the view from saturday

I think I am going to start trusting the gold and silver seals stamped on juvenile fiction books which indicate it is a Newberry or ALA Award Winner.

After two weeks of being harassed by thoughts of two papers, I took a break yesterday and today from school work and grabbed another reading material from my pile of National Bookstore purchases (the stock here in Davao is horrendous! None of what I’m gunning for are available and somebody beat me to the only copy of M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman).

I decided on “The View from Saturday” by E.L. Konigsburg (who has two other Newberry Award books, which I am planning to get after this particular read) which was recommended years and years ago by a friend.

Just looking at the book had that nice feel to it. Just that positive vibe I get when I know I’m going to have a thrill of a ride. And once my eyes set on the words on the first paragraph of the first chapter, I was hooked. My eyes absorbed every page, enjoying the different stories of four children, Noah, Nadia, Ethan and Julian, connected by fate, by circumstance and by an invitation to a tea party and eventually chosen by their paraplegic sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Olinski, to be the class representatives to the school Olympiad. In the end, the make it and win the Nationals. And everybody asks Mrs. Olinski why did she choose these children? Even she does not know.

Honestly, I am not good with doing reviews of anything. So all I can say is, I closed the book with a smile on my face thinking, “I am going to get my oldest niece this book for Christmas.”

holes

he logical thing to have done on a holiday on a week a paper is due is: wake up, eat, study whole day, eat when you feel like it, sleep when tired or done.

but after stressing over a paper just two days before, i wanted my mind to be on autopilot. so what i actually did was: woke up, read a book, eat, paid the house bills, had good lunch, watched movie, finished book, then researched paper. which actually left me with just an hour! which actually had me finish the day with doing nothing for school. bwahaha!

but i can't help it. i love steve carrell, so i just had to watch evan almighty. and i'm happy i did because he was great, and the movie was fun, and morgan freeman dancing is worth 20 bucks of my 55. so.

and how would i have known that holes by louis sachar's would actually turn out to be a romp of a book! i mean, hello, with a lead character whose name is stanley yelnats who has a no-good-pig-stealing-great-great- great-grandfather... how can it not be interesting? i really couldn't put it down. read it in bed, read it in the restroom, read it while eating, read it while on the jeep, read it while waiting. if it weren't dark, i'd have probably read it during the movie trailers or the boring bits.

it's the story of young stanley, convicted of a crime he did not commit. as penalty, he was sent to Camp Green Lake instead of jail. the name sounds like a good place to be. except the place has no lake and there aren't may things green. and you have to be careful of the yellow-spotted lizard. so the camp turns out to be what exactly it is supposed to be -- a punishment.

we meet his new delinquent friends. we also catch a glimpse of the yelnats curse which began with his no-good-pig-stealing-great-great-great-grandfather and would continue on for the rest of the yelnats boys. we also get to witness a forbidden love story, one that occurs at the time of stanley yelnats, sr. and in the end... how it all comes together.

it's really a fun read, with lots of things to learn from too. i'm definitely getting my ten-year old nephew a copy for Christmas.

the boy who lived... (spoilers for harry potter 7 ahead! you have been warned)

it's been over a week since i have finished reading harry potter and the deathly hallows. it was just great timing when i have been relinquished the old children's program laptop, which meant i was able to read in bed like i'm often used to.

harry's new name should be "the boy who lived twice!" hehe!

true to the many reviews it has received from critics and fans alike, j.k. rowling was able to write a fitting end to the story arc. the book was action-packed from start to finish, and thankfully was able to answer the many questions left behind by both the order of the phoenix and the half-blood prince. including which side was snape really on, which was actually my most pressing concern.

rowling didn't allow sentimentality and attachment for her characters get in the way of the story. many of them were casualties of this classic good vs. evil battle. many times, i was almost in tears. my heart broke many times over reading the book... the loss of dobby, one of the twins, colin creevey, remus and tonks... and the prince.

i knew i had to reason to believe that he was on the side of the good. and it was beautiful as to why he was. cliche maybe, but something that have driven many to the other side, whether it from the good to the bad or from the bad to the good. dumbledore swore by him... and i swear by dumbledore. (like harry, i'm a dumbledore man through and through.)

