Its been a while since I shared a book on this blog, mainly because it has been a while since I picked up one. I’m still on the hunt for the nearest public library so, until then, I’m going to be scouring the bookstores for some great deals.

We were at Costco the other day and I was glad to see a paperback of Audrey Niffeneger’s Her Fearful Symmetry, which I have long wanted to read. I got it for less than $10 but the novel itself is priceless.

I fell in love with Niffenegger’s The Time Traveller’s Wife way back and, although this second one did not have the same impact with me as her first book had, I have absolutely nothing to complain about. Same smart writing, same sensitivity, same readability, but ever mesmerizing in a totally different way. I’ve been reading non-stop for the past few days and have lost a few precious hours of sleep in the process. I will probably need some powerful acne medication right about now.

Get this book. Right now.

Leron leron sinta
Buko ng papaya
Dala-dala’y buslo
Sisidlan ng bunga.

~~~

*A special shout-out to my BFFs here in Atlanta for my birthday gift. Love you! *muah*

I want to thank you
for giving me the best day of my life
Just to be with you
is having the best day of my life

~~~

Isang kard para sa kaarawan ng babaeng mahilig sa sisidlan ng bunga DITO, ang aking isa pang LP entry.

AND I SAY:

I love books that explore time and space and this one is my favorite of all. Each “time concept” or “dream” is intriguing. Although some may border on preposterous, many will make you think and say “hhmmmm”. My favorite one is the dream where time stands still as once approaches the center of time. You’d know why i love this and more if you read the book.

Its phenomenal, really.

author: Annie Dillard
published: 1988 by HarperCollins
isbn : 0060915455 (isbn13: 9780060915452)
pages: 271

description: The Pulitzer Prize-winning work by the author whom The Boston Globe called “one of the most distinctive voices in American letters today”.

AND I SAY:

If well-being were a book, this would be it. There’s something about how Dillard strings her words so that each line is both a balm and a silent explosion of the senses. Each chapter, an experience as liberating as unplanned trysts, untethered buffet dinners, unlocked cell phones, unsullied intentions, and uninhibited kisses.

It’s pretty inspiring, too, as you can see. I love Annie.

published: 2005 by W. W. Norton & Company
isbn: 0393060349 (isbn13: 9780393060348)
pages: 252
literary awards: 2006 Orange Prize Shortlist

description: Nicole Krauss’s The History of Love is a hauntingly beautiful novel about two characters whose lives are woven together in such complex ways that even after the last page is turned, the reader is left to wonder what really happened. In the hands of a less gifted writer, unraveling this tangled web could easily give way to complete chaos. However, under Krauss’s watchful eye, these twists and turns only strengthen the impact of this enchanting book.

The History of Love spans of period of over 60 years and takes readers from Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe to present day Brighton Beach. At the center of each main character’s psyche is the issue of loneliness, and the need to fill a void left empty by lost love. Leo Gursky is a retired locksmith who immigrates to New York after escaping SS officers in his native Poland, only to spend the last stage of his life terrified that no one will notice when he dies. (“I try to make a point of being seen. Sometimes when I’m out, I’ll buy a juice even though I’m not thirsty.”) Fourteen-year-old Alma Singer vacillates between wanting to memorialize her dead father and finding a way to lift her mother’s veil of depression. At the same time, she’s trying to save her brother Bird, who is convinced he may be the Messiah, from becoming a 10-year-old social pariah. As the connection between Leo and Alma is slowly unmasked, the desperation, along with the potential for salvation, of this unique pair is also revealed.

AND I SAY:

While reading this book, I had a weird feeling that its first few chapters seemed familiar to me, its fit as smooth as a golf glove. As it turns out, I have read, at one point, a short story of Krauss’ that was published by the New Yorker Magazine in 2004 entitled The Last Words On Earth.

I don’t blame her, Leo is so lovable, and his story deserves to be told at length.

author: Marisa de los Santos
published: November 28th 2006 by Plume
isbn: 0452287898 (isbn13: 9780452287891)
pages: 320

Description: When Martin Grace enters the hip Philadelphia coffee shop Cornelia Brown manages, her life changes forever. But little does she know that her newfound love is only the harbinger of greater changes to come. Meanwhile, across town, Clare Hobbs—eleven years old and abandoned by her erratic mother—goes looking for her lost father. She crosses paths with Cornelia while meeting with him at the café, and the two women form an improbable friendship that carries them through the unpredictable currents of love and life.

