I’m happy to say that I have more or less regained my appetite for reading, prodded as I am by the rotating brownouts that give me five hours away from the computer everyday. I’ve been buying issues of TIME magazine regularly now, although I’m a bit embarrassed to admit the fact since I essentially kill trees with every issue I buy. (I would subscribe to the online version of the magazine, but apparently they don’t offer a Zinio-like e-mag service, which they really should.)

Speaking of TIME magazine, last Thursday I got hold of a copy of their April 26 issue, on the cover of which is Noynoy Aquino. The cover story sadly confirms my long-held view that while his campaign sits on the solid foundation of his parents’ legacy, the matter of whether it can be convincing on its own merits is another story entirely. (Yes, even though the piece sounded quite biased. Haha.)

* * *

I was in Cagayan de Oro last week. Of course I bought books. (Butuan is sadly devoid of good book shops. We have two relatively respectable bookstores, Newsies and Book Nook, but they sell only a handful of Picoults, Coelhos, and Sparkses, as well as weeklies and monthlies.)

I decided to finally grab a Twisted book. I’m a fan of Jessica Zafra’s blog, but I haven’t read any of her Twisted books yet, so I picked up “Twisted 5″, the only Twisted they had in stock at the SM CDO branch. Don’t judge the book by its hideous cover. (Voltes V? Really?) Ms Zafra’s wit and humor are easy to digest with her fantastic style. There are more movie reviews than I care to read, though.

My Twisted purchase must have pleased the universe, because a few days after buying “Twisted 5″, I won the weekly LitWit challenge on Ms Zafra’s blog! The two new additions to my already-insurmountable reading backlog are now sitting in a National Bookstore somewhere in Manila waiting for me.

***

Over the past week I’ve been killing time in a warm place (the warm place being my bedroom in the sweltering summer heat and with the absence of airconditioning, owing to the brownouts) by reading “Killing Time In A Warm Place”, a novel by Jose Dalisay Jr. about life during the Marcos years. I didn’t think I would be able to finish the novel—a few years ago when I tried to read a Nicholas Sparks I swore off writing in the first person—but Dalisay’s style is enjoyable to read. I’m afraid I have to say that the novel lacks something, though; I didn’t feel connected enough to the protagonists. Novels like “Killing Time…” are expected to paint a vivid picture of the event or struggle they deal with. This novel does so to my satisfaction. However, considering that the Marcos Years were a pivotal era for our country, I, a Filipino who was born almost a decade after the overthrow of the regime, was looking to much more than just see the picture in all its detail—I wanted to feel like I was in the picture itself. People like Dalisay who were in the heat of the action would have found it easy to feel what I wanted to feel. But there are people like me who never had to go through those turbulent times, and I’m sad to say “Killing Time…” didn’t make me feel what Dalisay’s contemporaries must have felt as they read this novel.

***

It’s back to reading Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”. Every time I pick that book up (I have the 50th anniversary edition) I have to wish Rand would have given future readers more consideration and shortened it, or at least split it into two or more volumes. (She would have made more money that way, too.)

***

I say this with a certain amount of hesitation, but I will once again ask for your book recommendations. My quest to discover the classics, which you can read about in previous posts under the Opinion / Books category, is not yet over; my brother seems to have joined me on this quest, as he’s read Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and is now on “Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, another Twain. I want so badly to start on “Huck Finn”, but when I think about it I can feel my copy of “Atlas Shrugged” staring at me with a look of betrayal.

Oh hey, and Goodreads apparently has a Bookmooch-like feature now. Goodreads, by the way, is a website that allows you to share what books you’ve been reading and gives you suggestions on what to pick up next; Bookmooch lets you swap books for points—send a book to someone and you get points, which you can use to request for a book from someone else (so it’s both cost-effective and environmentally friendly!).

