100: The Hundreds Project by UP Writers Club 2 comments

It takes 43 muscles to frown. 17 muscles to smile. 14, 17, or 35 muscles to kiss. It takes much more muscles to make love. It takes a wink to be noticed. A note to make the moment memorable. Or, a drink and a bed to make the night less lonesome. It takes six words to a story. 14 lines and a meter to a sonnet, but you know that’s hard to find. It takes 3 words to express what you feel. 3 words and a slap to know you expected too much. It takes 100 words to express why we all need love and should bother reading this book.

And it takes a trip to the 33rd Manila International Book Fair to take home this one of a kind collection of stunning literary works "expressing kilig to kirot and all points in between."

In elementary or even in high school, writing a 100-word essay may feel like a painful chore of physically extracting words from your brain but when writing becomes a hobby, a hundred words may feel like jotting down a measly phrase. That is why I admire the format and the works from this literary goldmine I almost didn't purchase because the few remaining copies were hiding behind boring looking books.

And what better theme to give such a format than the still undefinable four-letter-word everyone could relate to. Add to that a sprinkle of unrequited yearnings, passion and the gory details of a broken heart combined with a candid dash of sex, lust, and all the things the CBCP warned teenagers not to do, this compilation is a perfect mix of sweet and complicated which addictingly delivers what makes up young love today.

Here are (hopefully) non-copyright infringement, cyber-crime-law-fearful copies of my favorite pieces:

Full of poetic quotes and relatable lines readers would be dying to post on Facebook, Twitter and upload a lomofied snapshot of in Instagram (I am guilty of this), it's a shame that the book is not available in most of the leading bookstores nationwide. However die hard fans may check out this site for more information on how to get a copy:

http://www.panitikan.com.ph/event/writers-club-publishes-100-hundreds-project-now-available

"Be a period, a stop. Be the end of my every sentence. Cut me into sentences, paragraphs: the better for me to understand myself. Because unlike a comma, you will not let me run on. You will be my brake; you will make me make sense. Give me meaning and open me up to the world. You will ground me, and I will love you for it."

- No. 87 by Isobel Yap

Where We Stand 0 comments

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Starbucks Inspired Shorts: Table for Two by Marla Miniano Book Review 0 comments

Every once in a while, everyone (at least everyone who reads for pleasure) needs a good novel to curl up to during rainy evenings under the cozy warmth of a comforter surrounded by familiar it's-so-fluffy-I'm-gonna-die pillows. 

The kind of book that reminds one of the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and the yellow lights of somewhere classy but also laid back where people can sit all day and talk or just mind their own emo sentimentalities. The class of literature that makes one think of the pleasure of people watching and conjuring stories based on the looks and body gestures of two connecting individuals or a lone entity sitting by the windowsill watching rain droplets slide through the glass like a physical weather-related manifestation for all the uncried tears humanity has been keeping inside.

This is exactly what Marla Miniano's novel, Table For Two, felt like. Uncannily similar to listening to a good friend tell her story in detail over a cup of overly expensive creamy latte with pretty boy baristas blending frappe just a few feet away.

Made up of five interconnecting short stories which happen to collide in a serendipitous yet unassuming coffee shop beside a Korean grocery store, the novel is a treasure box for romance, angst and everything in between, told in a witty yet thought-provoking manner. There may not be stand out one-liners that readers could post on Twitter and on Facebook in an attempt to sound well-read and deep, but then the narration flows effortlessly and engages readers right from the very first page.

It is worth mentioning the 4th short story of the book entitled "This Closure". It is a gripping piece no doubt everyone can relate to and will be in awe of the raw yet unedited, hauntingly delivered emotions beautifully put together by melancholy memory montages and candid thought monologues.

All in all, even though the stories' connections to each other can be wrapped up a bit more neatly, the book is a delicious mix of familiar stories to keep one occupied in an otherwise another cold and dreary rainy evening. All you will need is the book, a good light source to keep the migraines away (side effect of being an habitual ebook reader), a cup of your favorite caffeinated hot beverage and you will feel like you're in the company of good friends and greater stories, perfect to keep the loneliness at bay.

Orchestr-o-meter: B