today and the days that passed, i did not stop and did not allow my 'compulsion' to get the best of me. my compulsion being this weird way i had before when i would pick up a different book when the one i am currently reading has become stale or boring.
right after reading 'the lost symbol,' i looked at my shelf and took one of gabriel garcia-marquez' celebrated novellas - 'chronicle of a death foretold.' let me tell you something about how i came to love garcia-marquez.
i was in college when my friend mumai first handed me a copy of his masterpiece 'one hundred years of solitude,' (cien anos de soledad) and from then on i understood that he is one gifted storyteller. his talent is immense and even when there were moments i found myself lost in the labyrinth of his tales, he always managed to pull his readers out of it and show them an ending so satisfying, you will forget you ever got lost in the maze of his characters' names, the places they have been to and their odd and mundane experiences.
a couple of years later, when i started working and received my first pay, i made it a point to get myself a copy of his novel, along with paulo coelho's 'by the river piedra, i sat down and wept.'
and then i remember finding this great deal in powerbooks back in 2006, i suppose - when i bought 10 of garcia-marquez' books for a mere php 1, 100.00. by then i already have a copy of 'one hundred years of solitude' and 'love in the time of cholera,' so i opted to give the other copy as presents to our doyen, ernie.
so right after finishing 'chronicle of a death foretold' - which was this obscure narrative about how its protagonist, santiago nasar, was murdered and the events that lead to his slay - i picked up dan brown's 'digital fortress.'
i asked my wife which book i should read the next and she said that it would be nice to shift from one literary genre to another - and i totally agree with her. i suppose i just have a bias for the robert langdon series - which was why it took me a little longer to finish reading the 'digital fortress.' but in the same dan brown convention - you are to expect puzzles upon answers and answers that would reveal more mystery than enlightenment.
in the last two weeks, i scoured 3 different branches of 'booksale' in manila (there's one in harrison plaza, robinson's place manila and another in sm mall of asia) and have been 'lucky' to get a 2nd hand copy of 'digital fortress' and 'deception point,' which i bought for php 180.00 and php 195.00, respectively.
here's a picture of all of brown's books sitting on my study table:
i am still in that standstill phase - allowing my brain to 'rest' and take a break from reading thrillers but i am certain i will get to 'deception point' before this month ends.
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