Tuesday, July 26, 2016

WWW Wednesday 12

What are you currently reading?
Almost halfway through 50 Foods: A Guide to Deliciousness by Edward Behr. It was on sale for P100, or $2.12, which comes to P2 or $0.04 per food, which made it irresistible to me. Each chapter is a guide to selecting/harvesting, preparing, and pairing with wine foods like strawberries, bacon, potatoes, and honey. It's one of those nonfiction books that get you doing more research afterward.

I've also been reading a fanfic where Lily Evans is the one who will end up facing Voldemort. Pretty good so far, and there's a lot more tension about being Muggleborn and wanting a place in the Wizarding world. 

What did you recently finish reading?
I recently bought and finished Trip to Tagaytay by Arnold Arre. It's a very short graphic novel set in some imagined future where most of the world has migrated to outer space and a nameless protagonist is one of the few left behind on Earth. He's communicating with his sweetheart, who is on a space station.There's not much plot, it's mostly the backgrounds of the future world and all the things that strangely remain unchanged that tell a story.

Banana Heart Summer is one of the best books I've read this year. The writing style reminds me a little of Julia Alvarez or Isabel Allende with the lush descriptions of food, usually as metaphor for desire for a better life. If anyone's looking for more diverse reads, this would be a great option. It's even available on Book Depository! I was thinking that a lot of the food or local references would be unfamiliar to foreign readers, but isn't that part of the point of reading foreign books? It's set in Bicol, a region of the Philippines I don't know well, and the non-English words sprinkled in the book are Bikolano, a language I don't speak, though that's where my grandmother is from. 

Here's the summary on the back of my copy:
'Close to midnight, when the heart bows from its stem, wait for its first dew. It will drop like a gem. Catch it with your tongue. When you eat the heart of the matter, you'll never grow hungry again.'
The myth of the banana heart inspires twelve-year-old Nenita. She will appease her family's hunger and win her mother's love. As she cooks and eats, or dreams of cooking and eating, other love stories unfold in her street, sweltering between a volcano and a church. It is the hottest summer in the 1960s, in her small town reeling with the songs of Roy Orbison, Patsy Cline and the Beatles.
And here are two quotes I liked:

I rubbed the chicken with the green lemon halves to disguise the meaty smell. Strange that, all the time, we attempt to 'make better' the smell, taste, texture or look of nature. We cannot leave well enough alone. Perhaps because nothing is well enough alone. Perhaps because nothing is well enough alone. Perhaps because the heart of the matter offends the palate, and where it does not offend, it scares. So we arm ourselves with herbs and spices, and we consider ourselves improved as a species.
and
Sometimes, only a taste can be more distressing than pleasurable, a very miserly treat. Like endearments in half sentences or embraces not coming full circle, ensuring the torment of gaps. I thought of the boy who touched my arm, only my arm... 
What do you think you'll read next?
 I plan on reading Here by Richard McGuire. I've been on a graphic novel binge, and this book is an adaptation of a famous 1989 comic strip.  From Goodreads: "Built in six pages of interlocking panels, dated by year, it collapsed time and space to tell the story of the corner of a room - and its inhabitants - between the years 500,957,406,073 BC and 2033 AD. The strip remains one of the most influential and widely discussed contributions to the medium, and it has now been developed, expanded and reimagined by the artist into this full-length, full-colour graphic novel - a must for any fan of the genre. "

11 comments

  1. I love that second quote from Banana Heat Summer! It's beautiful. I've heard soome good things abouot that book from other reviewers. I might have to keep an eye out for it myself.

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  2. All this talk of books about food is making me hungry! It also makes me think of Like Water for Chocolate, which contains some of the best descriptions of food and food preparation I've ever read :-)

    Thank for visiting my WWW post earlier (https://clairehuston.wordpress.com/2016/07/27/www-wednesday-27th-july-2016/) and happy reading!

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  3. Those food suggestions sound 'out-there' but as you point out, price per recipe is fantastic - enjoy your extended research.

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  4. Banana Heat Summer sounds lovely! Great quotes, too. Thanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.

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  5. I really like the sound of Here, but I must admit I have never read a graphic novel yet. It's something I keep putting off and I don't know why :/ enjoy!

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  6. Banana Heat Summer sounds like a beautiful book indeed!
    It's been a while since I've read a fanfic, but I have to admit, it sounds like an interesting one!
    Thanks for stopping by earlier!
    Happy Reading :)

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  7. I'm glad you're enjoying your fanfic! It's been a while since I read any or updated mine. I was highly involved in the world in my youth. Happy reading and thanks for participating in WWW Wednesday!

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  8. I also read a handful of graphic novels this spring/summer! I like them a lot!

    https://girlof1000wonders.wordpress.com/2016/07/27/www-wednesdays-july-27/

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  9. Banana Heat Summer sounds really good.I don't read graphic novels.I should add that to my reading challenge and read atleast one this year.Happy reading.

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  10. Banana Heat Summer sounds really good.I don't read graphic novels.I should add that to my reading challenge and read atleast one this year.Happy reading.

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Maira Gall