Top Ten Couples from Non-Romance Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week is a Valentine’s Day freebie. I’m a huge fan of romance novels and tend to read a lot of contemporary romance, both YA and adult. But I also enjoy hopping from on genre to another and I’ve come across love stories that I’ve loved in non-romance books. The romance isn’t the focus in these books but they’re done so well and I loved reading about the couples getting together. Here are some of my favorite non-romance novels that feature fictional couples I love:

Most of these books aren’t recent reads for me but I wanted to highlight them for this topic. On Valentine’s Day itself, I will be posting my usual favorite literary couples from books I read within the past year. Do we share any favorite fictional couples? If not, would you care to share who are your favorites?

Ten 2015 Releases I Meant to Get to But Didn’t

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. While I try to keep up with new titles, I don’t always get to do so because I pick up books based on my mood. And sometimes, I just feel like reading older titles. Then real life gets in the way of reading time and some books just get pushed back. So there are quite a few 2015 releases that I wanted to read last year but wasn’t able to. Here are ten of them:

Some of these authors are new-to-me (e.g. E.K. Johnston, Nnedi Okorafor) while some have written books that I’ve loved (e.g. Elizabeth Wein, Frances Hardinge). One thing they all have in common is that I’ve heard good things about these books, which was why I was curious about them to begin with. I already have copies of all of these either in my Kindle or on my bookshelf so I hope I’ll be able to read them in 2016. If you’ve read and loved any of these titles, feel free to comment and I’ll try my best to bump it up. What about you, what are 2015 releases that you meant to read last year but were not able to do so?

Ten Goals/Resolutions For 2016

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today is the first TTT of the year! I did this topic last year and will be adding on some of my resolutions from before because I want to keep doing them this year. In no particular order, here are my blogging and reading goals for 2016:

Keep blogging without pressure. In order to keep blogging fun, I need to blog without pressure. No pressure to write posts or review books if I don’t have the time or if I’d rather do something else (like read or rest).

If I can manage to do so, visit more book cafes or indie bookstores. Because exploring bookish locations is fun. I might even donate books to one or two of the book cafes I’ve visited in Manila, maybe on my next trip home.

Tweedle Book Cafe

Read more Filipino fiction. I think I read a decent number of books written by Filipino authors last year but I want to do more of that this year. Also review more of them.

Read more speculative fiction. I’ve noticed that I have a tendency to dive into contemporary fiction rather than sci fi or fantasy because I feel like the former is easier to get into. But I do love spec fic! I just need to remind myself to read more of it from time to time.

Read more books from my TBR pile. I have so many books that I still haven’t read and I need to make more of a conscious effort to prioritize them.

Read more graphic novels. I’ve enjoyed a few graphic novels in 2015 and would like to discover more titles this year. The ones that I already have copies of are Halina Filipina, Mythspace, Rat Queens, The Wicked + The Divine, Ms. Marvel, This One Summer, Anya’s Ghost and American Born Chinese. Feel free to make suggestions if you have any!

To avoid clutter (since I’m only renting in Singapore), buy ebook editions instead of physical copies. Except for graphic novels or illustrated books.

Pass on physical copies of books that I don’t plan to reread. Again, this is to avoid generating clutter since I can’t afford to collect books when I don’t have a permanent residence. I’ve been doing a bit of this last year, even passing on some of my books from my Manila bookshelf whenever I fly home.

Don’t hesitate to DNF books. I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again, life is too short to read books we don’t like. But even so, I have a hard time DNF-ing books. I’m more likely to skim until the end. But why should I do that when I could read something else that I would like more?

Buy more bookish clothes. Because it makes me happy to wear a bookish outfit, and I also get to blog about it whenever I do so.

What about you, what are some of your goals and resolutions for the year? 🙂

Best of 2015

Happy New Year, everyone! Ever since I started blogging, I’ve been posting my favorite reads whenever the new year rolls around – you can check out my previous posts through these links: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. In no particular order, here are the books that I loved in 2015 (linked to my reviews if I have them):

That’s five contemporaries and five speculative fiction titles! I’ve also been meaning to read more graphic novels and found a few that I loved in 2015:

Midnight Tribunal and High Tide at Midnight are the latest installments in the Trese graphic novel series, one of my favorite Filipino works of fiction. Here are other titles written by Filipino authors that stood out for me this year:

Speaking of Filipino reads, I made a point of buying Filipino books to give as gifts this past Christmas. I was lucky enough to get most of them signed!

