When writing begets more opportunities for reading

I recently turned in a story about a local public high school and their Little Reading Program That Could (click!). I learned about Ms. Debby Asuncion, Kalayaan National High School, and their Y.O.U.T.H. Power program a few months ago during the 2nd Filipino Reader Conference. I was very impressed by how the school has managed to keep their program afloat despite their less than ideal circumstances, as well as by the passion of the people involved to ensure that the program will continue to help students become better readers.

Yesterday, I learned that after reading my story, Eskritoryo Pilipinas, an “organization dedicated to promoting literature and environmental sustainability in early education,” organized a book drive to benefit Kalayaan’s program. Here’s an account of their visit to the school: click!

Writer and fellow blogger Chris Mariano (dementedchris), who’s a member of Eskritoryo Pilipinas, also told me that the folks from the school actually printed out my story for everyone to read. Whoa.

I know that Ms. Debby is very busy, so I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t hear back from her after the story went live. But I also worried that she wouldn’t see the story if she didn’t get to check her e-mail. I’m glad that wasn’t the case, and I’m so touched that the people in the school even posted it in their hallway. ❤❤❤!

When I submit articles for publication, I certainly don’t have any altruistic or noble motivations; I write just because I like to, and sometimes, because I have to. But ever since I pitched this story to my editor, I harbored hopes that someone who will come across it can actually do something concrete to help Kalayaan. Because my circumstances hinder me from doing something more substantial to help, writing about them on a wide-reaching online platform was the most practical way I could think of to personally contribute to the cause. I’m very happy that a group like Eskritoryo was able to give them what they really need, and at Christmastime, too!

Thank you, Chris, for sending me the photos! Kudos and Happy Christmas to everyone in your organization.

The Girl Who Wanted To See a Unicorn

I accompanied my 7-year-old nephew on his school field trip last weekend. One of our destinations was Avilon Zoo.

As we were walking around, a 1st grade student behind us kept telling her mom in this genuinely disappointed voice, “Mommy, bakit wala’ng ganun dito? Dapat meron.” (Mom, why aren’t there any of those here? There should be one.) So I turned to Mom and asked her what the girl was looking for. The girl looked at me and said “Unicorn!”, complete with equally disappointed pout. I swear, her eyes were already brimming with tears.

I told her with a straight face, “Oo nga eh, wala dito. Dapat meron. Ako naman, hinahanap ko kung nasaan yung dragon.” (No, there aren’t any here. They should have one. I’m trying to figure out where the dragon is.)

It’s cool that she believes she will see a unicorn, even if it’s a little disturbing to think of a unicorn caged in a zoo. Sooner or later, she’ll figure out that they aren’t real. When that time comes, I hope she’ll then turn to books to find them.

"We need never be hopeless because we can never be irreparably broken." (Looking for Alaska, John Green)

Reblogged from Filipino ReaderCon 2012:

The past few days has been quite hard for the Filipinos in Manila and other parts of Luzon, with the flooding brought about by the southwest monsoon rains. It's not easy, but the sunshine that showed up earlier today is a sure sign of hope for all of us, yes? We hope everyone's okay and dry, or at least, recovering from this blow.

Read more… 144 more words

The past few days taught me that even 2 inches can make a difference between Heaven and Waterworld Hell, as our house was spared indoor flooding by just that much. If it rained any more, it would have been...awful. I am relieved and thankful that we were spared, but others weren't as lucky. :(

ReaderCon 2012 Filipino Friday #4: Books and Friends

Books and Friends. We will have book discussions hosted by several book clubs during the ReaderCon, so to prepare us for that, let’s talk about books and friendships and book clubs. Are you a part of a book club? If yes, what made you join one? What’s your favorite activity that you have with them? If you’re not a part of one, will you consider joining one? Why or why not? Or if you’re not (yet) a part of a book club, do you have friends who share the same passion for books as you do? Do you have a “bookish” best friend? If yes, tell us about them! How did you become friends? What’s your favorite memory with them?

Before I answer this week’s question, come join me in singing the Garfield and Friends song! Raise your hand if you watched this series when you were a kid! *raises hand*

My reading group is actually one of the clubs that will be participating in the ReaderCon. We’re called The Mysterious Reading Society, and I’ll let the mystery carry on further until they put up the post at the ReaderCon website. EDIT: The post is up! Learn more about us.

But yeah, most of the very good and close friends that I have now, I met through my love of books. In particular, I met many of them through the Harry Potter and Twilight fan groups. (Shelve the hate, please. )

I share the same favorite authors and genres with a handful of these friends, and these eventually became the people that I am now in TMRS with. I am thankful for these 5 people (Leia, Echo, Lianne, Claire, and Ron,) who I spend a lot of time with, both online and IRL, because their company keeps me sane amid the day-to-day craziness of life.

