The Perks of Being a Wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky

It's been three days short of a year since I last blogged. Feels good doing this again. ^^

So here's how I came across of one of the best books I've ever read. I saw the Season 4 promo of Glee, I fell in love with the song "It's Time" by Imagine Dragons, and then I saw the movie trailer.

It's the guy who played Percy Jackson, the girl who played Hermione Granger,

and "It's Time" by Imagine Dragons (1:16). How could I not be interested?

Synopsis

It's about Charlie's first year of high school; about finding his new friends: Patrick and Sam; and all the fun, weird, exciting, despairing, heartbreaking, and exhilarating adventures and experiences they had together in that school year. Being an introvert, Charlie was challenged by his English teacher, Bill, to "participate" more. Charlie tries to in his own way. He is, as described by Patrick, a wallflower.

"He's a wallflower. You see things, You keep quiet about them. And you understand."

Review

It's just another coming of age story to be honest, but I found it to be a really, really good story. It was told in the form of letters that Charlie sends to an anonymous person. It's like he wants the reader to read his diary and learn his story. It is implied early on that Charlie is special. For the most part of the story, it's for the reader to figure out if there is something off about him or if he's really just that way.

There is a whole lot of books, movies, television shows, and songs featured in the book. Some of it are "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, M*A*S*H, and "Asleep" by The Smiths.

The book tackles a lot of issues that could happen in a high school. From heartbreak, sexuality, and drugs to child abuse, abortion, and suicide. Feels like a lot doesn't it? But the thing is, at least for my part, I have never encountered many of these issues and I would never want to ever. But many people do encounter these and in Charlie's case, he's only sixteen. That's what makes me want to read it more. It makes me curious.

But underneath all those things is a really good story. Like quoted earlier, he sees things, he keeps quiet about them, and he understands. It's a surprisingly fun read despite all the issues tackled, not dark at all.

When I finished the book, I closed it with a smile in my face, goosebumps on the back of my neck, "It's Time" playing in my head, and I did feel infinite.

Pugad Baboy 23

May Pugad Baboy 23 na!

The Publisher

Kakabili ko lang kanina. Nakita kong nakadisplay sa window ng Comic Quest sa SM North EDSA. Siguradong susunod na yan sa ibang mga bookstore. P190 ang isa.

Di ko masundan sa dyaryo yung mga comic strip kaya bumibili talaga ko ng compilations. Medyo late na nga lang yung ibang isyung pinag-uusapan dito. Pero kahit na, nakakatawa pa rin. Wala ring major story arc. Sana meron kung may Sunday Comics 3. :)

Bente-tres

107 pages sya, hamak na mas mahaba sa 21 at 22. Yun lang. Get your copies now!

John Grisham's Clanton, Ford County

I started reading John Grisham's books when the paperback for Theodore Boone came out. I liked the Runaway Jury, but A Time To Kill got me hooked. Of the seven of his works that I have read, four were set on the town of Clanton, Ford County, Mississippi. I just fell in love with the place.

If I had my way though, I wish I would have read them in the following order. I read The Summons first and was surprised to see a familiar face when I read A Time To Kill. I loved Clanton by then so I bought a copy of The Last Juror, then the Ford County short stories, waiting to see a different story of a different person on the other side of town.

The Last Juror (2003)

In this novel, we see the town of Clanton, Mississippi in the 70's. We follow the story told by Willie Traynor on how he acquired the local newspaper, The Ford County Times, and how it flourished as the town was rocked by a single case. A single mother was raped and murdered in her own home, the police arrested a solid suspect, and a trial was conducted. The jurors came up with the verdict, the people were outraged by it, and the jurors swore not to tell a soul on what happened in the jury room. Years later, as Willie narrates it, the jurors served on the trial started to die off one by one, as the killer gets revenge.

In this book, take note of the lawyer who befriended Willie: Harry Rex Vonner. He looks like a nice guy, offering Willie some legal and moral advice along the story. We are also introduced to Lucien Willbanks, the defense lawyer of the accused and the type of character that we can't help but hate. Also look out for a brief appearance of Judge Reuben Atlee at the party.

A Time To Kill (1989)

Around the mid-80's, Clanton was once again shook by another crime that led to another. A ten year old black girl was raped by two rednecks, and her devastated father took the law in his own hands. We follow the story of Jake Brigance, a defense lawyer and how he tries to justify the case that caught the attention of the whole country in favor of his client, Carl Lee Hailey.

This book tackles incredibly sensitive issues such as murder, child rape, and racism, all of which gripped the town of Clanton. There were cross burnings, sniper fire, huge rallies, and even the national guard coming in and they kept the town on its heels, all because of the trial. Along the trial, Jake will get a lot of help from two of his friends: his heavy-drinking former boss Lucien Wilbanks and the sleazy divorce lawyer Harry Rex Vonner. Yep. They're back.

