Easy Answers

What personal belongings do you hold most dear?

Right at this moment, my set of hearing aid, my tabs and my books. Perfect opportunity to just stay put and read.

Read Full Post »

Holiday

It is holiday again tomorrow, April 21 in observance of Eid’l Fitr (Feast of Ramadan). To our Muslim brothers and sisters, a blessed Eid’l Fitr.

I asked Nissa if they could drop by later tonight for mom ‘s birthday celebration but she said they will be staying in their new home in Cavite from tonight until Sunday. They brought Nate to the office so it would be easier for them to go home without having to fetch him anymore from the house in Manila. She showed their very nice bathroom upstairs. She said I should have reed diffuser too because it smells so good. Told her to buy me one…haha!

I greeted mom early this morning and she answered “salamat”. It’s only the five of us, Josef, mom, my eldest brother and his wife. Jovy has work today. It’s an early dinner, mom usually has hers around 5:30pm.

Gosh, I have lots of books to read and slow reading has taken a back seat at the moment. I am reading a sort of autobiography of one of my favourite authors Richard Paul Evans entitled A Christmas Memory. I know Christmas is a long way to go yet. Some readers say he is the king of Christmas fiction. The book “delves deep into his childhood memories to take readers back to an age when his world felt like it was falling apart, reminding us that even in the darkest of times, the light of hope can still shine”. It is rated five⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ on Goodreads.

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

Letting Go (Reflections by Morrie Schwartz)

If you are a lover of books, you have probably encountered an inspirational one entitled Tuesdays With Morrie written by Mitch Albom.  It’s a moving account of courage and wisdom shared by a mentor to one of his students. A simple but profound book about an old man, a young man and life’s greatest lesson.  Morrie Schwartz is the old man here diagnosed with ALS (Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis) commonly known as motor neurone disease.  Mitch Albom was his student.  Morrie wrote his own book Letting Go, a book which offers his own philosophy in life, inspiring lessons and practical advice to help those who have terminal or chronic illness and anyone close to them.  My daughter and I were able  to buy a copy of Morris’ book four years ago.  And I am quoting some of his remarkable reflections on living while dying.

– Don’t stay preoccupied with your body or your illness.  Recognize that your body is not your total self, only part of it.

– Watch for emotional, spiritual, or behavioral regressions when you are most vulnerable.  Try to avoid, minimize or stop your regression.

– When you are utterly frustrated or angry, express your feelings.  You don’t have to be nice all the time – just most of the time.

– Try to develop an inner emotional or spiritual peace to balance the distresses of your body.  You might begin by learning to accept “what is” for you at any particular time.

-If you find yourself fantasizing that you are no longer sick and have been restored to your previous level of functioning, stay with the fantasy as long as it gives you pleasure.  But return to reality when the fantasy becomes painful or when it is otherwise necessary for you to do so.

– Learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others. Forgiveness can soften the heart, drain the bitterness and dissolve your guilt.

– Learn how to live and you’ll know how to die, learn how to die and you’ll know how to live.

Reading his book is also a learning experience.

(So lazy to write a new blog post so I am sharing one of those I wrote when I was starting at WordPress back in 2009.)

Read Full Post »

More Books….Still

I am about done with my 2022 Goodreads Reading Challenge. I am on my 150th book which I promised myself to read this year. It is a historical novel based on things that happened centuries ago. I do still intend to record my book reads for 2023, but I wanna try slow reading and keeping a journal at the same time based on the books.

Of all the five books that a friend visiting from Canada gave me, I am pretty excited with Roger Housden’s Ten Poems To Open Your Heart. Even the dust jacket looks so enticing. I’ll start from this one of course. My friend suggested that I focus on the words, quotes and sentences. He said that the experience is rich and fulfilling.

Journaling….I will start with this in a few days as soon as I finish the 150th book this year. There is a biblical passage in every page. Here’s one:

“PLEASANT WORDS ARE LIKE HONEYCOMB, SWEET TO THE SOUL AND HEALING TO THE BONES. – Proverbs 16:24

Here’s my new journal. It will surely be another reading journey for me.

Read Full Post »

Behind The Scene

We are almost in the middle of the month and before we know it, January is gone.

