Arlene Manocot's Blog, page 12

Pandayan Bookshop Shopee 8.8 Sale Book Haul: The Marupok Edition

I wonder if you still remember what I mentioned from my previous blog about my NBS 99 Sale. I thought that would be the last set of books I would buy this year, but 8.8 Shopee Sale came and Pandayan Bookshop joined.  The discounted prices of the books are such a steal and I was also eyeing the books since the other month, but they were out of stock. So Pandayan Bookshop refilled their stocks and I couldn't resist the offer. haha. 
I would like to try the books written by Marcelo Santos III, so there I got two books by him for 50 pesos each. My interest to try Santos' books brought out the "marupok" in me, and here I thought it is only in love that people can be "marupok"  so I was wrong, so, so wrong. And just to justify my purchase, since August is the month of Pambansang Wika in the Philippines, it can be a gesture of my support to the works of the Filipino authors, since all my purchases are written in our national language and again written by Filipinos. Salute!
I am excited to read them especially Mahal mo siya, Mahal ka ba? and Para sa Hopeless Romantic, but I still have a book to finish the ones from the other book sale events I willingly got myself into. I don't want to leave them unread, please, for the love of books. 

Just a Stranger (Ang Nobela) by Blaise C. Gacoscos is a novel version of the movie starring Anne Curtis and Marco Gumabao and I haven't watched it, it intrigues me a little and since the price was on sale along with Office Petiks by Stanley Chi I added them to the cart. "Addutu cart now," Lee Min Ho says, who am I to say no. Char, Lazada pala 'yun haha 
 

So, this time I will not say that this will be my last haul for this year. I'm a little embarrassed that I wasn't able to keep it. Let's just enjoy our books and read them haha 

It's Ramona Forever for You, Very Clearly

Ramona forever and ever!
This is my second book from Beverly Cleary and I got this one from the NBS 99 Sale recently. I first encountered Ramona from the movie adaptation "Ramona and Beezus" and it was a good feel movie. Selena Gomez was there so I kinda like to watch the movie, but looking back it is a film worthy of a rewatch just by seeing the trailer it takes me to that blissful and refreshing happy childhood I had.
Ramona Forever is one of the eight books in the Ramona Quimby Series and as I read some information from Wikipedia about the children's book novel series, it amazes me that Cleary takes me back to the year 1955, which was a long long time ago and it shows me a glimpse of what it was like way, way back then. I intend to read the whole series and am frugal as I am, I look for 2nd handbook shops or during book sales for the other installments of the novel. 
The Family Quimby just brings a lot of fun in the world. I like how Cleary shows the reality of life in this series in the lives of ordinary people like the Quimby's. Her simple, clear, and straight-to-the-point narratives engage readers like me into Ramona's thoughts and feelings. It is a heartwarming story even for the not-so-children anymore. In my early 30s, it still wells my heart and it has taught and reminded me with life lessons about the importance of family with good and proper communication. Roberto and Dorothy as parents are portraying such a good job in dealing with the antics of their daughters. It appears to me that they and the rest of the Quimby family along with their friends and neighborhoods live a modest life while living it to the fullest and making the most of it. 
This is such a good feel book I would never regret getting my hands on and a legacy left behind by Beverly Cleary. And as always, I was reminded of this verse by the upbringing of the Quimby sisters by their Quimby parents. Quimby, Quimby!
Train up a child in the way he should go,
[a]And when he is old he will not depart from it.
~Proverbs 22:6 New King James Version

A Walk in the Clouds and A Time for Everything

A Walk in the Clouds, according to Wikipedia, is a 1995 American movie remake of the 1945 Italian film Four Steps in the Clouds. I was unaware of its existence not until a friend recommended watching it. I got interested since Keannu Reeves is the male lead, who doesn't like Reeves. I mean if there are some, I know that most people know him and like him a bit if not much. I am more familiar with the Constantine movie series since I am inclined with plots about angels and demons, but romance movies starring him, not one bit interested before. 
I took a chance on this movie which deals with a lot of chances in life as well as wrong choices and decisions. It was a roller coaster ride love story of Sgt. Paul Sutton (who was then tied with Betty) and Victoria Aragon (a graduate student who got pregnant by her professor) at the end of World War II.
The story filled me with mixed feelings. I wanted to root for the male and female leads, sincerely and in full force, but I was quite concerned by their circumstances. They both had committed and uncommitted relationships with different persons and naturally they should end up with the person they fell in love with the first time. I was being inflexible while I watched the movie. I thought their relationship was wrong. Sutton should stay with his cheating wife and Aragon should find that bastard professor and let him marry her, only if I was the writer of that story, but I was not. 
I learned a lot from the film like how everything could all go wrong with one single lie and only a few things that could go right, and one thing that I regretted the most was the farm of grapes got burned. Sayang! At the end of the movie, I was more concerned with the grapes and how they would rebuild the vineyard, which would take them a lot of time, effort, and hard work.
A Walk in the Clouds reminded me of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV). There is a season for everything under the heavens and there is the one and the only divine being who is in control of everything He allows to happen. Be joyful and hopeful in every season. Rejoice and hope in the season where you at right now.

