Last Saturday, we Flippers found ourselves in Angono, the art capital of the Philippines, for our book club’s annual Best and Worst discussion, a tradition we uphold every January in place of our monthly book discussion.
The discussion wasn’t until the afternoon so we scheduled a walking tour in the morning. Here are some snapshots:
Welcome to Angono!
We dropped by National Artist Botong Francisco’s studio:
And here we are with Botong’s grandson, Carlos “Totong” Francisco:
We went down the art walk:
Had a sumptuous lunch at Balaw-Balaw:
Stir-fried ants, anyone?
We then proceeded to the Blanco Museum, where we bemoaned our utter lack of talent in the face of such a prodigious family.
We were lucky to meet one member of the family, Michael Blanco, who gamely signed our postcards:
And even joined our group photo:
We then proceeded to the Nemiranda Cafe for the book discussion, where we attempted to eke out our (now floundering) artistic inclinations in a session moderated by Cecille:
And the results (including those posted by members online):
BEST
- The Lady with a Dog and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov
- The Eight by Katherine Neville
- Kanonization by Scott Garceau
- An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
- Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
- Paula by Isabel Allende
- Child of the Dark by Carolina Maria de Jesus
- The Maze Runner by James Dashner
- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
- Po-on by F. Sionil Jose*
- A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
- Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
- Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
- Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris
- Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi
- Train Man by Hitori Nakano
- Trese vols. 1-3 by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo
- The Color Purpke by Alice Walker
- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
- Lullabies by Lang Leav
- The Secret HIstory by Donna Tart
- The Martian by Andy Weir
- The Amber Furt by Natalie Haynes
- The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddharta Mukherjee
- Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
- Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
- Crazy in Alabama by Mark Childress
- Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
- House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
WORST
- Gastronaut by Stephan Gates
- Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
- One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
- The Lost Years of Pepe by Ron Mendoza
- Manuscripts found in Accra by Paolo Coehlo
- Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
- Dump that Chump by Dr. Debra Mandel
- The Death Cure by James Dashner
- The White Bull by Fred Saberhagen
- The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin*
- Attempting Elizabeth by Jessica Grey
- Timeline by Michael Crichton
- The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
- To Love Her by Esri Rose
- The Naked Lunch by William Burroughs
- The Lovers Dictionary by David Levithan
- Allegiant by Veronica Roth
- Ulysses by James Joyce
- Forrest Gump by Winston Groom
- Of Love and Lemons by Katrina Stuart Santiago
*voted by 3 or more
It’s always a lovely exercise, sharing books withe the Flippers. And quitr a few books got added to my TBR, too.
Until next year, Flippers!
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Po-on needs an asterisk after it too. :)
May I copy our group photos and post them on my FB? Thanks!
Updated the list, Cecille, including Sana’s picks. Photos up on FB :)