Background

Who would have thought this set of folders would be great for a photo background? Adjust the shadows and add vibrance to the colours, there you have it. That's my colleague with the Congress t-shirt, aware that I was taking photos. This was taken at the medical records section of the community hospital close to our office where the very first successful kidney transplant in our region was done.

What do you think of the photo? Comments are welcome. Thanks!

The Next Queen of Heaven

The Book

Another bargain find from my online book supplier, I had this reserved immediately.

I remember seeing a copy on display at Powerbooks, at their branch in Mall of Asia. I didn't have some extra cash for the purchase, and left it there, walking away with a little regret. Reviews and pictures of the book cover kept appearing in some websites I frequent, and so, it could not completely be erased from my mind. It's another creation by Gregory Maguire, one of the authors I follow regularly-and here he has introduced a varied style in his writing.

The book just arrived by mail, along with other copies I purchased. And the moment it arrived, I had to discipline myself to finish whatever it was I was working on before I lifted a single page to read.

There it is, right on top of my messy pile of journals, papers, notebooks and lists.

The Style

Based on Maguire's past works I have read (Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister) I still have my eyes on Matchless, and have not yet read Mirror, Mirror, his style with The Next Queen of Heaven has shifted from the traditional storytelling to the hilarious, contemporary tone. The dialogue is fitting, with ample referencing, and the book is sprinkled with generous doses of stubborn teenagers, (subtly) conflicting religious congregations and eccentric characterization.

However, as a past reader and active follower of  Maguire, I have to say that this novel is quite a departure from his melancholic, dramatic tone from his previous bestsellers. He is an expert in the field of converting the antagonist to the protagonist, as in the case of Wicked (now a Broadway musical hit), where the hardships and tumultuous childhood of Elphaba has stayed with the readers even after years of its publication. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister also did its work as it stole the hearts and imaginations of its readers by way also of its attention-grabbing title.

In the author's note, Maguire apologizes for the setting and vernacular (its being quite a surprise to readers who already know his writing style) by saying "Forgive me for my trespasses", so I will take it as a fair warning.

Is this still a worthy read for the Holidays then? I would have to say yes. But I still long to go back to the magical world of Wicked and the rest.

Dedication from the book

"For those who keep singing and for those who keep silent"

The Setting

It is Year 1999 and Thebes, New York is gearing up for the New Millennium, strange things happen. Single mother and dutiful churchgoer Leontina Scales has been hit hard on the head by a statue of Our Lady (of I forgot) and the rest of the characters catch up with life the best as they could. Hidden conflicts and perspectives of different religious congregations are revealed, as you read between the lines and more silliness brings the book to light.

Here, a singing group fighter against AIDS, Tabitha has a crumbly relationship with her mother, high school girls talk about the school slut who happens to have been stalking them, a list of eccentrics can be found in the town called Thebes, and women have the right to call their ex-husbands "was-bands".

Mothers still know how to embarrass their daughters in a music store. (Thumbs up to Mommy Leontina!) 

The Author

This is Gregory Maguire, whom I have met through Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. 

Gregory Maguire is an American author, whose novels are revisionist retellings of children's stories (such as L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into Wicked). He received his Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Tufts University, and his B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany. He was a professor and co-director at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature from 1979-1985. In 1987 he co-founded Children's Literature New England (a non-profit educational charity).

Maguire has served as artist-in-residence at the Blue Mountain Center, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Hambidge Center. He lives in Concord, Massachusetts.

His "wicked" signature

Other Books by Gregory Maguire

The Wicked Years

• Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
• Son of a Witch
• A Lion Among Men
• Out of Oz

Other books

• Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
• Mirror, Mirror
• Lost
• What the Dickens: A Rogue Tooth Fairy
• Matchless: A Christmas Story

The Garden of Eden

The Book

How did I come about this book? Jason showed it to me when I was hanging out at the hammock in the hideout. It was a lazy Sunday. And there was this old book. It was donated by the National Book Development Board from the United States- and they have the pleasure of donating an old copy of a Hemingway, while us mortals exhaust all means to get our hands on one for whatever personal purposes there are. All of the Hemingways I have read are borrowed from the university library.

Ernest Hemingway's The Garden of Eden is a good one. And his genius shines through.

The dust jacket has many holes, but it is hardbound in cloth and the binding is excellent. It was published in 1981, a few years before I was born- so this copy is older than I am. And yet, it is still alive. This is the beauty of hardbound books. The pages can be felt-touched. They are still crisp but yellowed. Aged. But the book is always worth reading.

The borrowed book, quite a treasure regardless of its age and condition

The Style

How do I begin to describe Ernest Hemingway's style?

