Book Review: UPROOTED by Naomi Novik

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


"She'd remembered the wrong things, and forgotten too much. She'd remembered how to kill and how to hate, and she'd forgotten how to grow. All she'd been able to do in the end was lie down...not quite dreaming, not quite dead."

OHMYGOSH this is quite possibly the best book I've read this 2018! NO WONDER the person who recommended it to me was raving. I'M RAVING, TOO!! Well, perhaps it's only to be expected from a founder of AO3 (https://archiveofourown.org/), a fact that nearly blew my sister's mind when she was told :)

Don't be deceived by the fairy-tale cover. This is not for kids. This is serious reading, with a fairy-tale setting.

Take your standard ingredients: a woodcutter's daughter...the most powerful magician in the kingdom with your typical brooding Darcy vibe... a most evil corruption in the Woods... mix them all together and you have a story that defies description. The author's tale is WILD beyond imagining, I could not predict what would happen next! And at my age, that's VERY refreshing!

It's quite fitting to end 2018 with a book like this! Like the year that was, this novel was full of horrors written so simply and succintly, which adds to the shock of the terrifying imagery. Like the year about to die, the novel was full of love, the kind that steals up on one slowly and takes one's breath away. Like the year that will soon pass, UPROOTED has Truth as one of its most powerful spells. It is one of literature's great paradoxes that truth is told in its best examples, written in the guise of fiction. This novel's truth is that we live in a world where we cannot judge people's true nature based on appearances, that corruption can enter even the highest of strongholds, that all evil comes from a place of hurt and abuse, and that it will require great sacrifice to preserve the things that mean the most: our home, the place where we have planted our roots.

Many, many thanks to Honey and Elsie, who recommended this book! And hmmm... will you look at that... 10 hours to go before the New Year. Perhaps there's time to finish one more book? :D



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Knights and Ladies of Faith

The Martyrdom of Rizal, a mural by Carlos Botong V. Francisco

Today is Rizal Day, and it got me thinking about the challenge of demonstrating heroism in a country where to speak out publicly against injustice can get you fined, imprisoned, or even killed. Perhaps the Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, can offer an alternative and quieter form of heroism.

Kierkegaard wrote of the knight of faith, someone who slays the dragons within. Someone who tempers fiery passions with the constancy of devotion and virtue, who faces the mundane challenges of everyday living without giving in to the dragons of boredom and anxiety. We see these knights (and ladies) all around us, if we but look hard.

They are not showy nor loud. They focus on doing their assigned tasks well, whether it be cooking a meal for their family, or picking up their trash after seeing a movie. They are the backbone of the country, the quiet citizens who consider loyalty to country a civic virtue best demonstrated by voting, working hard, paying taxes in full and on time, and teaching others by their example to contribute to nation-building every day.

Heroism comes in many forms, and while Rizal died for his country, the challenge for us today is to live for and in it. It is easy to fall into despair, to give up and be swallowed by the negativity all around us, blaring from our television sets, written in capital letters on social media accounts. But let us remember that the evils we face today were present in Rizal's time, and HE did not give up. Neither should we. Let us train our eyes to look for the good, the acts of daily charity and grace  when strangers give up seats for others, or hold the door open for the elderly.

Let us salute the brave souls who come forward and challenge the powers-that-be in the open. But let us not forget that we, too, can fight in our own quiet way. The war for the soul of our country is far from over. We must march ever forward.

Book Review: DRY by Neal Shusterman

Dry by Neal Shusterman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"I realize that this is the true core of human nature: When we've lost the strength to save ourselves, we somehow find the strength to save each other."

I'd been eagerly anticipating this book ever since a friend introduced me to the Scythe series (which rocked my world!!), and DRY proved to be worth the hype. It's classic Shusterman: sparse prose which moves the story along efficiently, at lightning speed, but always with just the right amount of character building and venue description to paint a clear picture of characters you come to care for very quickly. And darn, can Shusterman tell a story!

It tries to answer the question: What happens to a state if it runs out of water?