I finally finished “To Kill A Mockingbird” today, nearly two weeks after I borrowed it from our school library. I’ll spare you the boredom of a lengthy review, but suffice to say, Harper Lee did a great job weaving a tight plot and portraying it with brilliant prose, in the process creating something precious: a story of an idyllic childhood during a tumultuous time in the distant past that has kept its sheen through the years, remaining relevant even today. Certainly a must-read.

I want to borrow another book in my continuing mission to discover the classics of literature, but there aren’t any more interesting titles available in the school library. Good news, in a way, because I still have two books here at home that I haven’t read yet: “Dreams From My Father” by Barack Obama (I bought it ages ago, but it sat neglected on my to-read shelf as I went through the classics) and the ridiculously thick “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand (in hindsight, I should have bought “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera instead of it). I think I’ll finish “Dreams” first because I’d already started reading it when I decided to do classics and because Caffeinesparks strongly advised me not to read Ayn Rand, because—and I quote—”objectivism sucks”.

Book suggestions are encouraged and appreciated!

[To Kill A Mockingbird book cover from Wikipedia]

Photo of irrelevance to this post, but cool nonetheless: classmates attempting an Abbey Road shot. That yellow bus is our white VW Beetle.

A piece of tremendous news to begin the New Year with: De La Salle University College Entrance Test (DLSUCET) results are out, and by God’s grace I passed! I qualified for my first choice, Bachelor of Arts in Political Science (AB-POM).

I’m still holding out for the results of the other entrance exams I took, though. Don’t get me wrong—DLSU is a great school, I’m sure. However, because it’s a sectarian uni and because tuition there is far from cheap, it isn’t exactly my first choice for college.

Still, thank God I passed the DLSUCET. Medyo lumuwag ang pakiramdam ko. Results of the other entrance tests are due in a few weeks—a month at most—so my fingers are kept crossed and my prayers fervent.

***

“To Kill A Mockingbird” was due today, but I renewed my lease on it until the end of the week. I’m in the home stretch now: page 212, just after Tom Robinson is handed the guilty verdict that reduces Jem to tears. It’s a highly captivating read, and as do many other classics it manages to give the reader a picture of the era in which it was written while remaining timeless. Its plot is as brilliant as its writing. Its characters are very well portrayed, from Atticus and his enviable calm to Jem, Scout and Dill and their childlike inquisitiveness. It’s not hard to see why this peek at a time bygone (and thankfully so) is among the most important works of American literature.

School has been suspended until next year to give way to Christmas vacation. The weeks leading up to the break have been unusually full of activity for me as well as for my classmates. I and my colleagues in the school paper were in a frenzy for almost a month preparing to send our first (and probably only) issue to the press, but thankfully all the copyreading has been done and the layout finalized and the paper is now ready for printing. Now that that’s all over with, I can finally sit down to blog.

***

A quick update on my reading. My journey through the classics of literature continues. I finished reading two notable works since my last blog post—”Lord of the Flies” by William Golding and “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. Both were very interesting and very impeccably written.

“Lord of the Flies” plays on the concept of man’s inherent savagery which surfaces in the absence of order (which is to say, when man is stripped down to his bare essentials). I found it very easy to root for Ralph and despise Jack throughout the story. The gripping finale, when rescue arrives on the island just as Ralph is about to be killed by Jack and his men, manages to be both amusing and sobering at the same time. Golding succeeds in demonstrating through the novel the immutable fact that man is cruel and savage by nature.

“Of Mice and Men”, meanwhile, paints a pitiful yet inexplicably beautiful picture of America during the Depression. I can only imagine George and Lennie in their soiled clothes, denim jumpers and tattered straw hats bucking barley in a California ranch, dreaming of a carefree life tending to rabbits and living in their own simple home. The saddening truth that the farmhands will never earn enough money to realize their ambition is rivaled only by their admirable ability to believe otherwise. Also remarkable is the irony that breathes life into the two protagonists’ partnership. Imagine a heavyset man who often acts like a child taking orders from a short, wiry fellow who talks to him condescendingly.

