Tag Archives: 2010

The Chronicles of Narnia # 2: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

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The Lion, the Witch and the WardrobeThe Chronicles of Narnia # 2: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Scholastic, 206 pages

What begins as a simple game of hide-and-seek quickly turns into the adventure of a lifetime when Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy walk through the wardrobe and into the land of Narnia. There they find a cold, snow-covered land frozen into eternal winter by the evil White Witch. All who challenge her rule are turned into stone. Narnia, once filled with all manner of Talking Beasts, Dwarfs, Giants, and Fauns is now a dark, joyless wasteland.

The children can only hope that Aslan, the Great Lion, will return to Narnia and restore beauty and peace to the land. But will the power of Aslan be enough to conquer the dark magic of the White Witch?

What better book to read during the holidays than C.S. Lewis’ classic, The Chronicles of Narnia? While I was lamenting at how I never read The Giver back in high school, I was also sad that The Chronicles of Narnia were never required reading for school, too. I’ve heard of the series for a long time now, but I never really knew of the story of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe until senior year in college, right before the movie showed. I was already nineteen then! Why was this never a part of my childhood? I am glad that Scholastic had a book fair at my office a couple of years later — I got the entire Narnia boxed set for only Php 500 (around USD 11).

Still, it took me a while to read it, and it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I decided to go on a Narnia trip for Christmas. Like I said, what better book to read during the holidays, right?

In case you were like me who’s never read this book or watched the movie or even a stage play of this, here’s a quick recap: siblings Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy were sent to stay at a Professor’s house, and during one game of hide and seek, Lucy stumbles upon the land of Narnia through a wardrobe. She makes friends with a faun, Mr. Tumnus, and she finds out that Narnia has been stuck in winter for a long time because of a White Witch Jadis. Later on the siblings end up all going to Narnia, and they find out that they are the fulfillment of a prophecy and the Great Lion Aslan is on his way back to Narnia to restore the land.

I first “read” this book through an audiobook before the movie was shown in the cinemas. I loved the audiobook. Then I watched the movie and I loved it too — not caring if there were any differences from what I “read”. I think I loved it because it was a Christian novel, and I truly related to what Edmund did and what Aslan did for him. Aslan became one of my favorite fictional characters, and I always loved it whenever he shows up on the movies (but that may be because Aslan is voiced by Liam Neeson).

Reading the book for the first time reminded me so much of all the things I loved from the audio book and the movie, and maybe even more. Since the entire Narnia series is written as children’s books, the text is lyrical and there’s a whimsical feel in the story, almost like when I was reading the fairy tale books when I was a kid. I think the only way to describe this book is it’s magical. I don’t know if it’s just Christmas, or if it’s because I’m more receptive to fantasy now than I was a year ago, but I really enjoyed reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I think that if I read this as a kid, I may not have been able to appreciate it as much as I do now, so maybe reading it this late in my life is a good thing. :)

I don’t think I’d have the time to read the rest of the Narnia books before the year ends, but I will finish reading them soon. :) When I have children, I will make sure to have copies of these books at home so they can read it and visit Narnia anytime they want to.

And one more thing: show of hands to anyone who can relate to Edmund? I know I do.

Rating: ★★★★★

My copy: paperback, from Scholastic Book Fair at our office

Cover and Blurb: Goodreads

Other reviews:
Bookie Woogie
Becky’s Book Reviews

Don’t forget about my ongoing Anniversary Giveaway! Every comment you leave is one entry — the more comments you leave, the more entries you get! :) Click the image for the mechanics and the list of prizes!

Have a blessed Christmas Eve everyone! :) Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cake

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It’s two days before Christmas, and this has been the craziest Christmas season I’ve ever had. For some reason, everyone’s just out these past few days, and it’s crazy on my part of the world. Not to mention that a friend is also getting married today, and sometimes I can’t help but wish they picked another time to get married because this year’s Christmas rush isn’t that kind.

