The Pillars of the Earth

OK - I have to put on my Geek hat and share something with you! It's about a book. That I just finished. That I want you to read, if you should care. If you have the time.

"The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett.


Oh. My. God.

I’m sure if you know me you'd know by now I love to read (since I was in the 4th grade) and I read fast, which means I can read a couple of books/novels in a month's time (I give credit to NY's public transportation, and now NJ's PATH trains to supply me with the reading time on my commutes to and from work), and I've never raved about a book like this before.

Anyway!! Back to the point!!

This book. Oh. My. God. =P

If it wasn't for the 973 pages it has, I would've re-read it again as soon as I finished the last word of the last line on page 973. What more, I never thought I would like a book based on the 12th century. But the storyline, characters, and lessons of the book were addictive. New York Daily News review got it right on point: "A towering tale...There's murder, arson, treachery, torture, love, and lust...A good time can be had by all."

I felt everyone of those emotions throughout the book. I even read some passages to Joaquin b/c it was just crazy or made me think 'nice thoughts' ;) At the end, he found himself asking "so what happened?" since I gave him bits and pieces of what I found moving, frustrating, appalling, addictive.

Its an easy-to-read book and the storyline is amazingly impressive and gripping. The characters stir all the human emotions inside of you -- emotions you never knew would come out from mere words on paper.

There's no quotes I can pull out from the pages for you. No sentences where the author tries to show/teach his readers something. Instead, he portrays the best human lessons and emotions through the characters' dialogue and how he depicts what the character is thinking/feeling.

This is one book I will be keeping on my shelf, and I hate keeping books b/c I barely re-read them and they take up space, and become one more thing to dust. I think when I get the chance, and run out of books to read that are within my reach, I will re-read "The Pillars of the Earth" again. I've even written a review on Amazon similar to this blog.

If the sequel ("World Without End") wasn't 1024 pages (geez!) then I'd go running to buy it right now. However, I need to give my arm and my bag a break from carrying such gigantic books =P

Now go and read it! Learn something about good, evil, love, betrayal, lust, loyalty, human and state transformation, and learn something about yourself -- that you might actually like the book ;)

Current book I'm reading now: A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini (author of Kite Runner -- another good read!). Yep, once the book worm in me has been unleashed, I don't know what could stop me (I have 3 more books coming in the mail as we speak). It's an escape to another world in someone else's eyes when my world is busy enough.

First Times

There's a first time for everything:
-First time I ordered Kare Kare [stewed ox tail w/ veggies in a peanut butter sauce] all on my own to eat by myself (while Joaquin had the chicken BBQ). Truly felt like a Filipino ;)

-First time I put a really good book down just to thank God I have the ability to see/read words and understand them in order to appreciate a good novel. Don't take anything for granted, ppl!

-First time tasting See's blueberry chocolate truffle. Love it! I rather have a whole box of those than assorted.

-First time all I wanna do is sleep and not eat

-First time I let the feeling of defeat and exhaustion take over

-First time I threw up on a plane (in the sick bag)

-First time I took a 5 hour nap and was still sleepy

-First time I cried in the bathroom at work (1/10)

-First time feeling the causes of the declining markets. Due to the recession-heading markets, there's a slight change of this year's materialistic plans for me: no Paris trip, no laptop

for one more day

The book worm in me just wanted to share some lines I read in the book I just finished reading ("for one more day" by Mitch Albom). It's been less than 2 weeks, 3 books down, more to go...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"And I realized when you look at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know."

"You have one family... For good or bad. You have one family. You can't trade them in. You can't lie to them. You can't run two at once, substituting back and forth. Stick with your family is what makes it a family."

"[Life.] It is such a precious thing. I had no one to talk me out of my despair, and that was a mistake. You need to keep people close. You need to give them access to your heart."

Overdue Philippines pics

Finally!

Each album is of a different city/location. I couldn't fit ALL pics in (we had a lot!), so I only chose a few.

Click Here for Pics