I just move on

I saw a brand new hardback of the latest Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Pendergast novel, Cemetery Dance. And since it was only 99 pesos (a little over $2), I had no second thoughts of buying it. Don't you just love bargain bins? I can spend an hour just browsing the titles.

The Pendergast novels are my guilty pleasure. I think I've read them all. They're so entertaining and requires no major effort to comprehend. You couldn't help but fall for Pendergast -- the stoic, über-intelligent, and esoteric FBI agent. Preston and Child aren't even clear if Pendergast is really an FBI agent, or if he was, what happened to him that he had to leave the bureau. And the Pendergast novels also have a touch of the fantastic to them. They're basically mysteries and thrillers involving archaeological elements. They can be really addicting.

I was into page 101 of the novel when I noticed something. I was reading it quite fast but I was finding it lackluster. Somehow, it wasn't that engaging anymore. Sure, all the techniques of Preston and Child were there -- the chapter cliffhangers, a murder involving (possibly) a zombie, and the weird investigative methods of Pendergast.

KyusiReader turns 1

Exactly one year ago, I wrote my first entry for this blog. Now, 277 posts later, I can say that this blog has made my experience more rewarding. Sure it takes time to write reviews, but I think it's worth it. I love reading all your comments.

So, Happy Anniversary, my KyusiReader. And thank you, dear reader, for taking the time to drop by every now and then.

Going beyond one's comfort zone

I just read this wonderful piece from Salon.com entitled "Read a book you think you'll hate in 2010." In a way, the article describe's the New Year's resolution of the writer, wherein she'll read a book that she would usually avoid. It's an amazing concept, isn't it? And one that I'm willing to try out this year.

But first, I need to identify the things that turn me off, or my biases against certain books. Here are some of them:

1. Novels that have "The best American novel" as blurbs
2. Any book by Danielle Steele, Paulo Coehlo, and John Grisham
3. Books with covers that show headless women, shirtless men, and two hands cupping an apple
4. Cookbooks by celebrity chefs
5. Memoirs that involve poverty, depression, and angst against one's parents

2010 is supposed to be the year I read more classics and fewer contemporary novels. But I guess, the above list is as good a reading challenge as any. How about you, dear reader? Are there any books that you've always been afraid to read but are willing to take on this year? I'd like to know about them.

The year in reading

2009 was a memorable year in books for me. Yes, it was a crazy, crazy year, but 2009 did have special personal highlights in terms of my love of reading. First, I started this blog this year. Then, there was this mention in BBC about my bookshelf project. I also became active in a book club this year -- Flips Flipping Pages. Finally, I came to know several book bloggers like myself who have a passion for books and reading.

Although I was only able to read 48 books this year, I did come across some truly wonderful ones. I usually come up with a list of the best books that I've read for the year. So for 2009, here are my top books (in random order) that I really, really enjoyed.

1. Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
2. Gomorrah by Roberto Saviano
3. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
4. Netherland by Joseph O'Neill
5. The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant
6. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
7. Memoirs of a Master Forger by William Heaney
8. Margherita Dolce Vita by Stefano Benni
9. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
10. This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

Incidentally, here are the books that I absolutely detested:

• The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan
• The Crimson Labyrinth by Yusuke Kishe
• The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

So what's in store for KyusiReader next year? Well, I'm not really sure. I do plan on reading more classical (or non-contemporary) books in 2010, so let's see how that goes. But one thing's certain -- I'll always keep on reading! And I feel really good about 2010, the year of the Metal Tiger, since I was born in the year of the tiger myself.

How about you, dear reader? What are your best and worst reads for 2009? What are your reading plans for 2010? And by the way, allow me, the KyusiReader, greet you a...

Happy New Year!
More books, more reading, more blogging in 2010!

Catching up

And so work has finally ended for the year and I'm off to do some serious shopping and, finally, reading. First, the shopping. I spent two hours last night just finalizing my list and allocating how much I would be spending on each person's gift. The gift budget is a bit easy to do; since I know what to get each person on my list, I just had to plug in an amount that I'm willing to spend for him or her. I realized that I've been spending too much on gifts during this season, so I just hope that I stick to my budget.

