Foot and Fire

Burying the typewriter Childhood under the eye of the secret police By Carmen Bugan Picaodor, 2012, 235 pages with appendices I bought this book from Book Sale at a super steal price of ten pesos without any doubt that it would steal my heart. I am delighted that it did. Of course, the tag is secondary to why I picked this one up because the title lent mystery to it and so mainly, the title caught my attention. I love the visuals attachef to title which refers to a machine that is now buried dead by computers and cellphones as means of communication. And there is some kind of homage in the title to the freedom of expression. Of all defects of democracy I suffer because we are not human if our freedom is repressed. Then comes the secondary title which gives me a bird's eyevew that this book must be about childhood in times of repression of the freedom to express. It turns out, Carmen Bugan mainly transported me to her childhood in Romania which has beauty in its comm...

Ghosts by Daylight Janine Di Giovanni Memoir, 2011 When everyone at one time or another dreamed of becoming an archaeologist, thanks to Indiana Jones movies, I, dreamed of becoming a war reporter though international news is far and wide then. I was in high school when the Bosnia and Herzegovina happened and it opened my eyes to the bitter consequences of war. While I read memoirs about lives while the wars were on-going, this is the first time that I got hold of a love story between two war reporters. Their love story started in Sarajevo. What I liked about the memoir is that how the author makes her function as war reporter seem so easy and natural to her, and the settling down and creating a home as difficult as it can get for her. It all lies in her honesty.  I also liked how the author and her spouse wanted to have a child who will bring them to a state of normalcy. Both struggled to put on their new roles. The author survived the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder be...

The Fly Trap Fredrik Sjoberg Translated by Thomas Teal Translation Copyright 2014 Pantheon Books, New York, 278 pages I don't want to admit this but I was trapped like fly to the storytelling of the author. After I finished reading The Fly Trap, I wanted to put names to the birds that visit our subdivision these days, they were varied. This is our second year in our new location. My sister thinks that our place is a birdpath for migratory birds. My theory is whether the presence of varied birds is connected to the activity of Mt. Kanlaon which is in Warning #2 for a long while already. Plus, I can't see Mt. Kanlaon right now from our place because it appears to be surrounded by clouds or replaced by clouds from my point of location. Last year, I definitely looked far because I can see Mt. Kanlaon with vivid outline but now, all can see are the white cottons with mix of blue or black depending when it shines or about to rain which may be clouds or ashes or smoke or mixt...

I still read nonfiction from time to time but I am now fascinated with nonfiction that I bought memoirs, bios and autobios at the recent BIG BAD WOLF BOOK SALE in Cebu City, all for myself. Here, I'm sharing to you my provisions for the next two years, hahahahha!! Oliver Sacks is a classic read. BBW carried other titles there, though not all of his works (I can't find his bestselling The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat!!!). So I chose Hallucinations and An Anthropologist from Mars. He was a physician and taught neurology. I read reviews of his books in Brain Pickings and saw the movie Awakenings (based on Sacks' book of same title) which features Robin Williams as Sacks. I can't wait to start even one book of his. If i can, i'll pick up Hallucinations first. Now, I'm hallucinating that I can do that real soon. Stanley, The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer by Tim Jeal.  Who does not love Africa when one was still small and full of wonde...

Furiously Happy (A funny book about horrible things) Jenny Lawson Picador 2015, 329 pages I bought this book in order to have a peek with what a depressive, anxiety-filled blogess can share so I can have a little understanding about her journey in life. I am committed to finish because I know the reason why I bought this book in the first place. First, she's a pain in the ass. One has to have patience for this book because I can't stand highly detached ideas and simply go and laugh hard. If insight is to be held, one has to wade through the dark comedy to get through the gem of understanding, I know, I get that. If you are like me, I recommend that you read page 111 and 263 first and give this book a chance. Skip pages 11, 199, and 247 so you won't get mental indigestion. Second, one has to love dead, furry buddies. And I still can't even after reading this book. Third, be forgiving of all Jenny Lawsons out there, on the premise that they don't hurt peop...

