Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Feb 9, 2012, 11:47 pm
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald I do not exactly recall why I picked this book. Perhaps I was looking for another great read. After finishing Knut Hamsun’s Hunger, I just felt that I had to read another novel that only spans around 200 pages, yet with a whack in the head like a literary b...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Feb 8, 2012, 10:12 pm
The Spark Project's First Feature This is coming from the Department of Shameless Self-Promotion. Kindly visit the first installment of The Spark Project, a blog project of my bookish buddy, Atty. Monique. She is a wonderful blogger, so if you enjoy reading my posts, I think you’ll also enjoy he...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Feb 7, 2012, 10:02 pm
It takes a while for Artemio to die I am not sure if I am enjoying this book. Reading about an old man on his deathbed could mean a lot of flashbacks and nostalgia, and that is fine with me. This dying man, Artemio Cruz, is very articulate, so the narrative is brilliant. And Carlos Fuentes is a rev...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Feb 5, 2012, 9:44 pm
A Pile of Modern Fiction and Classics Nine books? Seriously? Of course I can’t help it. Besides, I noticed that most Book Sale outlets have new stocks. New as in fresh from somewhere, not new as in transferred from somewhere. So yes, I took whatever time I could find to go Book Sale touring, and ...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Feb 4, 2012, 9:29 pm
2666 Diaries, V For the sake of formally finishing the first chunkster diary of the year, let me repost some stuff and look back to this magnificent novel. Also included are some conversations with my reading buddy, The Misanthropologist. These notes are selected based on my ability to translate. S...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Feb 2, 2012, 11:54 pm
Hunger by Knut Hamsun I really can’t help raving about this. I always thank my lucky stars for that day when I bought this at a secondhand book store without intending to. It must be the universe conspiring with the forces; the book spine stared straight into my eyes. I couldn’t resist; I felt ...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Feb 1, 2012, 9:00 pm
Bookish Friends are Good, Good Friends First is, of course, the company. Second, the bookish talks. Third, food. And fourth, free books! Look here, these are not so common books. Snowdrops by A. D. Miller – Okay, this is recently published, and it’s shortlisted for last year’s Booker. What ...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 31, 2012, 8:47 pm
Books to Read for February 2012 I know, I know, I’m a little behind on my reading. One book behind, and still slugging through Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping. It’s been a busy month, what with me… oversleeping during the weekends. Hahaha. Now you see how many hours are wasted with sleep?...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 30, 2012, 9:44 pm
Halfway through Housekeeping It’s been a while since I last read a book with both caution and urgency. It’s weird, I know, but having experienced the beautiful prose of Robinson before makes me want to jump ahead the paragraphs to know what will happen next and, at the same time, to control mys...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 29, 2012, 8:27 pm
First Page of Act II Really, I do not know what to make out of this. A tragicomedy in two acts, the book cover says. A paradox, if you ask me, because comedies are not supposed to be tragic. Right? I see the comedy part. Two men, made apparently absurd by their dialogues, are waiting for a man nam...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 27, 2012, 9:22 pm
The Part about the Crimes 2666 Diaries, IV Yes, this time, I took my time to translate my buddy’s thoughts from Filipino or Taglish to English. Quite an effort since I do not wish to sound like I’m translating the inputs literally. Like “Wala lang,” a phrase that literally means “Nothing...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 26, 2012, 9:48 pm
War And Peace by Leo Tolstoy How can I possibly write something about this ginormous book that stands proud against the motley crew of my random books of mass markets, hardbounds, and trade paperbacks, and shying these on the sheer basis of breadth? A novel that spans four volumes, each volume divi...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 25, 2012, 8:49 pm
2666 Diaries, III I don’t know what happened to our other buddies, but I’m glad that The Misanthropologist, yes, our still unnamed, elusive, not-so-anonymous friend, is still on. Who, by the way, does not sound as misanthropological as the name denotes. Okay, I’ll stop pretending. Actually, ...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 24, 2012, 8:30 pm
Before I set out to read Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, which I postponed for almost half the year, I prepared one of my favorite desserts, strawberries and cream. This is not strictly a dessert because I haven’t eaten anything decent when I ate this. And I am not too sure if this is what one...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 23, 2012, 8:54 pm
Fear and Trembling and Snatching and Hoarding I’m book hoarding. Again. I can’t help it. It’s pathological. Oh well, at least the books aren’t too expensive. That’s a relief, I guess? And I didn’t buy a whole stack of books. Just three. So that cannot really be called book hoarding. Rig...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 20, 2012, 9:56 pm
The awards season is on, and it is only at this time of the year that I really watch movies. Totally irrelevant, I know, since this is a book blog. And oh, the Oscar, I mean the winner of the Happy Bloggy Birthday Book and Gift Cheque Giveaway is… Wait, let’s check out the entries first. Here t...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 19, 2012, 9:23 pm
Possession by A. S. Byatt Unless you have a doctorate in literature or you are a Victorian poet. Maybe some creative writing majors can fully understand the novel, every page of it, and this kind of understanding is not without whole bulks of effort, and this is most truthful for the regular reader...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 17, 2012, 9:33 pm
To what? To submit your entries for the Happy Bloggy Birthday Book and Gift Cheque Giveaway! Lest you misunderstand, there are participants, yes, so this is not purely a marketing thing. But for the lack of anything to blog about today and for my itch to blog about something today, I’ll just post ...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 16, 2012, 8:23 pm