But I shouldn’t be focusing on those things because…well, it’s Christmas! And despite the Christmas rush, it’s still the most wonderful time of the year. :)

I can’t really remember how I got to this tradition, but since 2006, I’ve always made sure that there’s a cake on our Christmas dinner (we call it nochebuena in the Philippines). Our nochebuena has been fairly simple for the past few years. We’re a pretty small family, anyway, so there’s no need for too much food on the table. We usually have a bucket of KFC chicken, a pasta dish and one viand and some rice. We’d bake some brownies too, but we hardly eat them because when we bake brownies, we give them away. You can only bake so many brownies before you get sick of them, and eating them would surely tip the scales. ;) But anyway, it’s pretty simple, but one Christmas, I brought home a cake. You see, Christmas really isn’t just eating or gift-giving, but a birthday. It is Jesus’ birthday, after all.

Sometimes we all get so caught up in the Christmas rush that we forget the reason for the season. That phrase, “reason for the season” is actually becoming cliche already, but I try to remember that every year. It’s easy to be excited about giving and receiving gifts and all the parties, but I always try to slow down as Christmas approaches and remember why I am celebrating in the first place. And I know a cake is just a small thing, but I always make sure there’s one on our table for Christmas, to celebrate the birthday. And I don’t know about you, but birthdays are always more fun with cake, right? :)

And here’s a story. I wrote this a couple of years ago, about a group of friends having their Christmas dinner. And there’s some cake. And maybe a little romance. :) Wherever you are in the world, I hope you have a blessed and merry Christmas!

* * *

CAKE

I don’t know why I allowed myself to endure what I had just gone through. I like shopping, yes, but shopping when everyone else in the world also has the same idea and this late in the season? Let’s just say it wasn’t my best idea. This is one of the times online shopping should have saved me, but contrary to popular belief, you can’t always find what you need on the Internet.

“I swear, I am never doing that again!”

Seven pairs of eyes turned to look at me as I entered my Pia’s Kitchen. Jostling with the crowd and lining up in all the stores cost me so much time that I had to resort to buying the nicest paper bags I can find to put everything I bought in and going straight to my best friend’s restaurant where my friends were waiting for me for dinner.

“What happened to you, Ruth?” Naomi asked. She and Ian stood up to help me carry all the packages I carried in my arms. My sister took the paper bags that hung from my fingers and put it on the table where all other brightly wrapped packages lay, while Ian took the tray of lasagna I was carrying and brought it to the table where all our other friends sat.

“Shopping. Crowds. That’s what happened,” I said, dropping onto the free seat. I sighed with relief as my aching feet finally got to rest. “I will never, ever do that again.”

“You always say that,” my best friend and the owner of the restaurant, Pia, teased.

“I am serious this time,” I declared. Naomi returned to the table with a glass of water which I gratefully received.

“Bad crowds huh?” Carol said with a grin.

Continue reading →

An Abundance of Katherines

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An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Penguin USA, 272 pages

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton’s type is girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.

On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.

Love, friendship, and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke add up to surprising and heart-changing conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself by Printz medalist John Green, acclaimed author of Looking for Alaska.

When the need to read contemporary novels hit me, it stays and it stays until the need decides it’s satisfied. And what better book to fill that contemporary need than something written by John Green?

I was really planning to read John Green’s books in order of publication, but Paper Towns had to come first due to an insistent friend and because I covered that with plastic first. I didn’t mind, although I was kind of wary thinking of how this book would fare against the rest, or how the other books would fare after I read this one, given the John Green formula. True to that formula, An Abundance of Katherines has the usual elements: a nerdy/loserish (by popularity’s standards)/socially awkward guy, a mysterious girl, a trusty and equally nerdy/loserish (by popularity’s standards)/socially awkward sidekick, and a car. But that’s when the similarities end, because this book is probably is indeed the funniest, quirkiest, and the happiest among all Green books.

Colin Singleton is an anagram loving child prodigy who has only one friend and strangely a lot of girlfriends, all named Katherines. After he gets dumped by the 19th Katherine, he sets off on a road trip with his Lebanese friend, Hassan. The two find themselves in Gutshot, Tennessee, where they meet Hollis and Lindsey, and find a job gathering stories from locals for some project. Colin finds himself consumed by trying to prove his Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which would predict his relationship with the next Katherine, and along the way (just like the other John Green books), our hero finds out more about himself.

