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.

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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.

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

I have, at long last, finished reading Eleven Minutes (Paulo Coelho), the  only novel I managed to read all summer. Big shoutout to Marielle who lent me her copy of the book.

Eleven Minutes took on a difficult task: bringing sex, still a taboo topic in many parts of the world, to a better light.  Essentially, the story revolves around the life of Maria, a beautiful Brazilian woman who becomes a prostitute in a foreign land. at a young age, Maria teaches herself to keep away from love, as she thinks it brings a person only pain and despair. As she keps away from love, she becomes inquisitive about sex. Her view of love is challenged when she crosses paths with a talented young painter who she thinks can show her a different kind of sex, a sacred sex, sex in the sense of love. (A good summary of the story can be found here.)

It was a good read. Not exactly page-turning, but interesting. Throughout the book are excerpts from a diary Maria kept which held her insights into love, sex, seduction, and the crazy world of prostitution she entered. The book did a good job at casting a less disgusting light on sexuality, at saying that it isn’t always the dirtiness society and religion make it out to be. For the critical novel reader, it is a wonderful read. For those who seek to find more meaning to sex, this is a gem of a book, as well.

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I still have quite a to-read list to go through. I had originally planned on finishing Nineteen Eighty Four (George Orwell), but after obtaining and viewing a copy of the movie adaptation of the novel, I didn’t think reading the novel was necessary anymore.

I’m currently reading The Romanov Prophecy (Steve Berry), an action-packed read about Russia’s Romanovs. I might re-read The Templar Legacy (also by Steve Berry), whose story I have completely forgotten.

My iPhone also has the Stanza app with which I downloaded Emma, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility—all by Jane Austen. (I blame The Jane Austen Book Club for my sudden interest in Austen’s works.) I also have digital copies of The Divine Comedy (Alighieri Dante) and The Kama Sutra (Vatsyayana) *giggle*.

With school opening soon, I’m not sure I will be able to clear up my to-read list. Jane Austen help me.

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You’ll never guess who just left the Republican Party.

OK, ready? It’s Joe Wurzelbacher! That’s right, the plumber-who-isn’t-actually-a-plumber and unofficial mascot of John McCain’s presidential campaign has left the Republican Party! This from Time Magazine:

SSamuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, tells TIME he’s so outraged by GOP overspending, he’s quitting the party — and he’s the bull’s-eye of its target audience. But he also said he wouldn’t support any cuts in defense, Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid — which, along with debt payments, would put more than two-thirds of the budget off limits. It’s no coincidence that many Republicans who voted against the stimulus have claimed credit for stimulus projects in their district — or that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal stopped ridiculing volcano-monitoring programs after a volcano erupted in Alaska. “We can’t be the antigovernment party,” Snowe says. “That’s not what people want.”