I spend the last weekend with my friends from Goodreads TFG at Alabat Island, Quezon. Beach trips are fun, but the fun from spending almost 72 hours with friends that shares the same passion you have is unmatched.
The book I am reading is Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies. We are the only people on the beach — which leads me to thinking that the guy in the background near the dead tree is a manifestation of my imagination of R, the lead zombie character of Warm Bodies. 
Why? Why did I read this just now? I bought my copy a long time ago upon recommendation of people I thought my friends. If said people are real friends, they wouldn’t just recommend it, they should have tied me in a chair and forced me to read this. I reckon they don’t have to tie me in that chair too long because it only took a couple of pages before I fell in love with this amazing book. I frequently tell people that if only I could I would marry Paper Towns, but that has changed now. Paper Towns would be better off with Jellicoe Road and they will make wonderful, wonderful babies together. I should stop being a smartypants now and get on with it already. I want to bottle this moment, this feeling I have after reading Jellicoe Road and what better way to do that than writing about it?
For the first time since I started blogging, I won’t try to write my own summary of the book I’m reviewing. I simply cannot do it. The summary at the back tells us that it is a story about a girl named Taylor Markham, five teenagers in the past, and a road where it all happened. But there’s more to this book than that. Although we spend more than half of the time inside Taylor’s head, Jellicoe Road is a lot bigger than Taylor’s search for some sense of home and security. As the synopsis suggest, it is also about those five teenagers — Narnie, Web, Tate, Fitz and Jude — bonded by a freak accident that happened 22 years in the past. It’s a story of how their friendship help one another withstand the despair that is eating them. It’s also about Jonah Griggs, a boy who is scarred for life and the story of how he was saved from self-destruction. It is also about Rafaella and Santagello’s friendship and missed opportunities; and of 
Jessa’s wild innocence; and of Ben’s music and loyalty. Jellicoe Road is a book that is filled to the brim with genuinely sympathetic and nuanced characters. All of them are dear to me. I desired nothing but to step into the book and give each a hug — a hug that is not much of me comforting them but them reassuring me that they are going to be okay. I wanted to belong. Long to be. It’s a beautiful tale about loss, grief, and pain and at the same time of love, friendship and hope. I am in awe at how Ms. Melina Marchetta managed to do all this under 330 pages.
I know a lot of people say that the first half of the book was like a puzzle and way too confusing for its own good. Don’t get intimidated by that. There were tell-tale hints about how the two narratives come together, and I figured out in ways more than one the connection early on the story. I don’t mean to gloat. What I mean is that it is not rocket science and it is still well within the capabilities of an ordinary human mind. I figured it out and I don’t know how to tell you how that’s necessarily a bad thing. I knew it and I felt that Taylor also knew it and only seeks for confirmation — waiting for someone to tell us that it’s all real. Somehow that knowing makes the journey more painful and more lovely.
There were laughters shared and tears shed on the Jellicoe Road. There were mistakes made and forgiveness given. There was acceptance. There were tragedies and love stories. There were dreams shattered and dreams built. There was hope. I am thankful to Melina Marchetta for the opportunity to be part of those. I cannot think of better way to end this other than quoting a passage that perfectly summarizes everything I feel towards the book:
Other Reviews to Consider:
Persnickety Snark | Angieville | Forever Young Adult | The Book Harbinger
Steph Su Reads | One More Page | Chachic’s Book Nook | Ficsation
It’s BBAW Day 2 and today’s assignment is to interview another blogger. I was fortunate to get a really awesome interview swap partner, Emily from The Alcove. She’s a really cool lady, shares the same name of my aunt who is equally cool(I guess?). Just kidding! She gave awesome answers to my questions and I had lots of fun answering hers. Head on to her blog to see my(her?) interview after reading her(my?) interview. I am pretty sure I am the only one confusing myself so before I get completely riled up figuring whose interview it really is, I give you Emily.
