Do you wanna know a secret?

The Secret actually works!

I read it a couple of years ago and started rereading it recently when I was feeling all negative. And boy, did things turn around! It's little things and big things and everything in between, for example: On Sunday til Monday, I was seriously craving for fro yo. Then Monday, while waiting for friends, a lady handed me a card for free yogurt at a newly opened store! And I've been thinking about Boracay...and all of a sudden, I got an email saying I had a free trip lined up! Completely out of the blue. (Can't make it coz the dates are wrong though...perhaps I should've been more specific. But still!)

I know skeptics might think it's all coincidence, but seriously, if you multiply those events by ten (which is pretty much what I've experienced in the last overwhelming couple of weeks), you kind of start to believe. I know some people think it's new age-y and all that. And maybe it is. But don't knock it til you've tried it!

On my nightstand

Poirot's Early Cases by Agatha Christie

Mystery, I've recently rediscovered, is one of my favorite genres. I remember being introduced to old-school Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew in second grade. Every Friday, I would borrow a hard-bound book from the library and spend my Saturday afternoon just reading. I can't remember when I stopped doing this. But I do remember that I was one of the few people who had to get another library card because I borrowed a lot more books than other students! Yes, I was (am) a nerd.

I first read Agatha Christie a few years ago, when a celeb I interviewed mentioned that his favorite book was And Then There Were None (also known as Ten Little Indians). He absolutely raved about the book, so my curiosity was piqued. I must admit I wasn't all that impressed with the book, but started reading Christie again after finding a few volumes at my brother-in-law's. This particular book is a collection of short mystery stories featuring one of Christie's beloved heroes, M. Hercule Poirot. I like the short story format because I don't have to read an entire novel before I find out whodunnit! My favorite so far is "The Chocolate Box," because it seemed like the most plausible. While all mysteries have clues peppered here and there, this story seemed like it gave all the necessary info for the reader to solve it, no weird new info revealed in the end.

The Long Tail by Chris Anderson

No, not the Birdman. This Chris Anderson is the editor in chief of US magazine Wired. So anyway, yeah, non-fiction. I'm not big on the non-fiction. It's funny how H's row on our bookshelf is all non-fiction, while mine is full of fiction. At a bookstore once, he tried to persuade me to go for something more "useful" by getting a non-fiction title. "I'm a writer. Fiction inspires me," I said coolly, and he just let me have my way. In truth, I am just not a non-fiction kind of girl. But Frances told me about this book after we talked about making money off of blogs!

"The Long Tail" is a term coined by Anderson in an article he wrote for his magazine, and it has since become one of the most cited articles in recent times. It talks about how the Internet is changing the way business is done. In business, he explains, there are those items that sell the most (the hits) at the top of a downward curve. This curve includes all other items a business has to offer, right down to those that sell few to zero units (the tail). Interestingly enough, when it comes to virtual stores, this tail stretches seemingly endlessly, with even the most obscure items selling at least one unit. It's all about niches now--selling less of more.

I've just started on the book, and I'm flexing my brain because I'm expecting a whole lot of statistics and economics (not my strong suit, even though I do come from a family of economists!). That part of my brain has lain dormant for a few years. Time to dust off the cobwebs!

Jane Austen in Beverly Hills

So, I didn't know that this movie (a modern classic)...

...was actually based on:

So who's clueless now?

Forgive me, I wasn't a big reader of the classics when I was younger, but now I try to alternate between classic and contemporary works. After I saw and read Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's works quickly made it onto my reading list. I thought it would be better to see the movie (if there was one) before reading any of her books because I found that it gave me a better appreciation and understanding of the prose. But seeing as there was no Emma DVD on hand, I just decided to plunge into it and hoped I wouldn't get lost in the language.

The deeper I got into the book, the more I realized that it was a lot like one of my 90s favorites. And true enough, I only recently learned that Clueless really was loosely based on Emma—so I have seen it after all!

And that is what you call huli sa balita! Nearly 15 years too late!

Bitten, smitten

After my post about the idiotic 5% levy, consider this an ode to books...

