What are the things you give up so you can read and blog?

I wanted to highlight the brief Twitter conversation that I had with Angie above because it emphasizes the point that bloggers sacrifice time in order to read and blog. I’ve said it before and will most probably repeat it again in the future, both reading and blogging take up time and effort. It might be easier to squeeze in reading during the day because that can be done while traveling, waiting in line for something or basically whenever you have a few minutes to spare. As for blogging, it takes more time to organize thoughts and come up with a coherent post. Sometimes, I just need to sit down and think about what I want to talk about. I envy people who constantly get creative ideas for their blogs and find it easy to just whip up a post.

My point in this is that because book blogging takes time, there is usually something that a blogger has to give up to make way for it. More often than not, it’s sleep that gets sacrificed. I am not a morning person so I have a hard time getting out of bed every day – I end up hitting the snooze button several times and I always sleep in on weekends unless I have to get up to do something. So I keep telling myself that I should try to sleep earlier because getting more sleep would probably mean that I won’t have such a hard time waking up the next morning. But no, I rarely get to sleep early. When I’m reading a good book, I want to get to as many chapters as I can or even finish the whole thing in one go. Sometimes even when I’m reading a book that I’m not into, I just want to get it over with. When I want to put up a blog post, I open my laptop and I get distracted by so many things online – Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and also other blogs. Then I create a draft and edit and work on it until I feel like it’s good enough for me to hit “publish.”

So sleeping is the first thing that gets sacrificed. Next is probably chores. Laundry takes up a chunk of time even if I can read or blog while waiting for the cycle to finish. Dryers aren’t common here in Singapore so I have to hang clothes up after they’ve been washed. Then the next day, I have to take them down, fold and put them away. I try to do laundry every week but sometimes I let it pile up because I’d rather read or blog. Same with vacuuming, although I hope you guys won’t think that my room is a pigsty. I’m also not a fan of ironing so I try to avoid that as often as I can, which is why I don’t get to wear some of my clothes as often as I’d like.

As for everyone else, I’d like to know what you give up so you can have time to read or blog? Do you get fewer hours of sleep because of reading or blogging? Or do you give up other things in your life? Are you lucky enough that you can sneakily write blog posts during office hours when nothing much is going on?

We are part of the 1%

I find it funny that I’ve been blogging for more than three years now and I’m pretty active on several social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram) and yet I only heard of the 1% rule the other day. Basically, the 1% rule or 90-9-1 principle states that in any online community, 1% of the people are creators, 9% are commenters and 99% are lurkers. This means that 1% will actively create content maybe through blog posts, while 9% will comment and react, and the remaining 90% will just lurk and watch what’s going on in their feeds. I found this really interesting because I knew right away that I’m part of the 1% when it comes to the reading community. I mean, come on, I have a book blog! That definitely makes me a creator, right? I wonder if all book bloggers can be considered creators since we do publish our own content such as reviews, discussion posts, guest posts and interviews. Commenters are probably the ones who read book blogs and leave comments from time to time. They’re readers who enjoy interacting with fellow book lovers but don’t feel compelled to write their own reviews or start their own blog. Lurkers are probably readers who just check out reviews to help them decide what to read next. Or they enjoy reading book-related news and discussions but are quite content to just see what’s going on instead of diving in to comment. I’m not sure if these numbers are accurate or if they even apply to the reading community but it kind of makes me feel special to be part of such a small percentage. I also find it funny that I went through all those stages – I was a lurker before then I started commenting once I realized that book bloggers are actually quite friendly. Until finally, I decided to start my own book blog.

Have you heard of the 1% rule before? I tried Googling and some articles say that the 1% rule isn’t applicable anymore as more and more people become digitally engaged. In any case, I thought it would be fun to share this little tidbit of information with all of you since the fact that you’re reading this post in a book blog means that you’re probably a reader who’s aware of the blogosphere and the online reading community.