The Republic of Imagination (America in Three Books) Azar Nafisi Hardbound, 328 pages I loved her in Reading Lolita in Tehran because she reminded me not to be a passive reader and to appreciate fiction more, especially when I am in my reading stage when I devote most of my readings on non-fiction, memoirs and autobiography to be specific. I have a long list of readings after Lolita. Her stories in Lolita captivated me because of the fear and danger attached to her founding a reading circle in a totalitarian Iran. Her hunger for readings made me appreciate my freedom to read and I took it upon myself as responsibility to read more. And here comes this book. This is not as fast-paced and as interesting a story as Lolita but Author Nafisi made me rethink here of my reading. In my reading infancy years, reading excites me with stories of varied settings but when I have already made some travels, my reading interests shifted to culture and nonfiction and as I mature as a reader, I...

The Bookseller of Kabul Asne Sierstad Paperback, 276 pages Virago, 2004 Kabul is in Afghanistan and Mikrorayon is the hometown of our bookseller. When Journalist-author Asne Sierstad came to buy books from Sultan Khan after she joined the army operations for days searching for news, she became interested to the life lived by the man whose hopes is to build a huge library after the war ends. Sultan Khan had dedicated his life salvaging books in the name of Afghani literature and culture, and in the process, he was able to save some old books from wherever source. But keeping the books safe from illiterate soldiers who burn anything with living things on the cover or anything that seems immoral is a challenge that could even mean his liberty and life.  This extraordinary passion led the author to turn more stones and she proposed to live with the household of Sultan Khan. She was able to live with the Khans for four months and the resulting tale reveals a portrait of an Af...

Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert softbound, 334 pages Memoir, Penguin, 2006 It is hard to start reading a book when one has a slight negative prejudice towards it. Before I saw the movie, I already skimmed a few pages of it in a bookstore and I was turned off by the very idea that the author wanted to avoid: Another tale of prozac-filled brain in a cold urban jungle of New York City by a woman who divorced her husband and a society filled with sexual permissiveness but devoid of spiritual warmth. As a starter, I really hated too much anxiety-filled drama so that I did not decide to read this one then. But I came to read it this June and I am glad I was ready for it. It was a delightful read as it tackles a personal spiritual journey (or I must say, journey towards selfhood). I got her now than when I was skimming the book in my 20s. There is a point in our lives when we are faced with a question whether we made a right decision all along or just tagged along the linear dicta...

Reading Lolita in Tehran Azar Nafisi Memoir, Randomhouse 2003. Paperback, 347 pages This memoir is a sure delightful read among readers as they can immediately connect with the relish of the author in reading in a way that only readers can savor. Though I do not read fiction nowadays, I still can relate to the joy of reading. But amazingly, this book offers more.  While the author and her students reflect on their lack of freedom in their country, Islamic Republic of Iran, in every character or circumstance in the novel that they read, I cannot help myself from reflecting as to how in my country, Philippines, freedom is disregarded simply because it is just around. I can only conclude that want is always a good motivator in achieving something. The memoir tells of a reading circle hosted by the author for two years at her house at the time when universities were either closing or being dictated by Mujahideen (holy warriors) and when the author was out of he...

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir Haruki Murakami, Alfred Knopf, 2007 Translated Copy, 2008  119 pages Forget the title. I can say that this book is a book on meditation. Okay, just almost.  Murakami transported me to the world of marathon without fondness or favor. He just wanted to run for the sake of running. He loves to undergo the physical challenge in the process of preparing to a marathon. While physically challenging himself, he also make me understand that his character is being challenged too. Discipline, perseverance, focus, stamina, self-examination, and many others are all put to test and use while one is running, just as in writing. Of course, as I expected, while he is writing about his running, he inevitably talked about his writing novels. And mostly on the virtue of what he does, running and writing.  Though I was not able to read his novels, the genre of which I believe I could not ever read, I still loved t...

Under the Tuscan Sun: At home in Italy By Frances Mayes Memoir, hardbound, 280 pages I believe there is no review on this 1996 book without mention of the film version. I, for one, have seen the film first starring Diane Lane before I read this book. Thus, I am setting the record straight here: they have different storyline although the house is the gravitating factor in both. Of course, I have to mention that the film is inspired by the book. Mayes said that her book came out from the notes she has taken down and mementos she had saved for four years when she and her husband purchased the Bramasole (To yearn for sun) property in Cortona, Italy. As I go on with the book, I wished for a map of the whole Tuscany to at least understand the route taken by the writer and a sort of map of the Cortona town. Thanks to google, I had clearer picture while reading the book. Tuscany is an Italian central region with Florence as its capital province while Cortona is a town in Are...