Sunday, October 18, 2009

Yes, Believe It or Not, I Actually Read Books

Eternal Wanderer loves to read. He loves to read newspapers. He loves to read comics. He loves to read books. He loves to read so much that he can't even poop without bringing a reading material.

Oooops. TMI.

Here's some of the books Eternal Wanderer has recently tried out:




A friend of his in college was gushing about Ayn Rand. She told Eternal Wanderer to check out Rand's novels. Being the dumb blond that he is, he innocently asked if it had anything to do with beautiful parks and fountains. She gave him what-an-airhead stare and walked out on him.

Years later, Eternal Wanderer is still a dumb blond. But now, he thanks to the book reader Stanza, he's been downloading e-books like crazy. One of the books he downloaded was Fountainhead. He picked up to courage to read it, and found himself thoroughly enjoying the novel. It practically read like good soap-opera stuff, albeit of the wordy kind. But in the last 1/3 of the book, he was got a migraine. The courtroom monologue of Howard Roark, the main character, was a little bit too much for Eternal Wanderer. It was major word puke. Eternal Wanderer wondered, "Why didn't Howard Roark simply say 'Fuck y'all. I'm an individual, so stuff it!'"

Of course, that line of reasoning would've put Howard Roark in jail for the rest of his life.

Eternal Wanderer is tickled pink at his own dumb blondness.





Eternal Wanderer is a sword slut. He goes into ecstatic throes whenever swords are concerned. He considers himself an expert handling swords of all lengths, widths, thicknesses, and sizes. He opines the bigger swords are, the better to play with. Nothing would please Eternal Wanderer more than if somebody dangles a sword before him.

With an enticing title "Dark Sword," how could Eternal Wanderer refuse to read such a book?

It was an enjoyable romp in the hay. Joram's sword very much delighted Eternal Wanderer. He even spent nights of torrid fantasy with the thoughts of caressing Joram's long and turgid sword. But it was the idea of the Technomancers (people who derived their magic through death) that gave him pause. He thought, "If I kill all roaches in the house, can it make my lashes magically curl up permanently? Do I have to do it myself, or can I just call in pest control? No, wait, if I call in pest control, it's their lashes that might be magically curled up permanently! We wouldn't want that, would we?"

Eternal Wanderer is amazed with the dumb blond ideas he can think of.




Eternal Wanderer digs magic realism. He has devoured a lot of those South American novelists which features interactive ghosts, seductive cooking, love potions, and their ilk. He thinks that the idea of magic treated as an everyday occurrence is such a fascinating idea.

Since he really adored the lush narrative of Gabriel Garcia-Marquez's Love in Time of Cholera, he decided to give 100 Years of Solitude a go. It was going on fine maybe until about the fourth generation. By that time, he almost completely lost it. The characters' names were all the same, and it was confusing the heck out of him. Eternal Wanderer even had to whip out a paper and write down who was who just so that he could keep track with all the characters.

It was then he realized that Garcia-Marquez was trying to emphasize the cyclical nature of of life. The flaws and sins of the (fore)fathers continue to haunt the children, generation after generation. Because of this, the past, present, and future are bound with one another in an inevitable spiraling towards an uncertain fate.

Whoa.

Eternal Wanderer just had a verbal and philosophical fart!

My, my, my. There may still be hope for the dumb blond Eternal Wanderer, after all.

Heehee

22 comments:

  1. so you have verbal masturbation, orgy of words and now verbal and philosophical fart.. ano susunod? lol.

    i heart 100 years of solitude.

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  2. Echosera ka.. i've seen an avatar with swords. Hihibi!

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  3. Uhm... wish I was there to read this entry out loud for you... Interesting that it doesn't really sound like you (the way it's written, I mean). A lot of preciousness nonetheless.

    I love killing cockroaches, but I don't really have any problems with my lashes. They're lovely! LOL!

    Oooh... I didn't know you were such a size queen EW! Should size matter? It's how you use it perhaps? Hahaha!

    Don't you find it interesting that as writers, after reading a book, we sort of emulate what we just read?

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  4. i thought this blog entry will end with swords there and everywhere hehehe

    --- --

    hmmm dapat mabasa ko yang 100 years.. i read kasi, that in order for one person to understand himself better, one have to go through to his family history 3 generations up. nabasa ko ito sa isang self help psych book

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  5. I don't think anyone who got through chapter 1 of Garcia-Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude and is still capable of creating a blog is a dumb blond.

