Mitsuru

My second Modiano. I read Dora Bruder back in 2004. I had no idea who Patrick Modiano was back then, but I remember very well how I managed to pick up his book, together with Amos Oz' Where the Jackals Howl, at a Book Sale outlet near the LRT Station in Pedro Gil because I was looking for something to read to ease the boredom of waiting in line for my interview at the US Embassy. Now that Modiano is a Nobel laureate, I think it's the right time to start reading his works again.

yup, i still collect (audio books, rock, operas, musicals, classics et al) and play them on a vintage player from time to time. and at 10 cents for a trip down memory lane i cannot complain- a cheap hobby. a flashback to my teenage years when i used to save up on my allowance and purchase those old rock and roll albums from the local record store.

Yoshihiro Tatsumi 's 1956 thriller Black Blizzard provides us a look into his past, when he was still a raw and inexperienced writer and mangaka . Tatsumi, in several interviews, never hides the fact that he has 'conflicting' feelings about Black Blizzard to which he described it as "nostalgic for the past, for the days of my youth" but it's also "like exposing something shameful and private" that he would rather bury and have "hidden from sight." But the work in itself is not bad for a twenty- one year old aspiring and struggling writer- cum- cartoonist. On the contrary it probably revolutionized the alternative comic scene in Japan in those days that eventually made him a gekiga pioneer. Tatsumi's unorthodox visual narrative is like a study in contradiction; it was simple but is actually ahead of his time. The focus and angles are like those that can be seen from the eyes of a master filmmaker; the drawings speak f...

I bought this book for a sonnet--err song ($3) during one of my forays at a local flea market. Not bad for an 1878 illustrated edition of The Complete Works of the Bard, eh?  William Shakespeare would have been 449 today.

Behind the steady finger that pulls the trigger and the sharp eye that peeks through the crosshairs are men like Gunnery Sergeant Kyle Swanson and the enigmatic Juba, two snipers on different sides of the spectrum but with one common mission- to exterminate anybody on their path with 'one shot, one kill." Add Baghdad, Black Ops, Al Qaeda, Chemical weapons and the Iranian connection make Dead Shot a good read; a novel that is just all right but still manages to intrigue.

*old books found while tidying up my man cave.

To the uninitiated this is a peek into the evil that these people do. But to the initiated, this is nothing new since most of the stories and trivia in this book are old and a re-hash from other books that deal with the subject.

"The joke about Nazi racial theory- The ideal superman of the master race would be as blond as Hitler, as lean as Göring, and as tall as Goebbels." The novel is set in the Greek city of Salonika amid the fear and confusion of a German invasion hanging like the proverbial sword of Damocles on everyone's head during the early years of WWII. Constantine Zannis, a local policeman, gets embroiled in matters of politics, espionage and his heart as he treads on dangerous grounds on a journey that only a few men would have the undying resolve to pursue.

If we have people like Jack Morgan and his investigation company in our midst, then most criminals will find it hard to sleep at night with the fear of being exposed in the backs of their heads, since PRIVATE does not always play by the rules. Yes, PRIVATE can solve any case that they put their resources into and can also dish their own brand of swift justice if push comes to shove. PRIVATE exist primarily because of the expertise of the people behind it and commands a huge fee for their services. But they also do pro bono cases on the side. NFL gambling syndicate and cases of unsolved killings of schoolgirls make this thriller a good read, indeed

Dr. Seuss' unsuccessful foray into 'adult' territory before he became famous for his children's books. Instead of becoming an 'ob-gyne,' he opted to become a 'pediatrician' and the rest is history. ;D Visit Brain Pickings for more.

Contrary to what people (including some of my friends) thought when they first heard of the book, 1Q84 is not an offshoot of 1984, the dystopian novel that George Orwell wrote decades ago. The title might delude us into thinking that they might be really similar somehow, but the reality is, they're really very different in so many ways. Or are they? Haruki Murakami is known to be quite a story-teller with a very wild and fertile mind. In this particular novel; he uncorked his thoughts bottled up inside his brain to let the words flow like fine wine and turned a seemingly simple story (which is quite full of nonsense if you are a realist) into a great surreal fantasy love story. 1Q84... The characters Tengo and Aomame have a big full plate to eat and digest in front of them. With Tokyo as their playground, they need to get over the obstacles that fate has outlined ahead of them in order to solve the puzzles and answer the questions that have been long simmering and hibernating insid...

