Sotto Voce's Blog, page 4

This is probably the first time I've read something in thisformat. The story picks up quickly, and I appreciate the author's backstoriesand explanations; they help when you read this book as a standalone.

We follow the main character, who sometimes talks to readersthroughout the night. He is caught in an unfortunate situation and has to spendthe night outside his home, trying to survive, which is the book's wholepremise.

I wish to know the character and the plot better. I know bitsand ...

June is Male Mental Health Awareness Month, and Father’s Dayalso falls in June in many parts of the world.

Around 2002, I worked as a junior staff member in this bigcompany, with multiple departments on multiple floors. My department (around a dozenpeople) was located next to another (around four-five dozen). The workflowsequence was from ours to theirs. I don’t need to liaise with them inDepartment 2 since I only did technical presentation work exclusive toDepartment 1. Still, I know th...

We have just celebrated my dog’s 9th birthday two weeks ago. 

Ihave always loved dogs and almost went through the adoption process with arescue shelter, but unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be (some schedulingand other issues). After that, I decided not to get a dog atall since I was traveling quite often, I didn't want to leave my dog inboarding houses often.

Mycolleague learned about it in a passing conversation, and a few weeksafter that, she offered me a puppy for adoption. It was...

Whenever I meet with my friends (I only have a few, and it is dwindling), wealways reminisce about good old times, well, of course, on top of health talkand how annoying it is to grow older. Another topic is about technology and theinternet as we put on our best grumpy behaviors while squinting on the phoneand cursing that everything needs to be an app nowadays. 

I am a younger Gen-X (Gen-Xer?). I was a bit late, but the first time Iaccessed internet was in the year 2000 when I just gradu...

I had a chance to visit a traditional Asian village last week and spenthours in a place that brought me to the past.

With chickens and ducks freely roaming around, one always side-eyed me withjudgmental eyes (maybe he thought I was supposed to feed him). I had pleasantafternoons watching goat MBEEE on their way home. Kids were out playingbicycles and soccer and got muddy on one rainy afternoon with laughter as thesoundtrack. 

Dirt, animals, soaking in the rain, and playing outside were t...

A tale of a young witch is a very ambitious fantasy. However, I am not surewhy it’s divided into three parts because all three happen continuously and inthe same timeline, involving the same characters.

The book has a simple but interesting beginning. We follow the story ofAmelia as some origin story because she is the titular character who starts assomeone ordinary enough with ordinary life, but it doesn’t stay that way forlong. From there, the journey goes to common fantasy routes with ...

Locky is not a fooland knows how to enjoy a beach day and make that bath worth it!

ONE: The hitmanS

You get what you pay for.

This was what a ChineseDeveloper thought when he hired a hitman to kill his competitor because he wassued over a project dispute. At the price of 2 million Yuan (around $282,800),that should be enough to get a good quality hitman, or so he thought, and gotHitman 1.

Hitman 1 happily took thejob, and with his impeccable business instinct, he hired Hit...

The good thing about fantasy is that the imagination can belimitless. I believe I had watched some old Asian movie about dragonshapeshifters, but I certainly had never read a book about it.

The book follows the journey of Asher (a firefighter; thisis not as close as Bookman as a librarian in Seinfeld, and definitely notbetter than a real-life firefighter, Lieutenant Les McBurney, but good enough)facing the challenge of a serial arsonist who seems to have something againsthim. He moves to...

The good thing about fantasy is that the imagination can belimitless. I believe I had watched some old Asian movie about dragonshapeshifters, but I certainly had never read a book about it.

The book follows the journey of Asher (a firefighter; thisis not as close as Bookman as a librarian in Seinfeld, and definitely notbetter than a real-life firefighter, Lieutenant Les McBurney, but good enough)facing the challenge of a serial arsonist who seems to have something againsthim. He moves to...

Do you remember the time when you tried to eat chips in theoffice but didn't want to share? Or when you wanted to fart and dropped a bookto conceal the sound, but because of poor timing, you dropped the book, thewhole class went silent, looked at you, and then you farted? Neither do I. Itdidn't happen to me. I swear.

But today, I try to be as quiet as possible. If you havewatched a movie titled The Quiet Place that tells a story about monsters thatattack sound (and everything attached to...