Since My Last Blog Entry, I . . . (Part I: BookRaving)

. . . have gone on a book-buying rampage:

My favorite buy from Datelines in Marikina Shoe Expo, Cubao:
- The Red Shoes: Margaret Atwood Starting Out, Rosemary Sullivan --- a hardbound, 350-page biography of my favorite writer, bought for PhP310! It doesn't surprise me anymore that she has an ancestor from 1683 (Mary Webster) who was tried as a witch and survived, by some stroke of luck, an all-night hanging. "If there's one thing I hope I've inherited from her," Atwood says, "I hope it's her neck."

Books bought for myself at Aeon Books:
- The Best American Poetry 2001, edited by Robert Hass, who says something in his introduction that rings true:
"There was a time, I remember, when I first went to poetry readings and was often offended[!] that the poets reading their own poems did not sound like they were supposed to sound, that is, did not sound as they sounded in my head. I formed the idea then that the poems were superior to the poets and that I, as their disinterested reader, was more faithful to the poems than the poets were, who had gone on to the next poem or the next stage of their lives."

- Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag --- a book springing from her Amnesty Lecture about the representations of war atrocities from the American Civil War to Sept 11, 2001. I intended to finish reading it on Christmas Eve (yes, pain on Christmas) but gave in to the family bonding activity: a gin rummy and Boggle tournament.

Books bought at National Bookstore, Cubao:
- Canadian Literature No. 60, Spring 1974 --- a journal of criticism containing THREE thorough reviews of Atwood's first poetry collections, bought for (drumroll, please) TWENTY PESOS.
- Dig Safe, Stuart Dischell --- poetry about my favorite subjects: "transit and the foibles of the heart." If only the poems had more zing.
- Written on the Body, Jeanette Winterson
- Hand in Hand: An Anthology of Love Poems, edited by Carol Ann Duffy

Books bought as Christmas gifts for family and some friends:
- The Book of Embraces, Eduardo Galeano
- The Box Man, Kobo Abe
- The 9/11 Commission Report
- Meditations in an Emergency, Frank O'Hara
- Holidays in Hell, P.J. O'Rourke
- The Cities Book
- The Best American Poetry 1994, edited by A.R. Ammons
- Wordstruck: A Memoir, Robert MacNeil
- Sounds Good: 101 Poems to be Heard
- Universal Crosswords: Editors' Top 100
- The Great Crossword Trivia Book
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. . . have read (or have been reading) books others have lent me:

- The Lover, Marguerite Duras (Ron's)
- Words Under the Words, Naomi Shihab Nye (Larry's)
- The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter (Ning's)
- Difficult Loves, Italo Calvino (Elmo's)
- Selected Poems, Robert Creeley (Larry's)
- Fires, Marguerite Yourcenar (Ayer's)
- The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry, edited by J.D. McClatchy (Michael's)
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. . . have received books I'm excited to re/read (except for the first):

- Simplify Your Life: Get Organized and Stay That Way!, Marcia Ramsland --- another not-so-subtle message from my mother, who gave cardboard Papemelroti boxes along with it, haha

- City of Glass, Paul Auster, adapted into graphic novel format by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli --- from Elmo. An intriguing detective story, with long discussions about language and fragmented worlds, with Auster himself as a character in it. Galing!

- Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard --- from Allan. This could be the perfect book to start the New Year with: "Anything can happen; any pattern of speckles may appear in a world ceaselessy bawling with newness."

- Caracoa 17 January 1998: Woman of Letters --- from Larry. A poetry journal with historical value, back when Joi Barrios was still Joy.

- The Lie, Moravia --- from Mark, who called me incendiary.

- Ilahas, Mesandel Virtusio Arguelles --- umaagos ang "dugong kriminal" ni Ayer sa mga ibang tulang nabasa ko na. One I really like involves noisy apartment neighbors and a nonchalant, icepick-wielding persona.

- Kundi Akala, Allan Popa --- this deserves many readings, but I already like the set of poems about different artists' treatment of light (especially Vermeer's), the explicit ars poeticas, and "Walang Mawala," which begins: "May ilan sa ating labis kung magmahal / Sa mundo kaya't napakadaling masaktan" and ends: "Mahirap maniwala sa kanilang kabutihan / Ngunit alam kong kailangan."

- Another Beauty, Adam Zagajewski --- from Vince. The memoir's title is from one of the Polish poet's own poems, which goes:

We find comfort only in
another beauty, in others'
music, in the poetry of others.
Salvation lies with others,
though solitude may taste like
opium. Other people aren't hell
if you glimpse them at dawn, when
their brows are clean, rinsed by dreams.
This is why I pause: which word
to use, you or he. Each he
betrays some you, but
calm conversation bides its time
in others' poems.

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