My book Meme

The Filipino Librarian passed this meme to me so here it is. I am still waiting for someone to use meme in a pun. Total books owned: I did a mental count of the books I own. Mostly books I got from my parent and relatives. Those I have bought. Some gifts from friends. At present, not counting the comic books and audio books, I have around a thousand books. My room looks like a big storeroom of books. I even have books stored in bags and boxes. Last book I bought: The Island of Dr. Moreau by HG Wells A slim book priced at a reasonable price of 90.00 pesos at Fullybooked Gateway. I have been eyeing this book for sometime. A Dover thrift classic, it is not hardbound and it is printed in newsprint. Tells the tale of a man who finds himself in the island with scientists and their experiments. Written by HG Well it is horror and a science fiction story about the abuse of scientific inquiry and the repercussions. The book, as usual, is more thought provoking and insightful than its different movie adaptations, although I still have to see the 1930s adaptation (Island of Lost Souls), which starred Charles Laughton as the infamous Dr Moreau. Last book I read: Last night, I was rereading Frank Herbert's God Emperorof Dune . Book five of Herbert's Dune saga. A meandering book. I have always find it useful to read this book piecemeal. Although it does have a story and a plot, the novel also delves into the mind frame of Leto II and his three thound reign over the galaxies. His musings and insights are informative, entertaining and insightful. The Dune saga is about politics and powerplay and the use and misuse of critical resources, for Dune it was the spice melange. The object that made long space travel possible and gave clairvoyance power to a few. Modifying the meme a little bit by adding two more lists five types of Books I Read and five favourite Filipiniana books . Five Types of Books I Read: Comic Books It is the marriage between the visual art form and the tale. Images and words are used in a sequential manner to tell a story. The most common forms are cartoon strips usually found inside newspapers, magazine formats are called comic books, and those compilled or are a wee bit too long are called Graphic Novels. History Books When I was confined to a hospital due to appendicitis one of the things I read was a book on world history. History is a recollection of the past and it give you an insight on how things came about. How did the first Emperor of China Shi Huang Di lived and died. Or how did the Venerable Bede lived. Or how was life in an abbey during the sark ages or in Manila when the Spanish Governor Generals rule from the Palacio del Gobernador. History is replete with people - the famous, the infamous and the ordinary. Reference Books/source books I like reference book not only because of the wealth of information but the amount of interesting information they contain, In other words trivia. Of course what is interesting to individual A might be different individual B. As they say to each his own. Literary Books Fiction and drama that have artistic value. In other words for entertainment purposes and along the way you learn something. I cannot say I favor one genre over another but when I find it at the beginning an interesting read or I read a credible review, print or verbal, I usually take a stab at it. The un-books These include books in audio and digital format. There are times when it seems , to me at least, that I use what I call un-books or non-print media or books. When it is more convenient or more practical to view the book through a monitor. And there are times when you want to just sit down close your eyes and listen to a story. As I said before, humurous books liked Richard Lederer's Anguished English is fun to listen and Stephen Fry's reading of Harry Potter is a gem. Five books that meant a lot to me: Animal Farm by George Orwell A fable about revolutions. A must read for everyone entering adulthood. Screwtape's Letter by CS Lewis Correspondence between devils on how win the soul of a single man. McElligot's Pool by Dr Seuss For some unknown reason for me the most unforgetable Dr Seuss book. I still remember reading and re-reading again and again and over and over. Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Bierce's cynical description of all things in life presented as a dictionary. Full of wit and sarcasm I find myself going back to this book from time to time. Batman: The Killing Joke written by Alan Moore, drawn by Brian Bolland and inked by John Higgins For me at least the seminal comic book story. It captures all that is good in the fusion of the word and the image. Five Favourite Filipiniana Books A Question of Heroes by Nick Joaquin I like Nick Joaquin's work. His essays on our national heroes though are for me engrossing. I remember reading this during high school, I even brought this to class my teacher in mythology seemed to be enflamed as Hera when she saw the book. She criticized the book as weakening our belief in our heroes. I continue to read the book to this day. The Best Philippine Short Stories of the Twentieth Century edited by Isagani R Cruz Best buy in terms of Filipino literature. This book though has some sentimental value for our family. What happened to our family during World War II was the basis of one of the stories. Journey to Majayjay by Paul P. de la Gironiere Not written by a Filipino but about the journey of the Frenchman Gironiere to Majayjay during Christmas. Translated from French, the account gives a revealing account of life during those times. FILIPINIANA BOOK GUILD SERIES 1 They contain scanned images of hard to find Filipiniana books. One Book in the series Percy Hill's "Romance and Adventure in Old Manila" is available but is priced at 6,000 pesos. The CD is being sold at 1,000 and contains more than 20 books. KangKong 1890 This book was required reading during high school. It tells the tale of a boy growing up to manhood during the Katipunan Revolution. Other books worth reading The Praying by Bienvenido Santos and Celso Al Carunungan's Satanas Sa Lupa. And now I am passing this meme on to five and more blogs/bloggers. The Master of Useless Knowledge Prospect Avenue gumbygimmix personal geographic Another Hundred Years Hence Blackshama's blog Anavlas Sassy Lawyer Disiniland By Jove Hi! This post also appears on Library7