Allow me a brief moment of unbridled sexism so I can mention the matter of Curley’s wife. A solitary woman in a masculine world is bound to cause trouble—Curley’s wife is definite proof of that. Only she and her locks of smooth, silky hair are able to lay waste to George and Lennie’s humble dreams of hakuna matata. This concept is far from new, of course (Genesis is an enduring example of how woman is often thought of as mankind’s ticket to damnation), but no portrayal of the idea I’ve read—so far, at least—is quite as heartbreaking as Steinbeck’s in “Of Mice and Men”.

***

My dad started teaching me the basics of driving recently. I’ve been doing most of my practice driving on the relatively deserted city bypass road—mostly just learning when and how to switch gears, all the basic stuff. On two occasions my dad let me drive the family car on long (long for me anyway) stretches of national highway. One time, I lost my concentration to the frenzy of a busy intersection—I had come to a full stop to allow perpendicular traffic to pass, and when I was clear to go, I switched to second gear directly from neutral (from a full stop, you must always go from neutral to first). Of course my engine shut off on me.

My three-point turn skills need more sharpening and I’m yet to learn to parallel-park.

***

In nine days, we will bid adieu to 2009 and say hello to 2010. 2009 was a crazy year, wasn’t it? We said goodbye to too many influential people (MJ, Tita Cory and Ka Erdy, to name a few), went through Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, and stood witness to a vicious murder that was committed in the name of greed, power and money. The year that was 2009 was nothing short of trying for the Filipino, but we successfully braved the storm as we always do, looking forward to the promise that the new year brings.

***

We had our annual year-end Thanksgiving at church today. I certainly have so, so many things I am thankful for and it is impossible to name each one. More impossible still is to fully repay the good Lord for the boundless blessings He has showered upon me, my family, and the Church throughout the year. Glory be to God!

***

[Image credits: "Of Mice and Men" book cover from Wikipedia]

Gloomy skies and relentless rains in the Timber City today.

A typhoon has befallen Butuan. The mountains encircling the city and our relative distance from the typhoon belt make us safe from nature’s wrath on most days, but for tonight the gods have made an exception. Classes were suspended this afternoon, although it remains to be seen whether the suspension will hold through tomorrow.

***

I finished reading “Catcher in the Rye” today. Fantastic novel. It is written quite crassly, even for today’s literary standards (and remember that the book was published in the middle of the last century).

I can see a little of myself in Holden Caulfield (the story’s protagonist)—detached, unwilling to conform to societal standards, determined to follow my own path. Then again, there must be a little bit of Holden in everyone. Only, others choose to keep him hidden and neglected, perhaps afraid of the uncertainty that comes with breaking free from stereotypes and living life spontaneously.

***

National Novel Writing Month 2009 will end in less than a week. Unless I stop going to school and lock myself in my room for the next six days and write to reach the 50,000-word mark , I will probably not win in this year’s NaNo. I must say, however, that this year was a lot less of a failure than last year (although big failures and small failures are failures just the same). I think I’m nearing the 2,000-word mark (I can’t be certain—I wrote with paper and pen, old school style, this year), as opposed to last year’s pitiful 500.

I’ve long since come to terms with the fact that I hold little novel-writing potential. A novel must have a riveting plot, engaging characters, vivid action and a fitting setting, and I am entirely incapable of creating any of those. Also, I notice the classics always have little nuances, motifs, symbols and themes ingeniously woven into their stories. I can even hardly make out the ingeniously woven nuances and symbols!

***

Hello, friends. Just a quick update on my reading: I found a copy of “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway in the school library last Monday. I mentioned in my last post that I recently finished reading the Barrons Book Notes on the book, but not the novella itself. I wanted to read the original work so I could properly appreciate Hemingway’s strong, strikingly simple language. I looked for a copy of the book in Bookmooch and in National Bookstore but found none, and in retrospect, I wonder why I didn’t think to look in a library first.