Friday the 13th Books Not all of them. But yes, three of them were purchased last January 13. Friday. Friday the 13th. Does that ring a bell? It does! Come and join me, let’s greet my mom a belated happy birthday! That’s not a joke. She, my mom, celebrated her 4_th birthday last Friday the 1...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 16, 2012, 3:10 am
The Part about Amalfitano 2666 Diaries, II Whoops! This is a bit delayed for a part that’s not even over a hundred pages. You have to understand though that I have a life and I have a job and I can’t fight my urge to oversleep and my computer’s monitor is acting up. Enough of that. There ar...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 12, 2012, 8:30 pm
One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez You can, if you want to. Most editions have a family tree, or even all editions, maybe. But it doesn’t matter, or rather there’s no need to do that because the reader knows which Jose Arcadio or Aureliano is talking. Yes, this is the sto...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 9, 2012, 9:33 pm
The Part about the Critics 2666 Diaries, I Yes. It’s literally a diary. Wait. I’d rather call it a reading journal. It’s one of the things I resolved to maintain this year. If I can’t quit smoking or oversleeping, maybe I can do this. And never mind the handwriting. It sucks, and I have th...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 8, 2012, 9:29 pm
The First Batch of Loots I was becoming pretty desperate for the past few days because I haven’t been able to buy any book. I am not one of those people who are resolving to cut down their expenses by controlling their urges to go book hoarding. Kudos to them! I know it takes a lot to do that, an...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 6, 2012, 8:36 pm
Or Happy Bloggiversary. Or is it Bloggaversary? Either way, it sounds bad, so I’ll stick with Happy Birthday. But really, today is not BR’s birthday. If you really want to know, this blog died and was just resurrected last year, January 7, 2011, with a comeback post regarding Harper Lee’s To ...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 5, 2012, 8:11 pm
Mythology by Edith Hamilton Of course, Edith Hamilton did not write the Greek, Roman, and Norse mythologies. It’s appropriate to say that this book is her retelling of these mythologies, a sort of idiot’s guide. A glossary, even, of mythological characters. If it weren’t for her, would we be ...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Jan 2, 2012, 8:38 pm
The Nobel Prize in Literature is the highest award that a writer may aspire in his lifetime. Unlike the Pulitzers, the Bookers, and others, this is awarded annually to any writer from any country. It is not solely based on a single work. Yes, individual works may be cited, but still, the body of wor...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Nov 2, 2011, 10:55 pm
The Spectator Bird - Wallace Stegner Who bought it: Me. What is it: It looks like a trip down memory lane of a literary agent who has been more or a less a spectator of the game of life. When: October 26, 2011 Where: Pick-a-Book – SM Sucat Why: It’s a National Book Award winner. How much: ...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 28, 2011, 9:45 am
Blindness - José Saramago Intro Blindness is one of the book selections for this month in our book group, and I am, unfortunately for most, the moderator. I was trusted with the task because almost everyone knows how big a Saramago fan I am. I would say for the umpteenth time that Saramago is lik...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 25, 2011, 7:58 pm
... a dilemma. I also like Rhett. The men have similar ideas regarding ... so that she could help the Confederates in their battle against ... both. And everyone is dying. The Tarleton twins, although not so ... condition, and Aunt Pittypat leaves the two girls for Macon. It ... of transla...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 24, 2011, 9:58 pm
The Interrogation - J. M. G. Le Clézio Who bought it: Me. What is it: It is about the philosophical meanderings of a solitary man. If you ask me, it sounds like Albert Camus’s The Stranger. When: October 22, 2011 Where: Book Sale – Walter Mart Munoz Why: It’s supposedly the best work of ...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 23, 2011, 10:21 pm
Ulysses - James Joyce Who bought it: My dearest Huhi! Lest you get it wrong, Huhi is an exclusive term of endearment that I share with one of my closest college friends, Joan Pili David! What is it: It’s about an ordinary day in the city of Dublin. What is so critical about it? I read somewhere ...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 22, 2011, 10:19 pm
Ship Fever: Stories - Andrea Barrett Who bought it: Me. What is it: A collection of short stories about the science of love and the love of science. Ship Fever is the carrier single, I mean story. The cover looks nice. Yes, I have started on this habit of quasi-judging books by their covers. When...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 21, 2011, 9:52 pm
Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell Day 01: Chapters 01, 02 Scarlett O’Hara spends an afternoon with the Tarleton twins, who are both interested in our protagonist. Scarlett is quite enjoying the attention that the twins are giving her, but she is bored by their war talk. As she steers the co...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 21, 2011, 2:05 am
The Crying Of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon Intro I bought this book the same day that I bought my violin. January 30, 2009. My superstitious self tells me that I shouldn’t have bought this book with Karl Johan, my violin; I should have seen it as a portent. A portent of what? That I would not be abl...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 19, 2011, 10:19 pm
Spartina - John Casey Who bought it: Me. What is it: It’s a novel about a ship. Yes, Spartina is a ship, although I didn’t instantly get that when I pulled it out from a pile of books and checked the cover. I knew it had something to the with ships, the sea, or even a shipwreck. I am not sure ...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 18, 2011, 10:15 pm
... Who bought it: Me: What is it: It’s about the self-making of a man from a nobody to somebody. It ... SM City Lucena Why: I already have read this book, but the edition that I found shows a an artwork of a lighthouse. I want the edition so much because I am sure it will bring wonderful .....