now that the series is a whole, everything falls into place. i can not say that book seven is the best, because it wouldn't be if not for the prequels. yet it is great by the reason that it was able to get everything together in the end.

i yearned for more neville and ginny, but well... it is harry's story. but i was glad for that moment of glory for neville. and even before that, when he became a hogwarts refugee, my heart clapped with delight. he has proven time and again how much of a griffyndor he is. i was glad for his moment. more than just for slaying for nagini (but i felt it appropriate that he wield the sword of griffydor himself), but for standing by harry. for keeping his faith in his friend.

and molly weasly, i have always adored you! so elated that she got that bellatrix down. hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? revise that to hell hath no fury like a mother protecting her child! go molly, go molly, go molly!

i loved it when the full-scale battle has finally began. i hated the dying, but it was great reading about the dueling. hail to the house-elves, including kreacher! cooking delicious stew for harry now, eh. and because of them... ron and hermione finally let loose what they feel.

i totally agree with mayette that it was good neither of our three main protagonists had to do a killing curse anyone. that would've sucked. it would seem necessary, but it would've sucked.

self-sacrifice. courage. friendship. magic. honor. love. all this in a wonderfully-spun-web of words. one that has engulfed millions of readers and had them intimately involved with the characters. the tribute to snape was also sweet. and what harry said to albus was sweeter still.

do i want more harry stories? no. the story has been told the way it should have. anything more would destroy the beauty of it. her encyclopedia of characters would be an interesting read as well as i want to hear more the back stories of neville and luna. but i was glad she wrote an epilogue to make sure that there would be less chances of new harry stories.


sigh. ang ganda. time to read the series from one to seven now.

*i did have some fan fiction images on my head with voldemort taking the hood of his cape off saying "harry... i am your third cousin fifth removed!" which has a slight truth to it, if i understood right that they were both descendants of the peverells.

* * * * *
*big, big thanks to oh-so-preggy-but-always-pretty-tin-tin for providing a copy to those of us who did not have enough funds for the book. same gratitude towards mayette who parted with her less than-24-hour-old copy for tatit and i to read in davao. another thank you to rowie and mike who generously gave me their copy for my birthday. all of you guys certainly know how to make people happy. :)

book meme from bunny

I like books and book memes. Thanks to Mayette for being the surfer that she is. Tee-hee!

The rules are simple. In the following list of a hundred books, bold the ones you’ve read, mark in blue the ones you want to read, mark in red the ones you don’t want to read, italicize the ones you’ve never heard of, and don’t do anything with the ones you feel indifferent towards or that you wouldn’t mind reading but aren’t dying to.

1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (J.R.R. Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (J.R.R. Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J.K. Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J.K. Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Philosopher’s Stone (J.K. Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) - one of my favorite classic tales. Jo March is my literary icon. Along with Peter Pan.
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible (read bits and pieces, but would want to have more time for it)
46. Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (J.K. Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

bob ong ika-anim!

while taking in my fill of the whiff of new books in powerbooks greenbelt last night, i chanced upon this new bob ong book. much as i wanted to buy it from national for my laking national card, i couldn't help but get it right then and there because there were only two copies left. the sample and one wrapped copy. besides it's only a hundred bucks so i got it immediately.

macarthur not his usual humorous essays. this time, it seems to be a true-blue fiction story. i'm still in the first two scenes. this seems to be turning out into one dark comedy. but, any bob ong fan should get a bob ong book! plus proceeds of his book sales go to gawad kalinga, so you get to give to charity by owning bob ong books.

now that's marketing!

i was skimming through neil gaiman's journal when i saw a link sent in by one of his readers. this is definitely a creative, engaging and quite effective way to market a book (or any product for that matter)! it almost made me want to get the book online. except, oops! no credit card. tee-hee!

do do do check it out. even if you don't plan to get the book, it's very amusing. :)

stardust update

photo stolen from neil gaiman's journal.

in all fairness to claire danes, whom i absolutely dislike for reasons i am unable to fathom myself, she looks like yvainne in this still. but, but, but. in my heart, julia stiles still is the yvainne in the movie in my mind.