AND I SAY:

Any book that has “pancit” in it, automatically gets 5 stars from me, hehehe. (All it has to do is to mention callaway golf balls and it will be a hit with my husband, too!)

As a mom, this book talked to me. Many of the passages hit my mommy-core and, since the book had a poetic delivery to it, it hit my consciousness on many different levels.

Yes, I think Marisa went somewhat overboard on writing – when Cornelia blabbered, she really blabbered (albeit intelligently). But then again, I think her character called for that (she’s smart but needs direction). As for Clare, Marisa was on point about her resilience, courage and fears. And as for Teo, ooohh, I could just imagine how good-looking that dude must be.

So anyway, for a first novel the book may have tried a bit hard to put in a good impression. But I loved it – it had a simple premise, it was easy to read, and left me with a good feeling.

Thanks to Abby, for the reco.

Have you read this yet? I’m going to get a copy of it on my next trip to the bookstore.

Its supposed to be a “fun, frothy, memoir about travel, fashion, family, true love, unlikely friendships, and entrepreneurial spirit” told from the vantage point of Michael Tonello, a “stylish and savvy outsider who successfully vaulted Hermes’ gilt-edged fence”.

I can’t wait to get a hold of it. If the reviews are worth believing, then I’m definitely excited about this “It-Book” about the “It-Bag”.

author: Ken Follet
published: February 4th 2002 by NAL Trade
first published: 1989
isbn: 0451207149 (isbn13: 9780451207142)
pages: 976

Ken Follett had long been a staple of the bestseller lists for his novels of intrigue and espionage. Then came The Pillars of the Earth, a grand novel of epic storytelling that readers and critics quickly hailed as his crowning achievement. Now, The Pillars of the Earth is available for the first time to a new audience of readers, in this attractive new trade paperback edition.

In 12th-century England, the building of a mighty Gothic cathedral signals the dawn of a new age. This majestic creation will bond clergy and kings, knights and peasants together in a story of toil, faith, ambition and rivalry. A sweeping tale of the turbulent middle ages, The Pillars of the Earth is a masterpiece from one of the world’s most popular authors.

AND I SAY:

One of my favorite books, ever. Its at least a thousand pages (if i remember correctly) but i read through it like it was light reading. Critics say that its possibly Ken Follet’s best work yet – and I agree.

If you do a search for “best book”, I feel it would be very high up there in terms of search engine ranking.

Its well-researched, compelling, and by the end of the day you already know each character as if they were your own. I won’t be surprised if this book joins the “classics” genre, because it should.

author: Judith McNaught
published: June 1st 1992 by Pocket
first published: 1996
isbn: 0671776800 (isbn13: 9780671776800)
pages: 720

Description: Corporate raider Matthew Farrell had come a long way from the poor, scruffy kid of Indiana’s steel mills. A long way from the country club where, feeling like an outsider, he had dared to fall in love with a beautiful blonde named Meredith Bancroft, and known a once-in-a-lifetime passion and betrayal that still haunted his memory…Now world leaders courted him, the media watched his every move, and he was ready to move in on the Bancroft empire.

A cool, poised executive in her family’s legendary department store chain, Meredith had once defied her father for the sexually magnetic, intense Matt Farrell — and their brief, ill-fated marriage was the disastrous outcome. Now, as the Bancroft firm is threatened by a hostile takeover, Meredith is forced to confront Matt. As tensions build between them, bittersweet memories rise to the surface, leaving them suspicious, restless, and uncertain. Will they be able to believe in each other — and grasp the tender miracle that is before them?

AND I SAY:

I got started on Judith McNaught by a good friend in college. Paradise was the first one she insisted that I read. And from then on, Judith McNaught has become a staple in my romance genre picks.

I love Meredith’s story. This book has since become my yardstick for any contemporary romance novel I will be reading. I’d say it ranks up there in terms of my personal search engine positioning. I may have read this book lots of times but never get tired of the story. I love it!

published: 2004 by Harvest Books
isbn: 015602943X (isbn13: 9780156029438)
pages: 560

description: Audrey Niffenegger”s innovative debut, The Time Traveler”s Wife, is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry finds himself periodically displaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.

AND I SAY:

Once in a while, we come across a book that touches us to the very depths of our soul. For me, this is one such book. I’d give it the best search engine placement, if I could. I am glad that it happened to come along in my lifetime, but I would have been willing to wait until it came.