Alex Cross' job brings him often and close to the many brutal crime scenes in the DC Area. And in all his dealings with crimes, he exerts an enormous effort to separate his work from his family. And he succeeds in just doing that, most of the time. But the brutal murder of his niece once again makes this particular case personal. And Alex Cross and his new girlfriend, Det. Brianna Stone found themselves confronting powerful people with ties to the White House in their search for justice and then some. Sex, crime, fetish, lies, power and fantasy- this book has it all and is another gem of a suspense- thriller which only James Patterson could weave as he once again imparts his brand of writing to his legions of readers with ease.

The 900+ page "1Q84" by Haruki Murakami is the last item from my so-called 2011 last quarter recreational book stash to distinguish them from the obligatory technical and scholarly tomes that are the accepted parts of my day-to-day existence. Not seen in the photo were Paulo Coelho's "Aleph" and Patricia Cornwell's "Red Mist", the latter I was able to finish on the first day of the year. But IQ84 will have the distinction of being the first book that I will start and finish in 2012. Sorry folks, this nonsense is just a silly exercise to actually exercise the joints of my chubby fingers in preparation for my resolve to resurrect my blogging mojo back from self-imposed hibernation. When hell freezes over in my cerebral cortex, I will let the dumb ice melt and thaw... Then I will write -- err, type.

In ex-NYPD cop and terrorist Task Force contract agent John Corey, author Nelson DeMille has created a character that is a replica of what a real NYPD cop should be -- brass but effective, wise-cracking but intelligent, and street-smart but knows how to navigate his way in and out of the system. He may be obnoxious to others, but he's also loyal to his job and peers. Asad Kahlil (aka The Lion) is on a mission -- to kill the men responsible for his family's death, in this case, the pilots and navigators of the F-111s that raided Al 'Aziziyah in Libya in retaliation for Libyan involvement in various attacks against American interests in Europe. The moment the commercial Boeing 747's 'unusual flight' from Paris landed at the JFK Airport, the game was on and the players were put into motion. Nelson DeMille plotted this novel with attention to some historical events and data incorporated into the course of the story. The dialogues are laden with ...

I am a thriller junkie, schooled by the old Robert Ludlum school which by any standard is the best in the genre. So, any writer aspiring to be in his league has some huge shoes to fill in my book. But Daniel Silva had me the moment I first laid my eyes on his novel The Unlikely Spy while browsing the book exchange section of a local library a couple of years ago. Then I read the first book of the Gabriel Allon series, The Kill Artist , and I was hooked. Since then I have read all of his books and never looked back. Daniel Silva is one great thriller writer in the league of an Alan Furst or a John Le Carre with a twist. Unlike some of his contemporaries, Silva is a fan of the Mossad, Israel's secret intelligence service, and Gabriel Allon its legendary assassin, is his man. Gabriel Allon is the sensitive artist and the ruthless assassin whose exploits in and out of the spy game makes him the ideal renaissance man of the espionage world; when he is not tracking and...

This book is a re-introduction and re- writing of the various crimes that have been featured on the top- rated show and is a good read by itself to have a general view of the said cases. But if one considers himself a serious student of crimes even before the onset of the CSI phenomenon, then this book will offer nothing new that you have never read before.

Literature as comics, why not? Peter Kuper's adaptation of Franz Kafka's classic is a good start for the not-so-serious reader to be introduced and get acquainted to the Czech writer's works. The comic book is simple and is easy on the eye that gives new life on the old novel that easily metamorphosed into a a serious graphic and dark work of art but still retains Kafka's original narrative and expression.  This is not only a faithful adaptation but the artwork is also kafkaesque- dark, nightmarish and surreal. Another good introduction to Franz Kafka's brilliant catalog of works. *with apologies to one of my favorite Japanese writers, Haruki Murakami, for usurping the title of this post from his 2002 fantasy opus.

Vietnam 1965: Joe Kubert captures the action and confusion of the men in the heat of battle through his ink and style. In this fiction loosely based on real events of the Vietnam War, he was able to depict the story clearly with his unique brand of illustrations- raw, rough and real.

Food for thought for Asian men: “Is your attraction to white women a sublimated form of assimilation?”

A personal experience and in- depth look at the war on terror in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley wherein US Troops were engaged in a war of attrition against a rag-tag but determined group of Taliban fighters whose unwelcome presence is a constant; where living and dying is measured by mere inches and precious seconds. Sebastian Junger ( The Perfect Storm ), who was embedded with 2nd Platoon, Battle Company of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team for months, gave us a raw picture, the horrors and reality of war, as seen through the eyes and experiences of the men who were there. This book is an 'expanded version' of materials culled from his articles on Vanity Fair Magazine about his journey to Afghanistan's Korengal Valley wherein he was on assignment from June 2007 to June 2008. The book also mentioned the exploits of Specialist Salvatore Giunta , the first living recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War. His unit was ambu...