Part II is entitled "Three Days to Animal," and it's a theory which says that that's how long it takes for society to devolve and totally break down in case of a disaster. Shusterman paints that Hobbesian animal state so skillfully, it almost makes me want to promise never to waste so much drinking water by taking a bath twice a day.

Almost.

(Hey, I'm Tagalog, and my people love to take baths almost as much as we love to eat Jollibee chicken joy.) :'D

Hollywood, please make this into a movie soon! How do you spell "Blockbuster hit?" D-R-Y.

And to be honest, this is one Y.A. book that will make you want to guzzle down ice cold water while reading it... just for the sheer pleasure of knowing you can, grateful that you're not living in this nightmare world.

What's horrifying about this book is the fact that this scenario is a very real possible future. Let's pray that this book continues to be fiction, or else future bookstores may very well place this book beside those of Nostradamus.



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Book Review: DOORKEEPER (A Graphic Novel)

Doorkeeper: A Graphic Novel by Scott Lee Chua

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"Things don't change right away, but the revolution... It begins with whispers and murmurs, and an old tune that won't fade."

I truly believe Filipino authors and artists are world class, and this short work is proof! Comparisons to SANDMAN are inevitable, but DOORKEEPER is uniquely Filipino. With a collection of short stories that reinterpret our country's past and foretell a possible future... beautifully told and exquisitely illustrated... and a frame narrative that ultimately brought me to tears, this is a winner! My only complaint is that it was too short! I want, nay, NEED... more.

I hope a sequel will follow!

This book also made me realize that a re-read of FLORANTE AT LAURA is in order 😂

(Rated 4 out of 5 stars)



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Book Review: THEBES AT WAR by Naguib Mahfouz

Thebes at War by Naguib Mahfouz

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


"Oh, God! What will my life be without you?“
"It will be like my life without you."

THEBES AT WAR is the most action-packed of the trilogy of Ancient Egyptian novels, as well as the love story that broke my heart the most. T.T

Having read the three novels, it is very apparent that for Mahfouz and his characters, the primary love that surpasses all other sacred loves for wife and children, mother and father, is love for the Motherland.

It is evident in the loving descriptions of Egypt's landscape and its people, who seem to live and breathe again after thousands of years asleep. Mahfouz's writing shakes off the desert dust that covers their graves and brings their loves and passions to life.

The scene that struck me the most was one where the enemy hid behind Egyptian women and children in the hopes of deterring Egyptian archers from shooting. Mahfouz writes:

The women nodded their heads to the soldiers and called out in high, hoarse voices, "Strike us, may the Lord grant you victory, and take revenge for us!“

I suppose the reason I am deeply touched is because love of country js something we Filipinos speak often about, but rarely demonstrate in deed. Christmas is the season of love, and I can't help but think that perhaps it is our nation's great challenge to channel that love towards acts for the Motherland. For after all, if there's one thing Mahfouz demonstrates in these novels, a nation is only as great as its people.



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Book Review: UNCOMMON TYPE by Tom Hanks

Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


"I want my yet-to-be-conceived children to someday read the meditations of my heart. I will have personally stamped them into the fibers of page upon page, real stream-of-consciousness stuff that I will keep in a shoebox until my kids are old enough to both read and ponder the human condition!"

Oh wow! Some people truly have it all. Not only is Tom Hanks a great actor... Boy oh boy, he can also write!

This collection of short stories are all optimistic and hopeful in tone, even the sad ones...and I closed it with a light and peaceful feeling, the same feeling I would have had if I had spent the afternoon chatting with a dear friend. To be honest, I could hear the actor's voice in my head as I read the book. Kind of like an internal audio book. 😂

The stories are widely varied but they do share one thing: typewriters. Somewhere in the story will be a typewriter, either mentioned in passing or becoming the protagonist altogether.

As someone who was taught how to type on a typewriter before a computer keyboard (I wince at the memory of cut fingers when they fell through the tight cracks and had to be extricated slowly and painfully)... The fictional typewriters evoked a very pleasant nostalgia of simpler and happier times.

