At Home With MrsC

Raising a family, making a home.

SBC

SBC’s April and May BOMs

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Before we begin, let’s have a definition of terms. SBC stands for Secret Book Club, which is the name of our book club. It just started out that way, and none of us felt the need to change the name. BOM means Book of the Month. In our book club, we have two to read each month. I think I explained this already when I posted about our first book club meet-up, but I just thought I’d do it again. And now that that’s clear, we can move on.

Meeting up to discuss our March BOMs! L-R: Me, Liz, Russ, Balot and Joei (who owns this photo)
Meet-up #2 to discuss our March BOMs!
L-R: Me, Liz, Russ, Balot and Joei (who owns this photo)

April’s books were polar opposites. Balot suggested Arabian Nights by Sir Richard Burton. Honestly, I didn’t go very far with this one because I got sidetracked by Book Four of A Song of Fire and Ice. Had to catch up on my reading because the Game of Thrones series started up again on HBO. Feedback from those who actually got to read Arabian Nights was that it’s a pretty long book. I’m definitely keeping this on my to-read list, even though it’s been decided that we will forego the discussion for it because it’s so lengthy.

Arabian Nights

I was in charge of suggesting the second April book. I chose Losing It by Cora Carmack. Oh my gosh this book was so funny. I would choose this over Fifty Shades of Grey any day because unlike 50 Shades, this book doesn’t take itself too seriously. The characters are a lot more endearing, not at all annoying, and a lot more real. Sorry Fifty Shades fans. Hehe. I actually read all three books in that series and, well, I wasn’t as swept away by it as the rest of the universe. I would recommend Losing It, though.It’s a really easy read, super light, and a great “breather” book, if you’re looking for something to read in between heavy novels.

Losing It

It’s Janice’s turn to suggest a book this month, and I love that she picked a Filipino author. Liz is also suggesting a book this month, and her recommendation is pretty interesting. 

Belong to Me

I’ve just finished downloading our two May BOMs into my Kindle, Belong To Me by Marissa delos Santos and This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith, and I am excited to start reading them both.

This is What Happy Looks Like

First, I need to finish A Feast For Crows. And of course, the only way I’m gonna be able to do that is if I get off this computer and start reading. Right? Right.

What’s on your reading list this month?

Would You Like To Go Clubbing With Me?

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This year has me rekindling my love for books and reading. Kindle in hand, I am off to conquer my 2014 GoodReads challenge of reading 24 books this year. I’m off to a good start with four books down -Wicked in January, I Wish They Taught Money in Highschool and The Cuckoo’s Calling in February, and Fahreheit 451 in March. I’m also more than halfway done with The Lover’s Dictionary, and also with Losing It. The best part about reading, now, for me is my book club, as dorky as that may sound. It’s actually because of the book club that I’m getting to read all these different books. 

The SBC and our BOMs

Is it just me, or am I sounding dorkier by the minute? SBC or Secret Book Club is, well, what our book club is called. Some friends of mine from high school started the club with a few other batch mates of theirs, and when I saw them talking about it on Twitter, I kinda invited myself to join. See, not only do I love to read, I like discussing the books I’m reading with other people too. MrC and I, for instance, can talk for hours about George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books. We also talked about The Hunger Games Trilogy and The Millennium Trilogy during and after reading all of the books. I’m lucky to have married someone who is the same brand of dork as I am.

Then came SBC, and all of a sudden I was surrounded by other ladies who are the same brand of dork as I am, too. I absolutely love it. We chat endlessly on WhatsApp about our current reads and what books to check out next, we swoon over book lists and hard bound editions, and a couple of us have already declared that we want George RR Martin to be our lolo. Sorry, SBC girls for calling you dorks, but, well… 

Moving on. A BOM or Book of the Month is basically what the members of the club are required to read. For now, since we’re still a small group, we take turns suggesting new books. We’ve been assigning two books a month and we’ve been able to get by so far, which is perfect because that’s the same reading target I set for myself in GoodReads. I got to suggest a book for this April, and I’m a little ashamed to admit that I was the one who recommended Losing It. Haha! It was part of the reading list for the fiction writing class I joined earlier in the year, but I never got around to reading it. So I figured I’d suggest it as a BOM, and so far it’s gotten okay feedback from the others, so yay!

Happy hour book discussions (and gossip sessions)

We agreed to meet once a month in the Alabang area, since we are all from the south. Our first session happened earlier in March at Bugsy’s in Westgate. I actually didn’t plan on staying long, but believe it or not, Joei, Lar and I ended up hanging out until way past midnight. 

The SBC: (Top) Iza, Me, (Front) Lar, Joei, Russ and (Not in photo) Balot.
Photo belongs to Joei. Click on it to read her post about SBC.

Lar and I are both mommies, and I think we enjoyed being among adults and talking about random things that evening. Joei is a lawyer and an amazing blogger. Her blog, Joei and Me is actually on the list of my favorite blogs from one of my Sunday Sevens. Russ is a marketing master, and one of my favorite writing clients of the moment (hehe, thanks, Russ). Iza is a coach at Futbol Funatics, where Little MrC is enrolled for the summer. Go check them out! Balot, who wasn’t able to join is that evening, blogs over at I Am Corporate Junkie.

Over the last couple of weeks, our group has grown and now includes my friendly friends and mom-bloggers, Michelle, Janice, Mille and Toni. My cousin Reena has also recently joined, as well as Joei’s friend, Koryn, and Iza’s friend, Yam. and So yes, we are very open to accepting new members, and if any of you would like to join the fun, send me a message on Facebook or email me at mrspcuyugan@gmail.com. We meet in the south, though, and of course we’d love to have you guys from the north come and visit our nice little neighborhood. Would you like to go clubbing with me?

I’m going back to reading now! What are you reading today?