What to expect in a book club (part 1)

Me, at a book club meeting
(But where's the book?)

1. Some people come for the food. If you're moderating, pick a good restaurant. You'll get great feedback.
2. Members will "defend" their favorite books up for discussion. It's almost like a war really. When this happens, I just sit back and stuff myself silly.
3. I can fart when there's a heated debate. No one will notice.
4. Remember the "plus one" rule. When you say 2 pm, people would show up at 3.
5. Some people write notes on Post-Its and attach them on the pages of the book. The book appears literally bursting with these little pieces of paper. I find it best to seat myself away from them as far as possible.
6. If the discussion is in a restaurant, paying for the bill is a living hell. Too much mathematics going on just to settle it. Tell the waiter beforehand to have your order listed separately. You'll appear aloof, yes, but you'll save yourself the hassle.
7. After the discussion, people would stay and talk for a few minutes in little groups. It can be quite noisy. (Of course, they're just waiting for someone to suggest where to have dinner.)
8. Those who say that they're "Maybe Attending" will NOT come.
9. Those who say that they're "Attending" will PROBABLY come.
10. Saying that you can't attend because you haven't read the book is lame. Trust me, you can pull it off. Google is your friend.
    

Let's talk about science

A lot of you probably think that I was a Literature major back in college. Wrong. I actually have a science background, as I was a Biology major. Nevertheless, my science background did not stop me from reading many genres -- from chick lit to fantasy. Name a genre, I probably have read books on it.

Having this kind of education makes me wonder why a lot of people seem to have an aversion for the sciences. Science is interesting and, yes, it can be FUN. It's a good thing that there are a lot of good non-fiction science books out now. And one of the best in my opinion is Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.

ASHONE isn't a true blue science book though, as it's more of a history book and short biographies than anything. Plus, if you've been exposed to other non-fiction books in science with a specific subject and theme, you might ask yourself where the heck is Bill Bryson going with his book. But a book club member, Honey, mentioned that Bryson wasn't probably writing for science majors. He was targeting the everyday individual, one who might be interested on how scientists were able to make their important discoveries.

Bryson's writing is very enjoyable. And funny. And candid. ASHONE was so successful that Bryson wrote an edition exclusively for kids, entitled A Really Short History of Nearly Everything. Of course, being the book addict that I am, I had to have it. And when the illustrated edition of ASHONE came out, I just have to get it as well. I also have the trade paperback somewhere, though I couldn't find it (even after searching through rows and rows of books at home). Maybe I lent it to someone years ago, hoping that this person would develop an appreciation for the sciences and the oftentimes unheralded work of scientists.

Last year, my favorite read was a non-fiction science book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It's a fascinating read about how the cells of one African-American woman helped the progress of cell research. Also, it's sad in a way that Ms. Lacks never knew that scientists would harvest her cells without her consent. When you read this book, you'll know how each and every one of us is indebted to Ms. Lacks and her cells, which are still living even after several years of her death.

So, dear reader, are you one of those people who just flee at the mention of anything relating to science? Maybe it's time to pick up a science book. Start with A Short History of Nearly Everything. It's entertaining and wonderfully geeky.

Love this cyberpunk novel

Reading Paolo Bacigalupi's novel, The Windup Girl, will give you a natural high. Having won the Hugo and the Nebula, one certainly develops expectations even before opening the first page. The Windup Girl has been described as cyberpunk or biopunk, as it's set in an Earth when oil has run out and the major source of fuel are springs that have been coiled with the highest possible amount of joules possible.

We're in a post-apocalypse Thailand, a nation where extinct plant species are resurrected via genetic engineering. It's a Thailand where the most powerful government agencies are two opposing factions -- the Trade Ministry and the Environment Ministry. It's a Thailand where white men (called farang) still make their mark in business. One such farang is Anderson Lake, who oversees the operation of garbage conversion.

Anderson has a fascination for local fruits. When he spots an exotic variety called the rambutan, his determination to find Thailand's seed bank almost becomes a sickness. Then Anderson spots Emiko, a windup. Windups are termed the "new people." They have been bred in test tubes and have been trained to obey. Emiko, a Japanese windup, has been trained for sex. The farang and the windup get into a very unusual relationship filled with sordid sex.