Pile of Filipino books as Christmas gifts

2015 has been a good year for reading but not so much for blogging, because I’ve always been behind on reviews. Real life keeps getting in the way so I have missed reviewing some of my favorite reads this year. Let’s see if I can catch up on reviewing some of them in the new year. Keeping my fingers crossed on that.

As for other bookish things, I was delighted to discover that book cafes have been popping up all over Manila and I was able to visit three of them during my trip: Tweedle Book Cafe, Cool Beans Cafe and Book and Borders Cafe.

In November, I was also able to attend Singapore Writers Festival’s panel on “Instalove” – Romance and the YA Novel, where I got to meet authors Rachel Hartman and Joyce Chng in person.

Singapore Writers Festival “Instalove” panelists Joye Chng, Joyce Chua and Rachel Hartman

My travel activities aren’t exactly book-related but I enjoy posting about them on the blog. Earlier this year, I was able to visit: Prague, Kutna Hora, Cesky Krumlov (like the setting of a medieval fantasy), Munich, Neuschwanstein Castle (straight out of a fairy tale), Regensburg.

Neuschwanstein Castle

After I had my rolls of film developed, I did a Snapshot From a Book post and matched pictures of Prague with quotes from Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do the same for the other places we visited because I haven’t come across books set in them. However, it made me happy to be able to meet in Munich my bookish friend Estara. I’ve known Estara for years and I was delighted to finally get the chance to chat with her in person.

We visited Bayerisches Nationalmuseum with Estara

Another notable meet up this year was with Jo of Wear the Old Coat when she had a stopover in Singapore while traveling from Australia to the UK. We had dimsum and loads of jasmine tea for lunch, and played tourists for the rest of the day.

Din Tai Fung lunch with Jo

It’s always fun for me to have these meet ups because I don’t get to do them as often as I would like. So it’s a special treat when I meet a bookish friend I’ve known for years.

So, so, so. That’s 2015 for me. How was yours? 🙂 What were your favorite reads from the past year?

On reading and making friends

Littered with Books, one of the indie bookstores in Singapore

I saw my friend Estara share this quote from author Michelle Sagara on Goodreads, and it just resonated with me:

“Life wears us down around the edges. The stress of life and its neces­sities cracks things. We learn to protect ourselves. We learn not to let so much of the world in, because some­times it’s all too much, and we don’t have the resilience we need to survive it. When we’re six, we make best friends easily. When we’re fifty, we don’t. That’s age and expe­rience for you.

But books are different. We can let books in. We can wrap them up in our hearts. We can approach them as if we’re still young and open. Even so, it’s not as simple. Because we’re not as simple.”

(Source: Michelle Sagara “State of the Writer, sort of, September 2015”)

I love this quote because I can relate to it 100%. I have thought about how difficult it is to make friends as I grow older. Most of the (real life) close friends that I have now were people I met in high school or college. I have met some good friends through work but it gets more difficult to keep in touch after we go our separate ways.

In the blog post where that quote came from, Michelle Sagara was talking about Terry Pratchett and how much his books mean to her. And that’s also something that I can definitely relate to, how some books just have so much meaning for us as readers. Like she said, maybe it’s because we’re a lot more open to letting books (rather than people) into our lives. Maybe that’s why some of the books that we read can hit us hard and make us FEEL. I love having that kind of reading experience. And I also love sharing it with bookish friends I’ve met through my blog. I think the same idea applies – I’m probably more open to making friends with bookish folk because I know all of you can understand a side of me that most of my family and friends in real life would not be able to comprehend. Also, with online friendships, I feel like it’s up to me how much I want to engage. So if I ever feel like I need a break (which I rarely do), I just go offline for a bit.

Anyway, I think I’ve rambled enough for this post. I just really wanted to share that lovely quote. And to remind myself that I need to try reading Michelle Sagara’s books.

Ten wishes I’d ask the book genie to grant

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. I think this week’s topic is awesome! If only there was a book genie or a fairy book godmother, I would wish for these:

To earn money by reading or by blogging about books. Seriously, I feel like I keep saying on Twitter or Goodreads that I wish I could just read the whole day instead of go to work. Wouldn’t it be great if I didn’t have to worry about going to an office and contributing to society because I can just earn money by reading?

To have a book-related job. Okay, if I can’t get my first wish then I would love to have a job related to books. Some of you may say that I could make this a reality but I really wouldn’t know how to do it since I work in a completely different field (I make a point of not talking about my job in my blog) and I don’t have the background for it. If I didn’t have to worry about having the capital or making a profit, I would love to run my own book cafe. I love good food, coffee and tea… add books to that mix, then I would be a very happy person.