Oh my, I missed this blog for three days. Kind of not inspired enough to blog. And to my blogger friends, I am sorry for not even commenting on your posts. Trying to catch up.

I joined Goodreads Reading Challenge again this year. I committed myself to read another 100 books. It is really a challenge for me finishing that much for the year. Started with a historical novel, two books which are some kind of a series, a paranormal story and a thriller and courtroom scenes by Connelly. I found a book about dogs too. The cover was just too tempting because the pictures looks like our dog Noki. It’s my sixth read.

How are you getting along with this Covid environment? Funny how the department of health prefers the vaccine from china which is more expensive and not as effective. They are letting the local governments procure their own and the latter prefer Pfizer. I wonder if they’ll have enough facilities to restore those vaccines.

Read Full Post »

A Sister’s Promise

The bond between two sisters broken by circumstances beyond their control.

Beautiful.

The sounds, the smells and all textures come into play.

And I wonder why I shelved this for a while in favor of another book which I read in one day.

Renita D’ Silva is quite new in the league of  new authors that I follow. I don’t normally summarize the story when I review a book. Suffice to say, it was told in a perspective of both sisters when they were growing up. They had alternating narratives.  I had another glimpse of India, how the poor struggle to make both ends meet, how arranged marriages are made and such.  D’Silva tells the story in such a way that the words are pure bliss, how poetic. I am posting some excerpts here close to the end of the beautiful book.

“And seeing her son encircled in her sister’s arms, Puja, for the first time in twenty years, gets a glimpse into a future that is unburdened by the follies of the past, but lifted up on the tentative wings of optimism, bright as light percolating into an overcast day and feeding it the promise of the brilliance to come. She breathes in deeply and tastes buoyancy, the soft pink of a tender bloom unfurling cautiously in the caress of spring.”

“We are only human in the end.”

“We waste the little time we are given in this world on immaterial things, not the things that really matter. And then, when it is far too late, we long for one more moment together, a moment which, if bestowed, we will draw out and treasure, a moment in which we will say all those things left unsaid, a moment into which we will cram a lifetime’s worth of good times.” 

I seldom give 5 stars to a book but this is one of them. Wow, 27 books ahead of schedule.

Read Full Post »

Echoes

 

I spent some time in the garden early this morning. Removed the old and dried Zinnia together with my drying Four O’clock.  They have self-propagated, small seedlings that don’t need replanting. A few more mornings then I’ll be able to finish pruning and weeding too. Such a hard job but it has to be done.

Aren’t I lucky? I tried searching for John O’Donohue’s website on Facebook and what do you know, I finally found one and some of his writings are posted there. The page is maintained by the Director of John’s Literary Estate, Ann Cahill, in partnership with the O’Donohue Family. Beautiful! I won’t need to go to other sites except to his home page.

It is more complete and is being managed by his brother. Wow, I am enamored by  his words. Echoes of the past that create beautiful and lovely memories of the author.  You look behind and you look back and it seems like one does not really goes away but he stays because of his words. This is what we experience when we find something wonderful like a good book that lets you live and visit the places  with the author. Such thrilling adventures created by words alone.

Another author whose words touch my soul is Mary Oliver. Like O’Donohue, she left some wonderful works of art in her books of poems. She died last year. And this reminds me of another favorite author whom I discovered  a  few years ago and like Oliver and O’Donohue,  Peter Mayle died two years ago. And they have something in common, they all passed away in the month of January.  They were all gifted writers.

I am on my 94th read on Goodreads 2020 Reading challenge. Another lovely book I found  about India.

Read Full Post »

Have You Ever Been Addicted To This?

 

It was first published 98 years ago long before our time. I remember my uncle who was our teacher in our place in the province in Grade 3 and Grade 4  (yes, they handled two classes back then) who usually read this during lunch break in our place. He would leave it for us to browse (I was not that interested then) and see all those ads in between.  I was already in college working as a student librarian when I got interested reading Reader’s Digest.

