Love, Kill, Live

On Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (1986) by Patrick Süskind


In Grenouille, Süskind has created a beloved serial killer with a powerful sense  of smell. His beginning, a Dickens novel; his journey, a bildungsroman; his end, a Sartrian exit. More than an inspirational manual for murderers, Perfume is a treatise on the implosive relation between love and existence.

Bunch of Book Flips

On Flips Flipping Pages in Shelfari.com

Unabashedly socially irrelevant, Flips Flipping Pages was initially an online group of Filipino book lovers--before the petit-bourgeois brats met up and agreed to meet monthly to gush about books. Since then, these bookworms have spread book geekiness, with astonishing results. As a member, I would never be the same again.

Spiffier than Slumdog

On Millions (2004) by Danny Boyle, Director and Frank Boyce, Screenplay

Days before the UK embraces the Euro, a bag of quid falls upon a saintly boy’s playhouse, propelling him on a crusade to give the money away to the poor, against time, a robber, and his family thrown into the ethical dilemma. A poignant and colorful tale of money and humanity.

The Butt of the Joke

On the fuss over Alec Balwin's quip on Filipino mail order brides (2009)

If only the government provided enough jobs with decent wages, Pinoys would not have to raise a ruckus each time someone pokes fun at their fragile identities. No laughs from the government. But why would the joke's butt join the laugh? 

A Not So Sorry Story

On Love Story (1970) by Erich Segal

Oliver Barrett IV and Jennifer Cavilleri will be remembered by generations of lovers. Segal is a manipulative genius, juggling simplicity, restraint and surprise. Only a well-read mind so sick of trashy, bestselling romance novels could have written this short and sweet concoction of the finest ingredients of love stories through the ages.

Authoring an Author

On Bech is Back (1982) by John Updike

An uncanny and hilarious surfacing of a writer's mind as he enters his twilight years, dealing with writer's block, a global readership, marriage, and a much-changed publishing world. Will Updike’s Henry Bech hit another bestseller or are his few books doomed to shelf wear?

Dozing with Discomfort

On The Comfort of Strangers (1981) by Ian McEwan

Two couples, never alike in dignity, meet, and disaster could not have been spelled out more clearly. The unfolding, however, is excruciatingly slow. McEwan’s novella could be the most effective sedative since counting sheep. Sexual perversity has never been made so boring.