I was inspired to write about books tonight. I don’t know why. Maybe because for the first time in a long while, I want to take charge of my situation and focus on the world again. And books have always been a source of comfort in my life.
I realized that I’ve been home for a while but have never written anything about what has turned out to be a collection of stuff I’ve read growing up and what I’m currently reading.
When I was in high school, my dad, bless his soul, asked me what I wanted for my room. I didn’t care much about the frilly curtains or the fancy window seat with the technicolored throw pillows. Nor did I care about the big TV or the aircon. I requested a book shelf where I could organize my books.
I thought he would reject the request. Growing up, papa was quite adamant about me changing my reading habits. Why don’t you go out and play with other kids? He’d ask when I was in third grade and made it a habit of borrowing a book every Friday from the school library, reading late into the night until my eyes were bleary with sleep, and waking up to sunshine streaming through my curtains, the birds chirping, and finishing the book before getting out of bed.
Back then, there was no Book Sale or National Bookstore in Bacolod. My constant sources of books were the school library for Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Bobbsey Twins, Cherry Ames, and even that biography of Imelda Marcos that I read at that age. Aside from the library, I would exchange Sweet Dreams, Sweet Valley, Baby Sitters Club, Beverly Cleary, Barbara Cartland, and whatever it was people my age were reading with friends who shopped in Manila or abroad.
My lola’s basement was also a treasure trove of old publications, tennis magazines circa 1970 which I wished I kept (covers featured Bjorn Borg, among others), a 1960 edition of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (which I kept, thankfully), old school books of short stories in English (one of them was my dads, I still have it), and some trashy novels that probably belonged to one of my titas.
But once a year, every summer when we had our family trip to Cebu, my parents would give me shopping money. Instead of blowing it on outfits in Rustans (I coaxed my dad into buying me the clothes that he wanted but I didn’t want to wear), my money was spent in National Bookstore in Cebu.
Flying back to Bacolod meant bringing home a small box with books, despite my dad’s exasperation, because his daughter was more interested in reading than in indulging in fashionista preoccupations.
Which brings me to the book shelves. I thought he was going to say no because I was suggesting that we destroy the zen of the room by adding book shelves. But this time, he just said okay. I was just sorry I had to leave for Manila a few years after and wasn’t able to enjoy the shelves much except during summer vacation.
A few months ago, I took time to organize the books and it brought back a lot of memories. Not everything could fit into the shelves, some of the books are stored away in the other room. But boy, did the books bring back memories of happy times past.
Read most of the books here already but these are the “newer models.”
Currently reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Though I wasn’t bowled over by his books, his biography is another story. I guess my lit theory background and interest in non-fiction is kicking in and since I read the novels, I have deep admiration for the process of how these novels came into fruition.
The GRE reviewer is for my dreams of further education in either Harvard or Yale. Haha.
A Year in Provence is a wonderful travel book by Peter Mayle. I hope to finish writing a travel book someday.
Frommers was my best buddy when I was in NYC.
Despite my love for Dracula, I couldn’t seem to progress very well with Kostova’s The Historian.
And more books to be read. By the way, that rolled up piece of parchment is my MA degree in Lit diploma. Got to have that framed before it gets lost.
So, dear reader, what’s on your shelf?
9 Comments
July 28, 2008 at 2:00 am
Greetings fellow reader! My shelves share some titles with yours, I see. Did you read “The World is Flat?” I thought it was very good – didn’t agree with everything in it, but still thought-provoking stuff (and well written, too).
I loved Dracula! I happened to have enjoyed The Historian quite a bit, but Dracula was, in my opinion, the better book of the two – and one of the scariest I’ve ever read! If you liked Dracula, you’ll like The Phantom of the Opera.
P.S. Books could never destroy the zen of a room!!
July 28, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Hi Diana.
Thank you for your comment.
I have read The World Is Flat but I didn’t read it in the correct order it was supposed to be read, from start to finish. I quite liked the idea of a flat world connected by technology and since I have experienced working in this flat environment firsthand, I appreciate it all the more.
I have loved Dracula since I was a little girl. My original book was the Bantam Classic, with a cartoony drawing in front. The cover looked harmless enough, that’s why maybe my dad didn’t think anything of it.
I also loved Phantom of the Opera. I maybe read it more than 20 times growing up. When I was in high school, a friend of mine got the chance to watch the musical in Manila and I was so jealous. I made up for it by listening to the soundtrack over and over again. When I was in Vegas, I got the chance to watch the Vegas version of the musical, something I never expected I would be able to do.
I agree with you, books in fact bring zen to the room. But I live in a society where the love for reading was never the norm. It was expected, though, that a girl would be interested in clothes, shoes, make-up and such. That’s why the book shelves that my dad had built became more meaningful because it was an acceptance on his part that he could never change his daughter’s love for books.
August 3, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Hello. We have quite a few things in common. Also went to a Jesuit university and grew up in Talisay. And how I loved books. My father would always threaten to turn off the lights when he’d catch me reading way past what he thought should have been my bedtime. I like Phantom of the Opera too.
August 4, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Your post made me a little sad realizing how my books are not shelved in one location, but in 3 or maybe 4 places. That’s what moving does, I suppose!
Books I’m currently reading are: The First Filipino by L. Guevarra and The Creative Habit by T. Tharp (for the nth time).
Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novels are too descriptive for me, but I was able to sit through Love in the Time of Cholera (if only for the first line!), and it read like a telenovela. Hah.
Also, there’s an upcoming book fair in Manila (at the Mall of Asia) in September, if you’re still around!
August 10, 2008 at 4:48 pm
It’s ironic how my siblings and I developed a great love for books when my folks were ‘light’ readers at best. I owe my reading habits to my paternal grandmother and her Reader’s Digest collection that spanned a couple of decades, and to a grade school classmate generous enough to lend me more than 50 Hardy Boys books.
I don’t keep a “personal” library anymore as I’ve come to a point where I rarely read a book again. While a well-stocked shelf looks nice, I’ve taken to passing books to friends (and vice-versa). One of my medium-term projects is to set up a local version of BookMooch (www.bookmooch.com)!
August 30, 2008 at 3:07 pm
hi amee,
it’s nice to see another booklover from bacolod… at least now, there’s national bookstore and booksale to satisfy our literary needs..
here’s my library:
http://idiotboard.blogspot.com/2007/07/building-library.html
September 5, 2008 at 10:32 am
hey amee, we seem to have the same book choices
i love reading too and grew up with nancy drew, emilie lorring, agatha christie, the whole sweet valley series, etc. and i didn’t have the guts to finish the historian too 
September 5, 2008 at 10:32 am
btw, my hubby is from silay
October 13, 2008 at 2:34 am
Hey all.
I know the comments are belated but appreciate your thoughts.
If you have more book comments, write them up and maybe we can have a discussion.