Looking back, I realize that my oldest friends are also fellow bookworms. I spent my Sweet Valley and Sweet Dreams and Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes phases with close friends from elementary and high school, and my Harry Potter phase with friends from University. And I began my epic fantasy, The 39 Clues, and science fiction phases with friends from work.

Of course, books aren’t the only things that I share in common with these people, but it’s satisfying to know that I’ve actually shared more adventures in different worlds with them than I initially thought.

*Choose a drink –butterbeer, blue milk, elven wine…blood?– and raise your glass! (Mine has soju because I think the only way I’d be able to drink an entire glass of that is in a fictional setting, haha!)*

Here’s to good friends to share more good books and good memories with!

See you all at the ReaderCon!

United We Read — The 2nd Filipino ReaderCon will be held on August 18th from 8:00am-6:00pm at the Filipinas Heritage Library, Ayala Triangle, Makati City. For more information, visit the official website at filipinoreadercon.wordpress.com.

Pre-registration for the Con is now open and you might want to participate in The Great Book Swap!

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Previously, on Filipino Friday 2012:
FF 1: Introductions
FF 2: School of Reading
FF 3: Reading Habits and Book Formats

ReaderCon 2012 Filipino Friday #3: Reading Habits and Book Formats

Reading Habits and Book Formats. Where and how do you read? Can you read anywhere and everywhere, or do you need a certain place/mood/state of mind to get reading? Do you read more in the morning or at night or any minute that you can? Where and how do you usually read? Are you exclusively for print, or do you go for ebooks more than print? Have you ever tried audiobooks?

I have to find ways to get decent reading time these days, so I try to read whenever there’s a lull in my daily activities. I usually read during the commute to and from work, at night before I sleep, while waiting in line in banks or government agencies, lunch break at work, while waiting for people to arrive for meetings, during plane rides, and…ummmm…sometimes in the bathroom.

I used to exclusively read print books, but ever since I installed Kindle for PC, I’ve been reading more e-books.

I realized just recently that I am not a monogamous book reader. I take a different book for commutes, a different one to read in the house at night, a different one loaded in my Kindle for PC, and yet another for the…ummm…bathroom.

I don’t really know how I keep up, but I do still manage to remember where I am in the stories and what happened last I read them. I haven’t thought too deeply about why I do this, but I suspect this is an effect of having too many books in my To Read pile.

What about you? How, when, and where do you read?

See you all at the ReaderCon!

United We Read — The 2nd Filipino ReaderCon will be held on August 18th from 8:00am-6:00pm at the Filipinas Heritage Library, Ayala Triangle, Makati City. For more information, visit the official website at filipinoreadercon.wordpress.com.

Don’t forget to cast your vote for the 1st Filipino Readers Choice Awards. Click here for more details. Also, pre-registration for the Con is now open and you might want to participate in The Great Book Swap!

___
Previously, on Filipino Friday 2012:
FF 1: Introductions
FF 2: School of Reading

ReaderCon 2012 Filipino Friday #2: School of Reading

School of Reading. We all started reading somewhere, and more often than not, we were influenced by someone. Who got you into reading? Your parents? A friend? A librarian? One teacher who always lends out his/her books? How helpful was your school in helping your reading habit / fueling your book addiction?

I have my late mother to thank for my love of reading. If I didn’t grow up seeing her reading books, I’m not sure if I would’ve gotten into it at an early age.

Our school library was also a haven for me. I went to a private school during my elementary and high school years, so I was lucky enough to be able to borrow lots of fun and interesting books.

Here’s more about my reading history from my FF post last year:

I used to accompany my Mom to bookstores, where I wandered off to the more age-appropriate sections while she browsed for her Sidney Sheldons and Danielle Steels and Jackie Collinses and Robert Ludlums.

My elementary and high school library cards were well-used. On average, I went through 3 Borrower’s Cards per year (I needed to allot time to studying too! ).

In elementary, my reading list included Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, The Three Investigators, Beverly Cleary books, and Choose Your Own Adventure books. Oh, and Paddington Bear; let’s not forget him because he’s ridiculously adorable.

In high school, I went through the Sweet Valley and Sweet Dreams phase like most teenage girls, but I also started to pick up occasional YA fantasy fare, like E. Nesbit, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Diane Duane, and Madeleine L’Engle. It was also in high school that I was introduced to the Dragonlance saga, which would ignite my interest in epic fantasies.

In college, I started reading my Mom’s books, and that piqued my interest in general fiction. I also continued to hunt down Dragonlance and Michael Crichton titles. And I read Isaac Asimov short stories in the library in between classes.