I never knew that there were so many hidden costs to gift budget. You have to buy ribbons, wrapping paper, gift tags, etc. Plus, I thought that I never meet them just to give my gifts, right? We usually exchange gifts over dinner or coffee. So I had to factor in those expenses as well. My, oh my...

Next, I plan to catch up on my reading. I've bought several novels lately, and I do plan to read some of them before the year ends. Hopefully, the two weeks will let me finish 5 books at the most, which will barely make a dent on my TBR pile. Interestingly, I noticed that I've developed a taste for Gothic novels lately. I'm currently reading Daphne du Maurier's Jamaica Inn and Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale. I think that, for some reason, I find the eerie atmosphere of Gothic novels more suited to the Christmas season. Weird...

Unfriend

The New Oxford American Dictionary has picked its word of the year, and that word is "unfriend." When asked as to the criteria for choosing that ghastly word, it cited that "unfriend" is very current and has the potential for longevity. I just cringe reading about this piece of news.

I'm not a language purist and I love how dynamic English is, but celebrating a grammatically incorrect usage of a particular word does not bode well for the next generation. I'm not comfortable with using the word "friend" as a verb, much less its negative. Surely we can think of other quirky words that appear frequently this year which are used correctly.

How long before "unfriend" finds its way into fiction and (gasp!) our textbooks? Would our children and children's children ever learn that the true context of the word does not necessarily involve social networking sites? Argh...

How about you, dear reader? Are you peeved about this word? Or is some other word bugging you? Let me know. Perhaps we can "friend" each other in Facebook.

Sometimes, I wish that...

1. Girls would keep reading books after they've finished Twilight. There are other great stuff to read out there.
2. Novelists would learn that a trilogy comprises three books only. Why ruin a perfectly good series with a prequel, a follow-up, or a spin-off.
3. Typefaces in mass market paperbacks are much bigger.
4. The ink in books doesn't rub off on one's fingers.
5. Each book comes with its own bookmark.
6. The glue in books is less addicting.
7. I can actually eat books.

How about you, dear reader? I'd love to hear your wishes that have to do with books.

Re-gift

Image source

My favorite season is just around the corner. I'm not talking about Halloween, since I've never been big on dressing up. I'm referring to Christmas. I just love the gift giving, the eating like there's no tomorrow, the happiness all around, the crisp cold air. What's not to love?

Here in the Philippines, we have a habit of giving gifts early. So, there's plenty of time for, umm, re-gifting. I know that the concept may sound crass and unbecoming. But who needs all those scented candles and potpourri, fruit cakes (see story below), cute figurines (I call them "dust gatherers".), keychains, etc. I just think that, since I'm not going to need them and I certainly need to save money during these tough times, the next best thing is to recycle them.

Dear reader, you've probably re-gifted at one point in your life. And, I think that some of the gifts you've sent have been re-gifted as well. It's not a bad thing though. (We just don't have enough keys to use all those keychains.)

When you're a bibliophile and you've lots of friends who are book lovers as well, re-gifting books and book-related items can be quite tricky. Unless you're filthy rich, you probably can afford to give books or, even better, Amazon gift checks to all your friends. (I usually hate filthy rich people, but they become my best friends during Christmas.)

I can't bear the thought of regifting books unless they're of the self-help variety. No Coehlos, Chopras, Carnegies, et al will ever get near my shelf. And, in the few instances that I give books as gifts, I can't imagine them being re-gifted. So, here's what I do:

• Inscribe the books with a very personal note such as "Let's talk about this book soon, Alex! Bring it with you next month at Starbucks." Or, "I can't wait to see this book on your shelf when I come over to surprise you one of these days, Martha!"

• Write innocuous notes on random pages of the book. Granted that this wouldn't prevent the person you gave it too from re-gifting. But, if the receiver does re-gift, the look on his or her face would be priceless once you ask if he or she has read the personal notes you wrote on page 37, 203, and 412 of the same book.

• Tell them that you'll be calling them frequently to ask how they're liking the book. This would be better if you have the same book. This way, you can easily ask them about their thoughts regarding specific pages.