A Time for Everything 

1 There is a time for everything,

    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2     a time to be born and a time to die,

    a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3     a time to kill and a time to heal,

    a time to tear down and a time to build,

4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,

    a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

6     a time to search and a time to give up,

    a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7     a time to tear and a time to mend,

    a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

I Found True Love in Him

What is true love?It would be difficult to answer this question. Maybe in my early years as a human being, it would be a simple question to answer. But this kind of query had evolved and became a complex one as life gives its best to the feeble time I have here on earth. 
In this book by Jenny King, true love is that one person who will spend his or her life with you, for better or for worse, until death do you part. I must say that I had the same interpretation and perspective of true love. That must be the reason, why I had always been looking but not really intentionally getting or entering into a relationship with the opposite sex. I thought I could find true love in boys or in men. Though I was not specifically fond of interacting with them, I did have that longing or yearning to be crush back or love back by a boy or a man whom I was interested in. I was always waiting on the receiving end without even giving, ironic wasn't it.
The book Discover & Keep True Love shared a lot of practical tips on how to find a partner with whom you intended to be married with. I am already talking about marriage here where in fact I haven't had a boyfriend, well it's never wrong to be prepared just in case. haha. Spare me with your teasing, I know, I know, but I just want to take a chance on this book. I remember my co-teacher saying that by reading the books I bought from her I may increase my chance of getting a boyfriend and be married. I laughed at her jokes, or maybe she was serious. I don't know. This book just interests me and the other two books are Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris and To Know Him Completely by Jenny King. So in total, there are three books to read to have a bigger chance in the sea of fish. 
I was looking at the wrong places and the wrong persons. True love was never found, only fleeting feelings. There was pain and struggles because of unrequited love or crushes and those made me feel antagonistic towards couples who were head over heels with each other. I was bitter at some point in my life, but I am glad that I found Him, or more like He found me before it's too late, or maybe He found me at the right time because his timing is always perfect. 
It is never wrong to desire or to want someone with whom you can build a family of your own or exchange the undying oath of "Till Death Do Us Part". I still do, I desire to be with someone. I surrendered it to Him, and I think it is a moment-by-moment thing. I just pray that He prepares my heart for the will He has in my life. I believe I am in my waiting season, so by faith and strength that are from Him, I patiently wait. But until when? God only knows.  
Who is true love?Let me rephrase the question, who is true love? Let me leave the answer below, and may you seek Him because He wants you to receive the truest true love:
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~Romans 5:8

NBS 99 Sale Haul on a Tight Budget

NBS 99 Sale is extended until the end of August 2021. Despite doing some major budgeting for the two months, I was able to squeeze in at least 6 books, 5 of them are from the National Book Store Shopee account and 1 from their branch at Pavillion Mall Biñan. These are the books I got online and their discounted prices:
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach - P99 Desert God by Wilbur Smith - P100The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon - P99Ramona Forever by Beverly Cleary - P50Sword of Destiny by Justin Hill - P100
It was packed pretty well and got more discounts via Shopee coins and vouchers, so in total, I spent 336 pesos for 5 books. I thought that was a pretty good deal I guess. hehe.  And this is the biggest sale with huge discounts I ever experienced from the National Book Store plus the mode of payment is COD or Cash-on-Delivery via Shopee platform, I didn't want to miss it. I got nothing from BBW 2021 online sale since they have a payment first policy and the delivery could take months.

Then, just the other day after claiming our loot bags from Gabay Guro with my co-teachers, we also dropped by at the NBS branch of Pavillion Mall. I wasn't able to resist the charm of the books though I was really trying my best not to be tempted, I decided to buy one book by Sophie Kinsella. Shopaholic and Sister was such a steal for a price of 63 pesos from 351 pesos. So why not squeeze another book on my tight budget. hehe. Justification. haha. I am hopeless. 

So for NBS 99 Sale, I spent a total of 399 for 6 books. I need to cut and stop buying for this year since I still have TBR on my shelves. haha. How about you? What are your experiences with this year's NBS 99 Sale? What's in your haul?

