Since I moved here in Manila in late January I have been living without tv. I have always been a serious tv addict and lasting so many months without tv is a noteworthy feat. My sister and I certainly cannot afford to buy one right now but we have somehow decided that this circumstance has been working well anyhow.
To entertain us, my sister and I filled our shelves with books and a basketful of magazines. It helps that we live in Evangelista where cheap books and magazines abound. I’ve also frequented Booksale lately so our collection has been regularly filled up.
God, I’m just so embarrassed about the books we have amassed so far. I’m such an Oprah Book Club freak and it does not look good. But to be fair, some of her selections are worth reading such as “A Fine Balance”, “Fall On Your Knees”, and “The Corrections” to name a few. But I did not appreciate “Gap Creek” and “A Lesson Before Dying”. Currently, I don’t want to add one more Oprah Book Club selection in our little collection because it just does not seem balanced at all.
Needless to say I have found several gay books as well, such as “The Swimming Pool Library”, “Edinburgh”, and a few others that I bought in Davao. One interesting book I stumbled upon is “Misadventures in the (213)”, quite funny on its satire about celebrity-obsessed Los Angeles, with a gay slant of course.
I have a number of unknown books I just grabbed from Evangelista or Booksale coz they are cheap. Surprisingly I have been satisfied with these unknowns such as “The Giant’s House” and “Whitebirds”.
I just wish I have extra money to buy books at National Bookstore or Powerbooks. It would be interesting to read the latest from Micheal Cunningham and Alan Holinghurst. Both are gay writers. I just need to read that latest from Jessica Hagedorn called “Dream Jungle”!
Currently I’m reading “Land of Smiles”, which is about a Laotian refugee in Thailand and later in the US.
No comments:
Post a Comment