Hrmmm…on hindsight, after re-reading the above, I can now see why my current reading list consists mostly of YA and fantasy.

What about you? How did you get into reading? Feel free to comment below.

See you all at the ReaderCon!

United We Read — The 2nd Filipino ReaderCon will be held on August 18th from 8:00am-6:00pm at the Filipinas Heritage Library, Ayala Triangle, Makati City. For more information, visit the official website at filipinoreadercon.wordpress.com.

Don’t forget to cast your vote for the 1st Filipino Readers Choice Awards. Click here for more details.

___
Previously, on Filipino Friday 2012:
FF 1: Introductions

So I inadvertently pressed the “semi-hibernate” switch…

…and wow, I can’t believe May 26th was my last post. I blame work and government procurement.

Time to play catch-up and post some book news and, if I’m lucky (read: if I don’t get side-tracked by kdramas and 1 Night 2 Days episodes during lunch time), maybe post a review or two.

*crosses fingers*

“Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares” by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

 

Title: Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares
Author: Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Read Date: 27 January 2012
Goodreads Reading Progress Status Updates: Click here.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Review Preview: Excellent premise, wonderfully written, but a little too self-conscious to be truly romantic.
——————————————————————————————————————————————–

“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”

So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the New York Times bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

 
Like Dash, who saw the red Moleskine notebook on the shelf and was intrigued enough by it to follow the instructions and then take it home, I bought this book on a whim after reading the synopsis and loving the premise.

Well, okay, it was that, but I also felt nostalgic. I seldom talk or write about very personal things, but I’ll break that rule today. See, I used to pass a notebook back-and-forth with my significant other because we don’t see each other as often as we would like. I loved when it came back to me with new drawings and doodles. (He’s an artist. Even his cartoon doodles are awesome. I can’t even draw a decent stick-figure image ala xkcd, so I mostly just wrote on the notebook.) One of us kept it for far too long once, so the exchange stopped. From then on, we just, as Lily calls it, “lived life outside of the notebook.” Now you know, and knowing is half the battle, but in this case, the war is over. I shall now go back to enforcing The Rule, and no questions will be answered.

Enough about me, let’s talk about Dash.

Oh, Dash, are you for real? I found myself asking that question several times. I couldn’t help being aware that it was David Levithan talking rather than a 16-year-old boy, because Dash often sounds too mature. Or rather, his words and thoughts are mature but his actions are typical teen, so he ends up coming across as pretentious, even for someone who’s in the habit of reading J.D. Salinger and the Oxford English Dictionary.

Deep down, you see, I long to be arcane, esoteric. I’d love to confound people with their own language.

 
(Please, nobody say “he’s an old soul” or I’ll throw a tantrum and a couple of Horcruxes aimed at your head.)

In theory, Dash could easily have been the “boy inside my head, who is exactly who I want him to be,” but I still couldn’t quite fall in love with him.

And then there’s Lily. She’s more grounded than Dash, even though she’s Disney-Channel-Sitcom-Sidekick Quirky. Or Luna-Lovegood-Quirky. Lily and Luna. Lily Luna. Lily Luna Potter. Haha!

I’ve always resented Hermione, because I wanted to be her so badly and she never seemed to appreciate as much as I thought she should that she got to be her. She got to live at Hogwarts and be friends with Harry and kiss Ron, which was supposed to happen to me.

 
(See? A Harry Potter reference!)

I didn’t find Dash and Lily’s romance thrilling, sadly. In my native language: hindi ako kinilig. They don’t even come close to how I feel about Deryn and Alek from Leviathan (oh how I embarrassed myself squeeing loudly while reading Goliath) or Puck and Sean from The Scorpio Races. I’m not sure if this is because I’m privy to both Dash’s and Lily’s thoughts that there isn’t much of a mystery to keep things exciting anymore, or if it’s because they and the book itself just seem so self-conscious of this entire “epistolary flirtation.”

So what kept me reading wasn’t Dash or Lily or Dash and Lily; it was the Book of Dares–the anticipation of what audacious quest they would come up with next and how they will eventually meet in person. The dares themselves are fun, especially the ones set in The Strand, the video store, Macy’s, and FAO Schwarz.

Oh, and I also love the more interesting secondary characters, like Lily’s gay brother Langston, her grandfather, her great aunt and numerous cousins and uncles, and Dash’s bestfriend Boomer.

But the real draw of this book is Cohn and Levithan’s gift with words. There are a lot of wonderful and thoughtful passages about love, relationships, literature and language, that I used up my remaining Book Hamster sticky tabs to mark my favorites.