Of Postcards and Washi Tape

What is it with retail therapy? I don’t know why it’s so much fun, at least for me, to go shopping. Even if I don’t have a goal in mind, I still end up buying stuff that I WANT but don’t really NEED. One thing I’ve noticed about my purchasing behavior is that I tend to obsess about other things when I don’t shop for books. I’ve given up on the idea of limiting my book purchases a long time ago. I mean I don’t usually get crazy when it comes to buying books (yeah, right) but I let myself indulge from time to time. It’s such a comfort to have books around even if I feel like I don’t have enough time to read all of them. But since books are so expensive here in Singapore, I’d rather not buy unless I’m ordering online to take advantage of more affordable prices. Or I’d wait and then just buy books the next time I fly home to Manila.

With food, I’ve also given up on feeling guilty whenever I eat something that I want to eat. I believe that food is a necessity and if you can afford to buy food that you’re interested in or eat out when you feel like it, then go ahead and do it. I usually want to eat something good during the weekends, especially when I’m out with friends because that’s my way of unwinding and relaxing. Or there are times when I feel like hanging out somewhere to read instead of just heading back to the flat. Special occasions like birthdays are also good excuses to treat yourself.

So basically I don’t say no to food and books. I also have a hard time saying no to clothes on sale (because clothing is a necessity as well, right?) What I’ve realized about myself is that I tend to compensate in other things now that I don’t get to buy books as often as I’d like. Let’s take my fondness for postcards as an example. I think we can pretty much agree that in today’s digital age, getting a little something in the mail has become a novelty. It’s always nice when you feel like someone was thinking of you and was generous enough to send snail mail. It breaks the monotony of only seeing bills in the mailbox. What’s funny is that I’ve become so engrossed about postcards to the point that I even started my Postcard Love feature here on my blog. To be fair, more than half of my postcard buddies are fellow book bloggers. It’s a reasonable assumption that blogging buddies would enjoy seeing postcard-related posts. Plus, I like postcards with book-themed designs more than anything else. So it’s still somewhat related to book blogging. Singapore also makes it easy to collect postcards because so many stores here sell postcards with cute designs. Even free postcards here usually look nice.

Postcard sets I’ve collected since moving to Singapore

I just find it funny that whenever I see a postcard set that I like, I’m always tempted to get two sets – one for sending and one for keeping. I keep thinking that some of these postcards will look great when they’re framed, but who knows when I’ll have a place of my own to put up things like that? Anyway, another thing that I’ve been obsessing about recently is washi tape! Some of you may be wondering what washi tape is – basically, it’s masking tape that has prints and patterns that make it ideal for crafts. It originated from Japan, which probably explains why it’s not as cheap as one would expect. I like decorating the postcards that I send out – either by using stamps or stickers. Now, I mostly just use washi tape because I’ve started collecting rolls of it ever since a friend gave me some for Christmas last year.

My current washi tape collection

Talking about postcards and washi tape is my way of leading up to this question – what do you spend your money on when you’re not buying books? If you have extra cash to spare and you don’t feel like buying any books (or books are super expensive where you are), what do you buy? Or maybe I should be asking what your other hobbies are aside from reading?

Postcards decorated with washi tape

Shoot That Book: Books For Rent

Shoot That Book combines my passion for books and my tendency to become trigger happy with a camera. My lack of photography skills is compensated by my enthusiasm. Basically, I like taking pictures of books.

There’s this bookstore near the office that allows customers not just to buy books but to borrow them as well. Their books are marked with two prices: the first amount is what you pay for when you get the book and the second is what you’ll get back when you return it. I’m not sure what the formula is for the prices but I think you get about half of what you pay for. So it’s like paying for half the price to read a book that you’re interested in. You can choose to buy brand-new books as well because they have stocks of those. Given how expensive books are in Singapore, this seems like a great idea. But why not borrow books from the library instead? Foreigners only need to pay an annual membership fee while membership for Singaporeans is free. I wonder how strong their business is since the Singapore public library has pretty good selections and there are several branches scattered all over the country. I haven’t borrowed or bought any books from them because I usually get my own copies in Manila or just borrow from the library.

I thought the rest of you would find this concept interesting. It’s first time I’ve encountered it. What do you think about renting books instead of buying them? Have you heard of other establishments that lets readers borrow books for a certain price?

Where did the weekend go?

