WWW Wednesday 14

This meme/link-up is hosted by Taking on a World of Words
What are you currently reading?
Looking back at my previous WWW's, I see a lot of stuff left unfinished. I still haven't finished Macarthur by Bob Ong, and it's actually buried under a pile of notebooks and lab logbooks. From 50 Foods: A Guide to Deliciousness by Edward Behr, I only have Vinegar and Walnuts left unread. The Passion of Mademoiselle S. is still gathering dust in its corner on my desk. There also hasn't been any progress on The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr or Noble House by James Clavell since I switched to The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley on my e-reader.

What did you recently finish reading?

Maya Angelou's Wouldn't take nothing for my journey now was a beautiful read. It wasn't necessary to agree with everything she had to say to enjoy how she said it. 

Catch a Falling Star by Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo came to me through a book exchange in April. It's a book of short stories about a young girl, set a few decades before I was born but still oddly familiar and nostalgic. 

Our Darkest Hours is a collection of short stories by Jose Miguel Arguelles, about how humans handle frustration. Some of the stories were too dark for my taste, but I should have expected that.  One in particular stood out to me, about indigenous boat dwellers facing off against the zombies on the mainland. It was an interesting concept and also pretty well-executed in my opinion.

This Side of Sunny by Agay Llanera is about a Fil-Am girl who returns to the island where her parents met, to try and find her missing mother. It's a romance where she falls for the local who ends up being her tour guide, and he also has a dramatic backstory. It was kind of predictable, but I enjoyed the local flavor and the island setting.

What do you think you'll read next?

I should really focus on my thesis proposal writing, so I won't put anything here for now.

The Annotated TBR #5: Recommendations and Links masterlist

This is yet another masterlist of everything I've recently added to my TBR, but not my Goodreads To-Read List, because I want to credit all the recs I get from book bloggers.

The Afternoon Chat: What are you reading right now? on Go Fug Yourself always blows up my TBR, and I've only read two of those chats so far. I forgot to note the names of the commenters, though. 
Stranger in Their Own Land by Arlie Russel Hochschild
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
The Little Paris Bookshop
Lady Susan by Jane Austen (and the Love and Friendship movie?)
Swan by Frances Mayes
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant
The Special Power of Restoring Lost Things by Courtney Elizabeth Mauk
Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer
Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari (in audiobook form!)
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (read by Colin Firth)
The Summer Before War by Helen Simonson
The Nix by Nathan Hill
Dr. Siri Paiboun series by Colin Cotterill
Dancing With the Tiger by Lili Wright
The Boy is Back by Meg Cabot
Dear Fang, With Love by Rufi Thorpe
You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott
Fill the Sky by Katherine A. Sherbrooke
The Mental Floss History of the World
Siracusa by Delia Ephron
In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
Tent City Urbanism by Andrew Heben
The Heaven Tree by Edith Pargeter
Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta
Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
High Wind in Jamaica, Richard Hughes
Seating Arrangements, Maggie Shipstead
The Interestings, Meg Wolitzer
The Strangler Vine, MJ Carter
Eligible, Curtis Sittenfeld
The Antagonist, Lynn Coady
The Observations, Jane Harris
The Asylum, John Harwood
No Great Mischief by Alistair McCleod
Bird Box by Joshua Malerman
A Room with a view by E.M. Forster
The Shape of Snakes by Minette Walters
Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia Wrede
The History of the Rains by Niall Williams
Two Summers by Aimee Freedman
The Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper Fforde
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
The Gallery by Laura Marx Fitzgerald
The Name Therapist by Duana Taha
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Pretty Little Mistakes by Heather McElhatton
Three Men in a Boat
Mystic River
The Fisherman
Under the Udala Tree
Death Comes to the Archbishop
The Warmth of Other Suns
Shores of Women
The Mysterious Benedict Society
Homegoing
Dostoevsky but only the Pevear/Volokhonsky translations
Rachel Dratch's book
N.K. Malesin
The Language of Food
East of Eden
Ta-Nehisi Coates

From Parnassus Books' lit journal Musing's 43 Books to Read Right Now
The Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear
As Good as Gone by Larry Watson
The Atomic Weight of Love by Elizabeth J. Church
and Ann Patchett's notes on the Read Harder challenge