At any rate, after stumbling upon the book, I decided to get myself a library card just so I could take it out. Never mind that this is the first time I bothered to get a library card and that I’m graduating in four or five months. I finished it today, and, unsurprisingly, I must say I enjoyed it very much.

After I returned the novella (four days before it was due—huzzah!), I went back to reading “Dreams From My Father”, Barack Obama’s poignant memoir. However, upon coming across J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” while going through the small collection of classic novels our library had, I decided to take it out. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish it before the weekend is over. “Dreams From My Father” will have to wait.

Actually, it might have to for a long time yet. “The Jane Austen Book Club“, which I was able to watch months ago on HBO, piqued my interest in Jane Austen, and the library has all her works (I think), so after “Catcher in the Rye”, I’m planning on going through as many Austens as I can.

You will notice that I’m just beginning to discover the classics, which is quite odd for a high school senior who labels himself a writer. I’m not sure I’ve talked about it so much yet, but I was introduced to leisure reading very abruptly. While many other bookworms of my generation entered the world of novels through Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew and their ilk, for me it was “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown, about three years ago. Since finishing TDVC, I’ve read four of his five novels (I haven’t gotten around to buying “The Lost Symbol” yet—I’m waiting for the paperback version). After that I moved to Steve Berry (a less recognizable name, but he writes the same genre as Brown), and then to Coelho (deep stuff), and then a little Sidney Sheldon. It was only when Sir Jay gave me his copy of The Old Man and the Sea’s Barron Book Notes to read that I realized, “Why haven’t I gone through the really important works yet?”

Better late than never, I guess. Now, considering the breadth of English literature, it will probably take me a long time to go through the more enduring works, so if you want to suggest certain novels or works for me to read, I’d appreciate it.

Oh, and if you would for some reason or other like to see what books I have/am/am planning to read, visit me on Goodreads.

***

My fearless forecast for Manny Pacquiao’s impending bout with Miguel Cotto: Manny will lose. Whether by knockout or by numbers, I can’t say, but my gut feeling (which I myself have learned to trust with caution) tells me he will come home defeated.

This prediction was made solely by observing how both Manny’s and his mother Dionisia’s heads have swelled up recently. Here’s hoping Cotto knocks some sense into them.

Consider it, then, an earnest, well-meaning wish instead of a forecast: I hope Manny loses, for his sake.

#

Book cover of “The Old Man and the Sea” obtained from Wikipedia. Not used for commercial purposes. No copyright infringement intended.

October was a very blessed month for me. Besides turning a year older last month, I won second place for Feature Writing during the Regional Schools Press Conference, so I will be going to Tagum City to compete in the Nationals. I was also named Caraga’s Outstanding Campus Journalist for the Secondary level during the same event.

***

I finished reading two classic books this week: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince and Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea.

The Little Prince is a very odd book. I’m sure the author meant to bring a point across, and I guess he succeeded, at least in a way—Asteroid B612′s little prince’s frivolity is a wake-up call to people whose lives are too preoccupied by things too worldly to warrant so much attention. The finicky rose on his home planet and how he painstakingly took care of it could perhaps be interpreted to symbolize love and all that. However, I find it extremely difficult to understand why Saint-Exupéry chose the little prince and his psychedelic adventures to be the vessel of his message. Perhaps I’ve grown too old to appreciate the color and wonder of his work.

That scares me. I don’t want to ever grow old in that sense.

The second book, The Old Man and the Sea, is a fantastic (and much more digestible, at least to me) read. I cheated, though—instead of the book itself, I read Barron’s Book Notes for it. In fairness to myself, I feel I wouldn’t have appreciated the novella as much if I’d read the original work. Hemingway did such a masterful job with the symbolism in the book, regardless of whether you think it was autobiographical. I think that without the Book Notes, I wouldn’t have caught the little nuances that make the book so enduring, such as when Hemingway paints Santiago as a man whose life was the sea—a fact reflected by his eyes which were colored like the ocean—and who appeared dead with his eyes shut.