It’s Sunday night in our part of the world and I’m about to crash in a few minutes. I was planning to put up some posts this weekend but that didn’t happen since I was busy meeting up with friends and now I’m too tired to stay up to blog. I have half-finished drafts waiting to be posted so let’s see if I can find some time during the week to sit down and work on them Sigh, there really are times when I wish I had more time to blog. Here’s what I just started reading for the next YAckers discussion:

Let me know what you think if you’ve read The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson. I’m hoping that I’ll enjoy reading it. Anyway, how was your weekend? Hope you had a nice and relaxing one. Feel free to talk about the book that you’re currently in the middle of.

Making the Move

I realized that I really haven’t talked about what it’s like for a reader and book blogger like me to move from Manila to Singapore. I thought it would be a good idea to spend some time on that topic. One of the biggest advantages to moving to Singapore is I now have access to a good public library. I’ve never had that before and I keep taking advantage of the fact by borrowing books that I’m interested in even though I don’t have the time to read them. I keep returning unread books. I used to go to the library every weekend and I would put up a book haul post of what I borrowed but I’ve stopped doing that because I don’t always end up reading the books that I mention. Also, the Singapore Public Library is active on both Twitter and Instagram so it’s a lot of fun to connect with them over there.

The downside is that books in Singapore are a lot more expensive than books in Manila. I don’t know why that’s the case because the editions are the same – some are US editions while some are UK editions. It’s not like in Australia where they publish local editions for the books. I think the prices are on par with Aussie book prices though: about SGD 25-50 (PHP 825-1,650, USD 20-40) for trade paperbacks and hardcovers while about SGD 15-30 (PHP 495-990, USD 12-24) for mass market paperbacks. I miss being able to afford books. When I was in Manila, I would regularly visit Fully Booked to buy books whenever there was something that I wanted. Or I’d drop by the store while they’re having a sale because 20% off books is a good deal. Here in Singapore, I do wait for bookstores to go on sale but even with discounted prices, books are still cheaper in online sites like the Book Depository. This is why I splurge and buy books like crazy whenever I go home. Also, I keep grabbing books off my own bookshelf back home. I try to squeeze in as many unread books that I can in my luggage.

Aside from book prices, I also miss hanging out and chatting about books in person with fellow Filipino Book Bloggers. Book bloggers and readers are active about discussing books back home in Manila. I haven’t had a chance to meet Singaporean book bloggers or readers yet. I do chat with Liyana of LiyanaLand on Twitter from time to time and I hope we can eventually meet in person. Although now that I think about it, work keeps me busy and there’s usually something that I have to take care of during week nights and weekends so I’m not sure if I could participate as actively in the real life bookish scene as I did before. The rarity of my posts here on the blog is proof enough that I don’t get to read and blog as often as I’d like.

These are the major changes that come to mind when I think about my move. What about you, have you had to make adjustments as a reader and a blogger when you move from one place to another?

Favorite Literary Couples IV

It has become my tradition to celebrate Valentine’s Day here on the blog by posting my favorite literary couples in books I’ve read in the past year. I can’t believe this is already the fourth installment of this post! Kind of amazing to think that I’ve been doing this for that long. I always enjoy doing this because I love literary love stories and I even have fictional crushes (if you’re a fellow book lover, I’m sure you completely understand). So it’s nice to go through books that I’ve read and try to pick the couples that stood out for me. You can check out posts from years past through these links: 2010, 2011, 2012

Image from We Heart It

Mia and Adam from If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman – I was pleasantly surprised by how invested I was in Mia and Adam’s love story. I liked that they’re so different from each other – Mia is a classical music girl who plays the cello while Adam has his rock band – and yet they work so well together. Another aspect of their relationship that I love is how Mia’s parents are so supportive of it that Adam learns to care about them like he’s part of the family. It was so easy to fall into their story and I wanted to bang my head on a wall for waiting so long to read Gayle Forman’s books – although it was a good thing that I didn’t have to wait for a sequel and I got to read these two novels together (not like after I finished Just One Day and couldn’t wait to get my hands on Just One Year). I need to thank one of my favorite authors for pointing me in the direction of these books.

