Bookhawk Pilipinas

That embarassing favorite book you don't tell anyone about

Posted by Tim on Apr 12, '08 12:07 AM for everyone

Sometimes when you are in a blank mood and have some free time, it's nice to grab a book and let it lead you, transport you, transform you.

Siyempre ngayon pwede ka ring ma distract ng CD, mp3/4, internet, cable TV, DVD na sine o concert. I miss the black-and-white TV days where your summer daily viewing was just Eat Bulaga. E, kung di ka ba naman magbasa na lang!

That's when I discovered Ayn Rand, from my brother's short shelf created by an extended window sill. Dunno where he got the books, but I loved The Fountainhead. I was probably 3rd or 4th year high school then, in the middle of an adolescent crisis, when I found my paperback hero. Memoryado ko ang first line: "Howard Roarke laughed." At ang last line: "There was only the sky, the (building?), and the figure of Howard Roarke." Siyempre syota ko si Dominique Francon. May novelette na We the Living din ang kapatid ko. Hanggang early college sa UP hinabol ko ang mga libro ni Ayn Rand. Na-dissuade nga lang ako ni ermat na maging arkitekto tulad ni Howard Roarke. Nahiram ko sa UP lib ang hardcover na Atlas Shrugged, may stamp na "From the Federico Mangahas collection," ako ata ang unang humiram. Pati essays ni Ayn Rand binuno ko (Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal; Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology), mga biography, pati Unfinished Works meron ako, nabili ko nang brand new at mahal sa NBS Carriedo. Pati yung choose-your-ending play niya na Night of January the 16th.

Nawala ang hilig ko kay Ayn Rand nung college nung nag-shift ako sa Philippine Studies galing Engineering. Nadiskubre ko si Karl Marx.

Ikaw, ano ang ikinahihiya mong paboritong libro?

Prev: TONY PEREZ BINIGYANG SAYSAY ANG SITE NA ITO! ni Tim (Mar 30, 2008)
Next: Erotica Juvenalia

reply share

17 CommentsChronological Reverse Threaded

amaranna wrote on Apr 12, edited on Apr 12

Hahaha! Baliktad. I never read Ayn Rand because (1) when I was in college, usong-uso siya among architecture students, eh hindi ako pala-sunod sa uso (2) I was immediately turned off after the first few pages (baliktad talaga). Howard Roarke's "experience" (at least as far as I gathered from his admirers) was NOT our experience as architects. Perhaps it was also because I "discovered" Marx before Ayn Rand made her appearance in my consciousness.

Will answer your question later. Marami-rami yun eh. ;)

timdacanay wrote on Apr 12

Grabe ng high school mo, napaka-cloistered! Hahaha :)

amaranna wrote on Apr 12

Is that "cloistered" or cloistered? :) Anyway, nainis lang yata ako sa writing style ni Ayn Rand. OA? But let me go back and read her now that I'm so much older and less of an activist. Hahaha!

timdacanay wrote on Apr 12

Either "cloistered," or both. Nakakatawa rin yung sinulat ni Nora Ephron tungkol sa kanya. Kasi all her heroes and heroines are "tall, thin and angular." Hehehe. Totoo iyon. Birth centennial yata niya or some anniversary thing kung kaya naglabas ng bagong edition ng mga libro niya. Ano ba o anu-ano ang mga embarassing books mo? Kahit isa lang, uy!

bituinescalante wrote on Apr 12

masters and johnson...o yan a...pakitaan na ng kaluluwa. mwahahahahaha!

timdacanay wrote on Apr 12

Dapat ibang blog thread yan! "Erotica juvenalia" or "How my brain got raped" yata ang magandang title. Hahaha!

amaranna wrote on Apr 12

timdacanay said

Ano ba o anu-ano ang mga embarassing books mo? Kahit isa lang, uy!

Cloistered? Hahaha. Far from it. Naalala ko tuloy ang aking potential "embarrassing" books. "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" at "The Sensuous Woman," both read around first year high school yata (along with Kerima Polotan, na favorite author ko nung HS). Hindi ko alam kung ano ang mas embarrassing, yun or yung mga inspirational and religious books na enjoy naman akong basahin! :)

timdacanay wrote on Apr 12

Uy, hindi embarassing ang Goodbar! Pero ang Sensuous Woman ay! Nagbasa din ako nung bata ako ng The Sensuous Man nung high school! Sinunod ko rin ang mga exercises doon! Mwahahaha! Joke! Nauuwi na tayo talaga sa "Erotica Juvenalia!"

amaranna wrote on Apr 12, edited on Apr 12

timdacanay said

Joke! Nauuwi na tayo talaga sa "Erotica Juvenalia!"

Joke daw oh. Hahaha. May context ang Goodbar... Around that time, one of the nuns reprimanded my classmate for reading all those romantic novels and I think for reading Valley of the Dolls or something (normal for high school girls, di ba).So my poor classmate was admonished for reading this "trash." Ewan kung sa anong page niya nabuklat. Tapos, sabi niya, "you should read what your classmates are reading!" sabay turo sa akin at sa katabi ko na pinahiram ko ng The Godfather. So, nagtinginan kami at napahalakhak pag-alis ni Mother.

But come to think of it, she was on to something there. Dapat sex and violence na lang ang aming binabasa kaysa sex, drugs and rocknroll, and romance?

timdacanay wrote on Apr 12

Nabasa ko pareho ang The Sensuous Man at The Sensuous Woman. Parang iisa lang ang writing style kaya nabwisit ako, kunwari iba pa ang author. Uy, may erotic moments din dun sa Godfather, a. Kayo talaga, walang pinakawalan. May bago na akong blog entry tungkol sa Erotica Juvenalia. Hindi na mapigil, eh.

bituinescalante wrote on Apr 12

timdacanay said

Nabasa ko pareho ang The Sensuous Man at The Sensuous Woman.

Ako rin. Nakita ko sa aparador ng boyfriend ko. Binasa ko na...Nakatulong naman. Mwahahahahaha!

timdacanay wrote on Apr 12

Mwahaha! Strategically-placed yon! Sinadya ng boyfriend mo. Mwahaha!

accidentallambofgod wrote on Apr 12

timdacanay said

Ano ba o anu-ano ang mga embarassing books mo? Kahit isa lang, uy!

Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. And not even the integral canon ones (Interview, Queen of the Damned, etc.) but just Merrick onwards, kasama na pati yung mga Mayfair Witches crossovers. Those were the only ones I had the energy to read in succession.

rbyronp wrote on Apr 12

Ayn Rand also wrote a play "Night of January 16th" a courtroom drama where the audience gets to vote "guilty" or "not guilty." But reading Rand is nothing to be embarrassed about. You'll have to do better than that. Mine is Harold Robbins' "The Adventurers," a tawdry, misguided novel/soft porn with characters named Diogenes Alejandro Xenos, and Fat Cat, set in a fictitious South American country called Courteguay. Very exotic -- kahit mali lahat ang cultural references. Konting dialogue, intriga, patayan, tapos sex na kaagad. I devoured every page.

timdacanay wrote on Apr 14

Hehe, medyo sikat nga sa tate si Ayn Rand. May Harold Robbins din akong nabasa noong bata ako, "Stilletto." I also overhear inquiries from old men asking Booksale staff if they have Harold Robbins. Of course, they don't have any.

timdacanay wrote on Apr 14

Grabe, Ann Rice! Oo nga naman. I feel so old! Heheh.