literature
When I wrote my last entry, I said I'll make another post about books. So, here I am making a new one and this time I'll be talking about literature. Yay! :)
I love books, ever since I was child. I'm not into deep reading though. I prefer light and uncomplicated books. So I guess most people would think that my list is shallow but what the hell, to each his own, people! Somebody stop me! Haha! :D
So let's start off with the award-winning ones. Everybody reads them, I actually think that award-winning books are pretty mainstream. Personally, I love 100 Years of Solitude, The Color Purple, and The Good Earth. Marquez's magical realism is genius, there's no other way to put it. I can't really describe it but the way it was written was just plain perfect. Walker's journal-ish book was out of the box and for me one of a kind. I haven't read anything like it, before or after. Buck for me deserves some praise, she isn't Chinese after all. So, kudos for the emotion.
Now for the Classics. I don't read that much classics, mainly because I don't fully understand most of them. Hehe... :) But I do love the following: Sherlock Holmes (the complete volume 1 and 2), To Kill a Mockingbird, The Curious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Secret Garden and Little Prince. I read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when I was 13 and I found it very entertaining. It's like a sci-fi movie in paper. Nyahaha! :D Sherlock was surprisingly fun and light. It's fast-paced and perfect for the young at heart. It's hard not to like Little Prince and Mockingbird since almost everyone can relate to it. Even my 6-year old sister loves Little Prince.
As for series, I like Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, Anne of Green Gables and Winnie the Pooh. Oh yeah, there's a series about Pooh's life and a big chunk of my childhood was spent reading them. When Christopher Robin went to school and left Pooh, I actually cried. I read about Anne's life from the day she was adopted to the day of her first love. It was fun and I was attached to the series. I was so attached I got depressed when I read the final chapter of the last book, it didn't help that it was filled with adult sentiments about her childhood. [sigh] Who hasn't read Narnia and Potter? It's filled with magic and adventure, for a kid like me, they're hard to resist. :)
For books that I can't quite label, I have the following: The Stories of Eva Luna and The Woman Who Walked Into Doors. I both love them and I cried while reading the two. The Stories of Eva Luna was the first book I read by Allende and Roddy Doyle's novel was such an eye opener and at the same time depressing. o_o Oh and yeah, I also like An Interview with the Vampire. Rice's description towards blood is so romantic it made me nauseous. (meaning, it was THAT good)
For pocketbooks, I'm a big fan of Nancy Drew!! Yes, I think I've read about a hundred of them. Hehe... I can honestly say I read all Nancy Drew books from IBAM when I was in grade school. Until now I still read them whenever I get the chance.
For text/political books, I like Selected Works of Mao Tse Tsung Volume 1, Philippine Society and the Revolution, The Cartoon Guide to Genetics and that book about Jose Maria Sison's life, I can't remember the title. I like volume 1 because it's the lightest, literally and figuratively. It talks about the simplest issues and it's the thinnest out of the 5 volumes. (H says there's only 4 volumes but I have a 5th one, in hard bound so - *shrug*) PSR because well, I'm tibak. There's no other way to explain it. Joma's autobiography because I read it when I was skipping school and I was sort of happy that Joma got kicked out when he was in his 2nd year in high school.
When my Nanay got angry because of my absences, I would use Joma as a response right away - "Si Joma gani, galigoy man. He turned out alright!" I know, I know, pretty lame but you can't really blame me, blame puberty. Haha! :D The genetics book because it was hilarious! It was epic and I was very surprised to have enjoyed a science textbook.
What else? Ah, Filipino literature. I like Dekada 70 and MacArthur. I honestly believe Bob Ong deserves an award.
So, I guess that's about it. Listing every book I've ever read is impossible. I apologize if I didn't give much justice to the following literary pieces. I didn't want to sound like total douche by giving super deep insightful critiques. Besides, that was not the point of this whole entry. Lastly, I also read books by mainstream authors but I'm not a big fan of them so I didn't bother listing them here.
So, what do you guys think? Too shallow? Too deep? To bah... Let me know, drop your comments in my comment box! Thanks! :)
to be honest, i haven't read Alice Walker's The Color Purple and Pearl Buck's The Good Earth although i was required to read both for class in the past year. i read 100 Years of Solitude and liked not a few of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's works. however, i like his straightforward works - such as the chronicle of a death foretold - better than the more "magical realist" ones. i've read some classics too but not the ones listed here (except for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). i always thought reading the classics with the "and" in the title (Fathers and Sons, Pride and Prejudice, Crime and Punishment, War and Peace, etc.) first to be good advise. you are very good because you have read the entire selected works. i've only read a spattering of some of the more popular articles. tsk3. as for phil literature, i recommend Rosario Lucero's short stories.
Haha!! :) Nag try ko basa mga classics nga may "and" ang title. Di ko trip. Hehe..
As for sa selected works, may ara ko bi kopya kag gaka pressure ko bangud sa pamilya. Pero ako japon sa amon ang pinaka indi well-versed sa kay Mao. [bummer]
As for sa kay Marquez kag Lucero, thank you in advance. Pahulmon mo ko, di ba? Haha! Kabudlay man bi mang hulam, budlay mangita sang hulaman..