Slip of the Pen

Subtitled: So, Now He’s Blogging About Books, Great. A Good Way to Delay Writing Something Meaningful, Eh Corsair?

Books, how can you not live without them when you’re a writer? Inanimate objects with animated universes within, infinities chronicled with infinitesimal dots and finite chapters. They fuel your desire, they inspire, they demoralize, they hone your vocabulary, they humble your vocabulary, they kick your ass, they make you kiss the author’s ass. Basically, they do a lot of things, none of which are negligible.

Maybe that’s the reason I’ve been having difficulties writing regularly the past year or so. I’ve been an ingrate to the hobby that laid the foundations for my love of writing (which began quite late — just early college). So now I’m making amends by promising to buy more books, blog (’boast’ would be more appropriate, hey, humans love to) about them, and to actually read them from now-glossy cover to soon-wretched cover. (Obvious use and abuse makes you look like a genius.)

After my last book-buying binge (which was one-third a fiasco), me, Ia, and my wallet took a dive into Fully Booked at SM North Edsa’s The Block. Only the first two surfaced; the wallet was sucked in whole by the cash register. Curse Fully Booked. Curse its expansive floor scheme and impressive array of books. Curse its addicting diversity. And I’m beginning to sound like a blog advert here.

And so this month’s trifecta of Corsarius-graced books consist of:

The Wit

Many readers of Stephen King are wont to describe him as being gifted with wit. Lots and lots of it. He made a fan out of me when I came across the first book of The Dark Tower saga. Unfortunately, I got cut off from the series right after Book 1 (what loyalty!).

So imagine the pleased, dumbstruck look on my face when I found a single copy of The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower III) among the On Sale books. From 862 pesos to 517 — sweet, no? Not to mention that the full color illustrations by Ned Dameron are stunning. If King’s words are enough to weave worlds inside the reader’s mind, Dameron’s art turns these make-believe realms into…uh, prettier make-believe realms. Ahhh, you get it.

The Skit

No, I didn’t buy a comedy book. The “skit” is just there to round up the trio of rhyming words. Seriously. Well, not so seriously, a skit is technically a “short theatrical episode”…which is the apt description for Kevin J. Anderson’s Of Fire and Night, Book Five of The Saga of Seven Suns. It’s thick, but it’s just an episode in what seems to be a grand theater set in space. Yeah, it’s sci-fi galore, which means I’ll be posting a pseudo book review on Sci-Fi Books Central when I finish it. If I finish it. If my sci-fi books blog gets off, too.

This is my first Anderson title, and seeing that this is already Book Five, why did I spend 800 pesos on it? Well…

1. The cover is damn beautiful. Damn, how original am I.
2. Skimming through it made me want to finish the entire seven-book saga. The trademark of a good book!
3. 800 pesos is cheap for this 700-page big boy in near-mint condition.
4. The cover is damn beautiful. Damn.

The Brit

This one wasn’t bought from Fully Booked, but has a price tag more expensive than the first two combined. If my wallet was the one that engaged the price tag in a scuffle, I’d be tearing off my hair right now. Fortunately, it was dad’s wallet (that’s why he returned from his trip from the land of the Brits with a few hair strands missing).

Julian Humphrys’ The Private Life of Palaces is part of a tour package that included visits to London’s historical palaces, such as the Tower of London and Kensington Palace. Eighty sweet-smelling pages packed with photos and illustrations and adorned with splendid light reading make for a book I’m raring to feast on.

Oh, and before I forget: The cover is damn beautiful. Damn. Of all the books in my collection, I’d award this one with the “Best Use of Contrast in Book Cover”. (Speaking of contrast, Ia’s Stellify was honored with the “Best Use of Contrast in Blog Design” last month.)

King’s and Anderson’s books are heavyweights, which means I’ve got to dedicate serious hours to them. (Ah, to hell with problogging and other hobbies. To hell — for the moment. I’ll freeze hell over later anyway, when I make a serious run at writing for publications and contests in the next month or two…a serious run that probably won’t be taken seriously by the serious biggies of Pinoy lit. Finally, Corsarius, finally. Haul your arse out of your scurvy-laced, sinking hull of a ship. The crew has mutinied — you’re alone!)

Now, let me do a little housekeeping here. My bookmarks are still tucked into the following books:

• Flash Fiction: 72 Very Short Stories (Too short I’ve forgotten they exist.)
• Palanca Anthology of Winning Works: 1980s Short Story
• Palanca Anthology of Winning Works: 1980s Poetry
• Cormyr: A Novel (Forgotten Realms junkie here.)
• El Nido: Working Together for Environmental Law Enforcement (Another one of dad’s brand new books passed on to me.)

Which hikes the currently-reading pile to eight. Not to exaggerate, but throw in another five magazines. Fortunately, I managed to finish a pair of titles just the past month:

• The World War II 100
• Getting Users to Pay for Conservation: A Guide to Site-Based Sustainable User Fee Schemes (Mother Nature is waiting to spank us all.)

Which is good, because I’ve got a hunch that switching between ten books will slough off a lot of brain cells, diminishing your vocab power. Quite the opposite thing you’d want from being a bookworm.

An advisory: when you get to read another another book-centric post here in the future, you’ll know I’m in a rut again writing something that either 1) rhymes a bit, 2) rhymes a lot but trying not to sound like I’m enjoying it, 3) doesn’t rhyme at all but reeks of pretentious poetic-ness, or 4) was thrown at me by Mr. Canal-Canal’s muse (I accept hand-me-downs, but only from her).

Hullo books, ciao blogs. Later, guys.