New Year, Same Me

Of the January that went by in a blur, I had the right balance of work and play. Of work, swamp could be such an understatement to describe how the first month of 2011 was. I had work left from the past year and I had more coming in, that I simply had to stop, breathe and of course, read, and to top it off, travel.

I may have mentioned that the stress levels at my workplace is directly proportional to the number of books I could finish (and I could buy) somewhere in this blog. For January 2011, these were crossed out of my reading list:

Currently by my bedside are:

My parents, brother and I went to Singapore, and took a side trip to Kuala Lumpur just to see the Petronas towers. That 5-day trip was a real eye opener. Somehow, I have high hopes for the Philippines. But all the hopes could never catch up with what Singapore, and even Malaysia have. We used to be the tiger among the Southeast Asian countries. But now, we're too far down the line as the peso's purchasing power would attest (exchange rates between the peso and Singapore dollar is at, give or take, Php34.00, while that of Malaysian ringgit is at, give or take Php14.00).

Given the stress at work (and I wonder what other profession considers stress levels as bragging rights), and even at home and all the ruminations about the future of the Philippines, I was tempted to relocate to Singapore.

I'm still thinking about that prospect, in the meantime, I bought these from Kinokuniya (a popular bookstore in Singapore, with branches all over Asia and the Pacific, except Philippines:

The new year is here, the Chinese new year is yet to come and I still am the same old me, wishing for a better Philippines.

Because I'm Such A Truebie

I have finished two more installments of the Sookie Stackhouse novels. Generally, books turned movies/TV series aren't rendered faithfully and thus, they tend to be disappointing to watch . However, I find Trueblood quite the contrary. I happen to like the series more than the novels. Maybe because the novels are far too romance-y for me.

I was able to spend a part of October at home, mainly for Nanay's 60th birthday. Rummaging through my old stuffs, I found lots of unread paperbacks. Most of them were from college days in Baguio and about two-thirds are considered "Classics." I only brought back with me these ones:

On the pretext that I'd be bookhunting for the nieces and a nephew, I could not help but get these for myself:

Currently, I am down to the last 60 pages of Joseph Heller's Catch-22 (it takes me so long to finish an ebook because I don't like reading from either the netbook or the phone. My brother suggests I get an ebook reader. For now, I'll just stick with physical books.)

Virginia Wolf's The Waves is shelved, at the moment, because I find that one needs to be in a certain mood (which is a tad bit difficult to induce), in a certain place and time (most definitely the beach on a sunny day) before an appreciation of the book's poignancy can be had. 

The physical book I'm currently sticking up my nose in is Julie Hecht's The Unprofessionals. The title is reason enough for me to pick the book.

the sale i couldn't resist

it didn't matter that i was sick yesterday, all that mattered then was to get myself to National Bookstore's warehouse sale. i got the books that i wanted. but i'd gotten more. i grabbed everybody's attention when i almost nearly fainted while queuing at the cashier. i thank God i didn't came by myself. i had my sister with me. even then, NBS people really took the time to see to it that i had white flower (they thought of spirit of ammonia, but they didn't have any) , water, ventilation and even a means of transportation back to CGS.

here are my finds:

from top to bottom: (the hardbound ones fetched for Php 20 each, while the soft bound ones ranged from Php50 to Php150 because they're new)

1. National Geographic's 2010 Almanac for Kids (this is for my nieces and nephew)
2. Lauren Slater's Lying:A Metaphorical Memoir
3. James Hynge's China Shakes the World: The Rise of a Hungry Nation
4. Roland Merullo's Fidel's Last Days
5. Thrity Umrigar's If Today Be Sweet
6. Bret Lott's Before We Get Started
7. Walter Mosley's The Man in my Basement
8. Roberto Calasso's K
9. Lynne Cox's Grayson
10. Mariano Miguel Montanes' Pablo Picasso: The Last Days
11. James Hillman's A Terrible Love of War
12. Elie Wiesel's The Time of the Uprooted
13. Max Byrd's Shooting the Sun
14. Patrick Ryan's Send Me
15. Ivan Doig's Prairie Nocturne
16. George Hagen's The Laments



i've also found these at book sale for Php20:

i've been trying to finish these:

the Sookie Stackhouse omnibus is loaned to me, so i have to finish that soon. my copy of "The Waves" is from booksale. it has this receipt from Barnes and Nobles Bookstore dated October 18, 1983 (i wasn't even born yet). somehow, the receipt got me thinking of my own existence and my quest to retire early to an island with my books (such wishful and wistful thinking).

counting months by the books i've read and bought

August and September consisted of these:

the ones I've read are:

G.V. Desani's "All About H. Hatterr" was wildly hilarious, albeit colloquial which tends to hamper one's comprehension of the author's thoughts. "Eat, Pray, Love" By Elizabeth Gilbert detailed one woman's quest for inner peace and what one must go through to attain it. Carrie Tiffany's "Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living" is one of the 50 Books You Can't Put Down for 2007 (Australia's literacy project of sorts) which depicted how failures impact persons from different backgrounds; like in the novel, the scientific man who is guided by rules and logic responded to failure by enlisting in the army for the war, while the woman who was an orphan and a seamstress, carried on with her life even after the scientific man left her. M.J. Hyland's "How the Light Gets In" interested me because M.J. Hyland's short bio at the back cover of the book revealed that she is an "ex-lawyer." (hm, it's a possibility for me too!)

the ones i bought:

Salman Rushdie's "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" and Mitch Albom's "For One More Day" are from Lung Center's Sunday market.

