Nakapagpapakabagablog

I was amazed when my sister went home carrying a book with an odd title Stainless Longganisa. She doesn’t like reading books as far as I know so I immediately figured out that there must be something about it. I picked it it up as soon as I got the chance and read the first chapter. It was boring. The author is talking about pens and other weird stuffs about, guess what?, pens! I sat beside my sister and asked her what the book is about.  She replied and I got more than what I asked for. She literally told me everything that she has read in proper sequence and full details. I was not surprised though. I sort of always knew that she is not the best in summarizing (kabisote). What puzzled me was the fact that she is reading a book and was on page 30 already. Trust me, that’s an achievement for her, English or Tagalog it doesn’t matter. Something went into my head and told me that I should give it a try.

Looking at it, with it’s clean and simple cover, the book looks decent although its pretty obvious that it was printed using cheap materials. The font of the title is like the one used in an old type writer machine and the name of the author is written in such a way that it looks like a shadow behind the title. Non standard shadow font means that the name of the author is not easy to read so maybe it’s the reason why I didn’t notice that the author of the book is Bob Ong! Bong Ong. Bob Ong. Bob Ong. I’ve heard about him several time before, from text messages maybe. How dumb am I not to see his name? Bob Ong is a popular writer and his books are best sellers (at least for teenagers or high school students. hehe). Suddenly I got more interest in finishing book solely because it seems cool to read it and I absolutely have nothing to do at home except for flipping pages on Friendster over and over again. After three and a half hours of sitting in one corner of our house, I was done with it… and suddenly what you are reading right now is a book review. He he. I guess this is really meant to be a book review I just didn’t realize it at first.

The book is not perfectly written (Duh!? Like all other books) but as you read along you’ll realize that it’s fun to read. It was written with subtle humor and seriousness that it makes you feel as if like an old friend is telling you a story. He is so relatable (if relatable is even a real word). Most of the contents are relevant (current) enough that a kid in grade school can relate to it, I would advise parental guidance though. The book is packed with great little trivias that you’ll actually find your self learning some new things like for instance, that “boondocks” is an English word derived from the Tagalog word “bundok” which means mountain, though I would assume that no one would ever use that word now except for the remaining survivors of the World War II.

Basically (spoiler alert!), the author is just talking about how he got himself into writing and that he has other books available in the book store. OK, maybe not (I know fans of the book thinks otherwise). What it has instilled on my mind after reading its mere 200 pages (Yes! it’s only about 200 pages and I’m writing this 300 page review) is that I should rediscover my love for reading again (well if you have read my blog post this far, I guess you have already rediscovered it! LOL). My education somehow took it away from me. I was so pissed by how I was forced to read text books for the longest time that I have forgotten how much fun it is to read, especially when you read what you want to read. I have forgotten how much fun I had reading fairy tales like Ugly Duckling and Snow White. He He.

The book moved me in a way that I was inspired to write a blog post again, he he, and more importantly to read more again (paulit ulit ba? xenxa).  There are something about non fiction books that makes it more believable than, let’s say, what we see on reality television. Maybe because writers won’t bother writing it if it’s not the truth but of course that is not the truth.

(Note: most of the time “He he” may also mean humility, if not, it’s the other way around)

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