~*~*~*~

I tend to avoid anything that's a little too of-the-moment. Either I get interested in something before the bandwagon starts rolling, or I get into it after all the hoopla has died down.

The latter is true in the case of the Twilight series. Some Potheads (Harry fans), after the release of book seven, no longer had an outlet for their obsession, so many shifted their attention to Stephenie Meyer's books. [SPOILER ALERT. If you haven't read the books and intend to, stop right here.]

As many have said, it's not spectacularly written. Meyer wasn't a writer to begin with, after all. But I've seen my friends—grown women—go starry-eyed at the mere mention of Edward Cullen, so it intrigued me. I also saw the movie with Kuya Vic, and I figured the book must have been way better. Hanging out at my BFF M's house one day after brunch, I spied the first three books on her bookshelf and asked to borrow the first.

I must admit, my brow was furrowed as I read the first few chapters. I was thinking about how the narrative could have been better, but told myself that it was supposed to be written from the POV of a 17-year-old. But when Edward spoke one of his first kilig lines—about maybe not wanting to give Bella back to her friends that time they had lunch—I was smitten.

Two days later, I had sped through around 500 pages—perhaps a record for me, considering I finished it in between training and errands and glorious, glorious sleep and gimmicks and other weekend-fillers. It was incredibly easy to read (even easier than Harry, to which I normally devote the entire day of release and which I grudgingly put down only when absolutely necessary). I borrowed the second, New Moon. Again, two days later, I was texting M if I could borrow the third.

There are some overly cheesy quotes here and there, but the story, the love story is thoroughly engaging. There is nothing quite like the ferocity of teenage love. It's all consuming; absolutely nothing else seems to matter. Thankfully, I knew what to expect so I was kind of able to prepare myself not to totally fall for Edward, unlike some of my more unfortunate friends who were just hopelessly infatuated, hapless victims of this gorgeous, impossibly strong, chivalrous vampire. (Sigh.) And thankfully, too, I have my own personal Edward (sans the bronze hair, cold skin, and blood thirst) so I wasn't left pining for someone so dreamy. But oh, I still felt the giddiness. And in book two, I especially felt the pain.

At four in the morning (reading still!), I was crying after Edward left Bella. I imagined H, the person I love most deeply, most passionately, doing the same thing and it killed me. I could understand the emptiness she felt, the torment over not even knowing if he was OK. I felt, too, her conflicted feelings over her own personal Paris, Jacob. I appreciated the warmth, the sunshine he brought into her darkened world. This man—well, boy, really—loved her (almost) unconditionally, with no expectations. It was impossible for me not to understand Bella's guilt over sort-of being with someone who was head over heels, crazy over her, and not being able to feel something as intense. Could it be so bad? Well, I've been there. It sucked.

I told C—a big Twilight fan—about how I found myself enjoying the books. She wasn't protective of the series, as some rabid fans are wont to be, and was actually quite happy that I finally gave in. (I have no intention of going very deep into the Twilight world. I was, am a big Harry fan, but I never really reached manic levels of fandom. No costumes or forum postings for me. Loving the books was a truly personal experience, and I was content with reading some additional info here and there. Twilight isn't quite on that level, partly because I feel like I can't lay a claim over it. Other people found it first, and I totally respect that.) C gleefully shared bits and pieces, and I enjoyed listening to her. And she clued me in on the extras in Meyer's website—particularly, a part of New Moon written from Edward's POV, and the eagerly anticipated Midnight Sun. I intend to read the online version in its entirety, because I have been curious about what went on in Edward's mind. I guess, like Bella, it was a little hard for me to grasp how it was possible for this near-perfect being (again, blood thirst aside) to fall so madly for the girl next door.

There is a bit of longing in me, whenever I read these books, but not quite as great as my embarrassing yearning to be part of Hogwarts. (Seriously though, wouldn't that be cool?) I guess it mostly stems from a need to escape, for a bit of magic to get me out of the rut of reality. Again, thankfully I have my own leading man, so there is no major pining for anything romance-related. It'd be awesome though if H's skin could sparkle in the sun.