ISBN 971-828-037-5
Original Price Powerbooks:  P350.00
Author: Theresa “Jew” R. Lariosa

Bulalo Soup for the Sole

 Don’t mistake the hollow feeling for pain and missing. Don’t mistake it for needing. Because before he even came into your life, you already knew what it meant to be living.
 

The title won my P45.00. It reminded me of Chicken Soup for the Soul, only you know what the difference is. You may want to take a close look at the picture beside the title on the cover. I grasped the excitement as the subtitle unveiled a Single Woman. Can you connect the dots, now?

Imagine several bakyas dipped in your bowl of bulalo soup. Jew mirrored life as your bowl of bulalo soup and the bakyas as your experiences. Your bakyas may have treaded murky paths or deluxe red carpets, adding a bittersweet tang in your soup. However, these bakyas are the missing ingredients your soup needs. You can only know how and where to get those ingredients. No one will cook it for you. The recipe is still a mystery to behold. Yet, He will take you to different places where you can step your bakyas on, finding the ingredients for your bulalo soup.

In this book, Jew made me taste her soup as she took me through the pages of her life as a single woman. She starts from random details of her day. She grows these into a strong piece by relating her notable stories as a singleton which anyone can relate upon. Sure! Men can relate, too. Let’s not forget that our dear men add weight to the reason why singletons exist. Alright, that’s a joke. Take it this way, men and women co-exist. Like parallel lines do, they always meet at a certain point.

Subtitle says, “Essays for Savoring Life as a Single Woman.” If I can cut it this way, “Essays for Savoring Life”, to get to my point, it would defeat its main purpose. But, now you know. The considerations are boundless.

Take a taste of her soup that is yet to be cooked [only He knows when]. And never be afraid to toss your bakyas straight into your own bowl of bulalo soup. Delicioso!

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Milflores is ♥ for bending the prices of these books they called rejects. I can't spot any flaw, though. For as low as P45.00, I got this perfect gift (a warranted label for sweet cheap delights). Nicely reduced to my pocket size!

© 2011 Kathryn Narciso 

My Lovely Clutter

She just won’t give them up!

I told my mom many times to donate the book piles which are now of no use to me and my sister. Surrendering them for a good cause doesn’t make sense to her at all. Heaven knows why.

All the text books that my sister and I have had since we started schooling are still resting in our two bookshelves and bodega. Yes, I know you can imagine the cobwebs all over them. We wipe them off, but they come back after a while. Nasty ghosts, right?

For goodness’ sake, tell me what to do about our nursery books. How about the penmanship books, Spoken English books and all others that we are making room for? Even more, my sister and I attended the same school way back the age-old kindergarten days. And so we have the same collection of text books! Sure, we are keeping them all in our little shelter.

Years have gone by and the pile continues to build up until now. My sister has already graduated after five years in college, and I’m now on my third year. No, I don’t want to picture out the loads of books that we have collected so far.

If you would see my late lola’s bedroom which turned into a bodega a few months after she passed away, you would be startled with how the double-decker bed became a bookshelf.  Can you take a guess what’s beside the bed? Ta-da! Boxes and paper bags of more books!

What’s more to that is the whole set of Britannica Encyclopedia occupying almost the whole space in the shelf. And what with all the books she bought from Reader’s Digest? Well, I’m not including the magazines and other general reference books.

Books are all over the place! I grew up with them. And I love them.  

Oh yeah, I love them so much that sometimes I don’t eat in school so I can spend my school allowance for books. I started from cheap wonderful reads.  Book sales sweep me off my feet. When I have more than enough of resources, I buy the hardbound prints. I haven’t read them all yet but they’re endlessly stacking up. And I’m constantly dreaming of becoming a filthy rich person so I can add more wonderful books in my messy collection and gather them all in a brilliantly constructed extra-large bookshelf. I can only imagine. Happiness!

Books will be books. I don’t care about the 2011 Britannica Concise Encyclopedia available in your iTouch, iPad, Android, or what have you. Nor I care about the virtual bookshelf and the e-books in whatever multimedia gadgets you have. I will stick to my dream. Oooh La la la-ibrary!

[Wee! I’m reading Bulalo Soup for the Sole by Jew. Pleasure much!]