Leah and Grayson from Such A Rush by Jennifer Echols – I found out that Jennifer Echols can write a great slow burn romance when I was introduced to her writing through Going Too Far. Ever since I finished reading that book, I’ve been waiting for her books to live up to how much I enjoyed the love story in Going Too Far. That finally happened with Such A Rush with all the tension between Leah and Grayson. It took them years to finally realize that they’re attracted to each other and I had such a good time watching them circling each other, trying to decide what the next move should be. It was an added bonus that both of them are pilots because I think pilots are cool.

Beth and Lincoln from Attachments by Rainbow Rowell – Such a fun premise and a sweet romance! Even though the book was set in the 90s, I could relate to the story because of Beth using her work mail to chat with her best friend. I also found Lincoln to be a really nice guy and I thought his geekiness was cute. I loved that these two characters are close to my own age and all the characters in the book felt like they were just trying to figure out what to do with the rest of their lives, trying to make big decisions to take a step in the direction that they want to go. Seriously can’t wait to read Eleanor and Park, they sound like another couple that I could root for.

Jacqueline and Lucas from Easy – I think Easy’s love story appealed to me because of the college setting. And also because Lucas seemed like a typical bad boy when he’s really not. I’m a sucker for characters like that. Plus this relationship took time to form, both characters had to work through their own issues before they could be together. I think it’s pretty obvious by now that I’m not a fan of instalove.

Kami and Jared from Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan – Okay, so this might be considered cheating because Kami and Jared aren’t exactly a couple but what they have is even more intimate. I can’t imagine what it must be like to have someone in your head all of the time. I think that bond makes Kami and Jared unique and in tune to each other like no other couple could be (unless they could also read each other’s minds). So even if they’re technically not together as a couple, I’m including them in my list. Looking forward to the sequel (also known as the make out book)!

Oh wow, quite surprising that most of the couples in the list above are from contemporary novels. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been reading mostly contemps but it seems like I need to discover more fantasy couples in the coming year (feel free to give suggestions). And because I always have a hard time narrowing down my choices, here are the runners-up:

Harper and Travis from Something Like Normal by Trish Doller
Seraphina and Lucian from Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Violet and Martin from Her Best Worst Mistake by Sarah Mayberry
Richard and Charlotte from Steel’s Edge by Ilona Andrews
Jasmine and Sean from Amplified by Tara Kelly

But wait, there’s more! The special mention award goes to:

Lizzie and Darcy from the Lizzie Bennet Diaries – I couldn’t talk about my favorite couples without mentioning these two. So these are characters from a web series instead of a book but they’re based on Pride and Prejudice characters so I think that still counts. In case I haven’t been talking enough about the LBD here (and in both Twitter and Tumblr), I just wanted to say that I like how they modernized the love story. It’s a slow burn romance and every episode with the two of them together is scrutinized in detail by fans all over the world. I can’t wait to see how it all plays out. I refrained from posting a picture of the two of them together because I don’t want to spoil the Darcy reveal for those who haven’t reached that part yet.

Those are my favorite literary couples from books that I’ve read starting mid-February last year. Who are some of your favorite fictional couples? ♥ Would love to hear about them! One sure way of convincing me to pick up a book is by letting me know that there’s a well-written romance in there.

Linkage:
My friend Heidi of Bunbury in the Stacks also talked about her fave couples

I think you should watch the Lizzie Bennet Diaries

I know I’ve already posted about the Lizzie Bennet Diaries last year but I wanted to talk about it again because I’ve been trying to convince everyone I know to watch the series. You know you’re obsessing about something when you chat about it with book blogging buddies, real life friends, flatmates and co-workers. Some of them have never even heard of Pride and Prejudice so they don’t understand why I’m fangirling over this. What better way to encourage more people to follow the series than to put up a post about it here on my blog.

Image from the Lizzie Bennet Diaries website

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (LBD) is a modern-day retelling of the beloved classic Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, which is one of my favorite books of all time (I even have a Penguin mug to prove it). The LBD is a web series told in diary format in the form of YouTube videos. Each video is about 3-6 minutes long so pretty easy to catch up if you haven’t seen the show yet. They now have 83 videos and the story is pretty near the end so I’m not sure how many more episodes there will be. The videos are posted twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays around lunchtime East Coast time so I get to see it Tuesday and Friday morning, my time.