If you still haven’t read The Old Man and the Sea, though, I recommend you purchase a copy of the work itself together with the Book Notes. I think that is the best way to enjoy the work. Hemingway’s simple but strong language is superbly effective in unfetteredly delivering what he wants delivered but can sometimes belie to the plebeian reader the tenacity and emotion of his work, so the Book Notes can be thought of as a guide to deconstruct the complexity of the masterpiece.

Thank you, by the way, to Sir Jay for loaning me the Book Notes.

***

Dan Brown’s latest novel, The Lost Symbol, hasn’t had much luck with critics, or so I’ve heard. I hate to even entertain the thought, but could Robert Langdon’s glory days be over? Maybe the world has simply grown tired of an eternally single, claustrophobic Harvard symbologist’s history-rich capers. Maybe Dan Brown has milked every last creative drop out of Langdon. Maybe there is no more story to be milked.

I haven’t read the book yet, though, so I’ll reserve personal judgment for later. I would have bought a copy the last time I was within comfortable distance of a National Bookstore branch, but the Php900++ price tag on the hardcover version is out of my reach. Considering what the book reviews have been saying, I can wait for it to come out in paperback form.

***

Currently, I’m reading Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama. I’ve barely reached page 30 of the book but so far it’s been a captivating and insightful read, made enjoyable by Obama’s simple style.

***

National Novel Writing Month 2009 has begun!

I spent a considerable amount of time last night formulating the very general plot of my novel. I think today I’ll hurry up character development and finally give my protagonist and the object of his affection their names. I have a November 30 deadline to meet, and a NaNo participant who wants to complete his novel must write at least 1,667 words a day to meet the 50,000-word requirement. Those who can only work on weekends must be able to come up with 12,500 words every weekend to make the quota! Obviously there is a lot of work to be done, and with school and other highly important things also on my to-do list, this year’s NaNo is promising to be very daunting.

***

I very recently upgraded my machine to Linux Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala, the latest version of the popular Linux distribution. It is no exaggeration to say that this OS is gorgeous, inside and out. The pedestrian user may not be able to readily recognize the more drastic changes that have been made—mostly in security and in the Linux kernel itself—but they will definitely improve overall user experience.

I’ve made it a point to do a clean install every time a new version comes out (instead of clicking “Upgrade” in Update Manager). This time around, I found a little difficulty in installing Karmic as my DVD drive had gone bonkers so I couldn’t burn a CD. I decided to download the Karmic ISO then use the USB Startup Disk Creator utility that came with 8.10 Jaunty Jackalope to make Karmic bootable from my flash drive. After fiddling with the BIOS a little, booting from the USB key and setting up Ubuntu, I was good to go. It took me a grand total of less than two hours and $0 to get set up. This is why I love FOSS.

If you’re like me, you love finding and pouring all your time on good reads. Be it classics such as George Orwell’s 1984 or modern works like Dan Brown’s (in)famous The Da Vinci Code, I simply love immersing myself in the alternate worlds authors create within the pages of their work.

The thing is, once you’ve finished a good read, you’re always itching to get to the bookstore nearest you to snag yourself a copy of another book. However, once you’re in the store, you’re surrounded by endless shelves of novels all looking worthy of your purchase. How do you choose which one to buy? The first thing I do is look for a copy without a plastic cellophane cover and leaf through its contents. If I can’t find such a copy, I’ll obviously check out the blurb on the back of the book. Blurbs, of course, are written in such a way that will make the plot sound interesting and thrilling.

But plots aren’t always interesting and thrilling, now are they? To properly and wholly assess the actual quality of a novel (or any other book for that matter), the most logical thing to do is purchase the book. But you don’t want to purchase a book just to find out that it’s crappy after you’ve read it, right? So, how do you know whether or not a book you’re thinking of buying is worthy of your time?

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