Month: October 2014

Filipino Friday

Filipino ReaderCon 2014 – Filipino Friday 3: What do you think of fanfiction?

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Happy Halloween! In a few minutes, it will be November, and we will be a couple of weeks away from the Filipino ReaderCon 2014. It seems so fast. And because it feels that way, let’s get straight ahead to the admittedly late Filipino Friday 3: Fanfiction is pretty popular, no doubt about it, but it has been received with mixed feelings by many authors and writers. Some don’t mind it, and even welcome readers who give their own spin on their work. Some writers don’t like it at all, to the point that they contact fanfiction authors to take their work down. Others use it as a jump-off point for their own writing. How about you? What is your take on fanfiction? Do you read fanfiction, and if you do, what kind of fanfiction do you read? Do you write fanfiction, and why? Or are you against fanfiction? Enlighten us. Well, I don’t read fanfiction and whatever I say about it should be taken with a grain of salt. I don’t even have much to say because I …

The LSS Book List, Part 3

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Visit the The LSS Book List page for more information about this post. The Gathering by Anne Enright (2007, M) – Liam commits suicide and his surviving siblings gather for his funeral. Veronica, the sister closest to him, goes back to their family’s history to understand what led Liam to take his own life. As she discovers ugly truths about her family, she also discovers many truths about herself. I consider Veronica as one of the most unreliable narrators ever, but at least she arrived at some truth. Gimpel the Fool and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer (1957, H) – Gimpel is a baker. The town calls him a fool because of the things that his wife makes her do and believe. More stories in this collection also talk of characters with modest professions. Some stories have religious overtones in them, so one shouldn’t be surprised if angels and demons appear to interact with the characters. God of Carnage (Le Dieu du carnage) by Yasmina Reza (2008, H) – Two kids have a fight in the …

Filipino Friday

Filipino ReaderCon 2014 – Filipino Friday 2: Have you ever wanted to write a book?

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Hello, Friday! What have you been reading? We still have less than a month before the Filipino ReaderCon 2014. So while waiting, let’s participate in this annual meme. The topic of Filipino Friday 2 hits a little too close to home. Deep breaths. As a reader, have you ever thought about writing a book? What kind of books/stories do you want to write? Or are you now a published author, and what compelled you to go fulfil this dream? How was your journey from reader to writer? How did you go about getting your book out there? Yes. In fact, before I became a big reader, I fancied myself as a writer. I used to write for our school publications in high school and college. Writing workshops were introduced to us staff members. This gave me the opportunity to be a fellow of the Pamiyabe Creative Writing Workshop, a regional workshop with writer-panelists from the University of Santo Tomas, such as Lourd Ernest De Veyra, Eros Atalia (before they were famous), et al. And Ophelia Alcantara-Dimalanta, God bless her soul. And …

The LSS Book List, Part 2

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Visit the The LSS Book List page for more information about this post. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather (1927, M) – Father Latour and Father Vaillant take the mission to build a diocese in New Mexico, a place still occupied by Native Indians. The two priests have different temperaments, but they work in perfect harmony. This is a portrait of the rustic life in New Mexico after the American-Mexican war in the early 1800s, and an almost sacred marriage of religion and culture. A Death in the Family by James Agee (1957, M) – How does a young child perceive a person’s death? How can one describe their grief or the approximation of it during such an event? What are children taught about the fate of the dead, of the society’s norms during deaths, of the afterlife, and of God? Based on Agee’s own experience as a young boy, this novel is one of the few unfinished manuscripts that do not feel incomplete, and that is a strong testament to the author’s talent. …

The LSS Book List, Part 1

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Visit the The LSS Book List page for more information about this post. 2666 by Roberto Bolaño (2004, M) – One might encounter more dead bodies than the title in this sprawling novel about the unsolved serial crimes on women set in a fictional Mexican city based on Ciudad Juárez. One might also think that one would have enough of the author with this tome. On the contrary, one might be compelled to explore his other shorter works or even take on the equally heavy The Savage Detectives, particularly if one has not yet broken down from 2666. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner (1936, L) – The Sound and the Fury is considered by some as Faulkner’s masterpiece, but some object and view Absalom, Absalom! as the essential Faulkner book instead. Either way, one might need to know what Quentin Compson was doing before spending his last days in Harvard University. More importantly, the rise and fall of the sinisterly enigmatic Thomas Sutpen is a story that will haunt you after reading that last sentence about hating the …

Filipino Friday

Filipino ReaderCon 2014 – Filipino Friday 1: Surprise, Reader!

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Hello, Filipino Friday! I welcome you with open arms. Your arrival could only mean one thing: Filipino ReaderCon 2014 is just around the corner. Let us now get to Filipino Friday 1‘s topic, shall we? Surprise, Reader! Hello, it’s the first week of Filipino Fridays 2014! Whether it’s your first time to participate or not, tell us a bit about yourself. More specifically, tell us about your favorite book discoveries for this year. Any author you started reading this year that you can’t get enough of? A book you didn’t think you’d like, but you ended up liking/loving? Any book series that you just have to get your hands on? Have you discovered anything new from Filipino authors this year? Hi! I’m Angus, a technical writer and a member of Goodreads – The Filipino Group (TFG), an online/offline book club. Below are my responses to this week’s meme: Favorite book discoveries for this year The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford – Darn those precocious kids! Tenth of December by George Saunders – the deserving inaugural winner of …

The LSS Book List Final Guidelines

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I have finally made up my mind about my LSS Book List. I’m already done with it but I’m still making allowances for the remaining weeks of 2014. I still might encounter books that are worthy of being part of my inaugural LSS Book List. It’s possible for me to still finish around ten books, so let’s see how the remaining reading weeks will pan out. Since this is the first time that I’ll be doing a book list with such a great ambition, I would like to release it in batches of ten. That way, I can do short write-ups per entry. Besides, the remaining reading weeks are keeping me from releasing it in full because of the possible changes to the list. Anyway, here are the guidelines that I will be working with: Books should have been read, finished, and at least liked by me. Books can be works of fiction, anything from novels, novellas, short story collections, plays, and poetry collections. Books must be written or translated into English. Books must be published …