Q. Tell us about yourself and your blog(the reason behind the name and how it came to be.):
Two years ago I carpooled to the National Book Festival in Washington, DC with Jennifer from The Literate Housewife. After the festival she met up with a bunch of other book bloggers for dinner, and since she was my ride home, I tagged along. That dinner was one of the highlights of the day. The bloggers I met were just such a funny, friendly group of people it completely changed my (very ignorant) view of bloggers.
For the next three months I toyed with the idea of writing my own blog, but I kept telling myself that I shouldn’t, that I didn’t have the time. (I was supposed to be spending all my free time working on my MA thesis.) I finally realized that writing a blog wouldn’t keep me from my thesis; I would just find other ways to procrastinate! So on December 26, 2009 I just went for it.
Believe it or not, you’re actually the first person to ask me about the name of my blog. On the third floor of the library at Hollins University there is a room called the “Children’s Alcove.” In that room is the library’s collection of scholarly work on children’s literature. In any other library those periodicals and books would be shelved alongside everything else, but at Hollins they get their own room. To me, it’s a testament to the value the school places on the work of past, present and future students, scholars and writers of children’s literature. That room is my favorite spot on campus, and it seemed only natural to borrow the name for my own blog.
Q. Have your reading preferences changed since you started blogging?
I was about to say yes, but the more I think about it, the more I realize the answer is actually no. I read a wider variety of books than I did before, and I read a lot of books based solely on the recommendation of other bloggers, but my core preferences are pretty much the same.
Q. What kind of book blog do you like best — review-heavy blogs, meme-heavy blogs or discussion post-heavy blogs? Name some of the blogs you frequent?
I love discussion-post-heavy blogs, but I’ve discovered that I have a tendency to skip them if I feel like I don’t have the time or brain power to devote to thinking and responding to the discussion. I don’t read a lot of meme-heavy blogs, although I don’t mind the occasional meme. Review-heavy blogs with random bookish or non-bookish posts thrown in tend to be my favorite.
Some of my current favorite blogs (in no particular order) are Jenny’s Books, things mean a lot, The Literate Housewife, books i done read, Estella’s Revenge, eclectic/eccentric, and Fyrefly’s Book Blog.
Q. I see that you have a wide-range of genre of books you blog about, but do you have a specific genre you favorite to review? Is there any genre you avoid reading and reviewing?
Not really, no. I don’t pay very much attention to genre when I choose which books to review. I review the books I feel like discussing.
I don’t read a lot of romance, particularly not (don’t shoot, blogosphere!) paranormal romance. I’m not a fan of horror or books with lots of blood (I like my murders clean, thank you very much). I haven’t been reading as much sci-fi and fantasy as I used to, either, although I’m not sure why. But these aren’t hard-and-fast rules. I try to keep an open mind, so if someone raves about a book that’s outside of what I normally read, I usually give it a shot.
Q. Do you have a blogging pet peeve?
An over-abundance of exclamation points. I get ridiculously excited about books, too, so I understand the need for them. But when there are more exclamation points than words, my brain starts to hurt.
Q. List 5 books from different genres you think everyone should read and why.
Only five??? Fine. How about . . .
Juvenile Fiction: Coraline by Neil Gaiman; illustrated by Dave McKean. This is the book that made me fall in love with Neil Gaiman. It has fantastic dialogue, a resourceful heroine, a sarcastic cat, a cast of oddball characters, and creepy illustrations. It is also absolutely brilliant.
Classic: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. When I reread this book a year ago I was so worried it wouldn’t live up to my memory of it. I was one page into the novel when tears suddenly spilled from my eyes, and I realized that yes, this book is still one of the most extraordinary things ever written.
Nonfiction: Whatever it Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America by Paul Tough. This book does more than just follow Geoffrey Canada’s work in Harlem – it explores every aspect of poverty and the U.S. educational system. I am the child of two teachers and I used to teach preschool, so I am no stranger to our educational system and its flaws. Yet even I was blown away by what I read. Everyone needs to read this.
