Book Review: The Debt Squeeze, How Your Family Can Become Financially-Free by Ron Blue

Reading the book entitled “The Debt Squeeze, How Your Family Can Become Financially Free” by Ron Blue has given me new perspectives on debt. (I got a second-hand copy from Book Sale for Php10.) Who wouldn’t want to live a debt-free life, right? While debt-free living is possible, having some debts isn’t bad at all. As long as you have the means to repay your debts, you should be fine. Or so this book claims.

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What I liked about the book was that the author presented debt in a casual way. He also explained the different kinds of debt in layman’s terms. And because he’s a Christian, he also included some verses in the bible conveying God’s words on material wealth. The author also shared some real-life finance stories, how-to-get-out-of-debt tips, borrowing rules, and other money principles. Even if most of the concepts he explained were not new to me, they have refreshed my memory on what it really takes to be debt-free and eventually, financially-free.

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Book Review: The Politics of Stupid by Susan Powter

I got this book from BookSale for a very cheap price of P20 during one of my trips there. Susan Powter is an Australian motivational speaker, nutritionist, personal trainer and best-selling author. In “The Politics of Stupid,” she talks about weight loss and how to do it right.

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Susan Powter herself on the cover of her own book!

In the book, Powter unabashedly claimed that “dieting doesn’t work.” I think I’ll have to agree with her on that but only if we’re talking about the long term effects. You see, my GM Diet worked because I lost a total of 7 lbs. when I finished the 7-day diet plan. Which made me believe that dieting helps especially if you just want to “jumpstart” your weight loss. But I digress.

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Book Review: An A-Z Guide for a Green Chef by Annie Pascual-Guerrero

I got this book from my boss. As soon as she finished reading it, she immediately thought of giving it away to us. No one in the office wanted it, so I took it. I’d like to think our boss was just being generous (she always is). But I also couldn’t shake the thought that maybe, she just wanted more people to know about the wealth of knowledge found in the book. Whatever her reason was, I’m glad she shared this book with me.

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Annie Pascual-Guerrero is the founder of Center for Culinary Arts, the pioneer culinary school in the Philippines. Aside from being a culinary expert, she is also an environmentalist. Her book titled “An A-Z Guide for a Green Chef” teaches chefs and non-chefs alike on how to go green in the kitchen. I liked how she sounded in the book because you could really feel her staunch advocacy on the preservation of the environment which, according to her, starts in the kitchen (at home or in commercial/industrial ones).

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Getting Back My Passion for Reading

Last year, as much as I wanted to read books, I have only read a few and this was mostly during my maternity leave when I got stuck at home doing nothing. I have to admit I missed reading books, the real ones, if I may add. I used to read e-books and in fact, I still do, but there’s something about real books that make them more enjoyable to read.

I dunno but recently, I’ve felt that I wanted to spend my free time (at night and during weekends) reading real books at home. I suddenly missed turning pages, staring at texts, imagining the characters in my head, and feeling the book in my hands as if it was part of my existence. I suddenly missed reading. And now, I feel like acquiring books, though not necessarily new ones because pre-owned books are just as interesting.

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Passion for Reading

My sister O is growing to be a voracious reader. She’s 19 years old at present and her passion for reading is quite intense, especially nowadays when her access to numerous free e-books are made possible by the internet (hello torrent downloads!). While she likes to read both fiction and non-fiction books, I think she prefers those romance novels that get adapted into films more.

I remember one time she tried to get herself a sort of ereader at the source for her small collection of e-books, only to find out later that she could just make use of her phone for the same purpose. I mean, she has a nice phone that opens PDF files and more. I’m happy that she really finds ways to make the most of her reading experience.

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Fifty Shades Trilogy by E.L. James

I may not be a voracious reader but I enjoy reading books especially fiction, non-fiction and inspirational ones. If I had ample time in my hands, I would dedicate a good portion of it on reading. After several book-less months in my life, I chanced upon the Fifty Shades Trilogy by British author E.L. James…

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the book covers, image via

…and easily got hooked. I know it’s quite popular and if I heard it right, it has already surpassed the Harry Potter series as the no. 1 fastest-selling paperback of all time in the UK. I got curious when I researched on it online because the theme was something new to me. I’m still on the first book and yet I’m already excited to finish reading the third. That’s how addicting this trilogy is.

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