(SOLD) Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

December 24, 2007

Php 250
Paperback, 489 pages
VG condition

In this latest addition to the author's incomparable oeuvre, 15-year-old Kafka Tamura runs away from home, both to escape his father's oedipal prophecy and to find his long-lost mother and sister. As Kafka flees, so too does Nakata, an elderly simpleton whose quiet life has been upset by a gruesome murder. (A wonderfully endearing character, Nakata has never recovered from the effects of a mysterious World War II incident that left him unable to read or comprehend much, but did give him the power to speak with cats.) What follows is a kind of double odyssey, as Kafka and Nakata are drawn inexorably along their separate but somehow linked paths, groping to understand the roles fate has in store for them. Murakami likes to blur the boundary between the real and the surreal—we are treated to such oddities as fish raining from the sky; a forest-dwelling pair of Imperial Army soldiers who haven't aged since WWII; and a hilarious cameo by fried chicken king Colonel Sanders—but he also writes touchingly about love, loneliness and friendship. Occasionally, the writing drifts too far into metaphysical musings—mind-bending talk of parallel worlds, events occurring outside of time—and things swirl a bit at the end as the author tries, perhaps too hard, to make sense of things. But by this point, his readers, like his characters, will go just about anywhere Murakami wants them to, whether they "get" it or not.


YM/e-mail address: zengkilebron@yahoo.com
Meet-Up Locations: Glorietta, Greenbelt, Rockwell in Makati; Robinson's Place, McDonald's Quirino Avenue in Manila

(SOLD) Digital Photography Books

December 23, 2007

Selling the following introductory books as a lot for Php 500. All books in color, very good/like new condition:

Digital Photography: An Introduction by Tom Ang (2003)

From improving casual snapshots to learning the secrets of lighting, composition, and digital image manipulation, Digital Photography provides a practical, easily accessible approach to producing better digital photographs. With over 400 photographs, this concise guide shows you, as well as tells you what to do. The book also includes information on the most up-to-date equipment, software, and accessories, and professional hints and advice to help you get the most out of our digital camera.

Digital Photography: Step by Step by Ben Owen

From a comprehensive introduction to the various features of a digital camera, through to a thorough understanding of the processes involved, Digital Photography Step by Step covers everything you ever wanted to know about the subject.

Written simply and effectively without the use of complicated terminology, every page is visually accessible through screen-grabs that illustrate every step of the instructions.

Note: National Bookstore is selling this book for Php 429.


Free: Sport and Adventure Photography by Sean Hargrave



YM/e-mail address: zengkilebron@yahoo.com
Meet-Up Locations: Glorietta, Greenbelt, Rockwell in Makati; Robinson's Place, McDonald's Quirino Avenue in Manila

Great Buys at Powerbooks OctoberBOOKfest

October 13, 2007

Powerbooks Warehouse in Pasig is 1 short jeepney ride, 3 MRT stations and 1 bumpy trike ride away from my place. I am well aware of the existence of this outlet store which sells books at a discounted rate. But cheaper the books may be, I am never one to trudge on unknown paths if getting to the destination involves tricycles going head-on with trucks and cars of all sizes on steep narrow roads. But the lure of "up to 90% discount" in what I believe is Powerbooks first ever OctoberBOOKfest is too strong to resist and so a friend and I decided to pay the warehouse a visit last Thursday.

It was a warehouse all right. It was dusty and dark. But the outlet store which is inside the warehouse wasn't. It's airconditioned, clean, the books well-organized and the staff helpful and friendly. They also accept major credit cards and BPI's EPS. And of course, there are couches where you can sit and read comfortably to your heart's content. So it's like a regular bookshop in your favorite mall except when you look at the tags, you know you're not in a regular bookshop in your favorite mall. All the better because the books here are really cheap!

I only bought 4 books. A bit disappointed because I was expecting Murakami, Hornby and Eugenides would be on the shelf. Nonetheless, there are many great finds and these are mine: 1) The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver), 2) The Body Artist (Don DeLillo) 3) Persepolis 2 (Marjane Satrapi) and 4) Everything is Illuminated (Jonathan Safran Foer).


The Poisonwood Bible is sold at a regular price of Php 515. Got my copy for only Php 89!

The Body Artist at Php 99.

Everything is Illuminated, 70% off. Got it for just Php 208.50 (regular price: Php 695).


Persepolis 2 at 50% off (regular price: Php 585).


OctoberBookfest ends today, October 14th.

Getting there: Take the MRT and amble off at the Boni station. Hail a tricycle in front of Robinson's Pioneer. Tell the driver to take you to the Powerbooks Warehouse.

If you were a book, which book would you be?

September 18, 2007

Took the surprisingly short online quiz: the book quiz. According to the quiz, I am Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. Funny, I have yet to read that book. No idea what it's all about but that book is me, according to the quiz. Thank God I'm not Marisha Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics (huge sigh of relief)! How about you? Which book are you?