The Fruit Cake Myth

There's actually only one fruit cake in the world. Come Christmas time, this fruit cake gets passed around to different people. Since the fruit cake is made of tons of sugar and alcohol, it's virtually indestructible, allowing it to survive one Christmas season to the next. I don't this is true though. I love fruit cake. Or, as an alternative to the myth, all the fruit cakes in the world get passed around and eventually end up in my tummy.

If I owned a bookstore...

My friends have always asked me, "So when are you going to have your own bookstore?" I've always replied, "Soon." But honestly, who am I kidding? With this economy, opening a bookstore is the quickest way to bankruptcy. As if people are buying books left and right.

It's still a nice thought though -- being the one to open the shop, check the stocks, talk to customers, recommend books to them, and close the shop with a satisfied feeling at the end of the day. And I love the idea that I'm the one in control of what books to sell.

I feel, however, that I wouldn't be making any money from running my own bookstore. For one, I wouldn't dream of having these books in my shelves:

• All the Twilight novels and those YA vampire lit
• Anything by John Grisham and Danielle Steele
• Manga
• Those cheesy, over-the-top Jane Austen spin-offs

On second thought, I may as well stock up on these books I've mentioned. When the customer isn't looking, I'll take out that Twilight in the paperbag and replace it with The Historian or Dracula. I'll switch the Jane Austen spin-off with the real thing. Hmmmm...

How about you, dear reader? If you were to run your own bookstore, what books would you sell? Which books would you avoid getting?

If you were in the Nobel Committee

Image from the NPR

So finally the Nobel Committee awarded this year's Nobel Prize for Literature to another European -- Herta Muller. You can't blame people for saying that the Nobel is very Euro-centric, as most of the recent winners came from Europe. Of course, you can't blame them since they are, after all, Europeans.

I'm sure that, in the coming weeks, our local bookstores would now be flooded with the novels of Muller, who incidentally looks like my preschool teacher. Last year's winner Le Clezio was virtually unheard of here in Manila. Now, you'll never fail to find at least two of his novels in bookstores.

Still, I was secretly hoping for an Asian or African novelist, poet, or dramatist to win. I'm sure there are a lot out there. They can sure use the exposure that winning the Nobel Prize brings. I would also be happy to see Philip Roth or Amos Oz get the Nobel.

How about you, dear reader? Which writer would you like to receive the Nobel Prize?

What do you think the pope is reading?

My friend, Maan, sent me a text message about Pope Benedict's XVI's personal library collection of more than 20,000 books. Hmmm... How many bibles does this man have?

I'm guessing that not all of those books are religious. (Some of those are just boring.) After all, the pope has to be kept abreast of what his millions of followers all over the world are into. And he is fluent in at least 10 languages.

So, in the spirit of good-natured fun, let's take a shot at what books Pope Benedict might have in his collection. Here are my top guesses:

1. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
2. the complete Twilight books
3. The Sandman graphic novels
4. Harlequinn romances
5. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
6. YOU: Staying Young
   
7. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
   

Your turn, dear reader. What non-religious books do you think the pope has in his library?

Hardbacks without dust jackets

Book sculpture by Brian Dettmer

Apparently, more and more publishers are coming out with hardbacks without dust jackets. Check out the news here. How do you feel about this, dear reader? I'm not sure if this is something new at all, since I've seen jacketless hardbacks for the longest time (e.g., the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books).

Dust jackets can be annoying. They can get in the way of holding the book with ease. I guess this is one of the reasons for covering the books in plastic. And if ever you do remove them when you read the book, you're left with ugly cloth-bound case-wraps.

Don't you just love those books published by McSweeney's? They hardly ever have dust jackets. And their paperback covers are very artistic.

It just got too boring

In fact the true postmodern novel is here, hiding in plain sight. We just haven't noticed it because we're looking in the wrong aisle. We were trained—by the Modernists, who else—to expect a literary revolution to be a revolution of the avant-garde: typographically altered, grammatically shattered, rhetorically obscure. Difficult, in a word. This is different. It's a revolution from below, up from the supermarket racks.
From the Wall Street Journal

I just read this very entertaining post from the Wall Street Journal. Basically, it discusses how more and more people are looking for novels with plot. I have nothing against Ulysses, or Lolita, or The Sound and the Fury. I've read them and, frankly, I didn't understand what was happening half the time. All those literary allusions and devices get in the way of the story. I know that these literary pyrotechnics are what make these novels great, but the fact that these novels are difficult to read are precisely the things that people don't read them in the first place.