still, my attention is diverted to the handsome chap at the background. i love you robert de niro! i forget who he plays, but i'm thinking he could be the captain of the ship. i don't remember if primus ever crossed paths with yvaine and tristan this intimately in the book.

i pray to God stardust gets here. oh please. my heart still breaks that mirrormask has not come in our shores. though rowie texted me that it was showing on hbo family pack. which i do not have. sigh.

stardust the movie. hope it gets done sooooon!

bookworm

just a sample of the books on my shelf, not necessarily the books mentioned in this entry. the nazgul and hobbits were a gift from my bro.

I have book phases. There are times when I have to plod through one book for weeks and weeks. While there are days when I can devour in just a few hours and move on to another one. Most of the time, such a phase is brought about by book sales. Though I often buy old books from second-hand stores, there is still nothing like the sound of the crinkling of the plastic as you undress a new book. And there is nothing like the smell of a new book, the smell of ink and paper tickling my nose. Nothing like the touch of crisp news print, pages still untouched and unread. Experiencing that revives my desire to devour new book after new book.

And I have my quirks when it comes to books. Same authors and series books should be the same size. I started my Paulo Coelho collection with the paperback edition. So I was a bit frustrated when “Eleven Minutes” came out in pocketbook size instead of paperback. But I bought it anyway because I heard it was good. And true enough, it was.

I’m more rigid when it comes to series stories. They HAVE to be the same size! And same publishing company too. Thus, I’m having a problem with my Inheritance Trilogy (Book 1: Eragon). The only available ones in National Bookstore are in pocketbook size (which is actually silly because the book is too thick to be merely a pocketbook) and my Eragon is in paperback. And I’m so sure, I’ve seen the paperback version somewhere, either Powerbooks or Fully Booked.

Since September, I’ve been devouring book after book.

For the last three months, I’ve read:

“In Her Shoes” by Jennifer Weiner recommended by Toni. Good, fun read.
“On the Road” by Jack Keroac, borrowed from Jerry, recommended by Tristan. Hard read, but gave me lots of insight.
“The Animal Farm” by George Orwell. Quick, easy read. But ended up feeling revulsion against Napoleon who reminded me too much of the GRP.
“Requiem” by a Japanese writer. Short story, quick read. Sad story but beautifully translated.
“The Best of 2004 Fantasy,” an anthology of fantasy short stories, including one by Neil Gaiman. Some I loved. Some I didn’t enjoy too much.
“The Devil and Miss Prym” by Paulo Coelho. Strangely, this is the first book of Coelho that I couldn’t decipher what he really wanted to say. His past books, he was pretty straightforward with his ideas. This time he has learned to make the reader think for himself.
“Eragon” by Christopher Paolini. The first of the Inheritance Trilogy. A fine fantasy! Complete with dragons, elves, dwarves, bards, and of course, the reluctant hero. I love it! And can’t wait to see the movie. The poster is my current desktop wall paper. Jeremy Irons is hot!
“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time” by Mark Haddon. What I thought was a detective story turned out to be one that was very touching and sentimental. It was very interesting seeing the world through the eyes of a brilliant yet autistic teenager.
“The Outsider” by Albert Camus. Surprisingly an easy read for book full of philosophy.
“Inkheart” by Cornelia Funke. I’ve been meaning to get this for months and months, but I realized it was a series and I wanted to get out of that already. Unfortunately, it was going to be a movie soon. And it would be starring Brendan Fraser, so I just had to read it. My inclination for pop culture forces me too. Funny though, I figured out the ending even before I was halfway which made the book feel longer that it is. And it’s pretty long with 500 pages! Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the book and I liked the premise. One I’ve imagined some time in my past, but never thought someone could actually write about it. So I hope Inkspell (Book 2) isn’t as predictable. It’s still in hard cover though. So it will be a while before I get to read that one.

There are still piles and piles that are unread on my shelf.

