pile of books

Newly acquired not so new books.

I like to look at books piled on top of each other. It gives me that rush of what it has to offer the world. I am excited with the old Doctor Zhivago copy by Boris Pasternak. I’ve watched the film a couple of times, and I think it is time that I should read it.

but I have to first finish the contemporary Ciao, America of Beppe Severgnini before jumping to revolutionary Russia.

High Fidelity

Man i am so excited! I just got hold of a copy of “High Fidelity” by Nick Hornby! I really liked the film take starred by John Cusack with the crazy Jack Black but now, i know, and feel, my heart leaps up with joy just looking at the cover of the book still wrapped with the protective plastic cover. I am smiling.

I even thought Elvis Costello’s “High Fidelity” song is going to be cool because of its title, but that is another story.

Have book, will travel.

Reading a book can take me to faraway places. Of places where I dream of going. I’ve been to Reykjavic in Iceland seeing the geysers then go to Africa and check out Kilimanjaro near the Serengeti plains.

I’ve met people and seen their smiles, their pains, and aspirations as I browse through the pages of Life magazine side by side with National Geographics. And i have to leave for now, eating time.

Vladimir Nabokov

Loose talk in the classroom
To hurt they try and try
Strong words in the staff room
The accusations fly
It’s no use, he sees her
He starts to shake and cough
Just like the old man in
That book by Nabokov

                      – excerpt from

                        Don’t Stand so Close to Me by The Police

Gordon Sumner a.k.a Sting through his song introduced me a name of a writer, Nabokov. 

For a long time, I’ve enjoyed listening to the two versions of the Police’s “Dont Stand so Close to Me” and has appreciated it for the past 20 years in different perspectives. In my early years, I loved the reggae version with its upbeat tempo as I jump like a pogo in the sweaty halls of Mayrics in España, Manila. When the 1986 version came out, I immersed in its haunting melody and the more feeling expression of the singer. 

Anyway, Sting did mention Nabokov in the song. Vladimir Nabokov, the  russian writer whose book Lolita was quite a literary work, so the critics said. Its a story of an old man who fell in love with a 12 year old girl (now I know where they got the title of the child pornography flick Lolita, tsk, tsk.) 

Anyway, I got his book Lolita and I am selling it for a measly sum of P100. interested? I think its a good display in any bookshelf if you have no time to read.

Murakami’s Running

I’ve been staring at the computer for the past two hours now trying to decipher how to improve the look of this wordpress site. I thought i have discovered the mystery by hitting on the appearance theme and just put whatever lay-out i have in mind for this site. But there is a hitch somewhere that i still have to unravel to concretize what i have been visualizing today, that is, a good customized header.

Good thing i was able to get a couple copies of Haruki Murakami’s “What I Talk about when I talk about Running” for our fledgling bookselling advocacy.  We sell books that we like to share with people. We meticulously choose titles and authors which we think can help improve how people think of themselves and the world they live in.  Books meaning to entertain for the sake of entertaining abound and sometimes, we really just get entertained, without the benefit of helping our humanity soar to its fullest potentials.  Not wanting to sound messaianic, we believe books should help hone our minds to be critical, in a positive sense, in whatever aspect of life that we encounter.

I am still looking at Murakami’s latest offering and already I can feel what it offers.  We think its a good buy, as a good read we sell for P240.

musing Jack Kerouac

 

 

I first heard Jack Kerouac from the 10,000 Maniacs song in the 1980s that gave way to almost a decade looking for a copy of his famous books “On the Road” and “The Dharma Bums.”  It was only in 1994 when i got hold of his “On the Road” book in one of the Booksale second hand bookstores in Cubao and happily read it as I calmly work as a cashier in a Toy store in Quezon City. 

It was a great novel reflecting the thoughts of the beat generation and how they view and attack the challenges of their post-WWII America.  The experience of reading Kerouac’s tight narration of the character’s travel and travails across America gave me my favorite line ” Its the trip, not the destination.”

But then i gave up the second hand book and shared it as a gift to a very close friend and ended up dreaming of reading another of Jack Kerouac’s more famous novel, The Dharma Bums. It was in 2002 when i got hold a copy after looking for it at a Barnes and Nobles Bookstore somewhere in California and actually finished reading it while still in the U.S feeling like the free-spirited characters of japhy as i trod along the cliffs of Grand Canyon. 

I still treasure that Dharma Bums copy.  I also found one of his novel, The Subterraneans, in a second hand booksale.  I had a hard time gripping the flow and the rhythm of the story so i quit reading it. It is still in my shelf and now contemplating of selling it.