The Prodigal Bibliophile

Shit, it’s been almost a month since my last post? The joys of LIRA — the main course has been extended until the end of August!

I will be the first to admit that the title is a bit paradoxical. Prodigal pertains to “profuse or wasteful expenditure”, and for yours truly, spending money on books isn’t wasteful expenditure. In fact, books are some of the best items a person can invest in, both in terms of material and immaterial value.

Maybe the analogy I’m gunning for here is with the Prodigal Son — I, a former bookhound, have now been fully restored to being a bibliophile. Or so I declare.

The descent to near-dyslexia (like many things I write, an exaggeration) was the descent to programming and a college lifestyle that didn’t allow much time for reading. Back in UP, my days had a rehearsed, monotonous cadence — study code, write code, do student org stuff, play video games, exercise, fall sick. Towards the end of my four years, I even managed to squeeze in blogging, which scooped up the littlest remaining time for books.

The ascent to near-bibliomania (which might not be an exaggeration) was the ascent that began last November, when I bought my first books in almost a year. The buying spree gained steam this January, with the addition of three expensive books.

What I failed to write here on this journal for the past six months — February to July — is that I’ve acquired 25 new books. The count would’ve been much higher, if I hadn’t conserved my cash in March and April. And the count will be much, much higher before the year ends, that I can assure my wailing wallet.

The thing I’m loving about this ‘prodigal bibliophile’ pa-uso is that with every book that I buy and finish, the desire to buy more and read more amplifies. It’s good that this coincides with the recent developments in my literary ‘journey’ (Philippine Star-LIRA- Komiks.ph), and better that it tells me: The resurrection is complete, and the phoenix that is my love for books has risen once again.

Yuck, that last line was cheesy.

So, without further ado, the list of the 25 newcomers to Corsarius’ library:

02/05

Visions of the World: A History of Maps, Jeremy Black (Fully Booked, SM North EDSA: The Block)

02/13

Dune: The Battle of Corrin, Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson (National Bookstore, SM North EDSA)

Imperial Earth, Arthur C. Clarke (National Bookstore, SM North EDSA)

02/24

Data Structures, Evangel P. Quiwa (UP Diliman DCS Alumni Homecoming)

***

05/10

The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah, Stephen King (Barjan, USA)

The Friars Club Encyclopedia of Jokes, H. Aaron Cohl (Barjan, USA)

Quantico, Greg Bear (sent from New York for book review)

05/12

Alexander Book One: Child of a Dream, Valerio Massimo Manfredi (gift from Ia)

***

06/05

The Chernagor Pirates (Book Two of The Scepter of Mercy), Dan Chernenko (SM North EDSA book sale)

Alastor, Jack Vance (SM North EDSA book sale)

The Conqueror’s Child (Book Four of the Holdfast Chronicles), Suzy McKee Charnas (SM North EDSA book sale)

Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle, Manda Scott (Fully Booked, SM North EDSA: The Block)

Sansiglong Mahigit ng Makabagong Tula sa Filipinas, Virgilio S. Almario (National Bookstore, SM North EDSA — Gift Certificate)

UP Diksiyonaryong Filipino, Virgilio S. Almario (National Bookstore, SM North EDSA — Gift Certificate)

***

06/30

The Tower, Valerio Massimo Manfredi (A Different Bookstore, Glorietta)

07/10

(H)istoryador(a), Victor Emmanuel Carmelo D. Nadera Jr. (UP Press, Diliman)

Kung Bakit Kailangan ang Himala, Rio Alma (UP Press, Diliman)

(A)lamat at (H)istorya, Rio Alma (UP Press, Diliman)

***

07/14

Alexander Book Three: The Ends of the Earth, Valerio Massimo Manfredi (Fully Booked Greenhills)

Pagsiping sa Lupain, Roberto T. Anonuevo (Fully Booked Greenhills)

Viva! Kay Senor Santo Nino, Viva!, Marcela Mijares Reyes-Tinagan (Fully Booked Greenhills)

Textanaga, Virgilio S. Almario & Romulo P. Baquiran & Victor Emmanuel Carmelo D. Nadera Jr. (LIRA — pseudo-award for poem of the day)

***

07/17

Pag-Unawa sa Ating Pagtula, Virgilio S. Almario (Powerbooks TriNoma)

The Iliad and the Odyssey: Troy, Paul Demont (National Bookstore, TriNoma)

07/21

Tatlong Pasyon, Virgilio S. Almario (UST, after the Panitik Mulang Rehiyon forum)

And I’ve got a feeling that those won’t be the last for July. Anyway, in the next two months, I ~~plan~~ hope to step up my posting rate and write overviews for each of these books. Six blog posts in all, with the books grouped into the subdivisions (***) indicated above.

Why the rush to finish these all before the end of September? Well, because from August 29 to September 2, the 28th Manila International Book Fair is slated to siphon cash from me and dump a ton of new titles on my to-read stash! I’m earmarking around a few thousand pesos for the event; hopefully, I can buy one book from every nation in the Fair and live to tell the tale.