“The Zahir” by Paulo Coelho
“Fever Pitch” by Nick Hornby. I tried to read this first, but it wasn’t a novel like a thought but just his insights on baseball. Not pretty excited about it but Hornby is one of my favorite writers so I’m sure I’ll appreciate it eventually. Maybe I’ll bring that to the area next.
“Unexpected Magic” by Dianna Wynn Jones.
“Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man” by Fannie Flagg.
“Faerie Wars” by Herbie Brennan.

Books, books, books! Can’t ever have enough of it!!!

And there are some that I keep looking at in National Bookstore. I won’t list it because it’s going to be a long one! Sigh. More books, more books! With dragons, and butterflies, and faeries, and lawyers who become dog walkers…. Gimmeeeee!

on the road (of midsalip)

with nothing much to entertain me in midsalip except for some books and magazines, i was able to fill up more pages of my journal than i ever did the last two years.

some excerpts (edited):

10-04-06, 4:27 PM

Just done with Jack Kerouac's "On the Road." Strangely enough, I had trouble reading it at the start. But some friends have recommended it, so I tried my darnedest to plod through it.

The first few pages were difficult to go through. I couldn't read it when there were other books of my interest around me. I decided then to take it along with me when i was 'on the road' instead. When I get utterly bored, I would have to read it.

You might get the impression that it's boring. On the contrary. It's just the stream of consciousness method of writing can sometimes make it difficult to absorb for my puny mind. But the hedonistic journey of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty throughout America is actually a very interesting one.

At the beginning, I thought I could easily relate, being always on the road myself. But theirs was an entirely different journey. Seemingly purposeless. On the surface, it seemed to be about the booze, the drugs, the girls. But once I got deeper into the story, I got to admire Sal's loyalty to Dean. Though a wordly man, I admire the depth of Dean's understanding of the souls they encounter as they travel America, despite his madness.

Honestly, I could barely remeber details of the book. There were just too many for everything to truly register. Though it was Mexico that was the hardest to forget. Because it was somewhat similar to my own road trips.

At the end of the book, I asked myself, "when was the last time I've gone mad like that?" Quite a long time ago really. Most of it compressed during my years as a Jesuit Volunteer and as JVP staff. Davao has tempered me. Or maybe, as I am more inclined to believe, spending time with my mom has.

When there are people to think about, you just can't be crazy all the time.

Back in Pangantucan, I used to spend my Sunday afternoons at a rock by the roadside farther out from the main poblacion. From there, it faced a rice field vibrantly green and presented a majestic view of Kalatungan. For some reason, it alarmed the principal of my school and some of my co-teachers. More weird, I got called to the office the next day to be questioned about it. Somehow, hanging out that way was not a common thing, and was alarming to them.

I was 21. I couldn't care less. I was invincible. Getting called did not deter me, but just to avoid future meetings with the principal, I would bring either my partner along, or one of my eager students to enjoy the view with me.

And there were numerous instances that would have given the old fogeys of our school a heart attack had they found out what I was doing. Getting wet in the rain with the graduating class while walking back to town from a hike. Going to a batchmates area without any idea where it was (since JVPs were quite popular, I always find my way. Not without a few glitches here and there though. hehe!).

After reading the book, I wondered if I regret not being as insane as I was.

Not really.

Though I come from a generation when insanity is a prized possession, a badge of coolness to be flashed like a black man's bling-bling. No, I don't regret so.

I'm not disappointed with who I've become. My life's book of stories are brimming with tales of my madness. And there are occassions (not as many as before, but still quite a few) that I allow myself to break free from my mom's and my self-imposed constraints. I would go delirous with my friends during our own version of 'on the road.'

No, not really. No regrets.

Just this morning, I was trekking up and down through three hills to get to our school. Through gooey mud, little springs in the middle of a brewing storm. We were on top of the second hill when the wind blew strong, strong enough to push me a few inches had I not anchored myself on time.

Amidst all that, my heart was singing. I knew I would be safe since my guardian angel has always been reliable. And two, I rejoiced at the thought, how many of my friends go through adventures like this on a regular basis? Not a lot. :)

It may not have been my own madness that brought me to the hill, but rather my job, but I got that job at a time when I was crazy enough to do anything and be anything.

And at that moment, on the second hill, I was not only on the road. I was on top of the world.