Water for Elephants

Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography and a couple of required Lit readings may have warmed me up to read the unread books stacked on my bedside table, which is starting to bother me because of clutter: stacks of books and magazines occupy the most space making me wonder where to put my glasses and hair elastics when I'm about to sleep. De-cluttering, I found Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants, the paperback I bought last May, and decided to read it finally.

I bought the book mainly because of the numerous critical acclaims on its front and back cover, I didn't care what it was all about. Maybe that's why I waited a full season before finally reading it. But after reading it now, I wonder why I waited too long. I am now in love with the book: such a unique fairy tale love story.

It is set around the 1930s, telling the story of a one-exam-shy-away-from-being-a-Cornell- educated veterinarian. Fate brought him to a circus train and he falls in love with Marlena, one of the circus' performers. Their love was too adorable for me despite it being in a very precarious situation and their story was such a page turner with a lot of surprises, I would have read it in a day if not for my squeezing of tasks in between. 

Throughout the story, you get introduced into this culture of train circuses, elephants, love and murder during the Depression era. It helped that some of the chapters showed real picture archives, so you get an idea of what it was really like. The story too, was told through a stream of memories from Jacob's point of view. The words were clear and real, I sometimes throw a chuckle in between and it was really  suspenseful until the end, you'd be surprised in the final pages. 

Anyway, I don't review a book unless I liked it. So I recommend you read it too, or I guess you may have already read it since it was published in 2006. But whatever, this was engrossing.

his stories

A little History always interest me. Although I hate memorizing every detail, I love discovering what happened in the past, hearing interesting stories and whatnot. Hence, I took American People this semester. Frankly, I know very little of American History. I only knew of it in a Filipino perspective and it's too limited. Knowing how America came into what it is now is something worth reading and it's helping me that one of the books my professor required us to read is targeted on college students. It's very easy to read, narrates the stories very quickly in a single point of view and just interesting. 

Before I thoroughly read it though, I saw The Other Boleyn Girl and despite not having very good reviews, it still satisfied my historic thirsts. I loved Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman acting as sisters. Jim Sturges played as their brother and what a hot family they could have been.  Ha ha. I don't want to review everything actually but the movie will just keep you intrigued with the whole sibling rivalry thing. Watch the trailer and I recommend you watch it too. I always had a flair with kings-commoners love stories and this one's a keeper. Don't expect a very happy ending though.

Running with Coke

If you fancy a strange and different read, you preferably need Running with Scissors, a memoir of Augusten Burroughs.

I didn't expect a lot from it I thought it would just be okay underrating the number of positive reviews on its back cover and a handful on its first few pages. But it turned out incredibly amazing, crazy and wildly funny, defeating the memoirs I have read in the past. Somehow, at some level, I could relate to Augusten with his misadventures and the lessons he learned from them. I could argue I am in a sense a misfit, and I am chasing something that I am not sure of. But I am definitely sure I am running for something, BIG.

Once you get introduced to Augusten, you sympathize with him and you feel like you at least have a connection with the feelings he possess and the words he pour on his journals. If you haven't read the book, expect a ride of twists and turns ranging from a bizarre family lifestyle, to seeing human sh*t as a tool of communicating with God.

In case you want a glimpse, I found out they already made a movie adaptation and I think I am going to see it some time.

Meanwhile

I have gone to work and enjoyed it. There is adrenaline rush in this kind of work where you have to deal with a customer's demands, the joy of filling up sodas on small, medium or large sized cups, the punching on cash registers and the counting of dollar bills. I enjoyed it although I had to suffer from the torture of having to stand for long hours a day. But overall, I think I will have an interesting summer with this job at hand, knowing that I'd meet a lot of burger-hungry peeps and a chat with my equally interesting workmates.

The next time you order, will you please give a smile to that counter girl/guy? It doesn't hurt that s/he gave you the best "Can I help you?" greeting.

The Road to Bookworm-landia

I first entered school at the age of 2 1/2. Growing up in a tight relationship with my extended family, I was the only one stuck at home then because my cousins were all attending preparatory schools or were already in elementary. So I urged my mom to send me to school for me to get star stamps on my hands, a way for me to show-off my wonderful coloring skills or my extra good performance in school. Meeting other kids sounded appealing too. I remember I was still drinking milk in a bottle then but would only do so at home and not around my "friends" because I thought it wouldn't be cool to be such a baby. Hello, I am schooling! I'm supposed to be cool.

It might be one of the reasons why I sometimes feel that I've been in school for the longest time now. But I don't care, I love being able to learn new things from teachers anyway. Also, being in a classroom welcomed me to more cool things I really appreciated. Yes, I'm talking about books. Although I had my share of books before school, I was awed by the multiple books in the classroom. There were coloring books, story books, shapes and a lot more. I also loved it when my teacher would read some stories to us. I'd get butterflies in my stomach.

So lo and behold, I want to show you the first ever "novel" I asked my dad to buy me, and the first one I finished from cover to cover.

Sweet Valley Kids # 63. And yes, I was introduced to Lila first before the Wakefields.

From then on, I knew reading would be something I'll be doing for the rest of my life. I bought more SVK then and eventually moved on to greater heights and by this I mean more Sweet Valley spin-off series. A little more later, I got hooked with Harry Potter and a lot of young adult fiction. I owe it to my teachers but my English teacher in High School was a favorite. I rarely play favorites on teachers but I felt she knew a lot and she encouraged us, or at least for me, to read more books with substance and not just about something we fancy like teenagers with their boyfriends' fast cars. I wonder where she is now, I mean, Miss Evangelista.

And still a little later, maybe around the present, I try to read some books although I'm a bit disappointed with myself because now I get distracted pretty easily with TV and Internet hence, the middle page-bookmarked books. But at least, although I am not a heavy reader and I am yet to be an official bookworm, I'll try my hardest to continue my passion amidst the enticing world of new media. I hate that I CAN stand hours of just TV, popcorn and a laptop.

Let's all get working.

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Yay yay yay! Almost done with school. A little work more and I'd be there.

I was in the city last night with the family and a dinner with relatives. I'll try to post some pictures but I can't promise really decent ones. The rain practically screwed half the time and I was also wasted come afternoon because I had school too.

Until then. :)