The best thing about An Abundance of Katherines is how quirky the entire book is. It’s not just the characters or the story but how it was also written. Math geeks would definitely be happy about the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, with graphs and whatnot inside the book. I love the little footnotes on the pages that translates some of the words Colin and Hassan say, as well as little anecdotes about Colin and his own quirkiness. If you don’t like math, well, don’t worry either. I’m pretty sure you will still enjoy this book because you don’t really need math to understand the graphs or equations. You don’t really need to understand them, anyway,  but if you’re like me who doesn’t really like math but want to understand things, there’s an appendix right at the end of the book that explains the equations and graphs. It reminds me a bit of analytic geometry in high school, but in a more fun scale. Why didn’t we have this book back then?

I love that this book not only talks about relationships and dumping, but it also manages to touch a bit on reading, books and telling stories — three things I like. I’ve never actually been a Dumpee or a Dumper (that is, in a “proper” relationship sense. By proper, I mean actual real relationships where both parties are in it, and not just one pining after the other, or what I like to call “Almost there, but not quite”. Okay, Dingleberries! :P), so I couldn’t really relate to that, but I like how there were some parts of Colin that I could relate to, particularly in books. I really liked one of his last Eureka moments, particularly this quote:

Even if it’s a dumb story, telling it changes other people just the slightest little bit, just as living the story changes me. An infinitesimal change. And that infinitesimal change ripples outward – ever smaller but everlasting. I will get forgotten, but the stories will last. And so we all matter – maybe less than a lot, but always more than some.

This really makes me wonder why I waited so long to read John Green’s books. But no matter, I’m glad I read them now. This makes me want to go to the book store and search for his works (namely Let It Snow, Geektastic, 21 Proms, and Will Grayson Will Grayson). More John Green over here, please.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering how this compares to Paper Towns for me? It’s a tie, really. I can’t pick which is better. But An Abundance of Katherines definitely has the happiest ending among all John Green books, so that’s something to keep in mind if you’re wondering which to read first. :)

Rating: ★★★★★

My copy: paperback, from Fully Booked

Cover & Blurb: Goodreads

Other reviews:
Chachic’s Book Nook
Book Harbinger
The Book Smugglers

T’was the night before Christmas

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Overtime by Charles Stross
Tor Books, 25 pages

Introduced to readers in the novels The Atrocity Archive and The Jennifer Morgue, the Laundry is a secret British government agency charged with preventing dark interdimensional entities from destroying the human race.  Now, in “Overtime,” the Laundry is on a skeleton staff for Christmas — leaving one bureaucrat to be all that stands between the world and annihilation by the Thing That Comes Down Chimneys. Written especially for Tor.com’s holiday season, Charles Stross’s novelette is a finalist for the 2010 Hugo Award.   Charles Stross is the Hugo-winning author of some of the most acclaimed novels and stories of the last ten years, including Singularity Sky, Accelerando, Halting State, the “Merchant Princes” series beginning with The Family Trade, and the story collections Toast and Wireless.

I think Overtime is the only Christmas-themed book I have in my Kindle, and I really scheduled to read it in December. I have never heard of Charles Stross before, but who am I to deny myself of a free ebook, right?

In Overtime, Bob Howard ends up being the night shift guard on duty on Christmas — he didn’t want to, but he wasn’t able to file his holiday leave and payday advances so he was left with no choice. Bob was prepared for an uneventful night alone in his temporary office, but memories of the Laundry Christmas party and some strange noises and temperature drops tell him that something else is coming — through the chimney.

I have never read any books from the Laundry Series, so the characters and the settings in Overtime were all new to me. I was kind of wary about that and I thought I would get lost in the story, but I was surprised that I wasn’t. While I would want a better explanation of who the other characters were and what Laundry was really all about, I felt that this novella was still complete enough to stand on its own. It’s very reminiscent to Jasper Fforde’s work, with the same British humor (although I think Stross is Scottish) with urban fantasy tones. And I liked the Christmas twist on the story, too.

I’m not sure if I want to splurge on the other Laundry series books, but I am definitely curious. I think I would need a little more convincing…but not so much. Any words to convince me to do so?