But The Windup Girl is anything but a love story. It touches on the traitorous world of politics, the sleazy dealings in business, and the chilling consequences of technology. Bacigalupi makes it clear that his novel is set in a world where our current 20th century technology (our reliance on oil, electricity, and uncontrolled bioengineering) has failed and people have been left to measure energy on a calorie basis.

The Windup Girl does remind me a bit of Frank Herbert's Dune. You never know who will turn against you. Anderson's assistant, an illegal Chinese immigrant, betrays him. An incorruptible officer of the Environment Ministry is sentenced to become a monk, thus triggering a chain of events. It was inevitable that Trade and Environment engage in a war. The Windup Girl is rife with these political themes. However, Bacigalupi still makes the novel very readable.

The novel's a bit lengthy at more than 500 pages though. But readers are motivated by Bacigalupi's unpredictable turns. And the characterizations of Anderson, Emiko, and the supporting characters are something that the reader will be able to relate with. I bought this book expecting a sci-fi novel thick with cliffhangers, with a fast-paced narrative, and with wonderfully detailed descriptions of place. I wasn't disappointed.

Read this book if:

1. You love cyberpunk and you're a fan of William Gibson.
2. You'll read anything that's won the Hugo and Nebula.
3. The author's name is pronounced BATCH-i-ga-LOOP-ee.

Who doesn't love sci-fi?

Especially if it's well written and has a very unique story line, no? Oh, but you'll probably tell me that the subject matter of mutants, post-nuclear societies, and evolution gone haywire isn't something new anymore. Yes, I would have to agree, it's not. But when John Wyndham wrote about it in 1955 in his novel The Chrysalids, it was groundbreaking.

The time is the future. People are living in an era after a nuclear holocaust. Groups of people, the survivors, have formed communities. And in these communities, they persecute everything and everyone that deviates from the "norm." If they find a person with an extra toe or finger, or an animal with an extra leg, that individual is thrown out of the community into the Fringes. But why, you may ask. Well, these people, religious fundamentalists actually, have their "rules."

'And God greated man in His own image. And God decreed that man should have one body, one head, two arms and two legs: that each arm should be joined in two places and end in one hand: that each hand should have four fingers and one thumb: that each finger should bear a flat finger-nail...'
And so on until:
'Then God created woman, also, and in the same image, but with these differences, according to her nature: her voice should be of higher pitch than man's: she should grow no beard: she should have two breasts...' [p. 11]

Then we meet David, a child who is the novel's hero. David questions his community's ideals. Who among them can really say that these deviations are not God's will? And it doesn't help that his father is the community's leader, a man so uncompromising that he would be willing to sacrifice his child if that child is showing any deviation. When David befriends a girl who has 12 toes, his father shows no mercy. After the girl and her mother is thrown into the Fringes, his father gives him several lashes on his back.

But deviations don't always manifest in the physical, as David finds out. For as you see, David is telepathic; he can communicate with a few other children who also have the same ability. When one of David's adult guardians find this out, he tells David to keep it a secret; it is, after all, also a deviation. But secrets have a way of coming out, especially within a small community.

Two telepathic sisters are kidnapped and tortured, forced to reveal the names of other children who share their ability. David flees with his younger sister Petra and another girl named Rosalind. They have nowhere to go but the Fringes. And in the Fringes, they find out that what they have may actually be the norm in other societies.

The Chrysalids is one suspenseful science fiction novel. Think X-Men without the cheesy costumes. Now add a dash of philosophical thought on the nature of individual differences and you have one thought-provoking novel. It's gritty in the way of story lines involving paranoia, fear of the unknown and different, and religious madness are. It's a story that asks questions, which I feel are still relevant today.

Who would've thought that a sci-fi novel published in the 1955 would have groundbreaking ideas. No wonder that the 1950s was called the golden age of science fiction. It was the time when Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles. It was when classic science fiction movies came out -- The Day the Earth Stood Still, It Came from Outer Space, The Fly, Invaders from Mars, and The Incredible Shrinking Man, just to name a few. Let's face it, novelists and film makers have been going back to this period for inspiration.

I'm glad I was able to find this book. I've been looking for The Chrysalids for the longest time ever, say, for 5 years, I think. But let me tell you, Wyndham's novel is definitely worth the long wait.

