Category: Book Reviews

The Red Necklace

I enjoyed Sally Gardner’s I, Coriander (winner of Nestle Smarties Gold Award in 2005), a children’s novel set in London during the Puritan Commonwealth, an interesting blend of historical fiction, fantasy, and a little bit of romance. Her next novel, The Red Necklace, came out a couple of years later, and I got myself a copy, and then, typical of me, forgot about it until I dug it out of my TBR inventory during Holy Week.

I took it with me during our company outing to Bohol last month, and because the flight was delayed, I managed to finish it before our plane landed.

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The Contract with God Trilogy

I’ve read a bunch of Eisner award-winning works in the past couple of years, but I never got to read anything by Will Eisner until a friend lent me a copy of his masterpiece, The Contract with God Trilogy last year. Shame that I only got to read it this year (I’m sorry!), but the guilt of having someone’s much-treasured book with me for so long (even though I took care of it really well!) finally got to me, so I’m posting this review so I can finally return it (with an additional peace offering!).

Will Eisner (1917-2005), for whom the most prestigious graphic novel awards are named, was an American comics writer and artist, often touted as the father of the graphic novel. While he did not create the first graphic work nor coin the term “graphic novel,” the publication of A Contract with God in 1978 was a landmark development that contributed to the establishment and cult popularity of the genre.

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Suplado Tips

My friend Stanley Chi (top photo, left) is launching his book, Suplado Tips today (3 pm) at National Book Store Shangri-la Plaza Mall with  special guest Ramon Bautista (right).

A few weeks earlier, Stan sent me a copy of the book to review, but I went on a couple of trips so my brother ended up reading it first!

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Sweet Valley Confidential

It’s been over a month since I read Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley Confidential, and all this time this post has been sitting in my drafts folder, because I’ve been thinking about what to write in it.

Like most of my friends from grade school and high school, I grew up reading Sweet Valley books. Before I read them, my older sisters were already reading them and I was often the dummy player when the two of them played their Sweet Valley High board game, without understanding what it was all about (I was in pre-school — I just threw the dice and moved the token along the board!).

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The Insult and Curse Book

I love books filled with useless bits of information, so I was ecstatic to find  Weird Wills and Eccentric Last Wishes from a bargain bin, and I set about to collecting the rest of Michelle Lovric’s trivia books. So far, I’ve gotten Deadlier than the Male,How to Insult, Abuse and Insinuate in Classical Latin and Eccentric Epitaphs.

The latest addition to my Michelle Lovric collection is The Insult and Curse Book, a compilation of colorful statements that will probably come in handy whenever I’m in a bad mood.

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