Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets? A novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived.

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

Source: Good Reads

This is reflection piece written by Fr. Ro Atilano.

What have been your prayers lately? Have you ever prayed for something that was seemingly impossible and you felt you like needed to move mountains? Have you prayed for something over and over again and God was seemingly quiet? Have you experienced almost giving up, even giving up praying?

Since the first week of the lockdown, most of us have been wondering when or how this pandemic would end and hoping that the world could go back to the old normal. A lot of people have already lost their jobs and more and more are becoming desperate and even depressed. Businesses are permanently closing down. Some of us might have already lost someone we know or we love due to the virus and there was no proper burial and the usual rituals of goodbye.

As weeks turn into months, relief operation resources are being depleted while those in charge are running out of effective strategies to manage this crisis. More and more people now have nothing to put on their tables for their families to eat. During this crisis, with much anxiety and helplessness, we are brought to our knees to pray harder and beg God to answer our prayers. Yet there are those of us who feel that their prayers seem not to reach heaven.

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Sinimulang sulatin ni Dr. José P. Rizal ang mga unang bahagi ng Noli Me Tangere noong 1884 sa Madrid noong siya ay nag-aaral pa ng Medisina. Nang makatapos ng pag-aaral, nagtungo siya sa Paris at doon ipinagpatuloy ang pagsusulat nito. At sa Berlin natapos ni Rizal ang huling bahagi ng nobela.

Ang pagsusulat ng Noli Me Tangere ay bunga ng pagbasa ni Rizal sa Uncle Tom's Cabin ni Harriet Beacher Stowe, na pumapaksa sa kasaysayan ng mga aliping Negro sa kamay ng mga panginoong puting Amerikano. Inilarawan dito ang iba't ibang kalupitan at pagmamalabis ng mga Puti sa Itim. Inihambing niya ito sa kapalarang sinapit ng mga Pilipino sa kamay ng mga Kastila.

Sa simula, binalak ni Rizal na ang bawat bahagi ng nobela ay ipasulat sa ilan niyang kababayan na nakababatid sa uri ng lipunan sa Pilipinas at yaon ay pagsasama-samahin niyang upang maging nobela. Ngunit hindi ito nagkaroon ng katuparan, kaya sa harap ng kabiguang ito, sinarili niya ang pagsulat nang walang katulong.

Ipinaliwanag ni Rizal sa kanyang liham sa matalik niyang kaibigang si Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt ang mga dahilan kung bakit niya isinulat ang Noli. Ang lahat ng mga ito ay maliwanag na inilarawan sa mga kabanata ng nobela.

Ang pamagat ng Noli Me Tangere ay salitang Latin na ang ibig sabihin sa Tagalog ay Huwag Mo Akong Salingin na hango sa Ebanghelyo ni San Juan Bautista. Itinulad niya ito sa isang bulok sa lipunan na nagpapahirap sa buhay ng isang tao.

Sa kasalukuyan, ang Noli Me Tangere ay isa sa mahahalagang akda ng Panitikang Filipino na pinag-aaralan ngayon sa mataas na paaralan (sa ikatlong taon), alinsunod sa kurikulum na itinakda ng Kagawaran ng Edukasyon.

Source: kapitbisig.com

In this follow-up to Jory John and Pete Oswald’s popular picture book The Bad Seed, meet the next best thing: a very good egg, indeed!

The good egg has been good for as long as he can remember. While the other eggs in his carton are kind of rotten, he always does the right, kind, and courteous thing. He is a verrrrrrry good egg indeed! Until one day he decides that enough is enough! He begins to crack (quite literally) from the pressure of always having to be grade-A perfect.

Source: Good Reads

This story is, in short, about a monster meeting another monster.

One of the monsters is me.

Yunjae was born with a brain condition called Alexithymia that makes it hard for him to feel emotions like fear or anger. He does not have friends—the two almond-shaped neurons located deep in his brain have seen to that—but his devoted mother and grandmother aren’t fazed by his condition. Their little home above his mother’s used bookstore is decorated with colorful post-it notes that remind him when to smile, when to say "thank you," and when to laugh. Yunjae grows up content, even happy, with his small family in this quiet, peaceful space.

Then on Christmas Eve—Yunjae’s sixteenth birthday—everything changes. A shocking act of random violence shatters his world, leaving him alone and on his own. Struggling to cope with his loss, Yunjae retreats into silent isolation, until troubled teenager Gon arrives at his school and begins to bully Yunjae.

Against all odds, tormentor and victim learn they have more in common than they realized. Gon is stumped by Yunjae’s impassive calm, while Yunjae thinks if he gets to know the hotheaded Gon, he might learn how to experience true feelings. Drawn by curiosity, the two strike up a surprising friendship. As Yunjae begins to open his life to new people—including a girl at school—something slowly changes inside him. And when Gon suddenly finds his life in danger, it is Yunjae who will step outside of every comfort zone he has created to perhaps become a most unlikely hero.

The Emissary meets The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime in this poignant and triumphant story about how love, friendship, and persistence can change a life forever.

Source: Good Reads

A perfect story for anyone, any age, any religion, or none at all.

Hope’s theme of life, moving through seeming death to a new and more beautiful life, has the hearts of millions of people. Hope for the Flowers is for young and old, lovers, husbands and wives. It’s a book to learn to read with, or to comfort those who are dying or grieving. In the tale, the caterpillar heroes, Stripe and Yellow, want something more from life than eating and growing bigger. They get caught up in a “caterpillar pillar,” a squirming mass of bodies, each determined to reach a top so far away it can’t be seen. Finally disillusioned, they discover that the way for the caterpillars to find their particular “more,” who they really are, is to enter the cocoon and “…risk for the butterfly.” Hope for the Flowers has helped people gain the courage to leave jobs, change their lives and explore their love for another human being.

A modern classic. Three million copies sold in English and beloved around the world in other languages.

Source: AJHS Sora Digital Library

Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, helped you see the world as a more profound place, gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it.

For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago.

Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you, receive wisdom for your busy life today the way you once did when you were younger?

Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final "class": lessons in how to live.

Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie's lasting gift with the world.

Source: AJHS Sora Digital Library