bethgstories

Just like Dekada '70, this wasn't on the list of books I plan to read this quarter, but it made it there somehow. But it's on my reading list nonetheless, a book that fits one of the items in the 2020 reading challenge I set for myself. This is one of the books in my NBS haul I did the first day of this month, and now I'm finally done reading it. What is it about The story revolves around Aurora Cabahug, a 22-year-old cabaret singer; Walter Zamora, a police officer; and a casket that contains the remains of Aurora's sister Soledad, an overseas Filipino worker who died in Jeddah. Nobody knows if she died a natural death or if she was killed, but certainly it is one of the sad but true stories of OFWs who only wanted a better life for the families they chose to leave behind. What I think about it I had a hard time reading it at first - I couldn't understand why every character has to be introduced like they have major roles in the story. Maybe it was one of the hi...

No, this is not in my TBR list for this quarter, but I squeezed it in unannounced. I wasn't even planning on reading it, but after seeing the musical which gained a lot of positive response (including me), I just knew I had to experience this story in its original form of art. What is it about Dekada '70 is written in Amanda's POV, a mom of five kids and a wife to Julian, a traditional, patriarchal husband. They're in an upper middle class family, just one of the many families of different social statuses that felt the unjust wrath of dictatorship. The book presents a perfect illustration of what the Philippines was like during the '70s, in terms of social, political, and economical aspects, just to name a few. What I think about it I was having second thoughts in writing a review of this book - it was published in 1986, and the author has a first-hand experience of what it was like during the martial law in the Philippines which makes this book a credible alternat...

Yay for my newest book out in the market! The complimentary copies of The Shape of My Heart arrived in the mail last month, right before Valentine's Day. A gift that made me feel beyond kilig , that I should say. My 6th baby The inspiration It was in 2018 when I went back to Enchanted Kingdom with my colleagues, and for the for the first time in years I opened my long-forgotten story which took place in the said amusement park. I wrote it during the lazy afternoons at home on my phone, in between the series of my hospital confinements in 2013 and 2014. It was a mix of my experiences as a call center agent in a BPO company and others' experiences of love and heartbreak. It took me several months in deciding what to do with it, and even considered writing it in English and release it as another self-published book. I thought it was the right thing to do since I already have a short story (also in English) to follow it up with. In the end, I just tweaked the story a little bit to ...

Day 1: 📍Cafe By The Ruins 📍BenCab Museum 📍Baguio Museum 📍Burnham Park 📍Visco's 📍Baguio Cathedral 📍Session Road 📍Night Market Looking at it, my itinerary for the first day was packed—it feels like one wouldn’t be able to explore this much just in one day. But I did, and I daresay it was one of the eventful weekends of my life. Seasoned travellers would agree that the quality of your travel depends on so many factors, including transportation, the number of people you’re with, your occasional indecisiveness, and your time management skills—just to name a few. So allow me to tell you how I was able to do this much all in one day. Joy Bus left Cubao at 5am. It was one of those executive couches that don’t do stopovers, have portable toilets on board, and take the shorter route to the north. I paid Php550 for my ticket, and before we took off, the conductor handed me a croissant (just the cheap one, nothing fancy) and a bottle of water. The entire trip was smooth, and it was 8:3...

I always thought BenCab Museum is in Baguio, much like my thoughts about SM Megamall being in Pasig. Weirdly, this is one of the things I think of when talking about Baguio, along with Session Road, The Strawberry Farm, Burnham and Wright Park, and Camp John Hay. But it's not in Baguio - it's in Tuba, Benguet. Just a jeepney away from Baguio, nonetheless. Benedicto Cabrera is a National Artist of the Philippines awardee, and has been hailed as the best-selling painter among the artists of his generation. The BenCab Museum (which is obviously named after him) exhibits some of his works (I presume a lot more isn't there), and the place strongly reminded me of Antipolo's Pinto Art Museum . The multiple-storey structure houses both contemporary arts and historical artifacts, evidences of life and culture of the early people of the Cordilleras. If I'd be very honest though, the first thing I wanted to have is a picture of myself beside this painting called Lady With A Fa...

I don’t own comic books—except for a few volumes of Pugad Baboy that my brother bought years ago. I wanted text-y materials - something I could read for at least three nights, a full novel that would keep me company. But then maybe comic books were created for more than just that. What I think about it I had never heard of Magtira Paolo before—maybe I haven’t attended enough book events where I might have come across his work. His Liryo is a heartbreaking, illustrated narration of the senseless war on drugs, where innocent lives are lost and nothing is gained. While an author could have explored this theme in a full-length novel, Liryo delivers its impact through striking visuals and sparse dialogue, allowing readers to experience the depth of Celso’s (main character) despair as his story represented countless faceless men executed without due process. The narrative also highlights Marcy’s struggle, not just as someone trying to survive in a brutal environment but as a person torn b...

Maybe the quarantine did some good - now I have an ample amount of time to read at night. I discovered this book when I Googled my own book Right Where You Left Me . Thankfully this is the only other book with the same title as mine, but I also told myself that I have to get hold of it and read it and see what it is about. The blurb offered as much information as finding out it's a YA book, and that it's not romance (at least that's not what the novel is focused on). Luckily I found a second-hand book shop that sells this and I didn't waste any time to grab the opportunity. What is it about? I'm not sure if it's just me, but whenever I find the words Ukraine, Russian reserve, FBI, and newspaper together in any form of art and/or literature, I always think of an exciting, adrenaline-rush-inducing book or movie about Russian spies and wars and kidnappings. But the kidnapping is the only thing that I got right. Written in the point of view of the 17-year-old Charlo...

This post is long overdue - I saw Dekada '70 Musical with Kim on March 1st. We barely got the tickets as it was selling like popsicles in the summer. I had no idea what I was going to see in the slightest, as I can barely remember the movie adaptation and I finished reading the book just last night (yes, shame on me but better late than never). But just like the other musicals I've seen in the past, this hit me hard, so hard that I was in tears by the end of it - it was a magnificent portrayal of what life was like in the Philippines during the '70s - under the atrocious hands of the dictatorship. What is it about? Dekada '70 is about the upper-middle-class Bartolome family, written from Amanda's (the mom) point of view. Amanda has five kids, all boys, and is married to the classic patriarchal Julian who doesn't know anything but his pride and his responsibility as a father that begins and ends with providing the financial needs of his children. The story happen...