Sumthinblue – Page 117

This Book Will Change Your Life

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Have you ever wondered what would happen if one day you waged war on a foreign country; secretly raised a dirty finger at everyone that passed you by; wrote the opening sentence to your debut novel; agreed to meet a stranger in ten years’ time; ordered an impossible pizza (with bananas, peas, ice cream, etc.); sent a message in Morse code from your window to see if anyone responds; or wr0te your last will and testament?

These are only some of the instructions to be found in the series This Book Will Change Your Life (subtitled 365 daily instructions for hysterical living). Each book in the series is a journal type book with daily instructions for 365 days of the year, on lavishly-designed pages, with an area allotted for your notes after you’ve fulfilled the task.

I’ve been fascinated with the concept of This Book Will Change Your Life, and last year I managed to get two of them — the original This Book Will Change Your Life and This Book Will Change Your Life Again — one from my favorite bargain bookstore, and another from Flipper friend Marie last Christmas. I flipped through the pages last December in preparation for 2010, as I’ve always meant to work on the books, although I tend to pick random pages on random days over the year.

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PostSecret

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I was supposed to post this over the weekend I was out of town, but finding internet access in our hometown (Isabela, Negros Occidental) proved to be an epic fail, and I’ve been running on very little sleep for the past four days, hence the delay in posting.

I’m resuming my backlog posts from last year, so here’s a look at one of the best Christmas presents I got last year: the PostSecret books I got from Peter, who drew me for the annual Flips Flipping Pages exchange gift: the first book, PostSecret and the latest release, PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God (Woot! Thank you Peter!) both by the PostSecret creator Frank Warren.

PostSecret is an ongoing community mail art project where people make their own postcards, write their secret on it, and mail it to Frank Warren, who publishes it on the site. The books, which number five volumes now, are select compilations of the postcards sent to PostSecret.

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Saying Goodbye

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There’s been a lull in my blogging in the last couple of weeks, as my maternal grandfather, Lolo Jaime (lolo is grandfather in Filipino), had a massive stroke, and finally passed away last Sunday, at the age of 89.

This is the first death of a grandparent that I’ve experienced (my paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother died when I was too young to understand), and there is something about my Lolo’s passing that makes me feel as if I’ve lost a part of my childhood.

Even though I saw my Lolo only once or twice a year (he lives in my parents’ provincial hometown in Isabela, Negros Occidental, a plane ride and two-hour drive away), we talked frequently on the phone, and I had a special bond with him — I inherited his artistic inclinations, and he was my biggest fan.

I had a feeling his time was drawing near when we got the news that he got a stroke two weeks ago, and I was preparing a special picture book roundup for him, except that death got to him first, and for the past few days I couldn’t bring myself to write this piece without breaking down.

But he would have wanted me to keep on writing — he loved my writing as much as my art — so in honor of my Lolo, I’m doing the year’s first picture book roundup, featuring the books Brown Paper Bear by Neil Reed; Song and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman, illus. by Stephen Gammel; and You’re Only Old Once by Dr. Seuss.

(Will resume working off the 2009 backlog after this post.)

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Usborne Puzzle Adventures

When I went to Singapore last October, I specifically targeted getting a copy of the Usborne Puzzle Adventure Omnibus, a book compilation I’d lost when I was in grade school. I was hoping to find one at one of the bookstore chains there, as my cousin Dianne found a copy for herself in Hong Kong, and I was determined to get one too.

I found a brand new copy in only one bookstore — MPH — and I was hesitant to buy it because it cost SGD 33, which is about P1000 or about US$20. Being the cheapskate I am, I decided to mull it over and come back for it before I went home.

Luckily, my plans to go to Bras Basah Complex (a mini-mall full of quaint, used-book shops right across Raffles Hotel) fell in place, and before an hour was up, I scored a slightly used copy for about SGD13 (P429 or about US$9), because I sweet talked the Indian proprietor to bring it down from SGD16! Not bad for a book I’d been searching half my life for. (But of course I ended up getting a dozen other books I didn’t plan on buying!

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Dracula wonders why this “Edward” and “Bella” are people he may know

I avoided bookstores last December because I’m prone to splurging more at the end of the year (and God knows I have entirely too many books waiting for me at home) but there was one book that I couldn’t pass up buying, because of its sheer entertainment value (for me, at least).

It’s a book entitled, “Ophelia Joined the Group Maidens Who Don’t Float: Classic Lit Signs on to Facebook” by Sarah Schmelling, who catapulted to fame with her Facebook news feed edition of Hamlet.

For an impulse buy, it didn’t come cheap (it was P600+, or over US $12) which I rarely spend on a single book unless I’m fanatically compelled to buy it; but as soon as I read a few pages into this book I knew I had to get a copy.

The book is a treat for avid readers who are on Facebook, as it is a compilation of Facebook pages of various literary characters and even some authors, much like historical tweets or other social networking site parodies.

It’s pretty hilarious if you get them, but if you’re not much of a reader, a lot of jokes will probably sail right past you — uhmm, I tried passing the book around at the office because they were wondering why I was laughing so hysterically and the jokes fell quite flat because I had to keep explaining them.

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