Books set in Africa from Anne Bennett at My Head is Full of Books
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, 
Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, 
West with the Night by Beryl Markham, 
Black Dove, White Raven by Elizabeth Wein, 
The Bitter Side of Sweet by Tara Sullivan, 
Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell
also from Anne Bennett: Exit, Pursued by A Bear by E.K. Johnston, previously on TBR but recommended again

African Literature from Diana at A Haven for Book Lovers
Born on a Tuesday by Elnathan John
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin

11 book pairs that match your childhood favorites with what you should read now from Modern Mrs. Darcy
Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (to match From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E, Frankweiler)
Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis (to match The Chronicles of Narnia)
Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C.S. Lewis (also to match The Chronicles of Narnia)
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (childhood match-up for The Grapes of Wrath)
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
and from the comments:
The Paris Architect
The Moonspinners by Mary Stewart
The Bone Clocks

20 books everyone will be talking about this fall from Modern Mrs Darcy:
The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote, from M reads books
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carre and
To Serve Them All My Days by R.F. Delderfeld from Karen at Booker Talk
The Crepes of Wrath by Sarah Fox and
Out of Circulation by Heather Day Gilbert from Carrie at Reading is My Superpower:
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway and
The Smell of Other People's Houses by Bonnie Sue-Hitchcock from Bri at Transported by Books
Fakes, edited by David Shields and Matthew Vollmer from Bennard at The Book Hooligan
A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold and
The World Without Us by Alan Weisman from Stephanie at Don't Be Afraid of the Dork
Behind a Mask by Louisa May Alcott from Geoff Whaley at The Oddness of Moving Things
Anina ng mga Alon by Eugene Y. Evasco from Amber Garma at Bookbed
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan from L at Big Reading Life

Anubha Yadav/Huffington Post's 14 Contemporary Short Stories That Will Spark Your Mind
Cait at Paper Fury's Historical Retelling Wishlist
Cait at Paper Fury's Fairy Tale Retelling Wishlist
On the Inimitable, Exhausting Wonder of Physical Books by Petr Knava on Pajiba

Cancelled shows, all-time favorites, and books that should be on TV (Top Ten Tuesday #11)

Via The Broke and Bookish 

September 6:  In honor of Fall Tv, do a tv-themed topic! Top ten favorite tv shows of all time, ten new shows coming out this Fall that are on my radar, tv shows I wish never got cancelled, tv shows I would recommend to book characters, books I wish would be tv shows, ten favorite shows from the late 90's or early 2000's, ten tv shows for every fantasy lover, etc.

Ten shows I wish never got cancelled: 

Bunheads - Small town shows are great, and this one had a great cast. 

Agent Carter - Easily my favorite Marvel thing ever.

The Carrie Diaries - I've never seen Sex and the City, but I loved this. Not sure if it's historically accurate, but the aesthetics were something else. And Maggie's storyline! :((

Galavant - This is impossible to recommend to my friends! It's a TV show that's a musical about a knight and fairytale tropes... and it's really funny. I did get them into Hamilton, though, so there's hope for our ass, after all.

Forever - The show's premise was so unique for me, and Henry's relationship with Abe was just... I loved this show.

Limitless - I'm not sure if this was actually a good show or if I just had a soft spot for Jake McDorman since he played Evan Chambers on Greek.

Selfie - I have a thing for modern adaptations, even if I haven't seen the source material. Plus, John Cho!

Grandfathered - Such a ridiculous, adorable family. 

Telenovela - It felt like behind the scenes of The Passions of Santos at first, but Ana and Mimi and the rest of the cast and crew really grew on me.

Make It Or Break It - This was one of the things I bonded over with my first college friend. I think she gave me a CD of the episodes. It's so frustrating how they didn't even get to film the Olympics episodes.

Top ten favorite shows of all time: 

White Collar - I got into it for Matt Bomer, but the art heists and forgeries made it a lot more interesting to me than any other crime-related show. And Mozzie was the best.

Elementary - I haven't actually kept up with this, but every episode I've seen so far has been great. Sherlock and Watson have a great relationship, and the whole Moriarty twist was amazing. 

Greek - Just. All the friendships. Wow.

Jane the Virgin - This is so important to me because it's probably the most Catholic show on TV and it portrays family in a way that's very familiar, even if Jane and her family are from a different culture than mine. Also, that narrator. 