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 17, 2011, 10:15 pm
Chimera - John Barth Who bought it: Me: What is it: It’s a retelling of tales from mythological characters, some who are Perseus and Bellerophon. And maybe the Chimera? When: October 16, 2011 Where: Book Sale – SM City Lucena Why: It’s a winner of the National Book Award. How much: Php 1...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 16, 2011, 8:56 pm
Tree Of Smoke - Denis Johnson Who bought it: Me. What is it: There’s something about the Vietnam war in the blurb. Oh well, I am not a huge fan of war novels, but I’ll give this a try. Its length is just a quarter of Tolstoy’s War and Peace. When: October 8, 2011 Where: Book Sale – Shop ...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 15, 2011, 8:51 pm
As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner Who bought it: Me. What is it: A family crosses the state of Mississippi to bury the mother. I’ve scanned the book and saw that the chapters are presented in the point of view of the family members. I don’t know whether Faulkner originated this or not, but it ...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 14, 2011, 8:50 pm
Middle Passage - Charles Johnson Who bought it: Me. What is it: A newly freed slave who finds himself in an illegal slave ship. Is this ironic or is this a bummer? When: October 8, 2011 Where: Book Sale – Farmers Plaza Why: A National Book Award winner. How much: Php 75.00 Filed under: Book...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 13, 2011, 8:05 pm
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers Intro I gravitate toward some book titles. Such titles are often the ones that could pass off as complete sentences. Type the title of this book on your word processor and I doubt that it would alert a grammatical error. Book titles that elicit some...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 12, 2011, 8:48 pm
Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry Who bought it: Me. What is it: Judging from the font face and the cover, it’s about cowboys and outlaws and the Western frontier. When: October 6, 2011 Where: Fully Booked – Bonifacio High St. Why: I already have a copy of this but it’s a mass market. I coul...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 11, 2011, 9:39 pm
Three Junes - Julia Glass Who bought it: Me. What is it: Hmm, I am not quite sure what to make of the blurb. Is this a family saga? The love story of a repressed gay man? Hmm. What’s clear to me is that the novel must span three years. So yes, the title is referring to the sixth month of the yea...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 10, 2011, 8:25 pm
A Farewell To Arms - Ernest Hemingway Date Started: October 10, 2011. 12:30 AM. I picked this book in the hopes of finishing it before I start reading Gone with the Wind next week with one of my bookish friends. Well, that’s considering I will be out-of-town on the coming weekend. So do I think ...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 9, 2011, 9:37 pm
Charming Billy - Alice McDermott Who bought it: Me. What is it: It is Billy’s funeral. His family and friends gather to weave his past, his story, his life. When: October 4, 2011 Where: Book Sale – Makati Square Why: I’m sure you’ve heard of not judging a book by its cover. How about no...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 8, 2011, 9:35 pm
Breathing Lessons - Anne Tyler Who bought it: Me. What is it: It’s about husband and wife going to a funeral, meeting people, rediscovering the past, but no, not swimming. I don’t know. The title always reminds me of swimming lessons. When: October 4, 2011 Where: Book Sale – Makati Square ...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Waned World III - Oct 8, 2011, 5:23 am
Dear Angus, I thought you were over your angsty phase, but I see that it’s resurfacing sporadically. I have to say though that this time, it chose a very wrong time to attack. So some of your office mates saw … Continue reading →
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 7, 2011, 8:14 pm
The Death Of Artemio Cruz - Carlos Fuentes Who bought it: Me. What is it: An old man on his death-bed, summoning memories from his distant and not so distant past. The title says it all, but I think I should expect more from this since the author is a Nobel laureate. When: September 24, 2011 Whe...
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Waned World III - Oct 7, 2011, 4:52 am
Dear Kuya Doni, I am super excited for our upcoming Alabat Island trip. It’s my first time to get out of Luzon mainland. And this experience is courtesy of you. All expenses paid. I have been bragging about it to … Continue reading →
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Angus Miranda posted an article on Book Rhapsody - Oct 6, 2011, 10:19 pm
Death At Intervals - José Saramago Intro I still recall that day when the newfangled, recently opened, and biggest book store in my hometown started shelving Jose Saramago’s books. There was Seeing, The Double, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, and this book, Death at Intervals. Or Death wi...
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