I had a stage when I read only these "difficult" novels, thinking that they'd make me a better reader and earn bragging rights to my fellow bibliophiles. I was wrong, of course. If anything, reading these novels only made me realize how little I know of literature. (They just made me feel ignorant and stupid.) If you have severe masochistic tendencies like I do, then go ahead and read them.

Lately, I've been veering toward novels that are heavy on the plot. The argument that a novel possessing of a very engaging may not be at all well-written is laughable. Just look at the mysteries of Kate Atkinson and the police procedurals of Ian Rankin. Once you've sampled these, I doubt if you'll get the same satisfaction as when you read Grisham or Patterson. I guess having a good story and a tight narrative are the primary appeal of young adult novels. (Kids can't be bothered to read 700 pages about an Irishman who wanders through the streets of Dublin in a single day. They're smart enough to know that nothing exciting is ever going to happen.)

Perhaps the way we live now has changed our reading habits. Our hectic schedules have made us favor novels that can provide instant gratification. We no longer have the patience to go through Thomas Pynchon's labyrinthine novel that is Gravity's Rainbow or Marcel Proust's terribly slow and melodramatic novels that make up In Search of Lost Time (or Memories of Things Past). But our hunger for good writing will never go away. So now we're raving about the adventure stories of Michael Chabon and the hard-edged themes of Jonathan Lethem.

So how about you, dear reader? Are there any of these difficult novels that you've read? How has finishing them changed the way you feel about books and your reading habits?

Gets in the way with reading

Sickbed by Geraldine O'Neill

If you're a bibliophile like me and you're anticipating a 3-day weekend, you'd probably line up all the books that you're going to read. That was my original plan, but when Friday afternoon came, I developed a very bothersome cough and cold, which I prayed would go away Saturday morning.

But I was wrong. I wasn't feeling any better last Saturday. Perhaps it didn't help that we went to this late night screening of an independent movie somewhere in the metro. I woke up at 4 am with a splitting headache and an intense desire to see District 9. (You might be wondering why I'm up at 4 am on a weekend. I'm up every day, week days and weekends, at 4 am. If my body needs more sleep, I get up at 4.30.)

So of course I texted my close friend R. so that we can watch District 9 together. There I was strolling the mall, all the while coughing and sneezing and just generally feeling lightheaded. I was hoping to catch up on my planned reading when I got home, but I was just too tired.

Sunday and Monday came and went with me not having finished a single book. When you're sick, it's just sickening to see all those books around you and not have the stamina to read them. I did watch a lot of TV though, mostly from the Asian Food Channel and the Lifestyle Network. I now know more about tapenade and color schemes than I need to.

So, forgive me, dear reader, if I haven't posted a decent review lately. I'll be sure to catch up.

***

I was eagerly anticipating Catching Fire, the sequel to Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games. And since I know that today, September 01, is its official release date, I passed by two bookstores during my lunch break just to get myself a copy.

At bookstore 1
Me: Don't you have Catching Fire yet?
Staff: Sir, we'll have it on September 01.
Me: (5 seconds of silence, hoping that the fact that today is September 01 will sink in; thankfully, it does)
Staff: Oh, right. If you would give us your mobile number, we'll just text you when it arrives, sir.
Me: When will you have it?
Staff: September.
Me: Right.

At bookstore 2
Me: Don't you have Catching Fire yet?
Staff: Sir, we'll have it on September 01.
Me: (7 seconds of silence)
Staff: Oh, right. We'll just text you, sir.

So now I have two reserved books. Frankly, that's a happy problem.

Gifting books

Don't you think that giving a book to a bibliophile is stressful? What if he already has this book? What is she hates this author? What if he just goes halfway through the book and decides to re-gift the book? Aaarrgh... Questions, questions...