Parks and Recreation - Leslie Knope is the greatest and I want to grow up to be like her. Jean-Ralphio is iconic.

Leverage - I think Parker had the most subtle/least dramatic character development, and I loved her and Hardison. The format was kind of cheesy, but Nate was kind of cheesy anyway.

Grace and Frankie - The premise of this show is so great! So much awkwardness all the time but these two lolas are so endearing.

Agent Carter - Peggy was the most badass character on TV. And this show was the prettiest thing too, and Ana Jarvis was a delight.  

iZombie - While trying to describe this to a friend, I mentioned washing down a mouthful of potato chips with ice-cold soda. I don't know. It gives me the same sugar rush. It's about zombies trying to prevent the zombie apocalypse while solving crime.

Younger - Sutton Foster from Bunheads! Nico Tortorella from Make It or Break It! And Hilary Duff from... life! A 40-something suburban mom pretending to be a 26-year-old hipster (?) in order to get work is sad, but also hilarious.

Books I wish would be TV shows: 

After watching The 100 I have decided that a lot of YA series would make great shows or mini-series. The Raven Cycle, The Mediator, The Lunar Chronicles, and Six of Crows come to mind.

Crazy Rich Asians would also make a great TV show, since there are so many separate-but-related storylines to follow and they could jump from country to country. 

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett would be an amazing mini-series. It's about a hostage situation, so it'd be difficult to draw out to more than a handful of episodes, but I feel like a movie wouldn't do it justice.

Scruples supposedly has a series in the works, but I'm mentioning it anyway because the lush setting (luxury department store, but also France and uh... a vineyard?) and the drama would make this such a treat.

And wishes that have already come true: Queen of the South by Arturo Perez-Reverte has both a telenovela and a US TV series! Outlander had a TV show before I started reading the series, though I finished all the books first before watching it. Lastly, Call the Midwife has a show too! But I've only watched the first episode.

The Annotated TBR #4: Books from 2016

(I came across this idea on Badass Romance.)
This is less of an update and more of a masterpost. Here's everything I bought in 2016 that I still haven't read:

From a Fully Booked sale (they were transferring to a different level):
When We Were Romans by Matthew Kneale, About the Size of It by Warwick Cairns, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Way Things Work by David Macaulay

From a huge (for me) BookSale haul:
Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin, The Paris Review 213, Telling Tales edited by Nadine Gordimer, The Color of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe, Water Tales by Alice Hoffmann, Blood Orange Brewing by Laura Childs

From Diplomat:
The Runner by Cynthia Voigt and Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

Penguin Little Black Classics hoarding:
The Fall of Icarus by Ovid, A Cup of Sake Beneath the Cherry Trees by Kenko, The Gate of the Hundred Sorrows by Rudyard Kipling, Anthem for Doomed Youth by WIlfred Owen
From a birthday splurge:
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, Here by Richard McGuire, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan

Part of my efforts to buy more Filipino books:
Alternative Alamat edited by Paolo Chikiamco, Our Darkest Hours by Jose Miguel Arguelles, Macarthur by Bob Ong, This Side of Sunny by Agay Llanera, Beginner's Guide by Six De Los Reyes, Sugar and Salt by Ninotchka Rosca, Dear Distance by Luis Joaquin M. Katigbak, Shine by Candy Gourlay 

Random secondhand buys, from book bloggers' recommendations:
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, Bella Tuscany by Frances Mayes, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

From the Manila International Book Fair: 
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (Penguin English Library edition), To Be Or Not To Be by Ryan North, The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (recommended by lefthandedbooklover.blogspot.com), The Elements of Style illustrated by Maira Kalman, We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

From Yumi Thrift Shop:
Hardcovers of How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez (duplicate, I have a paperback) and Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley

From a friend who's selling her books for a move:
A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle and Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

From a friend of a friend, via the #SaveTheCulture book exchange tag on Facebook:
Manila Men in the New World: Filipino Migration to Mexico and the Americas from the Sixteenth Century by Floro L. Mercene

For my sister's birthday:
Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman, Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh

From my beloved Little Free Library, which I feed with romance paperbacks from my aunt's collection:
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith 

I still want to cut back on my reading for now and focus on my research. Maybe five books for this month would be reasonable.