My favorite story was THE PAST IS IMPORTANT TO US, a love story about a man who keeps travelling back in time (to the 1939 New York World's Fair), risking life and limb just for the chance to see and speak to a certain girl. Now there's an idea... What if the one we were meant to be with lived several decades too early, or too late? Actually, I think several of these short stories would translate well into movies!

In a highly politicized and troubled world, this book is a welcome rainbow of different kinds of light.

It also comes with a set of four postcards! What a nice invitation to go back to oldfashioned, more intimate ways of communicating!



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Book Review: SATURDAY by Ian McEwan

Saturday by Ian McEwan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


"When anything can happen, everything matters."

My golly, but can Ian McEwan write!!!!!!!!

Saw this book at the SM Baguio Booksale, and for 115 pesos (2. 17 USD), it was a steal!

SATURDAY is about one day in the life of a brain surgeon. The single-sentence synopsis is accurate enough for a tweet, but then again, this is the genius of Ian McEwan's writing: He manages to weave so many immortal themes in the most simple and mundane episodes of modern living. It is one day in the life of a man, both ordinary and yet... Unforgettable. It contains this one man's every waking thought and deed, and the consequences of a seemingly innocuous decision like driving down one road instead of another. Ultimately, it is a novel of the singular blending with the universal, as well as the degree to which the individual can be connected to (or disconnected from) the world... All this written with such clear prose that manages to be literary yet mathematically ruthless in balancing action and mental activity.

This is the first time that I've read anything of his that came close to a thriller, and when the home invasion episode started around 3/4 in the novel, I shrieked and could not be torn away from the book! That is how good a writer McEwan is.

I've always admired how Ian McEwan's plots evolve around an ethical concern. In this particular novel, the question was: Would a doctor be willing to save the life of one who had intended to harm his family?

One thing's for sure: I will never read or look at Matthew Arnold's DOVER BEACH in the same way, ever again. And I will continue to buy Ian McEwan's books on sight.

Now when will the film version of this be made?? Ahaha.



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Book Review: RHADOPIS OF NUBIA by Naguib Mahfouz

Rhadopis of Nubia by Naguib Mahfouz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"Peace needs men of sterner mettle than men of war."

This second novel of the Naguib Mahfouz Ancient Egypt anthology tells the tale of the great passion of Rhadopis the courtesan and Merenra, "the frivolous pharoah."

What do you get when a Nobel laureate writes a romance? Passages so sensual, and not just about the lovers. But the descriptions of the Nile, of the people and the sounds... It's like having a moving painting in your mind.

It's Cinderella mixed with Antony and Cleopatra. Part fairy-tale, part epic. 100% sheer, majestic triumph.

Moral lesson? Duty must come before desire. Rhadopis is up there with Helen and other beautiful women of literature whose beauty brings about the fall of a ruler, and by extension, an empire.



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Book Review: KHUFU'S WISDOM by Naguib Mahfouz

Khufu's Wisdom by Naguib Mahfouz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"Here is the malady: you believe in duty... Which of the two do you think will be the first to be sold? Duty, or the avoidance of doing harm?“

This is the first novel in THREE NOVELS OF ANCIENT EGYPT by Naguib Mahfouz, he who writes in such an epic style!

Instead of saying "the trees swayed in the evening light," he goes: "In the darkness, the date palms looked like slumbering ghosts, or souls whose tortures stretched throughout eternity."

My gooooooosh!!!! Such a pleasure to read a novel full of beautiful sentences!

Khufu's Wisdom is about the great pharoah who had the Great Pyramid of Giza built. It's a very biblical tale, of a prophecy made of a baby who will rule after Pharoah, of a ruler's decision to kill a babe, and of Destiny making her will manifest, toying with a king's wishes.

I loved how Ancient Egpyt came alive in this work. And the grandeur of the language lent itself well to the soundtrack of Hans Zimmer's "Prince of Egypt" playing over and over in my head.

The passages of wooing were most beautiful! With lines like "I would sacrifice myself to protect you from evil" and "The more I see you, the more my soul is filled with you."

We could all use some majesty and grandeur in our lives, and I can't wait for my next dose with Book 2 in the trilogy!