To burn calories while reading or blogging. Who wouldn’t want to be fit? It’s just that most of the time, I would rather read than exercise. The most exercised part of my body are my eyes because I’m always reading either books or a computer screen.

To meet my favorite authors in person. I would probably faint from excitement if I ever get to meet some of my favorite authors face to face, like Megan Whalen Turner, Elizabeth Wein, Laura Florand, Ilona Andrews, Robin McKinley, Kristin Cashore, etc. (I actually made this list for a previous TTT but it can also go on and on) I would love to have some sort of conversation with them, if possible. And also to get signed and personalized copies of their books as souvenirs!

To meet blogging buddies from other countries in person. I have met awesome people through our shared love of reading and while it’s been fun to get to know them through the internet, it would be even better if I get the chance to see them in person. I’ve tried to do that wherever possible, like I’ve done meet ups with bookish friends in Manila, Singapore, Los Angeles and Munich. But there are so many other bookish friends I’ve been communicating with for years and still have never laid eyes on.

Shakespeare and Company in Paris, which I got to visit last year

To visit as many amazing libraries and bookstores all over the world. I don’t get to do it as often as I would like because of budget constraints but I love to travel. And part of the fun of traveling is coming across cozy bookstores and gorgeous libraries. I would love to visit more of them if I can.

To have my own beautiful personal library. Like Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. If I ever get around to buying my own place, I would love to have a library in it. With gorgeous hardwood shelves, enough natural light during the day and a comfy couch or armchair.

To have the ability to erase a particular memory so I can read a book for the first time. As much as I love rereading old favorites, there’s something to be said for falling in love with a book for the first time. I’m sure I’m not the only one who gets jealous of other people who haven’t read my favorite book.

To have any book that I want to read whenever I feel like reading it. I read based on my mood. Sometimes, even when I have already so many books in my TBR pile, I don’t pick them up because I don’t feel like reading them. I would like to have access to any book that I’m currently in the mood for. This wish would include books that haven’t been written or published yet. Like the next book in the Queen’s Thief or Lion Hunters series.

To have a stronger and more developed selection of titles written by Filipino authors. More and more Filipino titles in the genres I read are being published but I would love to have more of them. Like how I keep saying I wish the Filipino YA scene would become as well-developed as the Aussie YA market, where there are so many amazing titles to choose from (e.g. some of the Aussie YA authors I love are Melina Marchetta, Andrea K. Höst, Fiona Wood, Vikki Wakefield, Cath Crowley, Kirsty Eagar).

Sigh, now I wish the book genie was real! I would love to have some of these wishes granted. What about the rest of you, what would you wish for if there was a book genie?

The endless TBR pile

In yesterday’s book haul post, I mentioned that I haven’t even read other books that I’ve recently acquired and I’m still buying even more books. Over the years, I’ve tried to make some rules for myself such as:

– TRY to buy books just as I’m in the mood to read them (which is entirely possible now that most books are available in ebook format)
– try a sample of the book before buying if it’s by an author I’ve never read before
– buy only the first book instead of the whole series to see if it’s something I would enjoy
– just buy books that I REALLY, REALLY want to read

But these rules get forgotten the moment there’s a bookstore sale or I get caught up in the excitement of getting a copy of a highly anticipated book (even if I don’t have time to read it). I also have these moods which I’ve labeled as book-hungry and book-full. Book-hungry is when I’m itching to buy a new book because I feel like I don’t have the RIGHT kind of books that I’m in the mood for in my TBR pile, or when I feel like I just need to buy a book for no obvious reason. Book-full is when I’m bemoaning the fact that my TBR pile keeps expanding and I really don’t have enough time to read all of the books that I want to. Even though I’ve given up some things like watching TV or trying a new hobby or getting enough sleep or even blogging as much as I would want to, I still don’t have enough time to read. This reminds of a recent blog post by Rachel Neumeier where she says “You will never read all the things, and that’s okay.“ And that’s true, there’s no reason to feel overwhelmed or anxious just because as book addicts, we have huge TBR piles. We just need to accept that we will never get to read ALL THE BOOKS that we want to.

My current read Archivist Wasp, and a postcard from the Strand in New York. So appropriate for this post!

