A Book I Love

This is my first time to blog using Blogger's updated editor. I thought I'm gonna find myself having a catch by shifting to it, but I didn't. Why did it take too long for me to switch from my old editor? Blame it on my cognitive dissonance. Ayway, I've done a post like this before through Bookworm Adventures if you can still recall. I shared some quotes I got from my top five favorite books namely, Mitch Albom's Five People You Meet in Heaven, For One More Day, Robert Fulghum's All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist and Jostein Gaardner's Sophie's World. 

I don't want to talk about the same book again, so let me give you my thoughts on another book that I love. It's Chris Martinez's Last Order sa Penguin. This book is a part of the UP Jubilee Student Edition. It's written in colloquial TagLish to bring the best of Philippine Literature. It's a book based on a theatrical play of the same title also by Chris Martinez himself. It won the grand prize for Three-Act Play in Filipino from the prestigious Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature in 2001. The play was first performed by the UP Theatre Council in the Tanghalang Hermogenes Ylagan, UP Diliman back in 2000.

The story revolves around five friends nearing their thirties -- "the cheerfully gay Tuxqs, the problematic Harlene, the sex addict Tess, the social climbing Dyna, and the druggie Mario." They met up for some drinks at the Penguin Cafe/Bar/Gallery in Malate to talk about love, life, sex, relationships, society, and turning thirty. Their conversation is casual and satirical. I really love their funny dialogs. I've watched my schoolmates perform this a few years ago, and I can say the lines are even funnier heard live! How I wish I can watch another Last Order sa Penguin play soon. Cross fingers to that!

This book is just a very light read that you can finish it in just a few hours. May I just tell you that the book is the script of the play itself. It only has 131 pages. You won't find it hard reading this because as I said it's in conversational TagLish, which is actually a dialect widely used within Metro Manila. I love this book because of its humor and entertainment value referring to the current events and local pop culture. I also love the lessons brought about by every character. It makes us think on what's going to happen to us when we reach 30. The story tell us that we can always turn to our friends when life don't turn out the way we plan it.

To my friends who want to read this book, just tell me and I will lend it to you. To those who just happened to pass by my blog, here are some links of the sites where you can get a copy of the book: Good Reads and Open Library.

#30 Day Challenge

Bookworm Adventure

I've recorded this beautiful quote from one of my favorite movies, Inkheart, and I would like to share it to you. Aunt Elinor said, "Books are adventure. they can murder, mayhem and passion. They love everyone who opens them." What I love about books is that, they show me a different perspective of the world through words. Books are able to talk to us about a great variety of subjects. That is why I'd rather read books, than talk to people who know nothing but senseless matters.

I may not be that bookish but that doesn't mean I don't read. In fact, whenever I get hold of good books, I can't stop but read them until my eyes get tired and eventually droop shut. It's like my intense passion to learn about life's lessons tempt me to persist in searching for a wider range of knowledge, and most importantly, experience.

So as not to spoil this entry, let me again share this list I have. It's all about some of the quotable quotes I've read from some of my favorite books. I'll be giving you five quotes from five books. These are the passages that taught me insights on the things I have yet to come to grips with. Here it goes:

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

(Mitch Albom)

"Fairness does not govern life and death. If it did, no good person would ever die young."

"Holding anger is a poison. it eats you from inside."

"We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves."

"Silence is worse hen you know it won't be broken."

"When your time came, it came, and that was that. You might say something smart on your way out, but you might just easily say something stupid."

For One More Day

(Mitch Albom)

"I don't know what is about food your mother makes for you, especially when it's something that anyone can make, but it carries a certain taste of memory."

"Any boy who wouldn't come to the front door was a boy not worth dating."

"Sometimes your kids will say the nastiest things. But usually, they're just in some kind of pain. They need to work it out."

"You need to keep people close. You need to give them access to your heart."

"The more you defend a lie, the angrier you become."

All I Really Need To Know, I Learned In Kindergarten

(Robert Fulghum)

"Merchants are fine folks. They give us choices and keep us informed on the important holidays."

"Nature so works it that everybody gets a turn at getting what they deserve in one way or another."

"Sometimes you can get what you want and what you need at the same time."

"Don't sell yourself short. You may never have proof of your importance, but you are more important than you think."

"It's not true that what counts is the thought not the gift. People who think good thoughts give good gifts."

The Alchemist

(Paulo Coelho)

"Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own."

"If you start promising what you don't even have yet, you'll lose your desire to work toward getting it."

"We make a lot of detours, but we're always heading for the same destination."

"When two people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the present become unimportant."

"When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too."

Sophie's World

(Jostein Gaardner)

"When we do no wrong, it is because we don't know any better."

"Both extremes are an expression of a warped way of life."

"Man can only achieve happiness by using all his abilities and capabilities."

"Wisest is she who knows she doesn't know."

"Without the constant interplay of opposites, the world would cease to exist."

Books tell us many things that we usually find hard to say in reality. It would not be possible if not because of its noteworthy author. I admire them for knowing how to express the right words. I know that they've experienced many circumstances for them to know about different things in life. I wish I'm like a book so that I would know many ideas. In that way, I don't have to grope.

Those I included in the list are just a few of my favorite passages. I am still in constant search of books that can teach me noble things. I know one. It's the Bible. I've never really read it from cover to cover. And it made me so guilty just confessing it. Solemn music in the background.

Can somebody tell me what good books are included in the world's greatest books? Those are the books I'm looking for.

All images in this post are not intended for copyright infringement.

Shutterbugs at CHSS Library (Max & Kat)

Libraries fascinate me great deal. They have this certain mystery that is very engaging. I can’t help but be stuck in awe whenever I see plenty of books before me. I can’t fully grasp the feeling of being inside a library. All I know is that, my tensions are alleviated because of it. I can feel all my bewilderment and apprehensions subsiding. For me, that’s a wonderful sensation.

I love books, mainly because I adore words. I love leafing through the pages, and smell their unusually good scent. Have you tried smelling those old hard-bound books? Weird, but I think it’s one of the best scents in the world (along with sautéed garlic and onion). I want to share you this quote from the movie Inkheart, “Books are adventure. They can murder, mayhem and passion. They love everyone who opens them.”

Just last week, I allowed myself a moment’s luxury as I again considered the joy of taking some pictures in one of my favorite places in school – the CHSS Library. I was with Maxine, my photography buddy! We were studying for an oral exam in New Media class. We actually just came from our Asia and the World Long Exam before that. It was really a haggard day, but that never hindered as from our shutterbug enthusiasm. Here are some of my photos. Enjoy!

Smile when your mind is troubled.

Munting BACA ni Oble.



Let's POSE for a break!

Looking at the text, instead of reading.

Books are wonderful!

Thanks for these photos Maxine! Our next “photo shoot” is scheduled some time this week. I’m excited! Photography is really my way of getting rid of stress out of my system. How about you? Anyway, watch out for my photos.