He is sensual. He knows how to describe in such a simple manner what goes on between two people, in their private moments together. He writes about the weight, the scales of a fresh fish, the taste of the wine, the sea. The life that is unwired.

The dialogue is short and simple. It's in the narration Hemingway gets back at. He does not believe in commas. And I would like to think that whatever rare commas are inserted in the dialogue is for the sake of clarification- and augmentation. The book was published years after his death, one of the unfinished manuscripts, and some parts were edited to make it in time for the release. Apart from all that, Hemingway is intriguing.

I shall pressure myself to understand more about his style.

The Setting

I've never been good with memorizing names which may sound French or Spanish. But I do get the feel of the location as how he describes it and its people. It is quaint provincial life. Simple living, and the simple pleasures of food and wine, lazy seaside life-lying awake at night and falling asleep when the day is about to start, this is the kind of routine Hemingway describes for a couple on their honeymoon. 


The Author

Ernest Hemingway, one of the beloved authors of English literature of all time 

How do you describe one of the literary geniuses of our time whose works are all literary treasures? He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. Type in the name in any research engine, the answer will be there.

Other titles by Ernest Hemingway

• The Old Man and the Sea
• For Whom the Bells Toll
• A Moveable Feast
• The Sun Also Rises
• A Farewell to Arms
• In Our Time
• Islands in the Stream 

The Movie

There, I have this absurd personal policy not to watch a movie based on a novel until I have finished reading the book, so I would evaluate how true the movie is to its basis. And so, I just finished Stieg Larsson's first bestseller, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. with trailers abound, I can't help but to watch a couple, or three, and immediately fell in love with the soundtrack. (Personal note: look for the soundtrack)

Lisbeth Salander is my new heroine!


I will be writing about the treatment of the movie later, in the meantime, here is a teaser from Youtube to look forward to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVLvMg62RPA

Also, here are some quotes lifted from the book:

"You have been in my computer Froken Salander," he said aloud, "You're a fucking hacker."

"He's pulling the load of an ox and walking on eggshells."

"There's always someone willing to believe malicious rumors."

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

The Book

It started as one of those writing jobs I do for my freelance work on the side. I complete book guides for a company where I choose titles from a list and submit the outputs every month.

And the title caught my attention. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. At first I thought this was an Asian writer, and I have high regards for Amy Tan and Haruki Murakami. But here I was, about to discover Stieg Larsson. Years ago, I had plans of obtaining a dragon tattoo and some circumstances probably prevented me from doing so. I was born in the year of the golden dragon, according to Chinese astrology. Family and friends around me thought that this was a good sign since the dragon brings good luck.

And reading this particular book tickled my imagination. So I bought a hardbound copy, signed my name on the page and finally have the luxury or reading my very own copy of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.

And I took it to reading as soon as it arrived. Could not wait any second longer, I literally waited for the delivery man from the courier outside our house that Friday afternoon for my weekend reading.

The book was translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland.

My very own hardbound copy at bargain price of Php 250 (approximately $5)

The Style 

Details and character sketches are paid enough detail in this novel. Desert Snow is carefully and reasonably explained. "Carl" Blomkvist is given an honest description, enough to show that he is human with the unusual pet peeves, coupled with an on and off relationship with Erika Berger and considers himself her "occasional lover".  So does Armansky whose observations about Lisbeth Salander provide an honest character sketch. Stieg Larsson has this gift of being "in the character", immersing in how each one thinks and acts.

Just when you think the description and enumeration of events show the plot, dialogues between characters provide the story underneath. Larsson captures nuances between professionals in the journalism, financial and security field.- Larsson has done his homework.

When the reader assumes he understands the full story, the underlying events are uncovered-and the plot takes on a new development, and becomes more interesting. This is espionage, romance and power in a very different angle and on a whole new level.

-first spotted on an online bookstore, dreamt about, lusted after, and now is absolutely mine.-

The Setting

Contemporary Sweden has defeated capitalism in its industries and have successfully promoted democratic practices in its ranks- or that's what its leaders think.

The book's setting is as relevant today, as when it was first released and published in 2004. Women are still in a position fighting for equality, even for their rights in most aspects of society. If there were a Vanger Family in Sweden today, they would be an interesting lot to observe. 

The Author

The man behind Lisbeth Salander, Stieg Larsson 

Stieg Larsson lived in Sweden and was the editor in chief of the magazine Expo and a leading expert on antidemocratic right-wing extremist and Nazi organizations. He died in 2004, shortly after delivering the manuscript for this and two subsequent novels. He passed away at the age of 50. 

Other Books by Stieg Larsson

The Millennium Trilogy include: 

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
2. The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
3. The Girl who Played with Fire