BOOK REVIEW: Lumayo Ka Nga Sa Akin by Bob Ong

This is the first book I finished reading while on vacation. Bob Ong has always been one of my favorite authors. His satires on everything Filipino are funny (obviously) and too true. In this book, he had made a "script" for several genres. One for action, one for horror, and one for the general love story or soap opera.

He exposed the idiocies of the plots and stories that almost did not change since the boob tube was introduced in the Philippines. It's not that I did not know this before (there's a reason I don't watch Philippine TV except for news, reality shows, and sports). It's just that he made it really plain and exaggerated for the readers to get the point. I remember in particular one Mara Clara remake episode that was being advertised. The scene was Clara was trying to make Mara eat shrimp knowing that the latter is allergic to it. What did Mara do? She cried, "Clara, waaaaggg!" Too stupid. We all know that is you would say any word in Tagalog that has the letter "A" in it, your mouth would open. She could just have shut her mouth and punched Clara in the face.

I manage to annoy all of my roommates when I watch all of the soap operas on TV because I can't help but comment everytime I see another stupid scene so I stay away from it for the preservation of our relationships. hahaha.

I highly recommend this book to all scriptwriters, moviemakers, and all Filipinos. We spend the most time in front of the TV, make sure your IQ do not drop 10 points everytime.

BOOK REVIEW: Eat, Pray, Love

I know I am sooo late. Anyhow, I just finished reading the book last night after ignoring it for several months. No, I haven't seen the movie yet.

I would not say it is the best book I have ever read. It is just a narrative of a woman's heartaches, choices, travel, and...life. Everyone knows the plot by now. The author (Elizabeth Gilbert) went to Italy to eat and learn the language, she went to India to meditate, and to Bali because of what the old palm reader said.

In her journey, she learned, of course. Everyone who travels would learn something new each time. The Italy part just made me jealous. I really want to be able to tour Europe and to learn their rich culture. I like the India part the most. I like how she described her prayers and her struggles while praying. For most part of her struggles, I think I know how she felt.

I was not impressed with the Bali part. I think Westerners are too easy to impress when it comes to culture. They would believe any made up superstitions you tell them. I've been to the place and I would say that I was really impressed with the art of each house because they are generally Hindus. But their being Hindu doesn't go farther than that. In my conversation with our tour guide before, Nyoman (he eats beef), I get the idea that they are mainly maintaining the Hindu identity for tourism purposes.

Well of course, because I am also Asian and I was able to converse a teensy bit of Bahasa Indonesia, I think he's more honest with me.

Overall, it's a light read. It is based on a true story but I can feel the exaggeration of experiences on most part. It may be because I am not as sentimental.

BOOK REVIEW: The Tiger's Wife

First of all, let me say that I am not a fan of fiction and novels. It is very seldom for me to appreciate those.  Harry Potter series is an exception, of course.

Honestly, I did not enjoy reading The Tiger's Wife. I was bored. For me, the story lacks excitement, it was just dragging the entire time. There was too much build up on the background of the characters but I did not feel the climax. Just as the story gets interesting, the pace would suddenly change.

I just felt relieved to have finished the book. Maybe I should train myself to read more fiction, especially those that are beyond reality. This book failed to tap any of my emotions which is sad because that is the only reason why I even read fiction.

Random

First, I found Tiger Cub's  blog. She is the older daughter of the famous (or infamous) Tiger Mom. I don't know why but I feel inspired after reading about their story. It makes me wish for a tiger den environment when I was growing up too. I was pretty much on my own when I was growing up so I am not used to discipline and rules and all those stuff only to find out later on that the world is full of rules and I needed discipline to enjoy those rules. I still feel pretty good about myself though. I just feel that I could have been better in some things and my defense mechanism might not have been running away. I'm interested with the Tiger Mom's book though, I might buy it...after I'm done reading my three new books.

Speaking of new books, yes, I got three new books from Amazon.

I bought Isabel Gillies' "Happens Everyday" and " A Year and Six Seconds." When I get interested in a book, I usually buy two from the author.  I bought it because I want to have a break from all the "serious" books I've been reading, I want to read something that's light and with emotions because I really need to work on my being phlegmatic right now. I need to feel something. I am trying to educate myself. So, I'm going to try to read a story but I wanted to read the kind that happened in real life.

It's such a coincidence that I am interested in the tiger mom today and a couple of weeks ago, I bought "The Tiger's Wife." There must be something about the tiger women.