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The blogosphere has been bitten by the book bug lately with book memes and book lists and book reviews. Now, it’s my turn to jump into the bandwagon, or rather, the bookwagon. At first, I was reluctant to join when I noticed that most of the books mentioned were those thick, philosophical, historical, angst-filled, life-changing books ridden with difficult words written by important authors, giants of literature all.

I was quite a bookworm as a kid. I have had the complete set of Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and Bobbsey Twins series. I also have had most of Enid Blyton’s books, the What Katy Did series, and all the other British books like The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, The Prince and the Pauper, etc.. All those books, I’ve read over and over again. The problem is that when I grew older, I didn’t actually graduate from these adolescent and pre-adolescent books. If anything, I regressed. I started collecting Tintin and Asterix comic books, all of which I’ve read more than five times probably (I like reading these comic books after exams when I was in law school).

At present, as I mentioned in this post, I only read books with nice cutie pink covers, smooth pages, and big fonts. Like in my preference for movies where my attention span could only take me far as the Austin Powers series, I like chick lit stuff… the Shopaholics series, the Adrian Mole series, the Bridget Jones, series, and the like. After all, I rationalize, reading is for relaxing. Why stress myself with books wherein I need to check the dictionary every other page or where I need to refer to some ancient text of Greek mythology?

So with that pseudo-apology out of the way, into the bookwagon I join. First, a peek into my disheveled bookshelf.

And on to this meme from friend and classmate Ladybug.

Books that changed my life.

• Norman Vincent Peale’s “The Power of Positive Thinking” which has helped me through those times when I needed to be optimistic most like when I was reviewing for the bar exams. I still have this on my bedside. It has also led me to my favorite Bible verses;
• Brenda Ueland’s “If You Want to Write,” truly inspirational for wanna-be writers like me;
• Natalie Goldberg’s “Writing Down the Bones,” I swear that Natalie and Brenda (I call them by their first names because I’ve read them so often I feel that we’re close friends) must be soul sisters because they both have this sacred mission to free the writer within.

Books that I read more than once. Well, all the books above as well as all of my childhood books. Also, everytime a Harry Potter book comes out, I reread everything from the first book, “The Sorcerer’s Stone.” And because we’re now on the sixth book… well, you do the math.

Books I would want on a deserted island. Why would I want a book on a deserted island?! I want Honey on a deserted island… so we could populate the bloody island! If I wanted a book on a deserted island (and if I had the time to read it after I chop the wood and build my lean-to and catch fish with my bare hands), it would be those yellow Dummies or orange Idiot’s Guides such as “Deserted Islands for Dummies” or “Idiot’s Guide to Surviving on a Deserted Island.” There should be a special chapter on how to populate the island without getting insect bites. With my girl scout skills, I doubt if I could survive a day on a deserted island, much less populate it with my offsprings.

Books that made me laugh. Comic books! I used to love to borrow as I was too kuripot to buy to read compilations of cartoon strips of Peanuts, Cathy, Garfield, Dilbert… and I would laugh until I cried.

Books that made me cry. “Remedial Law” by Florenz Regalado.. trying to comprehend it for the bar really really really made me cry.

Books that I wish had been written.

• The story of my Lolo Tura and Lola Delay
• The story of my Lolo Roman and Lola Antonina
• The story of Dad and Mom

Oh well, maybe I’ll write those books myself one day.

Books that I wish had never been written. Well, just one book.

This taught me to eat bacon, sisig, krispy pata, to my heart’s content and peril.

Books I am currently reading. This is more of re-reading… the Mma Ramotswe/No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. It’s my current favorite and Sis New Hamster said that I ought to return them to her next month.

Books I have been meaning to read. These are the books Sixter lent me which I have to finish before I return them next month:

And these are the books I bought in Bangkok last month:

Notice how the books Sixter lent me are much much more serious (if you could see through the glare)… that’s why I’ve been procrastinating about reading them. The ones from Bangkok are so much more fun!

Next, I snitched this awesome list from PinayHekmi’s BBC’S Big Reads Top 100. I’ve crossed out the books I’ve read.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien – was into Tolkien so much before. I read the entire trilogy.
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen – one of my all-time favorites.
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker�s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne – well, I watched all the cartoons.
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell – I watch Pinoy Big Brother.
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis – I saw the musical version of Trumpets… yeah, that doesn’t count!
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bront�
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bront�
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier – definitely one of my favorites!
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli�s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy – NO WAY!
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher�s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling- my favorite in the Harry Potter series.
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien – I think I like this better than LOTR trilogy.
26. Tess Of The D�Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck – huh? For a high school book report?
30. Alice�s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garc�a M�rquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens – another one for a high school book report.
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl – This, I want to read.
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen – I love Jane Austen. She’s the original chick lit author.
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas – I loved this too.
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell – another book report.
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy – and another book report.
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett – one of my childhood favorites.
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck – This was really my book report.
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy – no thousand-page books for me.
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky – too depressing.
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick S�skind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl – the movie was great!
75. Bridget Jones’ Diary, Helen Fielding – Oh, I could have written this book! I was she when I was single (minus the British accent)… with the weight problem, the fear of eternal spinsterhood, the problem with boys…
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt – Sixter lent me this. I started it then threw it away.
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel I read all 4 or 5 in the series. I love this.
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho – I’m probably the only person I know who doesn’t like Coelho.
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garc�a M�rquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot – Well, the movie is cute.
100. Midnight�s Children, Salman Rushdie

Pathetic! I got a grand total of 28 out of a hundred! Oh well, still no matter what Oprah says… I’m not going to read Tolstoi!

Technorati tags: Books
Book Meme
Chick Lit
BBC’s Big Reads Top 100
Book Meme

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