Reading at Midnight

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Formulaic and fun...?

So weird to have a feel-good moment after you realized the book started with a suicidal character. I dunno. Suddenly I feel guilty for feeling optimistic about the plot when in fact, the writer is simply profiteering with depression kineso like Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life.

Sometimes, a book can give you a toxic positivity vibin'. Hays.

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Silly Sally - My Third Read

Mr Salary by Sally Rooney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

That's helluvah ton of kinikimkim na damndamin! It's a short story, but can actually be a part of a novel. Some say that this is her writing exercise before starting conversations with friends. It's weird though, this is the second time that I encounter a plotline depicting an electra complex. Naol nabibilhan ng bet nya sa shopping eme. Charot not charot.

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Tangina ng mga Sadboi minsan.

All the Sad Young Literary Men by Keith Gessen
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Really? Reading a novel with a Russianism-fanatic character? In the middle of Russian imperialism to Ukraine? *trashtalk intensifies*

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Reminiscient of Martial Law

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What in the actual mindfcuk is this novel? I thought this is supposed to be plot-driven, but this speculative fiction is more reminiscient of the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Haruki Murakami, with a splash of Jose Saramago's Blindness. It is very metaphorical! The main character is a novelist who has published books about disappearances. Her last work, about a typist with a disappearing voice, was made throughout the timeline of her life with a draconian world in Memory Police.

I am a bit disappointed with the lack of a plot development on the Memory Police's point-of-view, but I believe Yoko deliberately wrote it this way for us to realize that a fascist regime really hates disclosing their activities and plans. This rings true when a state is under a Martial Law (i.e. Philippines and South Korea) or even under the State of Emergency (i.e. Singapore).

What I loved in the translation is how simple the words were made, and yet, it cuts deep. Perhaps the employment of passive voice bears more power in translating the Japanese soul of the characters rather than the usual active voice (as how the West creates their prose). Also, I love the allegory of holding a ritual when a thing disappears. Remarkable parts are (1) the roses floating in the river and (2) the burning of the library. I am not much aware of the most Japanese, but they really are into hoarding mementos / souvenirs, and as one lets go of it, a ceremony of hand-off is being held.

If only this is more of an action film-like prose, I might get through this novel in one sitting.

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First Read is not a Good Read

Jack by Marilynne Robinson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

First read of the year and I am tired already.

It's a trainwreck of sadboi sentiments splashed with prosaic poetry, random encounters, and religious outtakes. Prince of Darkness, my ass. Jack has a whiny voice, but since it is a male character, it is muted with sadboi dramas circa 1950-1960s boomer energy.

Bad BAAADDD reading experience of Marilynne's work, she shouldn't create another Gilead saga with Jack as the main character. Predestination is not a good literary agency in this work.

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My 2022 Reading Plans

Before the year ends, I hope to read at least one from this list: 

• Carry-forwards from 2018 - other books that are mentioned in Books that Taught us that Love is Painfully Ordinary. 
• I wish HAVE TO FINISH The Infatuations by Javier Marías. Another Gina Apostol work: RAYMUNDO MATA MADE ME UNDERGO A HUGE READING SLUMP, but 
• I am decided to read more of her works. Bibliolepsy is coming out soon. 
• Post-modern work: 1 Foreign. 
• I have a copy of Wittgenstein's Mistress by David Markson. 
• Get into a Buddy-Reading spree! Hopefully, I won't feel any pressure this year. Audio-book - uh, guys, I appreciate a copy being sent to mariaellabetos[at]gmail[dot]com
• MIRACLE GOAL YEAR 2 is to read at least 5% of the Physical books in my existential-crisis-inducing-bookshelf!!!!
• rawr needed all your prayers and positive push to get this through!!! Oftentimes, Genshin is lifer so hahahahuhuhelp~

Silly Sally - My Second Read

Normal People by Sally Rooney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Gosh, Sally got me here.

Honestly, my comfort read is a novel spanning years, detailing the lives between two people, their on-and-off dynamics, their respective interactions with themselves and with other people. My first encounter of this great read was David Nicholl's One Day; Paolo Giordano's Solitude of Prime Numbers coming in close second. This book was the third.

I saw this book from a youtube teaser of Hulu's miniseries Normal People and its twitter raves of "thirst traps" between Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal, and how the actress looked like Dakota Johnson, only British. With their ASMRs of kissing scenes, that got me intrigued. Sorry not sorry lol.

All the while I thought this novel is how the author encapsulate a young millenial life: sex and cigarettes during high school, facebooking, messenger apps, college applications and scholarships. But then this also gives a glimpse of what the millenials also ignore (view spoiler)[or I guess, not being talked about much (hide spoiler)] in the early days — depression, anxiety, and sado-masochism. Yes, sorry for the spoiler, but it is Marianne who is into this kink. You will learn the hugot as you dwell into her domestic life, her school life, and her love life, Connell or no Connell.