You're Cat's Cradle!
by Kurt Vonnegut

You believe quite firmly that free will deserted you long ago and far away. As a result, it's hard to take responsibility for anything. Even though you show great potential as a leader of a small 3rd world country, the choices are all made ahead of time. You're rather fond of games involving string. Your fear of nuclear weaponry is trumped only by your fear of ice.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Off the Shelf and into the Trash Bin: Licensure Examination for Teachers Reviewer (MSA)

August 25, 2007

I should be cramming for tomorrow's board exam (L.E.T.) but instead I am blogging and for a good reason, I suppose. To cap off a week of "studying", I decided to answer the sample tests in the Licensure Examination for Teachers Reviewer, Vol. 1 by Merle S. Alferes, Ma. Gracia B. Nones,and Ma. Dolores Nones-Austria. The reviewer was published by MSA Math Tutoring Center. To my horror, the reviewer is laden with errors. No, not just the forgivable and forgettable typo errors that we come across with every now and then. I'm talking about gross errors here.


Exhibit A


This one is item 25 on page 5 in the Professional Education section, a fill-in-the-blank/multiple choice test item. If you look at the choices, there isn't any that upon substitution will give a grammatically sound sentence. Not only that, look closely at choice b) Motivates the lesson to interest the students. I didn't know lessons need to be motivated to make them interesting.

That's the grammatical part. Let us move on to the test item construction part. In the field of education, test construction is a major subject. Just how major the subject is? There are masteral and doctoral dissertations on the subject. When constructing an item such as this one, I have learned that you are not supposed to place the blank at the beginning of the sentence. It should be placed in the middle or at the end of the sentence.

Exhibit B

This one could be found on page 71 in the English Grammar section, Idiomatic Expressions test. "at a discount" is not an idiomatic expression. Consider the sentence: "Cleanliness is still at a discount in many parts of the country." I am flabbergasted. Will dirt be put on sale as well?

Exhibit C
Refer to page 72, Idiomatic Expressions test.

Aside from "at a discount", "punctuality" and "resolved" are considered idiomatic expressions by the authors. Perhaps, they are idiotic expressions of the authors but they are not idiomatic expressions.

These mistakes are not isolated cases I'm afraid; they are reverberated throughout the book. Miss Ilao, my professor in Measurement and Evaluation in Philippine Normal University will surely have a field day revising the book. I am recommending the book to anyone aspiring to be a proofreader or an editor. You'll get comprehensive practice.

Off the Shelf: Special Topics in Calamity Physics

August 19, 2007

Special Topics in Calamity Physics

by Marisha Pessl

"Always live your life with your biography in mind," Dad was fond of saying. "Naturally, it won't be published unless you have a Magnificent Reason, but at the very least you will be living grandly." (p. 66)

Barely making it to page 100, I find the author has read too many books in her very young life that it spills over her writing. She is too wordy for my taste. If you can stand compound sentences compounded at least a hundred times over, then you might just make it to the final period. Expect kilometric sentences as major staple such as this one:

"In her absorbing memoir, There's a Great Day Coming Manana (1973), Florence "Feisty Freddie" Frankenberg, a 1940s their-girl-Friday actress whose great claim to fame was appearing on Broadway with Al Jolson in Hang on to your Handkerchiefs (she also palled around with Gemina Cervenka and Oona O'Neill), wrote in Chapter 1 that at first glance, Saturday night at the Stork Club was an "oasis of rarified fun" and that, despite WWII grimly unfolding across the Atlantic like a telegram delivering bad news, when one was in a "new gown, perched on those comfy banquettes," one had the feeling "nothing bad could happen" because one was protected by "all the money and the mink" (pp.22-23)." (p. 142)

Nonetheless, I am determined to finish this one. The plot which is beginning to take form on page 103 reminds me of The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

August 17, 2007

I did not have enough cash with me and so my mother lent me a thousand bucks so I could pay my long overdue Internet bill. After handing out the 2 crisp five-hundred peso bills to me, we parted ways. As she turned her back on me, I pretended to walk in the general direction of the payment center. Then I watched her - counting her steps as she lengthened the distance between us. Like a torpedo that has zoomed in on its target, she could not be stopped from her tracks - each step brought her closer to her destination: her favorite shoe store. And the target: a pair of slip-ons she's been dying to have since laying eyes on them a week ago. But today, the slip-ons are on sale. It's only when she had stepped inside the shoe store that I actually started walking in the general direction of the payment center. But so unlike my torpedo mother, I got detoured to a bookstore. I'll just check if the books I like are on sale, I muttered to myself. Nearing the shop, I saw the huge sign screaming: Up to 65% off! At that point, my pulse started to race, my steps quickened and in a split second I was transformed into a torpedo zooming in on a series of targets. Just give me 15 minutes, I told myself. There it was in the Literary section, Murakami's Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. Not far from it, in the General Fiction shelf, I picked up Special Topics in Calamity Physics and a few strides from the counter, I saw Crichton's Next. I just couldn't ignore the ignorable Crichton. The damage: Php 864. Savings: Php 201! Don't you just love it when bookstores go on sale? I do.
Now, where to? Ah yes, to the payment center. Except I didn't have enough cash with me again to settle my bill. Oh, well I'm their most loyal client - didn't switch, even when offered a better deal by the competition. They will not mind if I'm behind my payment. Tomorrow I'll zoom in on the payment center. In the meantime, let me find a vacant seat in the food court and let me enjoy my books. As for my mother, she will understand. She should. She's supposed to buy someone a gift but then changed her mind. You already know why.