Way back in 2012 (wow, that’s a long time ago), I wrote a blog post about why we keep buying books based on a quote that I saw floating around. I’m sharing it again because I think it’s still applicable, and is a positive reminder of why it’s so much fun to collect books:

“Of course anyone who truly loves books buys more of them than he or she can hope to read in one fleeting lifetime. A good book, resting unopened in its slot on a shelf, full of majestic potentiality, is the most comforting sort of intellectual wallpaper.” – David Quammen

Yep, one lifetime isn’t enough time to read everything we want. But having intellectual wallpaper really is comforting. Also, I agree that unread books have all this potential – one of them could change your life and become an absolute favorite. And with that thought, I need to accept the fact that the weekend is over and go to bed.

#BuwanNgMgaAkdangPinoy Round Up

At the start of August, I talked about the #BuwanNgMgaAkdangPinoy campaign. I tried to read and feature as many Filipino books as I could but sadly, I wasn’t able to read all of the ones that I have on my TBR pile. Anyway, I posted these shots either on Instagram or Twitter and wanted to consolidate everything in one place so here we go…

Books I read:

Una and Miguel by Lilledeshan Bose, a Filipino YA novel. The bright yellow and purple cover went well with the table setting at PS Cafe.

Yes, I’m in Singapore but I still read (and promote) Filipino books! Shine by Candy Gourlay at Cocoa Colony. This Filipino MG novel was also published in the UK so it’s available all over the world if you’re interested in reading Filipino lit.

Sneak peek inside Shine by Candy Gourlay

I know it’s not obvious but this is an early copy of Someone Else’s Fantasy by Mina V. Esguerra with my matcha latte. I believe this will be released with a different title and cover soon.

Still reading:

Banana Heart Summer by Merlinda Bobis

Books I’ve read but wanted to encourage other readers to pick up:

Cover Story Girl by Chris Mariano, Set in sunny and gorgeous Boracay, one of the most famous beaches in the Philippines, this is a sweet romance between a Filipino guy and a Korean girl.

Signed copies of the first two books in the Interim Goddess of Love trilogy, with cucumber mint tea and blueberry chocolate lavender tart.

Looking back on these pictures, I think it becomes obvious that I have a thing for coffee and tea. 😛 As always, I hope more readers will be encouraged to read these Filipino titles!

Ten Characters I Didn’t Click With

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. I’m a character reader. In order for me to enjoy reading a book, I need to be invested in the characters. There are certain times when I don’t get along with a character for specific reasons like they do things that annoy me or I don’t agree with their thoughts/actions. But sometimes, I just don’t care enough about them. It’s sad when that happens because then, the book that I’m reading doesn’t really work for me. Here are some examples of books that I’ve read where I didn’t click with the main female characters:

Some of these I just skimmed to finish or were even DNFs for me, and I gave them one or two star ratings in Goodreads. What about the rest of you, have you read books where you felt like you didn’t really click with the characters?

Shiny, New Kindle Paperwhite

Back in 2010, I got my first ever Kindle. It was a Kindle Keyboard. It died two years later and I got a Kindle Touch to replace it. I thought my second Kindle will last only two years but surprisingly, I’ve had it for almost three years and it’s still doing fine. In that span of time, it’s traveled with me from the Philippines to Singapore. And also to the US and Europe when I’ve gone there for vacations. It’s been a steady companion but I’ve been tempted to get the Kindle Paperwhite ever since it was released. I just felt like having a built-in light on my Kindle would make it easier for me to read. I would be able to read wherever I wanted without worrying about how good the light is. When the Kindle Voyage came out, I couldn’t decide whether I should get that or the Paperwhite. It’s taken me months to finally make a decision! The Paperwhite won when Amazon released a new version towards the end of June, which has an increased resolution.

The arrival of a package containing these brightened up my Monday:

2015 Kindle Paperwhite and navy blue leather cover

Real life has been keeping me busy so unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to dive in and play around with my new toy. But I’m planning to read this as soon as I can:

Roasted hazelnut mocha, banana chocolate bread and an ARC of The Harder We Fall by Mina V. Esguerra

I’m doing my best to buy and read more ebooks because it’s just more practical to do so. Since I’m working in Singapore and I keep moving around because I don’t have a permanent residence here. Also, most of the review copies that I receive are ebooks because I live all the way over in Southeast Asia. So the Kindle Paperwhite is totally a valid purchase for me, right? LOL. Hopefully this new Kindle will last several years too.

What about the rest of you, do you have Kindles or any other kind of ereader? Care to share what your digital reading experience has been like?