September's slut

We sit through days willing the Earth to rotate faster, wishing Mondays turn to Fridays, to skip the tawdry parts that have become essential in our lives. Still, we look back and realize how fast time flies. Days that dragged on now seemed weightless.

I barely had enough time to cozy up with September when it's about to fold into itself again until next year. My relationship with September is more than a dodgy one night stand - though it was great. We went on a date at The Night Circus, gave me a bouquet of orange Hemingways, had a bottle of Bradbury talking about What happened to Anna K. all night. As we lay side by side, Maugham playing softly on the background, I felt The Unbearable Lightness of Being. ;)

September books from MIBF, Booksale & J. <3

Lust

Having a day at your own pace. Being able to read at breakfast, a book on your left hand, the fork on the other, and taking little sips of coffee in between. I live for these things. When I finally get out of bed after hitting snooze three times on a Monday morning, it's what I look forward to. We can't help but live for the weekends. We drift through days.

I love my work - don't get me wrong - even if sometimes I feel like I'm being thrown at the open sea, leaving me to swim my way back to shore. I can barely keep my head above the water, but I keep on treading. At the end of the day, when my toes finally feel the smooth sand, there's nothing left to do but wade to dry land. And it's fulfilling, to save yourself.

Then I'm left alone with my mind for one and a half hour ride home. I look forward to those times, when I can watch the streetlights moving in a constant stream of light. Look at people's shadowed faces, bowed heads swaying almost rhythmically to the moving car. Once, I buried my nose up a book, only stopping on the short distance between streetlamps, enveloping the car in darkness. Most times, thoughts pour in. Memories. Dreams. Life. It becomes the air I breathe, filling me up before I breathe them back to the world in quiet whispers.

The thing is, I don't know what I'm talking about. When I wrote (typed) the first sentences, I don't know where I'm headed. I weaved words one after the other and it's such a delicious feeling to be doing so. Not constructing sentences, but writing them, flowing from my fingertips. Exhaling words into the world.

I'm not sure if I made any sense. I just wanted to write, to create, to appreciate words. I find I want a lot of things, turning me into a million pieces. I want to move, want to be here and a hundred places all out once. To see the fiery colors of autumn. To fold in to myself. To feel lost then found. I want to bite into the world. I want the imprints of the world on my skin. To not feel limited but infinite.

"I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in life. And I am horribly limited." - Slyvia Plath

A bibliophile's dream

Every bibliophile's dream is to have a room full of books - four walls covered from floor to ceiling - like Karl Lagerfeld's, but most of us don't run House of Chanel. Though I'm lusting over his library, I prefer cozy sunlit spaces with a comfy couch or a wing chair for a reading room-slash-home library. Looking at books, and spaces for books, over at weheartit makes me happy as a feather floating in the breeze.

Curling up in bed with a good book tastes delicious just by thinking it, especially when it's drizzling.

Still, nothing beats having a room you can shut the world out and lose yourself in another. It'll be your sanctuary, a shrine for books and reading, your two-cents worth of escape - sweet all the same.

Until then, I'll be daydreaming. Or dreaming, given the hour.

PS. Every bibliophile also dreams to visit Shakespeare & Co in Paris and stay a week or two at the apartment above and help in the bookstore by day. Maybe I'll put that in another post.

Goodnight!

Book event: MIBF 2012

As promised, I brought my little brother to the Manila International Book Fair at the Mall of Asia SMX Convention Center last Saturday. We're the two bookworms in the family, thought it was only fitting that we go. It's our first time so imagine our faces when we entered this huge hall full of books! The weekend crowd had not come in yet but there were already lot of people by 11. Bought the books we mostly wanted before going out to grab some lunch. Went around the department store cause they're having a sale. When we came back at the book fair at 4pm, the place was packed!

A bit disappointed that I didn't get all the books on my list. The Unbearable Lightness of Being and the book my brother was looking for was out of stock at the Fully Booked booth. I had to get The Night Circus at the mall branch. But thank the book gods for the 20% discount!

Our MIBF loot!

Just wanna hibernate with these.

What my 9-year old brother likes to read.

I was mostly overwhelmed by all the books and the people that I didn't got in my zone. My brother is elated and he's almost finished reading all his books. Didn't get to take photos of the event cause I have a sucky phone camera. Today's the last day of the book fair. Heard there were more freebies! Can't wait for next year!

Gatsby's Girl

Gatsby's Girl by Caroline Preston

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I don't know how to review a book. Let's get that out of the way.

I simply put into words what I felt, thought and tasted. Though sometimes I could be harsh when I'm being a book snob, which unfortunately I am.

Gatsby's Girl is a sad, nostalgic love story. It's heartbreaking yet illuminated. The way the characters come alive, the way Ginevra gets under your skin, Scott - blonde, melodramatic, eccentric - everywhere in the background, and Julian. Oh Julian. Julian was gone too soon, but I can still taste his sweetness in my mouth.

The way Ginevra and Scott's lives take their own course away from each other but not quite. There was always a fleeting thought between them. And the dim glow of an era I've always wanted to live in.

Truly a tour de force. When I read the historical notes at the end, I was confused that this book was not what really happened to Ginevra and Scott. This book swept me in.

"Love stories make me cry, even when they turn out happily. Because the best part has come to and." Maybe I cried because I was afraid that this might be the best part of my romance with Scott - an illicit pair hiding in a dark theater, our upturned faces bathed in stage light.

He reached over and tenderly wiped each eye with his thumb. "What nonsense. Why can't we live the best parts over and over again?"




View all my reviews

1 more week til Manila International Book Fair! 1 more week til I get my hands on a new book/s! 1 week is too long :(

33rd MIBF 2012

One of the things I look forward to in September? The Manila International Book Fair 2012!

Been hearing about this but never actually been to one. Will definitely make it a point to come this year. I'm already saving up! 

September Spill

Can't believe it's already September, which means my birthday privilege is up! Sadly running out of ideas to blog about. I'm all over the place lately, with work, random late nigh hangouts with friends (on a weekday!), & the ever distracting internet! Thankful for the weekend so I can curl up with a good book. I'm already halfway through Gatsby's Girl. Weird that I didn't have time to read during the past two long weekends. I bought my little brother The Adventures of Tom Sawyer because he's been spending too much time playing Minecraft and it's about time he read classics, even if it's an abridged version. Fascinated about this Tumblr site called Bookface where you can submit photos of your face and your book/s! Submitted two photos - the first and last one. We're famous, yey! 

My friends left a huge gap on my bookshelf when they came over for my birthday. I think I was still hungover when I stacked 10 on my arms and handed them 2-3 each to bring home. I can't help smiling whenever I remember their faces like children given free candies. And it warms my heart to know that they loved it as much as I do!

It's always been my dream to go on an all out book shopping, to just grab everything on my list! Wish I had the money for that. But for now I'm alright with getting my monthly fix or digging books at Booksale. :)

PS. Oh, and I found this nifty post about e-readers that made me drool!