Because I’ve just gotten through my 2009 backlog, I realize the end-of-the year summary is in order.  I’ve been blogging for over a year now, and I can’t believe how fast it’s gone! Blogging been an awesome experience (and I was a finalist for the Philippine Blog Awards, too!) that led to new friends and new discoveries, and I’m sure this year will be even more fun.

Here’s 2009, in figures… and photos!

(more…)

A few months back, I did a review of a series of trivia books and I’ve finished a bunch more since then. I have a habitual vice of poring into tomes of useless information, especially when I’m too stressed to read continuously, or when I need a break from long narratives.

This time around, I have another set of four trivia books on a variety of subjects, from general information to language to etiquette and combat: Why Don’t Penguins’ Feet Freeze? and 114 Other Questions edited by  Mick O’ Hare; Red Herrings and White Elephants: The Origins of the Phrases We Use Everyday by Albert Jack (illustrated by Ama Page); Directions to Servants by Jonathan Swift; and The Action Heroine’s Handbook by Jennifer Worick and Joe Borgenicht (books 237-240 of 2009).

(more…)

Flipper friend Gege started the A-Z reading challenge this year (check out the full mechanics here), and I’m participating, because it’s a fun way to start reading authors I haven’t read before, and make a substantial dent in my TBR.

Basically, the objective is to read 26 authors with surnames from A to Z between January 1 to December 31, 2010. The more  obsessive-compulsive participants are reading in alphabetical order, but I’ve always gone against the rules when it comes to reading so I’m striking off the names on my list as the mood strikes, until I finish the list off before the year ends.

(more…)

I successfully finished the War through the Generations World War II reading challenge this December, but I haven’t been able to blog properly in the last ten days or so, with the holiday rush. Hopefully this entry still makes it.

For 2009, I’ve read:

1) The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

2) Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

3) Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli

4) Night by Elie Wiesel

5) Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

6) Maus by Art Spiegelman

This month, I finished Stones in Water by Donna Jo Napoli, and A Separate Peace by John Knowles.

(more…)

A few months back, I signed up for the War Across the Generations World War II Reading Challenge, because I’d read a lot of Holocaust-themed books this year, and had a bunch more waiting in mye in months, and after the flood TBR.

I realized I haven’t read anything for the challenge, and after the flood left my TBR (arranged in order of priority) in wild disarray, I spotted Sarah’s Key (#151 for 2009) in one of the stacks I was reshelving and I was reminded that I had two more books to read this year, so I decided to make some headway in completing the challenge.

(more…)