Aside from the allure of books, I’ll be there at the WTC Manila for LIRA (the Pistang Panitik will feature Sir Rio Alma) and Komiks.ph/Read or Die. See you there.

16 comments so far. Subscribe to comments feed.

Ouch. College life wasn’t monotonous! It was exciting. With all your… um… sneakiness…

I think that’s an interesting way to chronicle all the times you’ve been out of the house. Hahahahahahaha.

Three words. Visit. A. Library!

puro rio alma ang mga books mo ah.. haha! cge pag mgka-gc ulet ako e bblhin ko yang “sansiglong mahigit”.. hndi ko nga lang trip ang mga scifi/fantasy pwera sa SF ni margaret atwood..

mag-update ka lagi..

My head hurts just by reading all the titles of those books. I’m not much of a book person. Ech.. :P

Btw, I just used up the GCs you gave me. :) I bought John Maxwell’s books and some magazines. Thanks!

Btw, this Corsair loves books so much that I waited for him to finish book-shopping in Fully-Booked for more than an hour. :) Hehe peace!

Imagine if you can obtain an average of even just five books a month. That makes sixty books a year, and consequently six hundred books in ten years. By the time you have grandchildren, you can tell them, “I have read an entire library.” Your own library, of course. Owning a library and having read everything from cover to cover to cover (ad exhaustium and beyond) is something anyone can be very proud of :)

hi phillip! i’m envious that you’ve got time to read. gogogo! :)

ia, sige nga, what is this ’sneakiness’ you’re talking about? so that the general public may know, hehe :P

why, you are right — i think a high percentage of my out-of-the-house days end up with a new book! funny that i never realized that until now.

library, eh? i am dead-set on returning to UPD’s Main Lib. three words: “Bulalakaw ng Pag-asa”. as highly recommended by sir Rio.

hi makoy, great of you to drop by my blog again :) siempre, si Sir Rio un e! and i kind of need to brush up on my Filipino poetry, especially now that I’m taking LIRA classes.

margaret atwood SF? hmm, i’ll look up some of her titles, then. and yep, i desperately want to update my blog frequently! letseng trabaho kasi hehe.

geo, you’re very much welcome. i hope you enjoy your new acquisitions! don’t forget to return the GC envelope ha — may sentimental value kasi ;)

and…if you weren’t waiting up on us book-perusers, i would’ve stayed there for one more hour! ah, but the lure of krispy kreme was stronger that night, i think…

sk, wow. i didn’t realize that. “I have read an entire library” sounds so…magical, for me. and six hundred books in a decade! i should be moving into my own house in just a few years, then; our apartment unit doesn’t have enough room for another bookshelf.

btw, are you my friend “sk” from up dcs? ;)

gibbs, hay, i’m just barely squeezing in enough time for these books. they have to contend with: writing, work, own webmastering rackets, and video games. i doubt that i can finish them all this year.

that said, do try to re-acquaint yourself with books. 5-10 minutes a day will be a good enough start :D

[...] Above all, Iâ€™m a literary person, a writer, a poet. Iâ€™m a bibliophile on the verge of becoming a bibliomaniac. Iâ€™m a sucker for great stories, and this passion carries over to gaming. Iâ€™ve played many a shitty game that I diligently finished â€“ whether by sheer determination or cheating â€“ just to reach the end of the story. [...]

I think it took less than my lifetime for my dad to acquire a whole library of books—it filled up the maid’s room in the old house and now it’s taken up the walls of the garage. He’s really spendthrift—when he has the money!

Add that to my mom’s, which are a whole bunch of academic and literary books. I guess you get my sorta’ kinda’ book withdrawal from that. And from splurging. :)

Sure, let’s meet sometime so I can return the envelope… (hope I can still find it) :D

[...] Fancy title, no? Truth be told, I just had to link up all four books that I’m featuring today. This batch is the first attempt to make sense of this imposing read-to pile, courtesy of a wallet that opens faster than you can say, “Buy!” [...]

ia, ‘withdrawal from books’ is something i’ve never heard of before…oops. i think i just suffered from that a year ago, haha.

i think i can fill up a room of books if i lay claim to my dad’s collection, pronto!

geo, nooo! don’t lose itttt! seriously, when’s the next labas, and where? september!

[...] As I implied in my Prodigal Bibliophile post, before the year ends I’ll be featuring in detail every book I bought at the Book Fair. Here’s a round-up and literary appetizer: [...]

[...] Buying books upon books like crazy; [...]

[...] Nitong huling linggo ay dumating ang aking bagong bookshelf (Orocan lang at hindi burgis na narra), kaya naman nailipat ko na ang mga librong nakatambak sa sahig — mga aklat na binili lang nitong mga huling buwan (heto, at heto pa!). [...]

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