These are precisely my thoughts when a close bibliophile friend celebrated his birthday last Monday and I had to give him a gift. Of course it's a no-brainer that I had to give him a book. The question is, which one? I had an idea to give him a classy bookmark but I can't find any of the more expensive ones. So, I thought that my gift would really have to be a book.

I know that this person loves his thrillers and, fortunately, there are lots of these in bookstores. But do I choose the Michael Connelly over the Harlan Corben and the Ian Rankin? One of the tips people offer when buying gifts is to think of a thing that you would want to have yourself. Unfortunately, I wasn't in the mood for some Kellerman, Grisham, Evanovich, Robinson, et al. In the end, I settled for a Georges Simenon, crossing my fingers that he hasn't read this one yet.

When I receive books that are not to my taste or I already own copies of, they either go to the re-gift pile or at the back of the bookshelf. The re-gift items are a blessing. Whenever I fail to buy any gift or feel obligated to give one to a person I barely even know, I just choose randomly from the pile. I just make sure that there are no personal inscriptions inside the book. (Tip: If you don't want the books you give to your friends to be re-gifted, write something personal on the front cover, on page 25, and on the last page.)

Bibliophiles are the trickiest people to give books to, don't you think?

What not to do during a book discussion

This Saturday, I'll be again attending a book discussion for the Flips Flipping Pages Book Club. The book club meets every month, and for this month, the theme is health and fitness. So, we're going to talk about books that go hand in hand with the theme.

The members of FFP are a fun-loving lot. They kid around, throw jokes at one another, and even make a few self-deprecating remarks every now and then. But when it came to the book discussion, when each member was talking about his or her favorite Seuss book, everyone became serious.

Since this would be my second time to join them, I've come up with a few things that one should NOT do during a book discussion. (I have been known to do some of these things though.)

1. Yawn loudly while someone is saying a sad anecdote.
2. Say, "I read that. You got it completely wrong."
3. Fart.
4. Interrupt the discussion by asking, "When do we eat?"
5. Sleep.
6. Arrive ridiculously late. Help yourself to the swag. Then leave.
7. Fart some more.
8. Trim nails. If time permits, buff them.
9. Pick nose. Then fart.
10. Take out iPod and listen to the Jonas Brothers.
11. Say that Twilight beats Harry Potter in all aspects.
12. Mention that you haven't read any of the books because you're finishing, umm, Ulyssees.
13. Point out that you only read self-help books.
14. Flirt with the resident hot chick or dude (or both).
15. Tell members to suck it and just go see the movie.

Beloved fictional characters

Emperor Claudius

Sometimes, we come across a novel whose characters we absolutely love. Even though these fictional characters have dysfunctional personalities, there's something about them that speaks to us. Their trials, triumps, and travels become our own. In a way, we see ourselves (or part of our ourselves) in them. Here are a few of my favorite characters appearing in novels.

• Captain Ahab of Moby Dick -- He's one crazy SOB. I guess one has to be a bit over the edge to bear a grudge against a white sperm whale. Arrrr....

• Claudius of I, Claudius -- Despite being a cripple, a stutterer, and a political pawn, Claudius is still very lovable. Let's face it, we all love the underdog. Claudius returns in the sequel entitled Claudius, The God.
  

• Maurice Bendrix of The End of the Affair -- How can I not like this man? In Greene's wonderful novel, Bendrix competes with God to win the love of Sarah Miles. Bendrix prays at the end of the novel: "O God, You've done enough. You've robbed me of enough, I'm too tired and old to learn to love, leave me alone for ever."

• Leonard Marnham of The Innocent -- The Innocent is one of my favorite novels of Ian McEwan. There's something Hitchcock-ian to the events in The Innocent, which all close in on Leonard Marnham. (I named my two turtles Leonard and Marnie.)

• Isabel Archer of The Portrait of a Lady -- Archer was a feminist in a time when feminism was little known.

• Frankenstein -- I think Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is more of a philosophical rather than a horror novel. And Shelley captures the essence of one's existence in Frankenstein.

How about you, dear reader? Who are your beloved fictional characters? I'm sure there's at least one whom you can relate to.

