Book Talk

Posted by Elizabeth
I had been a pretty "adept" student since the first day I assumed the title "student" as a common noun description of myself. I loved reading. I remember going to my playmate's school library just to "read" good stuff (i.e. Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Clifford the Big Red Dog) that could be found in that room that smelled of old books. I knew the word 'library' at the age of six (it was geeky then, not anymore these days). Ironically, I graduated from the University of the Philippines without a trace of ANY book in my collection. I had photocopied pages though and I just chucked them whenever soonest I could. I was a struggling STFAP scholar then. No money, no books.

As years passed and the number of shoes I had was raised to the nth power, I started counting the books on my shelf too. I love reading books and then (if I'm lucky), watch their film adaptations. Interestingly, I don't get out of the cinema telling everyone that the book is better than the movie or vice versa. I am biased that way...and will probably grow old and die just like that.

My most recent read is José Saramago's 'Blindness'. This is not for the weak at heart. I even found myself putting down the book every now and then just because I chose not to have awful dreams in my sleep or was in the middle of a hearty meal. But every time I put it down, I didn't have the courage of mind to resist it. It's almost borderline hypnosis. 

Imagine a world where everyone couldn’t see, does not have any government or laws, and people act based on survival instincts and not on moral standards? Can you?

Well then, if you can't and you are up for a challenge, you had better get your fingers flipping through the pages of Saramago’s magic realism. You too will get hooked. Let me know if you get a good sleep after. ;)

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Posted by May

Oooooh, I love books and shoes! Not necessarily together. And no, I dont like to belong to a book club. But yes to SHOE CLUB (my next project).

I love the idea of a book turned into movie. I'd certainly see "Blindness" the movie but I'd skip reading the book. It's great to know I have soul sisters who are book worms! Really, really great. Since we are in the topic of books, here's a peek at the current list on my "reading project". I'd love to share the contents but I'm sure I'd bore your brains out.

On the fast track (means I read this very quickly): I'm a member of American writing clubs. I love the business sense of fashion designing. I'm not a member of any traveler group but I OBSESS to become a writer for Conde Nast Traveler. Did I say obsess? Yes, OBSESS.

 

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Posted by May - My New Treasure

Every Friday night, my hubby and I go on a date. Weeks ago, we visited the recurring event "Hanapepe  Art Night." There's an old bookstore there with vintage books and thousands of unfamiliar ones that have been collected from years of service. I may not be on a hunt for novels but I was definitely on a hunt for poetry collection. The older, the better. I was lucky to have found this TS Elliot collection of poems. I think that most of the poems there should never have been there but they were written by a popular poet nonetheless.

My project: Poetry Library

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Lessons from Tuesdays With Morrie
Posted by Tess

The celebration of the Halloween made me remember the book, "Tuesdays with Morrie", which I felt was the most compelling revelations I have ever encountered  about life and death.

I remember the night I finished reading the book, I thought I was going to die when I reached its last few pages --It was Morrie's last moment and not only did I cry, but I literally sobbed non-stop for the next few minutes. I couldn't breathe because my nose got clogged and my heart was filled by too much emotion. When I finally stopped, I realized that probably it's my way of grieving for the lost of Morrie -- for the man I haven't met and yet have left too much impact in my life.

I was touched by Morrie's journey with his death that I copied some of the memorable lines from his book that struck me, and I want to share them with you. I think they are worth learning...

 

Lessons  from “Tuesdays with Morrie”

1. "Do I wither up and disappear, or do I make the best of my best time left?"

2. "I’m on the last great journey here – and people want to me to tell them what to pack"

3. "Life is a series of  pulls back and forth. Like a pull on a rubber band. And most of us live somewhere in the middle.”

4. "Love wins. Love always wins."

5. "Cocoon human activities include conversation, interaction, and affection."

6. "There are two things to be sad over: dying and living an unhappy life."

7. "Many people  walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they’re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning."

8. "If you really want it, then you’ll make your dream happen."

9.  "Is this what comes at the end? Maybe death is the great equalizer, the one big thing that can finally make strangers shed a tear for one another."

10.  "The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in. Love is the only rationale act."

11.  “It’s horrible to watch my body slowly wilt  away nothing. But it’s also wonderful because of all the time I get to say good-bye.”

12.  "Our time was running out, I have to do something." (oh this line really made me cry for reason I couldn’t explain)

13.  “You closed your eyes. That was the difference. Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too – even when you’re in the dark. Even when you’re falling."

14.  "Tapes, like photographs and videos, are a desperate attempt to steal something from death’s suitcase."

15.  "We all need teachers in our lives."

16.   "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."

17.  "To know you are going to die, and to be prepared for it at any time. That’s better. That way you can actually be more involved in your life while you’re living."

18.  "Once you learn how to die. You learn how to live."

19.  "If you accept that you can die at any time – then you might not as be ambitious as you are."

20.  "Don’t cling to things, because everything is impermanent."

21.  "If you don’t hold back on the emotions – if you don’t allow yourself to go all the way through  them – you can never get to being detached, you’re too busy being afraid. You’re afraid of the pain, your afraid of the grief. You’re afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails."

22.  "I don’t want to leave the world in a state of fright. I want to know what’s happening, accept it, get to a peaceful place, and let go."

23.  "Wealth do not buy happiness and contentment."

24.  He was giving as an adult and taking as a child.

25.  "Aging is not just decay. It’s growth. It’s more than the negative that you’re going to die. It’s also the positive  that you understand you’re going to die, and that you live a better life because of it."

26.  "You have to find what is good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now."

27.  "On Aging: How can I be envious of where you are – when I’ve been there myself?"

28.  "Love is how to stay alive, even after you are gone."

29.  "I believe in being fully present."

30.  "Friend are great, but friends are not going to be here on a night when you are coughing and can’t sleep and someone has to sit up all night with you, comfort you, try to be helpful."

31. "Rules on marriage: If you don’t respect the other person, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don’t know how to compromise, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can’t talk openly about what goes on between you, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don’t have a common set of values in life. You’re gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike. And the greatest of those values? Your belief in the importance of marriage."

32.  "I think marriage is a very important thing to do, and you’re missing a hell of a lot if you don’t try it. Love each other or perish."

33.  "How much time we spend trying to shape our bodies, lifting weights, crunching sit-ups, and in the end, nature takes it away from us anyhow."

34.  "People are only mean when they are threatened. When we get threatened, you start looking out only for yourself."

35.  "Every society has its own problems. The way to do it, I think isn’t to run away. You have to work at creating your own culture. No matter how we live, the biggest defect  we human beings have is our shortsightedness. We don’t see what we could be.  We should be looking at our potential, stretching ourselves into something we can become."

36.  "If we saw each other as more alike, we might be eager to join in one big human family in this world, and to care about that family the way we care about our own."

37.  "In the beginning of life, when we are infants, we need others to survive, right? And at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive, right? But here’s the secret: in between, we need others as well."

38.  "Don’t let go too soon, but don’t hang on too long."

39.  "If we know in the end, that we can ultimately have that peace with dying, then we can finally do the really hard thing: Make peace with the living."

40.  "As long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away."

41.  "Death ends a life, not a relationship."

42.  "You’re not a wave. You are part of the ocean."

- Tuesdays with Morrie