3 posts tagged “books”
mga pinagkakaabalahan:
www.bookay.multiply.com - a rolling bookstore. Also an online seller of previously owned and hard-to-find books
www.shelfari.com - catalog your books now.
After lunch
I went over to 7-11 to have a cup of coffee.
The afternoon heat was making me sleepy.
I continued reading 1984 at
the edge of my seat but seemingly disinterested with half-closed eyes. Then for a moment there I thought I could do this.
This being I could work in a
sleepy health center in some far-off barangay, see patients in the morning and
read the whole afternoon. In a sense it
was not all that different from my previous work as a research assistant in a
molecular microbiology lab a stone’s throw from the beach.
Looking back, I remember working from 8 to 5, reading novels during the waiting time in between PCR’s, gel electrophoresis and culture preparations. After work I would go straight to the cafeteria and have an early dinner while watching the local news. By 6 pm I was back in my dorm room rekindling my love affair with books. I usually dragged my chair out to the terrace and continued reading while smoking my Camels.
Things have changed a lot since then. I no longer work in research and have not done any molecular biology work in almost 5 years. But like before I have rekindled my love for reading. I have become a polybookist, not content in reading one book at a time but having a specific book to read to complement my different moods. I have long quit smoking and replaced cigarettes with coffee. And with my caffeine dependence I have become a chain reader.
Going back to my present situation at the barangay health center: depending on the day of the week I help immunize 80 or so children, either see around 40 pregnant women for their prenatal check-up or around the same number of patients with various complaints. In the afternoon I read. This morning there were 91 children who came in for immunization. After an early lunch I finished George Orwell’s 1984.
In the
afternoon I was left wondering if I should finish Charles Bukowski’s Factotum which I started yesterday or
plunge deep into Haruki Murakami’s Kafka
on the Shore.
I still
believe what my sister said year’s ago is right. If I had a year off to read I would learn
more and be wiser than if I spent the year studying in school. If I finish my whole TBR pile (130+ good
books – including books on history, travel and philosophy) and barely passed
the med boards it would still be worth it.
"In life, every ending is just the start of another story. Except when you die - that's an ending that's really an ending. I suppose if novels were really true to life, they'd all end with all the characters dying; but if they did, we wouldn't want to read them, would we?" - Love, etc, Julian Barnes
This had me laughing . . . and at the same time remembering this.
Dying is an art.
