This started out as a slumber party topic, as far as I remember. What I don't remember is how we came from talking about songs in general, to specifically talking about songs of pain and heartbreak. After that, in a Facebook post, Eunice called them SPTD songs ("Saksak Puso, Tulo ang Dugo", which literally means "Stabbed through the heart, with blood dripping"). Lots of songs had been thrown around sporadically, both online and offline. Then I had this lame-brained idea of each of us contributing our own top ten SPTD songs and compiling them into a CD. With Joko contributing her own list, I guess this is a go. *shrug*

So anyhow, here's my own top ten list of heartaches, breakups, angst and other painful stuff like that, in no order whatsoever:

Insensitive - Jann Arden

I'll Be Okay - Amanda Marshall

Cry Me A River - Justin Timberlake

Much Has Been Said - Bamboo

You Oughta Know - Alanis Morrisette

7 Days in Sunny June - Jamiroquai

You Got To Hide Your Love Away - The Beatles

I Do - Lisa Loeb

Out of Reach - Gabrielle

Just My Imagination - The Temptations

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Ah, September. The month that most libruwitres either sings praises of... or curse to the deepest hell. It's the month you've been preparing your wallets for. It's the month of The 32nd Manila International Book Fair!

This year's MIBF is promising to be a very memorable one because of the first ever Filipino Reader's Conference!

Here's the program of activities for the ReaderCon:


1:00 – 1:20 PM Registration

1:20 – 1:30 PM Welcome Remarks

1:30 – 2:00 PM Keynote Speech: No Line on the Horizon: The Merging of Readers and Writers through Social Media
Speaker: Carljoe Javier

2:00 – 3:30 PM Panel Discussion: Putting up and Running a Book Club--for the fun of it!
Panelists:
Gege Sugue (FFP)
Doni A. Oliveros (Goodreads)
Tata Francisco (Ex Libris)
Facilitator: Peter Sandico

3:30 – 4:00 PM Snacks

4:00 – 5:30 PM Panel Discussion: The Why and How of Book Blogging
Panelists:
Tarie Sabido (Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind)
Charles Tan (Bibliophile Stalker)
Chachic Fernandez (Chachic’s Book Nook)
Aldrin Calimlim (Fully Booked. Me)
Sasha Martinez (Sasha & the Silverfish)
Facilitator: Honey de Peralta (Coffeespoons)

5:30 – 6:00 PM Raffles and Socials


As you all know, I'm a member of the Flips Flipping Pages book club (we call ourselves Flippers - we're weird that way, hahaha), so I'll definitely be there for the sheer nerdy fun of socializing with fellow bookworms. I just hope I'll have the chance to wander through the SMX Convention Center exhibition ground. I'll probably won't forgive myself if I don't give in to the book-buying frenzy at least once (okay fine, twice). I've seen the list of exhibitors and schedule of special events, and boy, these lists are long! If you need further information on this week-long event, do check out the MIBF website.

See you there!

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I'll probably remember this year as the one when Jose Saramago & Christopher Priest were bitter rivals (in my mind, of course) for my literary affections.

Photo from Brigadas internacionales

It started when I read Blindness for the March book discussion. It was a painful but satisfying read, and I liked it so much I'd promptly declared it as my best book for 2011.

Photo from Locus Online

But then, a fellow book blogger, FFP member and friend, Peter, who was a bit concerned of my earlier dismissal of NYRB books, lent me Christopher Priest's The Inverted World (thank you so much!). He was convinced that I won't just like the book but love it. And he was right. It was a mind-bending read but it was very, very good.

When my ardor shifted from Saramago to Priest, I thought, this is a bit unfair of me. I can't easily dismiss someone who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. After all, I can't judge an author by reading just one or two of his creations, right? Thus, I made an imaginary contest between the two authors for the most-coveted prize of all: my best author & book for 2011.

So here's the tally & the plan so far (not that I have these books right now, though I do hope I'll acquire/borrow some of them soon):

Jose Saramago

Blindness (read)

Death with Interruptions (read)

The Double

The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

Baltasar & Blimuda

Christopher Priest

The Inverted World (read)

The Prestige

The Separation

The Extremes

The Affirmation

I ought to post reviews for these books, no? I'll do that as I go along, I promise. So what do you think, guys and gals? Is best out of five fair enough? Or should I read more?

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Well okay, as you know, I'm a member of this book club, Flips Flipping Pages. But I realize I'm nowhere as bookish as many of the other Flippers (that's what we call ourselves), who can read five to ten (or more) books per week, while I can barely finish one in a month. That I shrink at challenges is such an understatement.

But here I am, I'm joining this year's FFP 24-Hour Read-A-Thon.

That it's going to be loads of fun is assured. Man, this is an FFP event. If there's one truth in this life, this is it: there is no such thing as a boring FFP event. Coupled that it's going to be held in my friend Triccie's bookshop, Libreria, the prettiest bookstore in town (I'm honestly not exaggerating) - well, I just hope it's not going to be as wild as the last party held there (two words: Mardi Gras). Besides, people are going need to buckle down and do some serious reading, so think of this as your typical book nerds' slumber party. Without much of the pajamas, pillow fights and even slumbering, of course.

I know I won't read as much books as the top hitters of the club, but gosh! I'm just crossing my fingers I won't embarrass myself in front of my friends. At the very least, I hope I won't go to sleep and snore or God forbid, drool on Triccie's nice couch. :P

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