.

And in Iran, they arrest a woman whom they believe to be their first female serial killer. The woman confessed that she somehow patterned her killings from Christie's whodunits.

And also...

I went to three bookstores today and noticed that they have new stocks but with much higher prices. Could this be the result of the tax imposed on imported books?

Letters from your mistress

People find it daunting to name their favorite book, which can be especially tough if you're a bibliophile. I've always been vocal about I, Claudius by Robert Graves for being my all-time favorite. For a book that was first published in 1934, the writing is unbelievably modern and can sometimes be racy.

Graves is also one of England's most famous war-time poets. Recently, I bought a thick Penguin paperback of his poetry collection. He is, after all, better known for his poetry than his novels, so I figured it was a "safe" buy. (Check out his poetry here.) Yesterday I decided to find out more about this man when I stumbled upon this piece of news from The Independent.

...one academic has accused the poet of stealing ideas, literary criticism and poetry from his one-time American mistress and passing them off as his own.

Dr Mark Jacobs, a research fellow at Nottingham Trent University who has spent two decades studying 700 letters he received from Laura Riding Jackson as well as her literary works, said when she discovered the uncanny similarity in his texts she condemned her former lover as a "robber baron".

In her letters to Dr Jacobs, Jackson accuses Graves of having "sucked, bled, squeezed, plucked, picked, grabbed, dipped, sliced, carved, lifted the body of my work" after their relationship broke down in 1939."

I heard several years ago that Leonardo DiCaprio was set to play the title role in the adaptation of I, Claudius. If ever that abomination pushes through, DiCaprio would have been miscast. He's too pretty to play the stuttering, frail, and sickly Roman emperor.

Bromance: Perhaps Zac Efron can play Germanicus, Claudius' brother.

By the way, the contest below is still open. The winner just might get one more book.

Shorts (part 2)

The legendary director Preston Sturgess. See, even busy people find time to read.

More news from the book world!

Dan Brown fans, it's time to parteeee! Dan Brown has just finished writing his latest book, The Solomon Key. The novel, which is about the Freemasons and set in Washington, still features Robert Langdon. Time to reserve those copies! Me, I'll just wait for the paperback. No, strike that. I'll just wait for the book to appear in bargain bins.

Hurrah for the book section of The New York Times. The section now includes a graphic novel bestseller list. Before, we were accustomed to seeing the tag "New York Times Bestseller" only on our paperbacks. Now we get to see that on our graphic novels too. Finally, we get to find the answer to one of life's mysteries: which is more popular -- DC or Marvel?

The British Psychological society reports that reading to children 2 years old and younger has a positive effect on their vocabulary and comprehension. (Do we really need a formal study on this?) Unfortunately, more and more parents are finding it difficult to squeeze in reading time for their children. The future's not looking so bright, isn't it?

This year, The Times UK has decided to come out not just with a list of most borrowed books but also books that are most frequently stolen. Check it here. Interestingly, the top 2 most stolen books are travel guides. I wonder if our local bookstores have the same trend. In moving about the crazy metropolis that is Manila, one really needs those travel guides.

Hitler owned 16,000 books. Apparently, he was a bookworm. If you're expecting to find that Hitler owned copies of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, you'll be sorely disappointed. Among Hitler's books are Wild West adventure stories by Karl May, all the detective fiction of Edgar Wallace, and love stories by Hedwig Courths-Mahler (a German Barbara Cartland). Thank you, Hitler. You're the perfect argument on why censorship is stupid. Reading pornographic stuff will not turn you into a rapist. Just look at Hitler; he read romance novels.

When the British are asked which book they've lied about reading, the top answer is Orwell's 1984. Also, many of them would claim that they've read Joyce's Ulysses, Tolstoy's War and Peace, and the bible, when they really have not. Tsk tsk. They would, however, prefer to read Rowling and Grisham. No surprise there. Who would ever want to read Ulysses? I've read it several years ago, and until now, I could make neither heads nor tails of it. I'm not planning on reading 1984 too. It's so, like, 1984.

If you were to write a book, how would you make the sales pitch to a potential publisher? A group of agents and editors logged at the popular social networking site Twitter to "tweet" about what makes them reject submissions. Most of the tweets are hilarious! Here are some of them:

• This is my first attempt at writing a fictional novel
• This book is The Notebook meets The Lord of the Rings
• My book is about a friendship based upon mutual vomiting practices in high school
• My book is differentiated from Twilight because the vampires have wings, and are half-breed angels
• My credentials for writing this book include: A divine mandate to speak the word of God

You can eat your Harry but not your Hardy

First it was children's toys from China. Then came the melamine milk scare. Now it's children's books. Well, children's books published before 1985 that is. The US government just released a warning saying that the paint used in books published before 1985 used lead-based paint in their prints. And since most books with colorful prints are children's books, the US government is set to ban all pre-1985 children's books in 2010.

You're probably thinking of throwing out all your Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Enid Blyton, and vintage Seuss books. Don't. Lead has to be consumed for your body to experience its toxic properties, and you probably have to eat several old children's books before its concentration in your blood reaches dangerous levels. Besides, who would want to eat moldy old books? Even kids would probably think twice before putting these crusty objects in their mouths. (I chewed pencil erasers when I was in grade school, but only because I like the texture.)

If you think that the repercussions to this ban are few, then you couldn't be more wrong. Come 2010, it will now become technically illegal to donate old children's books. Libraries who thrive on donations will be forced to turn these books away. And what about second-hand bookshops? While they can still sell these books, they can only do so if and only if they subject them to lead tests, which are very expensive. Rare, out-of-print books can only be sold for adult use.

I am practically torn by this piece of news. On the one hand, it's a preventive measure. No one, not even idiots, should be made to suffer after eating the library's Bobbssey Twins collection. On the other hand, this ban means that getting these beautiful and artistically detailed books will be much harder for the book collector. These books are precious artworks in themselves. It's bad enough that we have very few eye candy in our shelves but a lot of headless women.