Adult Fiction: Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich. While I don’t think this is her best work, (that award goes to The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse), this is the Erdrich book to start with. Her writing is filled with complex characters and storytelling so raw it will make your heart bleed.
Picture Book: The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Talesby Jon Scieszka; illustrated by Lane Smith. This book is sheer brilliance from beginning to end. It is also fairly stupid, but hilariously so. Read this, then read the rest of the Scieszka and Smith collaborations. Then call me for a gush-fest.
Q. Give us three things that you always look for a book –regardless of the genre — before you consider it a favorite.
Characters: I tend to gravitate toward character-driven rather than plot-driven books, so interesting, multi-dimensional characters are important to me.
The Mechanics: By mechanics, I mean everything – sentence structure, grammar, transitions, dialogue, tone, subtlety, continuity (if a character is wearing a green shirt on one page they cannot suddenly be wearing a blue one on the next), etc. I know I sound picky here, but I studied literature for years. It’s really hard for me to overlook this stuff.
Humor: You make me laugh, and I’m yours forever.
Of course, a book doesn’t have to have all of these things for me to consider it a favorite.
Q. Outside reading and blogging, what are your hobbies?
I love baking, especially desserts. I make a killer cheesecake.
Q. The Doctor is going to give you a one-way ride in his TARDIS to a fictional place of your choice with ONE fictional character, where and who would that be?
Okay, it was hard enough picking just five books earlier, now you want me to choose ONE character and ONE place? That’s just cruel.
Q. Three blogging guidelines you think every book blogger should follow.
I only have one blogging guideline, and I’m going to steal it from the Bard: “To thine own self be true.” (Wait, what? He wasn’t talking about blogs? Hmmm, maybe I need to reread Hamlet . . .)
Seriously, though, I think bloggers should just be themselves. Want to write serious, analytical reviews? Go for it. Want to be snarky and sarcastic? Fine. Want to gush for fifteen paragraphs straight? Knock yourself out. Sure, I may not read a lot of meme-heavy blogs, and lots of exclamation points drive me up the wall, but so what? If that’s your writing style, then that’s your writing style. We need diversity in the blogosphere as much as we need it everywhere else.
Did I told you she’s awesome? I agree a 100% on her blogging guideline. I don’t care one bit for blogs who doesn’t have any sense of individuality. It’s a bit harsh, I know, but there are a lot of book blogs out there, tell show me exactly why I should read you instead of the other or what makes you different from them. Blogs only get interesting if the personality of the blogger shines through in his/her blog. And readers only read interesting blogs. Don’t be the bi-product of society’s imposed standards, my friends!
What, two post in one day? You’re probably thinking someone hacked into my account or a non-procrastinator shapeshifter murdered me, disguised as me and took over my life and my blog. (Kudos to anyone who got the reference.) (And no, it’s not paranormal YA shapeshifter. How dare you to think of me to use that kind of reference?) (And why am I talking inside parentheses?) Tomorrow this blog turns two — well, you figured that out with this post’s title — and I thought of changing it’s theme. This theme is supposed to “debut” tomorrow, but it’s the first annual Filipino ReaderCon and I might not be able to go online for the entire day. So here you go, a very rare two-post-in-a-day event.
Truth be told, I kind of hate my old theme. I love the background and I love what I did to the header, but the thing that I didn’t like is the font size of the posts. It’s too huge! It’s really hard to read even in my 15″ monitor and it’s very inconvenient to write a post on WordPress’ WYSIWIG editor. As shallow as it may sound, it was one of the reasons behind the infrequent update on my blog. I had to change it.