Rating: ★★★★★

My copy: free ebook from Amazon Kindle store
→ You may also read the ebook from Tor.com

Cover and blurb: Goodreads

Other reviews:
The Scattering

Dining with Joy

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Dining with Joy by Rachel Hauck
Thomas Nelson, 320 pages

Joy Ballard has a secret: she’s a cooking show host who can’t really cook.

When her South Carolina-based cooking show, Dining With Joy, is picked up by a major network, Joy Ballard’s world heats up like a lowcountry boil.

Joy needs help. Then she meets chef Luke Davis who moved to Beaufort after losing his Manhattan restaurant. A cook at the Frogmore Cafe, he’s paying debts and longing to regain his reputation in the elite foodie world.

Luke and Joy mix like oil and water…until Joy is exposed on national television. With her career and his reputation both under fire, they’ll have to work together to fix the mess. Is it possible that they can learn to feast on God’s love and dine with joy?

I had a realization when I was reading this book: I like foodie books. I don’t mean books about food like cookbooks or anything that talks about food. I mean fiction with food as one of its major elements. I’ve read two in the past year (The Crepe Makers’ Bond and Always the Baker, Never the Bride) and although I was pretty lukewarm about them, I enjoyed the cooking aspect of both books and how food played a part in the story.

Dining with Joy by Rachel Hauck is no different. I enjoyed reading her two other Lowcountry romances, Sweet Caroline and Love Starts with Elle, so I was thrilled to find out that she wrote another one that was set in Beaufort. I was excited to find out Joy’s story, and see the old characters in the previous novels pop up every now and then in the book.

Joy is a paradox: she’s a cooking show host who can’t cook. It’s a weird thing, but she’s pulled it off for three seasons, ever since she’s taken over her dad’s show after he passed away. The combination of good editing, a supportive staff in on her secret and lots of humor and entertainment from Joy that she has survived for three seasons, but after her producer sold off the show to a bigger network, things are bound to change. Then Joy meets Luke Redmond, the new assistant chef at the Frogmore Cafe, who becomes her co-host, and she sees him as a way out. But as she prepares for the fourth season of Dining with Joy and she gets closer to Luke, Joy digs a deeper and deeper hole for herself and it seems like it would take a miracle — or at least, something divine to get her out of it.

Dining with Joy carries the same sweetness and charm that the first two Lowcountry romances did. I love reading about Beaufort and their little idiosyncrasies. I love the seemingly relaxed nature that everyone has, how everyone’s about sweet tea, or food, or Bubba’s biscuits from the Frogmore Cafe. I love how close-knit the community seems, and it reminds me a bit of our own neighborhood, particularly our street. It’s one of those settings that you wouldn’t mind visiting over and over again, not because it is really that interesting but because it’s very peaceful.

Joy is definitely a different character from her friends Caroline and Elle. Whereas Caroline seems soft-spoken and Elle is gentle, Joy is feisty and stubborn, borne out of a seemingly absent father. Joy is strong and independent, which is needed especially since she’s works in the show business. However, her pride became her weakness especially when she decided to work things out on her own, particularly with her secret and her growing affections to Luke Redmond. Luke, on the other hand, carried almost the same characteristics as the other heroes in the other books, Mitch and Heath. In a way, he almost seems too perfect, but I liked how the author still gave him some flaws.

Out of all three books, this seemed like the book that had less “God” moments, but I think it also contained the best nugget of God-wisdom of all: God is good and God is love. I do wish that message was given more focus. Dining with Joy felt like it had too many things going on at once that some of them ran together too much and it didn’t give as big as an impact as it should have. At times the story seemed too slow, although things did wrap up nicely in the end.

This is probably the best “foodie” novel I’ve read so far this year, but compared to the two other Lowcountry Romances, I liked the other two better than this one. Nevertheless, Rachel Hauck did a great job with Dining with Joy, and I cannot wait to try to recipes at the end of the book. :) Banana bread, anyone?

