Author: Sumthinblue

It’s out!!!

Squee! It’s finally out — my review section for a local travel magazine!

I now review travel books for the bi-monthly publication TravelPlus magazine, and I’ve finally seen it in print, in the current (January-February 2010) issue. The section is entitled “Reads and Views” and it’s on the back page of the magazine.

Here, I review Connecting Flights and A Year in Provence.  I also have a section on Book Gadgets, and I feature the ThumbThing (maan, I do not know where I last set it down… I haven’t seen it in months!).

This is the first issue I appear in, and I’ll be writing for the succeeding issues as well (woot!), which means I’ve got to stock up on travel books (and read more of them as well).

Yay! Thank you to consulting editor Chris Datol for getting me to write for TravelPlus.

Get your copy at bookstores and magazine stands nationwide, and watch out for the next issue, where I review a cookbook, a flash fiction anthology, a travel mystery, and another book gadget. I also have another book review (full length this time) for TravelPlus’ sister magazine, ZenHealth in its March-April issue.

A-Z Challenge

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.

Continue reading “A-Z Challenge”

Blankets and Chunky Rice

Last year, the graphic novel was one of the new genres I started getting hooked on, and Craig Thompson has fast become one of my favorite graphic novel writer-illustrators.

I’ve been salivating over Blankets at the bookstore for years now, but it’s waaay out of my budget, and so it remains on my wishlist. A couple of years back, though, I was able to mooch Thompson’s Goodbye, Chunky Rice, and so I started with that.

Late last year, I finally got the chance to read Blankets, when Flipper friend Mike (aka GNP, or Geek and Proud) lent me his copy, along with his prized volumes of Maus. Of course, before I read Blankets, I felt a reread of Goodbye, Chunky Rice was in order, so I could review the two books side by side before I finally return Mike’s book this weekend (I returned Maus earlier), with gratitude for entrusting one of his favorite books to me for several months now. Continue reading “Blankets and Chunky Rice”

Mina (Marie Kiraly)

One of the books I had to read in 2009 to complete my book club’s Diversity challenge was something I kept putting off until the last weeks of December: a Dracula spinoff entitled Mina by Marie Kiraly (Book #234 of 2010).

It was a partner-recommended book and not something I’d pick up on my own — I’m wary of  literary adaptations and I cringe at the thought of paranormal bodice-slashers. Even though I’d mooched two copies of the book (one hardcover and one trade paperback), I had my apprehensions about it.

But the deadline was looming, and I’d run out of reprieves, so I decided that I might as well get it done with.

Continue reading “Mina (Marie Kiraly)”

Grocery lists and breakfast cereal


After a tumultuous January, I’m now back to regular blogging, hoping to make up for lost time and eventually clear the blogging backlog, which is now down to twenty books, including those from January!

It’s been a while since I’ve done a foodie review (I really enjoy foodie books!), so today’s review covers two delightful foodie books I enjoyed last year: Milk Eggs Vodka: Grocery Lists Lost and Found by Bill Keaggy and The Breakfast Cereal Gourmet by David Hoffman (books 132-133 for 2009).

Both are fully illustrated foodie books that were awesome bargain bin finds, each of them roughly P70 (less than US$1.50).

Continue reading “Grocery lists and breakfast cereal”