Author: Sumthinblue

Dahl-a-thon

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If there was one author I would recommend to every household library, I’d definitely recommend Roald Dahl. With dozens work under his name —  children’s stories for early readers and middle readers, children’s poetry collections,  short story anthologies, novels, memoirs, autobiographical essays, cookbooks, film scripts, and even guidebooks — each member of the family will find a book to enjoy.

I’m a big Roald Dahl fan, and I grew up reading his books, from the classic children’s books to the collections of twisted tales (which I really really love!). For the last 24-hour read-a-thon, I made sure to include some Roald Dahl books in the lineup.  His books are quick reads, and they never fail to crack me up, so I included three books this time around: Fantastic Mr. Fox; The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me(both I hadn’t read yet); and Esio Trot (which I have not read since high school), books 159-161 for 2009.

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FOReveRENEver (Ang I.N.K.’s 18th Annual Exhibit)

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Join us on the opening night of

FOReveRENEver: Ang INK’s 18th Annual Exhibit

November 19th, 7:30 pm
at the CCP Little Theater Lobby

for a short program and cocktails

On its 18th year, Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang I.N.K.) presents its annual exhibit for 2009, entitled “FOReveRENEver,” a tribute to the late children’s writer Rene O. Villanueva, whose literature has showcased I.N.K. illustrators’ works for several decades now.

Ang I.N.K. pays tribute to one of the most celebrated figures in the landscape of Filipino children’s books with a showcase of more than 30 works that bring to life Rene’s never-been-illustrated literature

Join Ang I.N.K. in honoring the memory of Rene O. Villanueva, and in ensuring that his legacy lives on in the hearts and minds of future generations of Filipino readers.

Halloween Hop

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For Halloween this year, I had a bunch of readings that fell into the theme – Bloodline and Vampyre from my Dracula hangover and the 24-hour read-a-thon; and Perfume, left over from my derailed book discussion back in September that finally pushed through on Halloween weekend.

In this post are reviews of these three chillingly good reads (books #156-158 for 2009), as well as a recap of the latest Flips Flipping Pages book discussion.

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Loot!

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, and I hardly had time to sit down to blog over the weekend… or the past few days, as things are going crazy outside of my blogging life. But in the meantime, here’s a photo from our weekend raid at the Scholastic warehouse sale!

(Sorry, no warehouse photos, we just went ga-ga at the sight of the books… typical!!! Haha, when you’re with a pack of bargain book hunters, you have to move fast or miss out on the spoils! )

loot

The figures:

1 Sunday morning
1  warehouse sale
4 book addicts
2 hours of browsing
over 70 books
3 bags nearly splitting at the seams (at P795 each)

Totally exhausting, but so much worth it!

My loot:

Twelve books, coming down to a grand total of P360 (around US $7),  petering out to P30 ($0.70) each. And four of them on my wishlist too!

Squee!

Am in the middle of composing a long-overdue review series, will have it up soon, I promise! :)

Salem ac Leporem (Naughty but Nice)

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Here’s another book you’re sure to get a laugh out of: How to Insult, Abuse and Insinuate in Classical Latin by Michelle Lovric and Nikiforos Doxiadis Mardas.

I found this book while randomly browsing on BookMooch and thought it might come in handy for those situations that just call for the choicest words.

For instance, when your credit card company calls you to follow up on your latest payment, instead of muttering “Monkey-faced money-lender!” you could exclaim its Latin equivalent and sound so much better  “Cercopithece Faenerator!”

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