Thank you SO MUCH to Joy Ann for lending this book to me!!



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Book Review: THE OTHER ALCOTT by Elise Hooper

The Other Alcott by Elise Hooper

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"To stay in place, to not push for more - - she realized these were no longer acceptable options."

This book was given to me by a very dear friend, who knows of my lifelong obsession over Louisa May Alcott. (Thanks so much Nissy!!! ❤️ )

This historical novel, however, is about Amy, or, in real life, May Alcott. Louisa's youngest sister.

And it is very saaaaaaaad!!!! It's about two people who loved each other very much, and yet let pride and envy get between them, resulting in years of estrangement over what ultimately was a very complex form of sibling rivalry.

Anyone who has a sibling, or ever had to choose between family and vocation, should read this book.

I've always been fascinated with this amazing family... Bronson, the father/philosopher/teacher who raised such a remarkable daughter and dared to live out his ideals, practicality be damned... Louisa, who WAS Jo March... And now, May Alcott, artist and rebel, wife and mother... Who was created by her older sister's sacrifice, who wanted to have both a career and a family, who didn't let herself be caged in by society's norms.

There is much to learn from the Alcotts and this book.



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Book Review: ADULTHOOD RITES (Xenogensis / Lilith's Brood # 2) by Octavia E. Butler

Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


"There is a wholeness to you... You'll have within yourself everything you need to content yourself."

Book 2 in the Xenogenesis trilogy continues with the story of Lilith's son, Akin, who is half human and half alien. In a post-alien invasion world, this novel covers Akin's birth until his metamorphosis into... Something unexpected. Ahaha. (Trying to keep this spoiler-free is hard!)

What I like about Octavia Butler is how she shows that the aliens are more humane than humans in a lot of ways.

It seemed longer and less coherent than Book 1, although still very enjoyable as a long discussion on the genetic "Human Contradiction," defined as "intelligence at the service of hierarchical behavior." It is also less disturbing than Book 1, mainly because it ends on a more hopeful note.

Can't wait to see what happens when they get to Mars in Book 3! But that's for another day.

See my review for Book 1 of the series here.

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Book Review: THE PENELOPIAD by Margaret Atwood

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


One-sentence summary?
"It is Atwood's re-telling of the ODYSSEY through the mouths of Penelope and the twelve so-called unfaithful maidens."

Now for the I-tried-to-keep-it-concise rave:

Oh WOW! This book (and feminist re-tellings of epics written by dead guys) is why I have trust issues. Atwood takes such a familiar tale and totally subverts it. Penelope may have been the best of wives... But what if she was the worst, by men's standards?

Every book has a chapter or two that is its golden core, its very heart, and for this book, it is certainly the 24th chapter (The Chorus Line: An Anthropology Lecture)... It is UNFORGETTABLE in terms of its mind blowing powers. My gosh!!! If you ever pick up a copy of this in the bookstore and are lacking in time and/or money and can only read one chapter, let it be Chapter 24. Do it. Your life will never be the same. I know mine isn't.

Grateful for stories like this one, that make me realize just how much of what I know and take to be gospel are stories told by men. There are many truths, and our world is richer for having both men and women share their sides.



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Book Review: DAWN (Xenogenesis / Lilith's Brood # 1) by Octavia E. Butler

Dawn by Octavia E. Butler

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


"You are fascinating. You are horror and beauty in rare combination."

The same could be said for this book, which came highly recommended by Seiah Yu (thanks so much dear!!!). I can't believe it took me this long to read Octavia Butler, and oh wow, the hype is well deserved!

Octavia Butler writes so simply and clearly, and yet conveys very complex ideas (for example: about what it means to be human in a world completely taken over by an alien species)... In what seems so effortless and unforced a manner. I am now a fan!!! ❤️ 😍

She is so original!!! I have never read nor even imagined anything as wild as the plot twists in this book. Can't wait to read the next two in the Xenogenesis trilogy.

Reading her is like holding a mirror to the human race, pointing out our flaws as well as our strengths. Like, who knew cancerous cells could be a good thing??!!

Five out of five stars!!!



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