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  6. Eye: i still prefer Love in Time of Cholera, if only for the inherent romanticism of the work hehehehe

    Lukayo: ay ako rin! hahahahah

    Bon: hey, it's supposed to be funny and not ting ting! *insert rolling eyes emoticon* lolz

    i remember our cuca adventure :P

    what is size without love? AHAHAHAHAHA

    i know! there was a passage in fountainhead that inspired me to churn out something :D i haven't finished it yet, but i'll bring it out prolly one of these days :)

    Dabo: do you love swords, too? ;)

    yeah, as the saying goes, the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree :P

    Engel: aaaaw shucks *blush*

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  7. Rude: eeeehhh? but why what?

    deym, i'm a gettin' a dumb blond moment here :(

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  8. @ E.W. : Ahahahahaha! How I love flummoxing the flaxen-haired!

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  9. been soaking myself lately with coelho and hellboy. tapos dami pa nakapila. isingit ko nga yang 100 years of solitude. hehe.

    laftrip ang curly lashes, hahaha.

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  10. Rude: grrrrr! hahahahha

    Max:ay cuelho is very nice! i read veronika decides to die and by the river peidra i wept :D will try the alchemist one of these days ;)

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  11. A big fan of Ayn Rand. I liked Atlas Shrugged more though, and I just adored her foray into speculative fiction with Anthem. Although I don't consider myself a purist Objectivist like her, her ideas on society, the individual, and the search for meaning is resounding and remains relevant to this day.

    If you're into swords, I reckon you'd like the works of Bernard Cornwell. He uses it as a leit motif in his Sharpe series. However, if your not into historical works of fiction, you mind find his writing a tad dragging at times.

    I wasn't able to enjoy One Hundred Years of Solitude primarily because when I first read it, the text and his florid style was just too much for my young impressionable teenage mind. And a really young high school student at that. However, I did appreciate it later on in college. Also, Love in the Time of Cholera. Sadly, I'm still looking for a copy of Chronicle of a Death Foretold as I am a fan of the macabre and absurd. But if you did like Garcia Marquez, maybe you'd also Like Chinua Achebe and Isabel Allende. They both write about familial struggles and the quest for vindication and purpose.

    As for me? I am currently reading works based on ancient and dead languages, sort of an academe suspense where the plot is a mere foil to the discovery of an artifact's meaning, whether it be a sarcophagi inscription, a lost translation of a cryptic or coptic work, of hieroglyphic origins, or acrostic in nature.

    And sir, no way are you blond and dumb. Unless you had your hair dyed. The most witty of writers have a peculiar way of making complexity seem self-apparent. The gift of brevity and clarity is something most writers struggle with their whole lives. I do (obviously, hehe). You sir, however, have gotten it down into an art.

    How meaning is portrayed in a manner respectful to the layman, yet is able to entertain those whose searching mind seek the layers of meaning in everything. That, is the melody you string.

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  12. Red: atlas shrugged i will try after i finish off the deathgate cycle hehehe

    but allende is love! i've done house of the spirits, eva luna, and the stories of eva luna. but i'll try achebe next.

    ancient historical mysteries ey? sounds fun!

    and thank you for the compliment. there are tons of wittier and more sophisticated bloggers out there of which i look up to. me? i just write. or at least try to :)

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  13. Oh don't be so coy sir. The mark of an effective writer is the ability to capture his audience. You sir, have that. And the compliment? Well deserved.

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  14. makes me feel more of a dumb blonde than you are. hehehe. I have been meaning to download ebooks on to my phone but I've no idea how to do it. SObrang tamad naman ako para pumunta Nokia to ask how. Alam ko capable phone ko for ebooks, pero Ive no idea how to.

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  15. I like fountainhead a lot. I was introduced to Ayn Rand in college. Iba yung philosophy niya. parang me, myself and I lang

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  16. Red: thank you *blush*

    Lurico: easy lang kaya! i use QReader on my nokia. it think i torrented mine around 2 yrs. ago and installed it on my phone :D

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  17. Xtian: i do have serious quibbles of Rand's Objectivism philosophy, but like most philosophical treaties, it's up to the reader to discern what is useful and adapt as suited ;)

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  18. you're right. come to think of it, parang entertainment yung book niya pero some things sa sinasabi niya ay parang gusto mo din gayahin o i-apply sa buhay mo. like for example, you have an idea and it was copied from you dba parang ninakaw niya sayo. haay parang gusto mo din sirain ginawa niya para wala na makinabang. pero ganun pa man naunahan ka pa din. there's no use fretting. anyways, yun lang.

    BTW, thanks for the hug, hugging you back :)

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  19. Xtian: that's the beauty of reading up/studying various philosophies. you keep what can be applied as of the moment and just file the rest in your head for future referencing :)

    p.s. doesn't hugging feel nice? :D

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  20. well said EW

    p.s. yes it does, I love hugging :D

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  21. 100 Years of Solitude is one of the most depressing books I've read. I honestly felt empty after finishing it, especially after the great reveal of the Macondo Prophecy.

    Since you like swords that much, maybe you would also like Fred Saberhagen's Book of Swords, about 12 mystical swords forged by the god Vulcan, and how it ruins the lives of the people who possess it.

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