Read this book if:

1. You love classic science fiction.
2. You've always wanted to be a mutant.
3. You have no fear of the unknown.

My favorite book this year (so far)

One can never go wrong with an excellent storyline, a well-developed character, and super writing, no? All these I found in this year's Newberry winner, Clare Vanderpool's debut fiction Moon over Manifest. I would have to say that, well, this is my best read so far this year.

Vanderpool has come up with a novel that combines history, mystery, and one girl's coming of age in one beautiful story that I devoured in one sitting. Vanderpool took me back in the year 1936 in a small town in Kansas called Manifest, where Abilene Tucker has been sent by his father over the summer for reasons he just won't disclose. Abilene and his father, Gideon, are somewhat of a nomadic duo, never staying too long in one place. Manifest, however, is Gideon's hometown.

Abilene then lives with a middle aged pastor named Shady, who also took care of Gideon during his childhood years. It is in Gideon's house where Abilene discovers a hidden cigar box once owned by a boy named Jinx. Abilene learns about the childhood years of Jinx when she makes the acquaintance of the town diviner, one Miss Sadie. It is this person who provides us with the stories of Jinx childhood way back in 1917 at the start of the first world war.

Like any good novel, Moon over Manifest eventually provides the connection among Abilene, Gideon, Jinx, and the good people of Manifest. It is a story that has given me goosebumps because it is just that good. Not a missing thread, not a gaping hole in the narrative, not a contrived circumstance. It made me realize that historical fiction, true historical fiction written with meticulous research, need not be boring.

There are a lot of characters to root for in this novel. Miss Sadie, for all her apparent negativity around Abilene, is an angel. The nun who's also a school teacher, Sister Redempta, turns out to have a very pivotal role in the novel. Even Hattie Mae Macke, the town's journalist, is never two-dimensional. We don't get the nosey reporter who's always covering up things from the main character.

To be honest, I wasn't really prepared to like Moon over Manifest as much as I did. I couldn't care less about Kansas in the 1930s. But of course, I just had to get this book since it won the Newberry after all. Imagine my wonderful surprise when I discovered that I've been reading this nonstop for almost 5 hours and that I was almost crying at the end. Read it! Read it! Read it now!

Read this book if:

1. You like historical fiction.
2. You always think about your hometown.
3. You'll read anything that has won the Newberry.

Enchanted summer

My goodness! Has it been a month since I made a last post? I guess I should post more reviews, no? Especially because I've been reading a lot these past few months. And since summer is in full swing here in Manila, I give you two wonderful books on my favorite season. The first is a novel by Elizabeth Von Arnim, The Enchanted April. (Yes, this has been turned into a movie and a play, which I heard are both good too.)

The Enchanted April is simply that -- enchanted. It's the type of book you read on a lazy afternoon. I read it with a smile on my face the whole time. Von Arnim's novel, about four Englishwomen who spend April in a castle in Italy, makes you fall in love. The prude, spinster-ish lady finds her soft side. Two thirty-somethings reignite their love for their husbands when they invite them to stay at the castle. And a beautiful but pessimistic young English lady discovers that she can indeed fall in love. The Enchanted April is the kind of novel you force people to read, especially to your friends who have become too disillusioned about finding or rekindling romance.

Another recent read which I simply enjoyed is Tove Jansson's The Summer Book. To call this book a novel may be too much of a stretch, for it's composed of several short vignettes. Jansson's novel focuses on Sophia, a precocious 6 year old, and her grandmother. The two stay in a charming and unspoiled island in Finland during the summer.

Summers in Manila are harsh with just one type of weather -- hot. On the other hand, the weather depicted in The Summer Book is anything but predictable, with raging storms one day and cheery sun-kissed days the next. The characters' experiences during their stay in the island are just magical. Sophia and her grandmother build a miniature venice, they study local bugs and worms, and they explore caves, forests, and other landscapes in the island, just to name a few.

Thank heavens that NYRB has decided to publish these titles. I just love them NYRB titles. Clean and readable typefaces, elegant covers, thick book paper. And they look good on the shelf too!

Read these books if:

1. Summer is your favorite season.
2. You know that summer is not all about going to the beach, getting a tan, or drinking piña colada. It's about catching up on your reading too.
3. You'll read anything published by NYRB.
   

And now, one of my favorite authors

My book club is set to discuss Jose Saramago's Blindness this Saturday. It's not my favorite Saramago, but, like all his other works, it's a good read nonetheless.