The Post Where I Try to Blog Again

It's 2013 already! My last post was in the first quarter of last year! What happened to me?

I'm here to read again or at least try. The past two or so years had been a blur; this year I need some focus. So I'll start with the pile of books I brought home from the metro since I moved out and relocated back to my hometown. Yes, that's right. I bid the traffic and the hustle and bustle life of metropolitan Manila to the almost-quiet, peaceful living in my hometown more than a hundred kilometers away. While I kept my flat in the metro (as there's no way my books there could fit into my room here), I'm in the process of re-acquainting myself with the city I grew up in.

In the meantime, there's this Long Awaited Reads Month that Nymeth and Iris came up with late last year. And it's a good time to read leisurely again, at least when I'm home from work. Wow, starting the year with a challenge! Feels like a challenge, alright.

Lest you think I haven't been reading, well, I have. Sort of. Insert guilty face here. Hahaha. For the past year or so it's been slow. Sloooow. Like, no door stopper books at all. And I think I progressed far better in graphic novels and fantasy than in other genres. Not that I'm complaining. I think life has a way of making you pause from doing things that you love. Now I look forward to reading and working and reading and working at the same time.

Let me backtrack a bit and tell you guys why I haven't really posted nor read much in the past couple of years: it's because I read and write most of the time at work. When I'm home I try to rest my eyes. I don't even watch tv regularly (except if it's The Vampire Diaries, simply because of Damon Salvatore). Now that I've paced myself at work (since one of my staff told me that the work keeps coming in and I'll never be able to finish everything even if I wanted to) , I'm not as tired as I used to be. Lately, I've been reading a lot of stories again, which is always a good thing.

So what are my choices for this month's challenge? Hmmm. I've a short list. I already finished Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 a couple of days ago, which makes this short list a day or two late. Now I'm reading Nathaniel Rich's The Mayor's Tongue. I'll add Diana Wynne Jones' The Merlin Conspiracy, Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man and Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle to the mix. Don't ask me about my long list. And if I don't feel like reading the other stuff there, I do have other stuff in the pile of books I brought from the metro.

There, I hope I get my reading back on. Happy 2013 to all of you.