Jaan Kross' "Treading Air" and Joan London's "Gilgamesh" are dregs from the Powerbooks' Power Sale.

"The Drink and Dream Teahouse" by Justin Hill was a buy one take one deal from those booths in Megamall's exhibit areas (this was the "take," what i bought was that M.J. Hyland novel).

"After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away" by Joyce Carol Oates and "Vanessa & Virginia" by Susan Sellers are from Bestsellers (which is owned by National Bookstore) at Podium.

"The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski, "A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry, "The Discomfort Zone" by Jonathan Franzen and "Operation Shylock: A Confession" by Philip Roth are all from Booksale.

this is what i'm currently reading:

Margaret Atwood's "The Blind Assassin" consist of three seemingly unrelated tales which according to the gist at the back cover of the book will be interwoven to provide the proper context for the three tales. i can't wait to get to the ending.

my pre-powerbooks' power sale finds

I missed out big time on the month long Powerbooks' Power Sale (15 July - 15 August) because of work. nonetheless, i don't really mind because even prior to that sale, Powerbooks at Mega already had a sale. these are what I got after rummaging through the piles and piles of books, which were dirt cheap and in near mint condition (two of them even had their plastic wraps):

1. Alice Walker's "The Same River Twice"

2.Salvador Plascencia's "The People of Paper"

3. Graham Greene's "The Ministry of Fear"

4. John Steinbeck's "The Log from the Sea of Cortez"

5. Edward P. Jones' "All Aunt Hagar's Children"

6. Will Clarke's "Lord Vishnu's Love Handles"

7. Don De Lillo's "The Day Room"

8. Carrie Tiffany's "Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living" 

9. Geoffrey Chaucer's "Everyman's Poetry"

10. Josephine Ross' "Jane Austen's Guide to Good Manners: Compliments, Charades and Horrible Blunders"

10. Kaye Gibbons' "Divining Women"

11. Robert Louis Stevenson's "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"

12. G. V. Desani's "All About H. Hatterr" (which is what i'm currently reading and reminded me so much of Laurence Sterne's "The Life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman").

the images are so crude. thus, note to self, improve on the art of editing pictures. for now, enjoy H. Hatterr who "write(s) rigmarole English, staining your goodly godly tongue: but, friend, I forsook my Form, School and Head, while you stuck to yours, learning reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic."

stress buster

since July came, i have been able to finish these:

i have realized that the speed with which i've read these books is directly proportional to the degree of stress in my workplace. i could not recall having read as much books in the past months than in the month of July.

of these 5 books, "The People of Paper" by Salvador Plascencia proved to be avant garde, consisting of a plot entirely new and foreign to me, because the characters in the book waged a war against the fate chosen for them by the author but they ended up defeated, of course.

"London Fields" by Martin Amis is in a way, a fresh way of story telling considering that the author is laying several planes of existence in that, there is a writer in the novel who wrote a book about a murder. it isn't as simple as that though, because the characters of the book within the book are not fictional.

"The Loss of Leon Meed" by Josh Emmons is reminiscent of the guy in "The Time Traveller's Wife" because Leon Meed also disappeared and appeared randomly in a small-town in California. it was quite engaging at first, but the ending just sucked. oh well, i prefer grand and dramatic endings. this one ended with Leon's bouts of appearance and disappearance unexplained and that ten years later, he was found dead in his cabin. it still was a good read.

"The View from Saturday" is a children's book which is not to say that it is intended only for kids. i'd like to think that there is so much to learn from the kids, even though they have the diadvantage of age if wisdom is to be premised on that. it was such a light read, literally and mentally but not emotionally.

"On Beauty" by Zadie Smith is another book i can tick off from the list of books one should read before one dies. if there is any topic worth writing and reaqding about, it's on families. the complexities, realities and idiosyncracies of such an arrangement were all beautifully depicted in this novel. i had a good laugh over the many similarities of families which cut across cultures.

currently, i am reading:

"All Shall Be Well; and All Shall Be Well; and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well" by Tod Wodicka which is about a widowed history teacher who, in order to escape his present, tried to live in the past, as in the Medieval Ages, with the tunic outfit and sandals worn in those times.

more books from the 1001 books one must read before one dies

of the books in that list, these are my recent finds (since i am intent on not only reading the books in that list, but also to have hard copies of them, i bought these):

(From left to right): "Billy Bathgate" by E.L. Doctorow;

"The Body Artist" by Don Delillo;

"Birdsong" by Seebastian Faulks;

"The Blind Assassin" by Margaret Atwood; and

"The Shipping News" by Annie Proulx.

In the meantime, i still am finishing Martin Amis' "London Fields" which regrettably was a great deal cheaper in another book sale than the one where i got my copy from. but what's done is done and it's still great deal cheaper than brand new books.