I Surrender To Know Him Completely

Men have always been a mystery to me. For sure I had a lot of ideas about them based on the environment I grew up in, books I read, movies, and series I have watched, I thought I knew them well enough. But now, here at the moment, I realize that it is only a peak of an iceberg and some are biased or stereotyped or even a fabricated version of what a man is or can be or should be. I was clueless, out of footing, and in a bliss of ignorance.
The male type of human species was a threat and a danger to me. They are enemies. Violent, angry, and abusive were only a few of the impressions I had towards them. Though I had a few crushes and infatuations from the male type species, it didn't diminish the bad impression I had with the group. I guess it was the idea of a perfect or fictional image of a man that I created based on them that made me fall for or like them, which most of the time were too ideal to be real. 
I reconciled this off feeling towards men when I surrendered it to God. There are still times I get too conscious and suspicious towards men, but I am aware that it is a moment-by-moment surrendering, it is not a one-time thing for me for now. I am looking forward to that time when this ill-feeling will completely vanish in my heart, and I am glad that I am in that process. 
When I accepted how sinful and imperfect I am, and how Jesus Christ paid for my sins and that through Him I was forgiven, I was able to forgive him, them, those who did something to me, to my innocence. And also through the redeeming power of Jesus Christ, my dark past no longer has its grip on me. He freed me from shame and guilt that haunted me for a very long time. He made me anew. He brought peace to my life. He accepted me and transformed my life.    
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!
2 Corinthians 5:17So the recent book I read, Know Him Completely by Jenny King, gave me some practical tips or information that can be or may be useful in understanding or at least have a little idea on how to deal with M. Again, I agreed and sometimes disagreed with the author as I read the book. There are some ideas that I think are outdated, that's for me, and there are also a few helpful tips that I appreciated so much. Better yet, try reading this book by Ms. King, and you may tell me what you think by commenting down below or sending me a private message. See you. 

We Can All Be Beautiful, You and Me

When I was younger and so oblivious of what really matters in life, I thought beauty is only skin deep. that beauty can only be achieved only if you are perfect, if you aren't, then being beautiful is too far from your reach. And this kind of mindset pestered me unceasingly during my adolescent years and early and late 20s, I thought I can only be called beautiful, only if I am perfect, free from all flaws and imperfections. I wanted to be a good example of the manufactured beauty of society. I did the best I could in my own way to be perfect, but in the end, I was far more than being perfect, even light-years away. The sad part during those times of insecurities and dissatisfaction with my physical appearance is I took for granted some people who appreciated and accepted me the most, the real me, the imperfect me, with a beauty that I failed to recognize because of the unrealistic expectations from myself.
It is only in recent years that I finally accepted that true beauty is more than meets the eye. That anyone and everyone can be called beautiful. The true beauty that we all possess within us is something that we fail to recognize most of the time. I thought beauty is something that I see physically from celebrities, models, and the likes. They are all gorgeous and I thought I wanted to become like them, look like them, but I was so wrong trying to copycat them. I may not look like any other celebrities or models out there, but I am glad that it is never too late for me to accept and appreciate the imperfections I have and recognize the true beauty God has given me. 
You can be beautiful outside but completely rotten inside. Cliche and supernatural it may sound, I feel most beautiful when I have peace and contentment, and when I said peace, I mean "the" true peace.
3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 
1 Peter 3:3-4
You Can Be Beautiful by Diana Reyes is another preloved book that I got from my co-teacher. It took me more than a month to finish this book. I have to be honest I disagree with some of the ideas I encounter from this book. You may want to read the book to know exactly what I mean. In general, it is a self-help book that showcases practical tips on how to be beautiful, especially for women. You have all the right to apply or not to follow the recommended tips that you may come face to face from the book. It is helpful in its own way and you can get some helpful reminders to improve or add light to the way we see beauty.

Jujutsu Kaisen makes GojoHime a Canon (Onegaishimasu...)

I just finished another series. 

Jujutsu Kaisen is an anime series based on a manga by Gege Akutami. Attack On Titan Season 4 led me here. They are both produced by Mappa Studio. I like the style of the characters I mean who wouldn't. (hehe) So, as I watched the series I learned that Jujutsu Kaisen is translated in English as Sorcery Fight.

I was hesitant to take a chance on this series since it has a violent theme and a lot of fight scenes are to be expected that's why I withdrew from watching JJK right away after finishing the season of AOT. After a month or two have passed, I finally had the courage to watch Jujutsu Kaisen. I had a high expectation for JJK since I heard and read a lot of raving about it, and again I repeat, the graphic style of the characters really got me at first sight. Just like many of us, if not all, I must say that Gojo Satoru did all the luring. He expectantly charmed the anime fans into watching Jujutsu Kaisen. (haha)

I haven't read the manga, and I am never planning to. I guess I'll stick to its anime series for now, and wait for the second season since the author is on hiatus. 

Jujutsu Kaisen falls under the genre of adventure, dark fantasy, and supernatural, I decided to prepare my heart and mind, and it is a good decision I made. There are a lot of fight scenes in JJK and deaths are something that is unavoidable. Heartbreaking as it is, it is a reality that humans have to reconcile with; be it in your favorite story or in real life. But still, it is difficult for me to move on whenever someone has to say goodbye in the series. There are also hilarious scenes in the series which I think balance the morbidity a little.

