Author: Sumthinblue

July 31st — Harry Birthday!

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Tomorrow (in our time zone at least) marks Harry Potter’s 29th birthday so I’m starting off the celebration by reliving the Harry Birthday party my cousin Dianne and I threw a couple of years ago, shortly after the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I’ve a million other things to do tonight, so I’m posting an article I wrote for Manila Bulletin (dated 13 August 2007) after the legendary Harry Birthday Party! :)

Warning: extreme fandom alert. Hahaha, I think this is the first time my Harry Potter obsession will actually appear in this blog, so to my newfound book blogger friends, I hope you enjoy reading this!

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Small Steps

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I loved the 1998 YA novel Holes by Louis Sachar, which won both the  Newbery Medal and a National Book Award, so as soon as I saw the spin-off novel Small Steps on the bookstore shelf last year, I knew I wanted a copy.

Fortunately before I splurged on a full price copy, I managed (with great surprise) to find an excellent hardcover copy in the bargain bin at Book Sale for a measly P60 ($2)! Haha, that’s normally what I would spend for a bargain book, but it was practically a steal so I was grinning from ear to ear as the cashier wrapped up my purchases! :)

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‘Twas a dark and scary Night

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For some reason, I’ve read a lot of Holocaust-themed books in recent time than I ever have my whole life. Not that I’m fascinated with the Holocaust — it’s not a very happy theme, and it’s hardly light reading, but it does inspire stories of the greatness (or debauchery) of the human spirit.

BM friend Aloi recommended the book Night by Elie Wiesel a few months back and I was mentally kicking myself for having given up the copy on BookMooch. Sometime later, I managed to dig up a turtleback copy (ugh, but still a mass market paperback inside) in a bargain bin at Book Sale and I made up my mind to read it this year.

All the Holocaust books I’d read before could not have prepared me for Night — it was like watching the Holocaust documentary “Genocide” (which I watched in sophomore year in college, and to this day I still can’t erase the image of thousands of emaciated white bodies being dumped into wide open pits from my mind, or the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach whenever I think about it) all over again.

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All about Seuss

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Last Saturday, our book club Flips Flipping Pages held our July book discussion on one of my childhood favorites, Dr. Seuss.  I’d been looking forward to this discussion because we haven’t tackled any children’s books yet in a year of book discussions, and I was part moderator of this one, where I took on the discussion of the art of Dr. Seuss.

As a child, I was fortunate enough to attend a school with a principal that had special interest in children’s books, and so our library was well-stocked with the best of them. I remember discovering the Dr. Seuss section when I was in first grade, and I spent many happy hours in the library — well, happy for me, not for the maid who waited for me for hours at the gate, because I didn’t want to go home yet so I evaded her for as long as I can. Hehe.

For this particular discussion, I read three Dr. Seuss books (books #114-116 of 2009): How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss; Seuss, the whole Seuss, and nothing but the Seuss: A Visual Biography of Theodore Seuss Geisel by Charles D. Cohen; and Hooray for Diffendoofer Day by Dr. Seuss, Jack Prelutsky, and Lane Smith.

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Last Order sa Penguin

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A couple of years ago, some friends of mine were raving about the University of the Philippines Press publication Last Order Sa Penguin by Chris Martinez (book #113 for 2009, #19 for the Diversity Challenge – Filipino), containing the script of a play with the same title.

I don’t read a lot of plays because I prefer prose, but I was in the mood for a short, light read so I picked up this book.

Last Order Sa Penguin (roughly translated for the benefit of my international  readers: Last Order at the Penguin Cafe) is a two-act play about five friends nearing their thirties: the cheerfully gay Tuxqs, the problematic Harlene, the sex addict Tess, the social climbing Dyna, and the druggie Mario, who all meet up at the Penguin Cafe in Malate.

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