Imagine tackling these difficult topics in a literary form that is not supposed to be preachy! I know that talking about sex or mental health is difficult, and if you want to have an imposing tone, you can go to the self-help section of the bookstore. Sally Rooney did not offer that. She wanted you to come and sit in the corner and read. And listen (or I guess in this novel, have a look). Added in a splash of social class, and how one feels in a world of meritocracy, mediocrity, and how everything seems to be a business, that even the art of writing is not spared. It is not as heavy as the Communist Manifesto, but Sally made a point that some things are tough because of some systemic issues, and its repercussions of one's interaction with the other.

I don't know, just try this book. This is my Sally Rooney's second book and I am entertained. You should try it. (view spoiler)[Personally, Beautiful World, Where are You is better in writing calisthenics, but this is more vibrant and colorful (hide spoiler)].

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Silly Sally - My First Read

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The author has made two explicit points about her being Irish:

1. The characters believed in God, even though some of them are not religious Catholics. Agnostic, even.
2. They discuss about social class. Even in their daily conversations!!! Who's literate or not, who hates their current job or what's one doing to get all the high-paying gigs and whatnot and so on and so forth.

Sa Pilipinas kasi, ang mga nag-uusap ng mga ganito ay maka-kaliwa, or ND Movement, or mga petit-burgis hipsters sa Catch22 lol

There are chapters that are not interesting enough:
1. Felix's daily grind in an Amazon-like warehouse outside of Dublin
2. The angsty episodes of Eileen (I think Sally created her for the white angsty drama, where she doesn't mind earning low pay because she has parents who love her and have a family home, but still this babaita thinks that her life is sad and miserable—until the last part of the book!!!)
3. Simon's INFJisas Kristo complexity of wanting to help young pathetic women (hahakdog, very first-world writing style, I know)

But the writing is entertaining, and I also cried for a bit when Felix sang a song and Alice looked at him and went ugly crying. My heart was tugged at that moment too. Maybe somehow I relate to that moment, I don't know. Maybe I was an Alice before who was looking for a man who doesn't like me really, but then found a man who really likes me. UwU

Good thing that I read this during this Pandemic as I can also relate to the bleak outlook of the future but still marching on.

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Dark Mirror-Esque

Charged Volume 1 by Siege Malvar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The book was released in lieu of the facebook phone-serye way back 2016. This is very much reminiscient of Black Mirror Season 3's Shut Up And Dance but the Netflix series gave it an ending of a stalemate. In this book, however, it ends openly, expecting a continuation of its tour de force. I am just not aware of its other installments, if they are published online via facebook, or offline via Visprint.

Rating did not change from 2018 to 2021. It was engaging, yes, but there are some literary peeves that I am a bit irritated as I read it again. (view spoiler)[I've read this in preparation for our podcast recording sessions. (hide spoiler)]

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Solidaridad Soledad Soliman Solosolosol

Gun Dealers' Daughter: A Novel by Gina Apostol
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow, my reading experience is an adventure!!!

I was tasked to moderate Gina's another novel, The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata, but since that book is more confusing and more tricky (with its literary styles), I tried searching for her other works in linear form. After her short story in Manila Noir, this came as another alternative. Bibliolepsy, meanwhile is to be re-released next year, by Soho Press. (view spoiler)[It's first edition was way back 1997 by the UP Press and is now out of print (hide spoiler)]

But then again, this book is not really straight-forward. It composed of puns, reiterating moments, scenes going around in circles, and ending scene with a carousel, taking the circular trip literally and figuratively. The book is about Soledad Soliman and her world revolving around the Alta-de-sociedad of the 70s, with the dictator & his wife on cameo, the latter singing Dandansoy and flexing her aesthetic tastes in music and art. Her parents, Frankie and Queenie, are those visionary businessmen who provides military might, via gun trade. They have a beshie who used to do gangster moves - Uncle Gianni, the soltero who helped Sol recuperate in Europe.

Reading the first part is hard for me, not engaging at times. It only kicked off when she started narrating her piece of story, at around chapter 6. After surviving the first 5 chapters with its confusing POVs, the plot started kicking in. It is not fast-paced, there are parts that circulate. Pages that ruminates. Lines being repeated, or words being reiterated. I liked its lyrical appeal. Also, some scenes are really memorable. The long queue of limousines at CCP because the audiences do not walk, the Philippine Insurgency medallion stirred over a coffee, and the fantasy of Sol and Jed doing the deed while stealing guns.

The ending is not like an action film, but rather an update of these Martial Law babies, and it seemed rather unattached to its full-circle effect. But sometimes this is how our stories play in our mind: sometimes intense, but mostly detached.

I suggest that GenZ should really read this to get our of their petit-bourgeois fantasies and really get a grasp of how the Pinoy society works, especially now that our social climate gets to its primitive dog-eat-dog realm.

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