Book Review: Dekada ’70 by Lualhati Bautista

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Title: Dekada ’70

Author: Lualhati Bautista

Publication Date: 1983

Number of Pages: 227

Publisher: Anvil Publishing

Genre: Classic, Historical Fiction

 

Synopsis:

Si Amanda Bartolome ay isang pangkaraniwang babae – asawa ni Julian at ina ng limang anak na lalaki. Sa kanilang subdibisyon, pinakamalaking problema na niya ang mga kapitbahay nilang hindi na natapos magreklamo tungkol sa mga malokong batang Bartolome.

Ngunit ang panahon ng martial law ay hindi pangkaraniwang panahon. Sa pangunguna ng panganay nilang si Jules at ang kanyang pagsabak sa madugong rebolusyon, di maiiwasang harapin ng pamilya ang karahasan ng batas militar. Habang ang kanyang mga anak ay hinuhubog ng malagim na dekada, at nahahanap ang kanya-kanyang sariling adhikain sa gitna ng kaguluhan, tinatanong at tinutuklas din ni Amanda ang sarili kung ano nga ba ang kanyang tungkulin at kakanyahan bilang ina, bilang babae, bilang Pilipino.

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27 Years

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I just turned 27 yesterday! If you would ask me 10 years ago what I envisioned my life to be at 27, I’m not sure what I would have told you, but I’m sure that I wouldn’t have envisioned my life to be the way it is right now. I could have told that I envision myself practicing whatever it is that I’ve learned in those four years in college. I would have never, in a million years, envisioned myself becoming a writer in any form or field. I have always loved writing and it was a dream to work as a writer, but I was never given the chance to study any course related to it as my parents thought I would never get to earn enough as one. Ten years ago seems so far away, my 17-year-old self would have been shocked to know who and what I’ve become, but I hope she’s proud of me. Continue reading

Favorite Debut Books

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Hey, guys! Today I’m going to talk about my all-time favorite debuts! I’ve been wanting to write posts of my favorite so and so and I have already started in February and sort of stopped because I ran out of ideas of books to list. Recently, I came up with a lot of ideas for my blog content and have been scheduling posts since last week. With that, I also came up with new topics for my book lists!

If you do not know, a debut book means it is an author’s first novel that has been published. I honestly love reading debut novels and discovering amazing authors, I mean, if the first novel they ever wrote is amazing, what more the next books that they will write, right?

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Me? An Otaku?

I have always considered myself as an avid reader, so I read almost anything and everything. As I have mentioned in a previous post, I didn’t have a lot of friends when I was in elementary school and books have been my best friends since. I basically devoured every book that is available for me to read.

I used to read a lot of romance books (because my mom used to have a lot of Nicholas Sparks pocket books) back then. And in the middle of all that, I was also reading middle-grade fantasy books, nonfiction (e.g., National Geographic magazines, Almanac, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, etc.), comics, and horror books. It was just recently when I discovered the wonderful world of manga (and even more recently, anime).

I’ve always known that manga have a large cult following different types of fans depending on its genre (e.g., yaoi, yuri, shoujo, and others). Being a long-time comic book reader, it was a bit confusing for me when I first started reading manga because of the reversed way of reading it. I know so many people who are quite fans of reading manga. Take for example, my brother — he reads a lot of manga online and I never really cared about it before until I met my boyfriend a couple of years back who asked me to try it. Being a wide-reader, I did try it, but I never really expected to go deep into this fandom.

The quarantine has absolutely turned me into what they call an Otaku, a person with consuming interests in manga and anime. In my side of the world, reading manga or watching anime is synonymous to a geek or a nerd, which I don’t quite understand. In my perspective, I am just reading another book or watching another series/film. It’s still reading, it’s still watching. That’s it.

So what made me continue reading manga? What really cemented my being an Otaku was when I fell in love with Tokyo Ghoul‘s characters. I am far from finished with the first arc because I have yet to complete the physical copies, but I am absolutely obsessed with this manga that I even started reading other titles like One-Punch Man, Kaguya-sama: Love is War, and I recently preordered the Orange Collection Vol. 1 which I am really excited about. Hopefully it arrives this month. I also started reading Cardcaptor Sakura which has been my favorite anime when I was a kid.

Aside from reading manga, I also started watching anime. I started watching Sword Art Online, Erased (which I’ve already finished), and Your Lie in April. It’s been such a fun journey so far and I am absolutely looking forward to more manga to read and anime to watch.

How about you? Do you read manga or watch anime? Maybe you could recommend me something?

Eureka! Moment #6: Backdrops

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Hello, blogosphere! It’s that time of the month again where I feature something that I have discovered and have totally enjoyed using from the previous month. For July, I will be talking about backdrops!