In this series, Lizzie is a grad student still living at home with her parents, her big sister Jane and younger sister Lydia. With the help of her best friend Charlotte Lu, Lizzie starts her video diaries as part of a school project. What I love about the videos is how well-developed all of the characters are. We don’t get that much detail about secondary characters in the book but we do so in this retelling. Lizzie and most of the other characters are active on social media like Tumblr and Twitter, which makes the experience more interactive for viewers. I think it’s great that Charlotte is Asian in this adaptation so she’s a Lu instead of a Lucas. Darcy’s best friend is Bing Lee instead of Bingley. Jane is a fashionista and I found out about the vintage dress store, ModCloth from her (love their designs but I haven’t bought anything yet because the dresses are a bit pricey). And Lydia is also a great character – she’s just annoying in the book but in this series, you’ll end up rooting for her.

I have to be honest here, I didn’t love ALL of the videos and there were some weeks where I stopped watching for a while and then just caught up with everything in one go. But the story picks up as more characters are introduced and get shown in the videos. It really is a smart, fun series and it’s not a surprise that it’s popular in the book blogosphere. It is a retelling of a book, after all. I think the creators, writers and everyone involved in the series are doing an amazing job of staying true to the story but changing it in ways that make it more relevant to how we live now. I think it resonates with so many viewers because it feels realistic. So if you haven’t seen the Lizzie Bennet Diaries yet, give the series a try. Watch a couple of episodes and see how you like it. I promise, the episodes with Darcy in them are worth waiting for. Let me make it easy for you, here’s the first episode:

Have you seen the series? Are you also a fan? Feel free to gush about the series in the comments section (or send me a tweet whenever a new video comes up and you want to talk about it).

LBD posts from other book bloggers:
Bunbury in the Stacks
Things Mean a Lot
Iris on Books

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

Every person has his or her own reason to look forward to the day ahead, a reason to get out of bed in the morning. I’m not much of a morning person and it’s always a struggle for me to get up in the mornings because I love sleeping in. I could sleep the whole day if I didn’t have to go to work, that’s how lazy I can be. I would only get up to eat something and then I’ll go back to lying down. That’s how I spend some of my weekends.

My motivation to get out of bed varies from day-to-day – it’s usually easier when I’m excited about something that will happen during the day. What I want to talk about is how reading a good book sometimes makes it a lot less difficult for me to start my day. When I’m in the middle of a book that I’m enjoying, I don’t mind waking up to go to work because at least I can read a few chapters while on the train. I guess it’s kind of like how coffee or eating a delicious breakfast can jumpstart your day, it gives you the boost that you need. (Okay, so this post is just making it more and more obvious that my top three favorite things to do are sleeping, eating and reading.) I’ve also noticed that I’m in a better mood when I’m reading an amazing novel – you know, the type of books that you can’t stop thinking about even while you’re busy during the work day. So it’s always a good thing whenever I’m reading something that I’m really into. I wonder if the same thing goes for the rest of you? Does reading a good book help you get out of bed in the morning? Also, feel free to share any tips that you have on making it easier get out of bed!

Best of 2012

Happy 2013! *throws confetti* It’s been customary for me to post my favorite books of the past year on the first day of the next year. In 2010, I had 20 books in my list. In 2011, I had 15 books. In 2012, I only have 8 books (click on the thumbnails to see my reviews):

I wasn’t able to read as much as the past two years so maybe that’s why I don’t have as many titles in my best of 2012 list. My reading slowed down when I moved to Singapore for work during the latter part of the year. I was pretty active at the first half of 2012 and had a lot of fun organizing two blog events:

Queen’s Thief Week – click here to see all the posts in case you missed any of them

and Marchetta Madness – click here to see all the posts

Aside from these events, I also started a new feature called Postcard Love to celebrate my love of postcards and because I keep exchanging postcards with book blogger friends.

Last but certainly not the least, I was invited to become part of the YAckers book club! I participated in my first book discussion with them when we read The Raven Boys.

All in all, a pretty active 2012! I’m hoping for better things in 2013. I still feel like I’m in the process of adjusting to living abroad and I wish I’d have more time to read and blog. We’ll see how it goes. How about you, what are your top 2012 reads and what were the highlights of the year for you?