Mappa Studio never fails to amaze me with their production. The fight scenes were incredibly and smoothly executed. It felt eerie watching the fight scenes and your heart won't be able to rest. It is a good anime to watch if you prefer this kind of genre, but if not please pass on this one.

This is not a romance-themed story and I am aware of that, but I just can't help to notice the chemistry and possible budding of romance between Iori Utahime and Gojo Satoru. If you have watched or you are planning to watch the series I am sure that you will notice it too. I totally ship them. They can be a canon, soon. (hehe)

Canon or Fanon?

Have you watched or are you planning to watch JJK? Share your thoughts. 

Boy Meets Girl, But When Will My Turn Come?

If I'll be honest, this book definitely got tons of tears from me. It is not about a drama, but this book made me realized of the wrong things this I have been doing and worldly perspective of being in a relationship. It hurts a little, but really I must say it hurts so much to be convicted of how wrong I was in the past. I was self-centered and wanted a relationship that was centered on me. I imagined a very unhealthy and ungodly relationship. I was always looking for the wrong kind of relationship which thankfully never transpired or even migrated to the next level. I now consider those unfruitful longing as God's way of protecting me from the worst.
Boy Meets Girl: Say Hello to Courtship by Joshua Harris is a self-help Christian book about dating and relationships. It is a pre-loved book I got from my co-teacher who persistently asked me to buy the book along with other titles, and I am so glad I gave in to her and bought them. She even lured me by saying that if I buy those books I would be able to get a partner right away and I knew that she was just bluffing, and honest to goodness, I didn't give in to her because of that (hehe). I just genuinely like to get the books even though I was hesitant at first since I just recently bought a few titles from NBS Sale at that time, so I was trying to cut my expenses with book buying and didn't want to got beyond the budget.
So again, as I mentioned I am happy to have this book and finally read it since I have always been curios about this title because I have seen it many times from some of the book themed group page on Facebook. Unlike any other books that I sell after reading them, this one is for keeps I have no intention of selling it even thought it has some misprints particularly on chapter 7, there are two chapter 7 in this edition. But if I get to buy a better edition then I might change my mind. 
Boy meets girl, but when will my turn come? Hmm... I no longer dwell so much on that question these past few years. I learned from my D-Group leader to pray for it, to pray for him, if he is part of God's plan in my life. I even prayed that if it isn't His will, please remove or take away this desire in my heart, but guess what He hasn't. I already surrender this to the Lord and through His grace I try to live a life that is glorifying to His name and I am still trying until now. I desire to have a relationship that is wholly God-centered. I may doubt my faith in Him sometimes, but He remains faithful. 

"God's way really is best. His timing is perfect. Wating on Him is more than worth it. Honoring Him and practicing His principles as you walk the path to marriage will lead you to the greatest joy and fulfillment." ~Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris

    
Page 211 got me sobbing and reflecting hard, and I was greatly reminded of God's love and grace. I super recommend this book. It offers a holistic approach to dating and relationship and covers everything you need to know before getting ahead of yourself if you are "under the influence".
Read this book and tell me what you think, I would love to hear your thoughts.

Big Bad Wolf Returns to PH in the New Normal

 

Finally, alas! Our waiting is never in vain. The Big Bad Wolf is coming to town.
This is what we all have been waiting for my fellow bookworms. For those of you who do not know what or who is the Big Bad Wolf. Let me brief you a little. According to their Facebook page, Big Bad Wolf Books (The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale or BBW Books) is a Malaysian book fair frequently held in Malaysia, Thailand Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. The books were majorly taken from the stocks of BookXcess, a book store dealing in excess or remaindered books from international distributors. The Sale was the brainchild of BookXcess founders Andrew Yap and Jacqueline Ng. It was first held on 13–18 May 2009 for 5 days at Dataran Hamodal, Petaling Jaya. 
The book fair sells all kinds of book genres, for example, fiction, non-fiction, novels, literature, children's literature, and young adult fiction. It also sells merchandise including collectible books and posters, wallpaper, movie posters, tin-plated signs, and their own merchandise.
Big Bad Wolf first arrived in the Philippines in the year 2018 and has been going on since then. We are so used to physical displays of thousands and thousands of books and for me, it is always a sight and a paradise to experience BBW at the World Trade Center, Manila. I am glad that despite our situation right now, the team behind BBW made it possible to bring us the book fair we all have doubted to come into reality this 2021. But here we are now, it is happening again, finally!
Our most awaited book sale will go online this year and we will all experience and enjoy discounts up to 99% OFF for everyone in the Philippines, nationwide. Isn't that a lot better compared to the other years? The book fair will be OPEN ONLINE from June 30 - July 7 in the BBW's exclusive portal: https://signup-ph.bbwbooks.com/. Sign up now, because I already did!