As you all know, I love taking photos of food, places, my books, and basically anything I can think of. Going into quarantine, I don’t have a lot of food and places to take pictures of. So I am left with my books for my Instagram content and it has been a struggle for me to look for an IG-worthy space in our house that fits my aesthetic. So I have been using my white pillow case as background for my photos:

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Using my pillow case was totally okay, but it’s already starting to wear out and needed cleaning, and I don’t have an alternate pillow case (or any other cloth, for that matter) to use. So I decided to look for other materials that I can use for my photos’ backgrounds and have found out about these backdrops and it totally up-ed my game in flatlay photos.

This backdrop that I found in Lazada is reversible and has two designs which are both white. I also bought an orange cloth backdrop which I also sometimes use when I get tired of the white background. I am absolutely in love with both products that I am planning on buying another color for each; I’m planning on getting a darker shade for the base backdrops and a lighter one for the cloth backdrops.

Here are some sample photos where I’ve used them:

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Amazing, right? I think there are a lot of other shops selling these kind of backdrops. You can look it up in both Lazada and Shopee so you can choose you preferred color and style.

Two.

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Here’s an attempt at writing our story. I’m not really sure where or how to even begin with this post — How did we really begin?

As I have mentioned in all of my previous blog entries, I found you when I wasn’t even looking for anything or anyone for that matter. You were just there — someone I know by name and someone who I casually have small talks with whenever we ran into each other. It has always been like that between us and nothing more.

Thinking about it now, I can’t believe that just a couple of years ago, you weren’t even part of my life. It feels weird because I feel like I’ve known you forever. Looking back at those days, I can’t really tell when I started developing these feelings for you. There were just no signs — no anything. It just kind of happened.

I remember your birthday back in 2018 when I greeted you a few days early because your birthday fell on a weekend. I vividly remember you telling me to greet you again on your birthday, and I did send you a message via Messenger. The following day was a work day, and you dropped by my work station to give me some gummy worms. Casually, I asked you what it was for and you said that it was your birthday. I honestly didn’t know what to say because you really didn’t have to, so I managed a “thank you.”

I think our conversations frequented after that. It was supposed to be just friendly conversations, given that we both arrive early in the office. It was really nice having someone to talk to early in the morning. I guess, some time during those conversations, something just clicked — I couldn’t say when it all changed, but it did. I used to find myself looking at you from across the room and a lot of the time you were already staring back at me.

I knew I was in love when you started reading one of my favorite book series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and my stomach made a double-flip. It was the butterflies, as most people would call it. I just couldn’t stop talking about it, so you told me you were going to read it. It was just the sweetest thing.

Fast forward to 2020 and we’ve been through so much and created a lot of memories together. I know I told you this already, but being with you was the most alive I’ve felt in my 26 years of existence. You made me look at the world in a different angle — I know I still sometimes fail at doing so, but you always manage to get your point through, that everything in this world is all about perspective. It’s hard to do so sometimes when I feel like I am trapped (you know what I mean), but you always try your best to change my take on the world.

Thank you for making my life worthwhile and for bringing out the best in me. Happy anniversary, babe. I will always love you. ♡

Stuff I’ve Been Reading Lately #10

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BOOKS READ:

  • Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
  • My Riot by Rick Spears
  • Kaguya-sama: Love is War Vol. 2 by Aka Akasaka
  • Beauty and the Beast: The Graphic Novel by Jessica Gunderson

BOOKS BOUGHT:

    • Paper Towns by John Green
    • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
    • Landline by Rainbow Rowell
    • The Last Star by Rick Yancey
    • Tokyo Ghoul Vol. 5 by Sui Ishida
    • The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
    • The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
    • Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb
    • The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
    • The Inheritance Trilogy (Omnibus Edition) by N.K. Jemisin
    • A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

BOOKS RECEIVED:

  • The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
  • Queens of Air and Darkness (The Dark Artifices, #3) by Cassandra Clare
  • The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl by Melissa Keil
  • A Short History of the Girl Next Door by Jared Reck

ARCs:

  • My Riot by Rick Spears
  • Beauty and the Beast: The Graphic Novel by Jessica Gunderson
  • The Innocent Girls by B.R. Spangler

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Tier-Ranking All the Contemporary Books I’ve Ever Read

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Hi, everyone! I’m back with another book list (sort of). Since I’ve been seeing a lot of people in the book community tier-ranking the books that they’ve read, I decided to do one for all the contemporary book that I have ever read. Continue reading

Book Review: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

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Title: Sharp Objects

Author: Gillian Flynn

Date Published: September 26, 2006

Number of Pages: 396

Publisher: Crown Publishing Book

Genre: Mystery, Thriller

Synopsis:

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming. Continue reading