But isn’t this a dance? Isn’t all of this a dance? Isn’t that what we do with words? Isn’t that what we do when we talk, when we spar, when we make plans or leave it to chance? Some of it’s choreographed. Some of the steps have been done for ages. And the rest — the rest is spontaneous. The rest has to be decided on the floor, in the moment, before the music ends.

 
I admit that much of my disappointment comes from expecting too much from this book and probably from thinking too much about it. You might even say I’m doing a Dash. But if you want to read something light and fun and rather bookish (in a good way) and fanciful (because it’s a beautiful word), or if you want to feel like it’s Christmas any time of the year, then give Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares a try; it goes well with a plate of cookies and a cup of English Breakfast.

1000 Yodas: Thanks, Tom!

 
Even though I didn’t tweet to him, Tom Angleberger (author of The Strange Case of Origami Yoda) somehow found my #1000Yodas post on Twitter and tweeted some words of encouragement:
 

@almeldiel Good luck on the 1,000! If I die it, you can too!

—
  (@OrigamiYoda) January 17, 2012

 
Thank you, sir!

In case you missed it, I challenged myself to fold 1000 Yodas this year. Crazy, right? Don’t ask me why I’m doing it, I just am.

Challenge Status Update: 7 out of 1000 Yodas folded

And now I shall go back to finishing some actual paying writing work so that I can blog afterward without any deadlines looming over my shoulder.

Safe and Sound

 
The first single off the The Hunger Games OST is Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift featuring The Civil Wars.

 
I like it! This is one of Taylor’s better songs, though I suspect the reason it sounds a bit different from her other releases is it was written by T. Bone Burnett, one of the men in charge of writing music for the movie.  The melody seems familiar, though I haven’t quite figured out why just yet and parts of it remind me of Rue’s Four-Note Whistle.  The sound does evoke a lot of memories of the book and how I felt about what I was reading, so that’s a good sign to me.

Also, this resonates with me today because someone I know just went through a terrible ordeal: 4 men divested her of her valuables, beat her up, and almost raped her. It’s fortunate that she managed to escape. She was just discharged from the hospital this evening, but she still has a battle to fight. You may or may not know who she is, but I hope you can say a prayer for her recovery and peace of mind, and for justice to be served.

Happy Christmas to all who celebrate it! If you don’t, then Happy Holidays! May we all be safe and sound.

The book hamsters cometh

 
Friends of mine know that I stick little tabs in my books to mark funny passages, lines that I loved, or important sections that I need to take note of for reviews.

I got a new set of sticky tabs recently, and look what they’ve been up to:

This dazed hamster says hello to Brandon Sanderson from the pages of my copy of "The Alloy of Law". He's marking a particularly mind-bending paragraph about the magic system on Scadrial.

 

Not all of my book hamsters are dazed. This one likes Brandon's jokes. Har har.

 

Readercon Filipino Friday Meme 2: Your reader’s story

 
This meme is hosted by the official Filipino Reader Conference site to promote the 1st ever Filipino Reader Con on September 14th.
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Your reader’s story: How did you become a reader?

I inherited my love of reading from my Mom, who always had a book at her bedside table. I used to accompany her to bookstores, where I wandered off to the more age-appropriate sections while she browsed for her Sidney Sheldons and Danielle Steels and Jackie Collinses and Robert Ludlums.

My elementary and high school library cards were well-used. On average, I went through 3 Borrower’s Cards per year (I needed to allot time to studying too! ).

In elementary, my reading list included Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, The Three Investigators, Beverly Cleary books, and Choose Your Own Adventure books. Oh, and Paddington Bear; let’s not forget him because he’s ridiculously adorable.

In high school, I went through the Sweet Valley and Sweet Dreams phase like most teenage girls, but I also started to pick up occasional YA fantasy fare, like E. Nesbit, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Diane Duane, and Madeleine L’Engle. It was also in high school that I was introduced to the Dragonlance saga, which would ignite my interest in epic fantasies.

In college, I started reading my Mom’s books, and that piqued my interest in general fiction.  I also continued to hunt down Dragonlance and Michael Crichton titles.  And I read Isaac Asimov short stories in the library in between classes.

I never stopped reading since then. I try to pick up a book whenever I have an opportunity to do so, and I try as much as I can to make time to read even when I’m busy. Idle times like long commutes or long waits make for productive reading times for me.

What I love most about reading is being transported to another place and time. I don’t have the capability to travel much, so books are like my vacations. Charlaine Harris said that books are the cheapest vacations you can buy, and Samantha Sotto said that imagination is one of the few places that Filipinos don’t need a visa, and I wholeheartedly agree with them. If it weren’t for books, life will probably be like living in a boat that’s forever anchored to a port.

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Previously on Filipino Friday:
FF #1: Introduce Yourself