Book Reviews – Page 24

Train Man

I’ve had “Train Man” on my shelf for a while now, and finally cracked open the plastic this weekend. Mainly out of desperation: I was in sore need of grown-up conversation after spending an entire day with a seven-year old (I like kids well enough, but how do moms do it?!?) and got some blessed reading time while the kiddo was still happily occupied by the paint markers I had laid out on the table.

So, anywayyyy… Purported to be based on a true story on the Japanese message board 2channel, “Train Man” by Nakano Hitori features a painfully shy otaku (Train Man) whose life takes on a different turn when a young woman sends him a thank you gift for saving her from a drunken pervert on the train.

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We Captured the Castle

As most of you may have read in my previous entry, I moderated this month’s book discussion for Flips Flipping Pages. I chose one of my favorite books, “I Capture the Castle” and we hied off to Bacolod City for a change of scenery and a complete countryside experience.

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Stamp It!

Pardon the sporadic posting in the last couple of weeks — I’m in the thick of preparing for this month’s book discussion (Dodie Smith’s “I Capture the Castle”), which I’ll be moderating in Bacolod this weekend.

I’ve been crafting almost nonstop for our discussion swag in the last three weeks, and this book, “Stamp It: DIY Printing with Handmade Stamps” has come in handy. The book is by the same creator as Craft-A-Doodle, which I thoroughly enjoyed, so I had no qualms about buying this one.

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Roundup: Comics

I wanted a bit of a break from novels during Holy Week, so I decided to start tackling some comics I’d been meaning to read for a while now.

Here’s a roundup of the comics I read over the holidays: “Trip to Tagaytay” by Arnold Arre, “Kung Paano Ako Naging Leading Lady” by Carlo Vergara and Elmer Cantada, and “The Dark Colony Book I : Mikey Recio & the Secret of the Demon Dungeon,” by Budjette Tan and Bow Guerrero.

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Never Let Me Go

It’s been a busy month for Flips Flipping Pages, with not one, not two, but three book discussions crammed within the month. Earlier this month, we Flippers met up with National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose to conclude last year’s Rosales Saga readalong, then two Saturdays back we had the unofficial discussion on Helene Hanff’s “84 Charing Cross Road” (which I moderated).

Last Saturday’s book discussion, my third for the month, and the official discussion slated for March, was on Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go,” moderated by Flippers Haze and Sana, held at a medical facility in Pasig.

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