Points to Ponder, Laughter’s The Best Medicine, Life Like That, All In The Day’s Work, Quotes, Word Power.  I could still remember all these until now. I used to buy one when we went grocery shopping until it became so thin and eventually stopped. I didn’t know the exact date. Until now, I still have those hardbound and condensed copies of  Reader’s Digest books (usually four books in one) which I bought at Booksale years ago.

Memories of old, one reminisces with a smile.

Read Full Post »

Knowing A Little Bit Of India

Yeay, seems like my reading has taken a back seat.  Though I still enjoy it, I am now more focused on the latest news and sometimes watch senseless (at least to me) hearings  of the the Dept. of Health. This is another good for nothing secretary out there who used to say in the first few days of when news broke out about the coronavirus that it was not yet time to concern ourselves about it.  This time it seems that they can’t explain to the public how they would deal with this virus. Come to think of it, we don’t even have testing kits. Pathetic!  And duterte surfaced yesterday after a five-day absence, surfaces as a medical expert and seer saying it will die a natural death. Then we learned about the fatality and he said “there is a shortage of face masks because there is a virus outbreak. if there is no virus outbreak,  there would be no shortage of face masks”. Few kind words from a “supposed” head of the nation (sarcasm there).They keep defending their good friend china to the detriment of our own countrymen. They are still playing politics.

I reread another children’s book last night for the nth time in between my regular reads. The magic is still there after all these years. Charlotte’s Web and The Velveteen Rabbit  belong to my favorite books. A few weeks ago. I got hold of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree, it is a very short story written with illustrations about a little boy and an apple tree. I love it too.

I am presently reading A Hundred Little Flames. The author, Preeti Shenoy is Indian, her work has been translated to many languages. There are several Indian bloggers here that I follow and one of them always features the beauty of Kerala which is one of the places described in the book. It is nice to  learn another culture through books and blogs.  A lovely way to know something beyond the border…..beautiful.

 

 

Read Full Post »

Three Books In A Row

Take a guess!

I promised myself to blog every day at least during the month of January and I did until the other day.

Bam!

I missed one yesterday. I was again sidetracked reading new books for my Goodreads’ 2020 Reading Challenge. As I have said in one of my previous blogs, I want to read at least 100 books this year, perhaps a far cry from the 150 books I read last year. I am choosing what to read first, start the year right by inspiring myself in the process.

The Law of Moses by Amy Harmon.

Started reading Amy Harmon last year and I am quite surprised about her books. This is my fifth book of Amy Harmon, different subjects except for the two books done in two series. A unique, powerful, intense and emotional story about an abandoned baby who grew up to be an artist and a girl who believed in him despite the odds. A story of before and after, of new beginnings and happy endings. I ‘d like to think this is a love story but there is more to it than just cuddles and kisses, it will tug at your heartstrings. Moses, someone you’ll probably hate in the middle of the story but those redeeming qualities show in the end. Georgia, love her character and her strength, a forgiving soul who just loved.

Noel Street by Richard Paul Evans

Perhaps you’ve read a lot about him here before. He is one of my favorite authors. This is his latest book given by a friend last week. It is the third book in the Noel Collection. Luckily, I have all three. It was just published last November 2019.

How’s this for a start?

Every story is a road. And on all roads there are potholes and bumps, detours and unexpected encounters.

I love those quote in every chapter of the book. It’s another Christmas book. The story line maybe predictable but it was a good read. Done reading it in one day.

Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

My first book about nature and the first novel by Delia Owens. She writes non-fiction and is a nature writer. I wonder why some readers at Goodreads are not so impressed by her writing. I was though. A coming-of-age and a possible murder. I love the court scenes. I always loved court scenes in books I have previously read. It’s 2018 Goodreads Award Nominee for historical fiction.

Some quotes I like here:

“His dad had told him many times that the definition of a real man is one who cries without shame, reads poetry with his heart, feels opera in his soul, and does what’s necessary to defend a woman.”

“Autumn leaves don’t fall, they fly. They take their time and wander on this their only chance to soar.”

“Most of what she knew, she’d learned from the wild. Nature had nurtured, tutored, and protected her when no one else would. If consequences resulted from her behaving differently then they too were functions of life’s fundamental core.”

Would you believe, I gave the three of these books four stars?

Read Full Post »