Rating: ★★★★★

My copy: ebook from Amazon Kindle store

Cover and blurb: Goodreads

You may also want to read:
Review of Sweet Caroline
Review of Love Starts with Elle

Other reviews:
Along the Way
Cleverly Changing
Peeking Between the Pages
Widsith
Kate Blackham Editorial Services

No Strings Attached

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No Strings Attached by Mina V. Esguerra
Summit Books, 146 pages

Carla is a whiz at her job: she’s efficient, reliable, and a total genius when it comes to putting something together at the last-minute. The snag is she’s single and turning the big three-oh in a few months. Her girl best friend (yes, she’s married just like the other girls in Carla’s barkada) keeps trying to set her up with stable banker-types, while her guy best friend (single – the other single one) encourages her to play the field – no strings attached. Then, through no set up or extraordinary circumstance, Carla meets Dante. Hot, smug, sexy Dante. Definitely not a banker-type and seemingly too good to be true. So there’s got to be a catch. There is. He’s five years younger. Is the universe telling Carla to finally let loose and enjoy a fling with a younger man? Or is there a lot more to this awkward situation that she bargained for?

I attended my godsister’s wedding yesterday, the second wedding I attended this year. I came out of my brother’s wedding last October relatively unscathed with questions about my own wedding, but this time around, I wasn’t so safe. For one thing, I was called for the bouquet toss even if I was trying to make myself scarce at that point (my godsister called me out). Then as we were saying goodbye to the newly weds and my godsister’s parents, they were all saying to me, “Don’t forget to invite us to your wedding.”

Sigh. Sure I won’t forget. I figure it would be less exasperating question if I was actually nearing the altar, but alas, I’m not.

That is probably what Carla in Mina V. Esguerra‘s latest novel, No Strings Attached, felt, especially when her friends started getting married and having a life very different from her own. It doesn’t help that the only remaining single in her group of friends was Tonio, the guy who likes to play the field. Carla is tired of being set up with stable banker types that she doesn’t really like, and at the same time, she doesn’t like how Tonio does it. Then she meets Dante, and things go from cold to sizzling hot between the two of them. The only catch is Dante is five years younger. Does she stay or does she go?

I’ve been hounding the bookstores ever since Mina announced in Twitter that her new book would be out soon, and I was giddy when I finally got my hands on it (boo on Eastwood stores for not having them in stock as fast as the other branches). This is another light and quick read from Mina, albeit a little different from her first two novels, My Imaginary Ex and Fairy Tale Fail. I can’t really pinpoint if it’s more serious or not, but it is certainly different. Like what Chachic said, the story focused not on how the love story unfolded, but on the complications of the relationships, especially to the people around Carla and Dante.

Mina shows how chick lit does not always have to deal with heroines finding their soul mates or wanting to get married. Sure, it has romance and there is the set-ups and talks of weddings, but No Strings Attached has a different kind of romance. It’s one that we don’t really get to see on movies or TV or read in any other books. I liked how No Strings Attached tackles a different kind of love story, one that I am pretty sure some Filipinas experience as well. I liked how Carla seemed like a very real person, and her friends offer enough contrast to her for the readers to see the different sides of the story without telling it to them in a long monologue of sorts from the heroine.

I can’t really relate to Carla’s predicament, but I do know I see myself in her best friend, Mary’s shoes. I don’t necessarily set my friends up with stable banker types, but I’d probably react the same way she did if I find out that some of my close friends are in a relationship similar to Carla’s. I’m not proud of it, but the good thing about books is some characters act as a mirror, and it helps me to realize or remember things about myself that I need to keep in check (or sometimes even get rid of) in order to be a loving friend.

It’s not my favorite Mina book (that slot still belongs to Fairy Tale Fail), but it’s another good local chick lit to be lost in for a couple of hours (or days, if you’re not a fast reader). I guess I don’t have to say that I am her fan now, but if it needs saying: if there’s a Mina Esguerra fans club, I am definitely in. ;)

Oh, an in case you were wondering, I didn’t catch the bouquet. :P

Rating: ★★★★★

2010 Challenge Status:
* Book # 16 out of 20 for Project 20:10

My copy: Php150 (around USD 3), paperback from National Bookstore

Cover image & Blurb: Goodreads

Other Reviews:
Chachic’s Book Nook

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