I have to think of a theme that will go well with my personality just like the first one did. Because of the Jason Mraz concert here in the Philippines on October, I immediately thought of his song that I play every morning a year ago. Seriously, I thought of it as a mantra during that time and I learned how to rap(a bit) because of it. Post title spoiled it again. Yes, it’s Geek in the Pink. No one would expect a guy blogger have a pink blog and I think that is pretty cool. But then again, a pink theme? That’s pretty hard to pull. Pink shirts look cool but a pink blog, how can I make a pink blog still look like maintained by a guy? It was a challenge and challenges I do love. Fuck it. I’m going to make Guy Gone Geek a pink blog using my minimal graphic designing skills. Few days later a brilliant idea struck me, why shouldn’t I turn the usual blue theme on its head? Blueprints! This time around on a pink background. And there you have it. What you see now is the product of a few hours patience with my always reliable GIMP editor. I used a 1370×740 model so the background is seen in its entirety on a 14-15″ monitor.
The theme won’t be the only thing that will change here on Guy Gone Geek. This blog won’t be limited to book-related post anymore. The reviews and other bookish geekery will still be there, but there will also be random updates especially about my favorite tv series. Basically, I will be blogging about all forms of my inherent geekiness.
Did you like it? Or did I enjoyed GIMP too much and went overboard? I would love to hear you honest opinion! The background image is 2.2Mb, does it take too long before it loads on your screen? Also, I have no idea what the machine in the background is supposed to do. If you have any (crazy) idea, leave it on the comments!
Networking is a part of blogging I’m not really good at. If I would liken my blogging to a YA novel, it’ll be akin to Charlie’s story from Perks of Being a Wallflower — or in my case, Perks of Being a Blog Lurker. I rarely share and participate, I remain on the fringes and observe how it all unfolds. That is something I strive to change, I really do. I rarely leave comment even if the review or post got me thinking. I also read comments, you see, and if I noticed that what I want to say has already been said I won’t repeat it again. I have this theory that one day the data on the netspace will overflow the whole netspace will explode, then all the people who relied on it will be brain-dead because of too much rage, disappointment and regret. Yeah, I need to stop reading too much apocalyptic novels. Being the huge lurker that I am, there are only a handful of bloggers that I got to communicate with. They made my first year of blogging so much easier, I guess they deserve some acknowledgements.
Tina of One More Page: She’s the one who encouraged me to start a blog. Her reviews are often thoughtful; the kind that makes you think and reflect even if you haven’t read the book. She writes what she feels and open to share her life to her readers. That is something I really admire and have to learn doing. Aside from that, she’s been really supportive and we often talk about the latest blogosphere gossip over at skype. She’s like a bookish big sister to me and she even dug the Point Zero when she went to Paris so she can give it to me! Best. Sister. Ever!
Chachic of Chachic’s Book Nook: Another blogger I know in real life even before I started blogging. Her enthusiasm for blogging and reading is very evident on her blog posts, tweets, facebook updates, and tumblr posts and everywhere else. It seems that she can’t get enough of books even her tbr pile amounts to 100+ books. Chachic is really really nice and that’s why she receives so much love in the blogosphere. She is also the culprit behind our local book blogger club and book depository’s free shipment here in the Philippines, hence her title, Chachic, Her Majesty. 
Steph of Steph Su Reads: I always look forward to reading her review and her posts. Whenever I read her review, it inspires me to write one myself, and I do really need some inspiration to write a review since I am a big procrastinator. Then she featured me on her blog and it was, by far, one of the best blogging experience I have. I am only a starting blogger that time(until now, I think) and for someone outside my real-life friends to notice that I am doing something right is the confidence boost I needed.
Rhys of Thirst for Fiction: An awesome awesome guy I met because of blogging. In a place dominated by female, it is really nice to know someone who shares the same preferences, same concerns as you do. He writes excellent reviews, sometimes I forgot he’s only sixteen! His blog is the place to go if you want some good male-friendly Young Adult books.
That’s it for now. There’s a few more I should mention who, in their own ways, helped me and inspired me to continue the life of Guy Gone Geek, but that would result to a pretty long list. Rest assured, those bloggers are on my sidebar. I don’t add links that easily. So people on my sidebar, thank you! You guys are awesome! I learned to like this community and I am definitely here to stay.
