After having tried WordPress, I’ve come to realize that there are certain things about it that are limiting. Blogger offers a bit more flexibility and is user-friendly, which is important for a girl like me, who gets easily confused.
So, I’m setting up shop there now, although my former home, for archiving purposes, will not be deleted. So, update your feeds (although if you subscribed through Feedburner, that won’t be necessary), and I’ll see you on the other side. 
Well, after over a month here in the Philippines, this reading journal has become predictably dormant. That’s not to say I haven’t been reading. It’s been refreshing not having to adhere to someone else’s time table, so I’ve actually done a lot (or what, to me, seems like a lot) of reading.
What I’ve read while on holiday
Sadly, all that reading hasn’t amounted to any reviews due to a previously faulty internet connection (I’m writing this from my grandfather’s house who, up until a few weeks ago, was still getting by on dial-up) and the fact that I’ve been away from the computer. Surprising, I know.
In the time I’ve been here, I saw old friends and got tattooed, spent time with family members and tagged along at the boyfriend’s shows, visited Lucban, Quezon and sampled of the town delicacies, visited Baguio and met some really nice people during the band’s video shoot, and got tattooed again. In between all those things, I’ve read all the books above and written a total of two reviews. Not exactly a stellar record, but I am trying. I had made a vow to catch up on reviews and not start on any new books until I do, but Breaking Dawn will be released today, so it looks the list of books to review will be lengthened, not shortened.
Anyway, I hope whoever still happens to be checking on this reading journal has had and will continue to have a nice summer. I’ll be back to posting more regularly when I come back to the US. Until then, happy reading!
Blankets by Craig Thompson
Initially, I bought Blankets for a friend whose sense of whimsy is decidedly more pronounced than mine. Before Blankets, I’d never read a graphic novel, nor did I feel any inclination to familiarize myself with the genre. However, I was intrigued enough by its premise — a memoir in graphic novel form — to start reading it myself, although I still expected it to be an easily digestible read. My problem is that I tend to care more about words than I do pictures, and that was certainly the case here.
Blankets is a pretty straightforward coming-of-age story. The reader is shown various events — from Craig / Mr. Thompson’s childhood to adulthood — that touch on the difficulty of navigating the timorous road to maturity. Craig is depicted as a caring sibling to his younger brother, Phil, and it is the relationship between these two brothers that became my favorite one in the book. Initially sharing a love of drawing and flights of fancy, Craig and Phil later on drift apart, as siblings sometimes do, and, as an adult, Craig reminisces about their lost closeness, wistfully wondering how and their paths diverged. Craig’s parents are also a source of emotional turmoil; they are a religious pair, and it is not surprising that their conservative views eventually clash with those of their mercurial, artistic son.
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
At this point, I’ve read a lot of criticism about The Twilight Saga. In fact, I’m inclined to agree with some of it – the writing is, at times (and more often than I’d like to admit), amateurish, the dialogue implausible, Bella is a bit too eager to give up everything she knows for a sexy undead boy (here is a lively discussion that attempts to refute the critics and that illustrates the scary awesome devotion of hardcore Twilight fans). But I’m now three books deep in the series, and my love for the story and the characters has continued to grow. It’s an addiction that I can’t and won’t shake.
After the events that transpired in New Moon, Bella and Edward are back to being sickeningly sweet to and contentedly intoxicated with each other’s presence. Such intense and protective love cannot be sustained, however, if Edward didn’t feel that he has to save Bella all the time, so it doesn’t take long before their blissful bubble is burst. Victoria, a non-vegetarian vampire introduced in Twilight, is intent on murdering Bella to avenge the death of her mate, James. Also paying particular attention to Bella’s mortality are the Volturi, the vampire royal family, who have decreed that Bella must be killed or turned due to her intimacy with the Cullens.
In addition to these threats, Bella and Edward also have to deal with the (mostly) unwelcome amorous intentions of Jacob, the lovelorn werewolf. Like Edward, Jacob has sworn to protect Bella, and he does so with the help of his werewolf family. Jacob, however, is not entirely altruistic, as he is continuously attempting to come between Bella and Edward. When he realizes that, despite his best efforts, Bella is still adamant on marrying Edward and becoming a vampire, the uneasy truce between the two men in Bella’s life dissolves completely, but not before Bella is saved, naturally. As if you expected anything less.
This blog, like many other aspects of my life (both online and, you know, real life), has faced mounting neglect these past few weeks. That’s all about to change, however, because I am leaving for a trip to the Philippines that will last for two months. Yep, two months. Jealous?
Not only will I be able to see my boyfriend (long-distance relationships are not easy, to put it mildly), but I’ll also be able to catch up on all the reading that I’ve been planning to do. This is what my suitcase looks like right now:
I’m not sure where I’m going to put all my clothes and the numerous pasalubong parcels my relatives have requested, so I must make this brief; there’s still packing and repacking and last-minute shopping to attend to. The next time I post, I will be enjoying a book in the sunny climes of the Philippines. ^_^
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