A year late with the Booker

Tomorrow, July 28, the judges of this year's Man Booker Prize is set to announce their longlist for the award. The release of this list, the Booker's Dozen, is one of the most anticipated in the publishing industry. (The Booker's Dozen is made up of 13 books though.) Most of the time, a book included in the list immediately shoots to the top of bestseller lists.

Last year, after having read Aravind Adiga's novel, The White Tiger, I was inspired to read all the novels comprising the shortlist. Hey, if Michael Portillo, the chairman of the 2008 judging panel, says that all the shortlisted novels are "page turners," then they must be good reads, right?

Cut to several months later. Yes, I've managed to get all six books in the shortlist and, no, I haven't read all of them yet. I'm not sure if my idea of a page turner is the same as the judges'. Except for The White Tiger, the other 5 novels are anything but page turners. Three novels are so lengthy they have doorstop proportions -- Hensher's The Northern Clemency, Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole, and Ghosh's Sea of Poppies. Barry's The Secret Scripture is too serious and morose. I am, however, currently reading Grant's The Clothes on Their Backs and I'm finding it quite good. It's still not a page turner though.

Booker Prize winners are usually safe bets when you're looking for an enjoyable read. Most of my friends can't get over Martel's Life of Pi and Roy's The God of Small Things. My favorites are still Kelman's How Late It Was, How Late, a novel about an alcoholic on a downward spiral, and McEwan's Amsterdam, a short novel with a twisted ending.

How about you, dear reader? What's your favorite Booker novel?

Of book clubs and contests

Man Reading a Book by Leland Holiday

I must admit that I'm looking forward to my first book club meeting this Saturday. The club will be discussing the children's books of Seuss. I'm not sure what will happen on that day, since it's unmaginable to discuss just one topic for more than 4 hours. Actually, I've been anticipating gorging on the party food more than anything else. (Oh, Peter! That is so mature of you.)

Before, I was averse to joining book clubs. I believe that reading is a solitary act and the thought of reading together as a group struck me as horrid. I also didn't feel open to having a group of people force a book on me, especially if the book is a love story (and it's written by Meyer). Well, reading is something you do by yourself, but I've accepted the fact that there can be a social dimension to reading. And this social aspect can make the reading experience more meaningful. Take this blog and others like it for example. We read the books by ourselves and yet we share our feelings about the book to other people.

You know what would be interesting to see? People fighting during a book club session. I imagine two highly opinionated groups of people flinging cuss words at one another over the supposed merits of the book. I see myself gladly pulling up a chair, just silently observing them and possibly eating popcorn. I live for that stuff. (As my good friend R. once told me, "You're not a pacifist, Peter.")

I doubt that this scenario would ever happen though. Although, I could always suggest that we discuss the entire Twilight series as the books for next month, or the oeuvre of Nicholas Sparks and Paulo Coehlo, or any self-help book for that matter. I predict, however, that my membership would be revoked and I'll forever be blacklisted from any club whatsoever.

Also...

The contest I've posted last Friday is still open. I'm still giving away books. Again, this contest is open to my Metro Manila readers only. (Julius, if you're reading this, I'll make an exception in your case. Hehe.)

How do you arrange your books?

Just saw this post at The Guardian about James Purnell, the British work and pensions minister who has just resigned. Apparently, Purnell is now whiling away his time by arranging his books (gasp!) alphabetically (yawn...).

Alphabetization does have its merits. You can easily find a particular book if your collection is arranged from A to Z. But this system is so boring. It's just unimaginative. It makes me think about those spinster-ish librarians. Even children have been known to arrange books according to color, which can be aesthetic.

I employ a much simpler approach. I just separate the books I've read from the ones I'm going to read. It just gets complicated when I encounter books of differing sizes. (I hate seeing books with different sizes clumped together in a shelf.)

A few months ago, I was cleaning some of the cabinets at my house when I discovered some of the paperbacks I devoured when I was in high school. Apparently, there's tons of them. And since I ran out of bookshelves, they're still stacked up on on side of the hallway.



How about you, dear reader? How do you organize your bookshelves? With the pictures of other people's bookshelves that I have with me, I can't seem to note a system.