Ford County (2009)

Because of the issue of AIDS and the use of gas chambers, I think these short stories were set around the mid-80's, more or less around the same time as A Time To Kill. One of them contains an Easter egg, a familiar character from the other books. The compilation contains seven short stories, all set in the county:

A road trip of three Ford Countians to Memphis goes wrong; a final visit of a family to its youngest member on death row; a drastic change in a life of a lawyer made by a phone call; a gambler's revenge on a Casino owner and his ex-wife; a kidnapped lawyer who saw the consequences of his lies to win a case years earlier; a caretaker on new job at another nursing home with a hidden past and ulterior motive; and an outcast son of a prominent family returns home from San Fransisco with AIDS who finds a new friend as he dies from the disease.

The Summons (2002)

Back at the Last Juror, Judge Reuben Atlee made a cameo and was shown as a well known judge. Now at The Summons, he is dying. He summons his sons, Ray and Forrest, back to Clanton to discuss his will. However, before the meeting took place, the judge died too soon and Ray discovered a secret that could change his life. As he try to figure out what to do with the secret, he also looks for answers on how his father acquired it, and discovers in horror that there may be just another one who knows about it.

In this book, Harry Rex Vonner gets bigger role than just the average lawyer, acting as one of Ray's best friend. According to the other reviews that I've read, a character from The King Of Torts, another Grisham novel, appears on this one but I've yet to read it.

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These novels and short stories give you the sense of how a neighborhood goes on its day to day lives. We see the different main characters and how they meet the familiar people and go to familiar places which the other characters also met and visited some point. One of the amazing things about it is we see Clanton, Ford County react to the big events as a community, and even when it was divided in some issues we see the different point of views. With all three novels and seven short stories, we see how the community change, or in some cases stay the same, overtime.

Danao Adventure Park

We got to Ubay, Bohol three hours later from Bato, Leyte. We finally got to Duero an hour later. We took a much anticipated rest after two and a half days of traveling. The day after, we went to the Danao Adventure Park.

Some of the Chocolate Hills we passed on our way


We're here! :)

The Main Attractions:

The Cable Car called The Skyride


The Zip-line called Suislide

The Canyon Swing called The Plunge

This is a great new addition to the attractions of Bohol. The rides are a bit pricey, but the Skyride has a stunning view, you get to ride the Suislide twice, and I could only imagine the adrenaline rush from the Plunge's free fall.

Road Trip 2011 - Eastern Visayas

This is the second part of our road trip. :)

The ferry ride

San Bernardino Strait
Off to Allen, Samar! It took us an hour and a half.

Calbayog and Catbalogan City, Samar

Major cities perfect for stopovers

Laygayon Fruit Vendors

Pinabacdao, Samar
I think this is worth mentioning.
This is a perfect place to buy pasalubong. They're really cheap too.

San Juanico Bridge

Samar and Leyte boundary
It's THE bridge! And we drove through all 2.2 kilometers of it. :)

Leyte Landing

Palo, Leyte
It's just a few meters away from the main road but it's pretty easy to miss.
We had to ask for directions to get there. ;p

Agas-agas Bridge

Sogod, Leyte

The country's tallest bridge. It's about 90 meters tall.

Port of Bato

Bato, Leyte
Our last stop before Ubay, Bohol. We also spent a night here
after 11 and a half hours and 450 kilometers from Allen, Samar

Road Trip 2011 - Southern Luzon

My dad is from Bohol so our family have been going there for years and I've been there at least a dozen times. But this is the first time we went there by land.

Here are some of the highlights of the trip:

The Quezon National Forest Park

After Pagbilao and just before Atimonan, Quezon
The Maharlika Highway crosses this part of the Sierra Madre mountain range.
It's like a forest-themed park ride, with all the steep curves.

Lamon Bay

Atimonan, Plaridel, Gumaca, and Lopez, Quezon
One of the first signs that you really are in a great road trip is when
you see a coastline you've never seen before. :)

The Iriga City Sign

Mt. Iriga, Iriga City, Camarines Sur
I didn't know that a Hollywood sign-like landmark
existed in the country until we took a turn to Iriga City.

Cagsawa Ruins (Mayon Volcano)

Daraga, Albay
After Camalig, look out for the Cagsawa Ruins.
It's just 500 meters away from the Highway so
it's a great stopover with a great main attraction.

Sorsogon City

Sorsogon
We spent the night in a hotel here after twelve hours of driving.

Mt. Bulusan Ashfall

Irosin, Sorsogon
This doesn't happen that much, but we passed Irosin
the day after Mt. Bulusan spew some ash.

Port of Matnog

Matnog, Sorsogon
The gateway to Visayas. KM 646.

That's it for Luzon! :)
Here's the Eastern Visayas post. :)

The Heads Set

It's really a surprise that we still got one. Well, maybe not because it's a bit pricey but come on, it's Eraserheads. But considering that this has been going on since September, I thought the stock would have ran out by now. We got ours at Greenwich SM City Marilao.

Me and my siblings are a huge fan and we already have many of their previous albums. That's why we didn't get one for a long while. It's one of the spur of the moment things when my sister got it when we had dinner last night. And being huge fans of the band, this is a really great Christmas present. Thanks Ate!

The box contains all nine Eraserheads albums, the tenth with songs not included on the previous nine albums (with some remixes from sticker happy), a Pop-U-Mentary DVD, a shirt, and a really great booklet with all the lyrics of all their songs.