10 Books

Books by J

THE FACEBOOK tag goes, “List 10 books that have stayed with you in some way. Don’t take more than a few minutes and don’t think too hard. They don’t have to be ‘right’ or ‘great’ works; just ones that have touched you.”

I’ve done this before, here, and now here’s 10 more:

  1. The Rolling Stone Interviews
  2. How to Read Literature – Terry Eagleton
  3. Engineering Mechanics: Statics & Dynamics – R.C. Hibbeler
  4. film: A Critical Introduction – Maria T. Pramaggiore and Tom Wallis
  5. Social Media: A Critical Introduction – Christian Fuchs
  6. Mythologies – Roland Barthes
  7. Six Young Filipino Martyrs – Asuncion David Miranda (ed.)
  8. A People’s History of the United States – Howard Zinn
  9. A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
  10. Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage – Jose F. Lacaba

I never imagined that I would end up reading (and enjoying) non-fiction without formal guidance from a prof or an editor. Reference materials, especially those that are heavy on -isms, intimidate me. I used to chastise myself for being too dumb to understand them but I’m kinder to myself now. I mean, there’s really no shame in trying, is there?

Anyway, I do want to know what other people’s “10 Books” are. This book tag was passed around my Facebook feed about five years ago and I genuinely enjoyed learning new shit about my friends (i.e. nagbabasa pala ng ano si Ano?). It’s the usisera in me, I guess. Reading other people’s “10 Books” felt like listening in to their self-curated playlists or reading their personal journals, and boy do I love reading other people’s journals.

So I’m tagging ten people — bloggers, of course — who would hopefully share their “10 Books” with us:

Alona | Bessy | Carl | DJ | Krishel | Neri | Potechibaby | rAdishhorse | Trisha | Yerxen

You don’t have to explain your choices. You can even just write them in the comments or, I dunno, make a PowerPoint presentation if you’re so bida-bida (charot). And your list can have titles from any genre, be it poetry, or comics, or even horoscope predictions from a page of Bulgar wrapped around a kilo of tinapa (it’s not a book, I know, but it sure sounds interesting).

I also initially wanted to tag all the bookish bloggers that I follow but I purposely left some people out so the others could tag them. And you don’t even have to wait for a tag — if you want to share your 10 Books, just go for it baks!

And it’s all good if you don’t feel like doing this paandar. I just wanted to give some people a nudge and possibly introduce them to other kids looking for new blogs to read. 2017 was the year when I started talking to some of the most interesting repapips here on WordPress, and here’s to hoping I discover more this year.

Happy 2018, y’all! #

41 Comments

  1. Kat
    Reply

    I love that your list are all non-fiction. I’m currently reading Killing Pablo. It’s very interesting and I really want to finish it but life is getting in the way. I’m planning to start buying books on Google Play Books instead so I could read on the go or when stuck in traffic. Are all these books physical copies or e-books?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Jolens
      Reply

      I have physical copies and I also have e-books for some of them. I usually read from my phone during idle moments (e.g. stuck in traffic, doctor’s appointment) but I only use a regular PDF reader, hehe.

      If I get the time I’ll give Killing Pablo a try — mukha ngang interesting!

      Like

  3. Alona
    Reply

    According to Goodreads, I read 724 books since I can’t remember when (marereveal age ko, charaught). That does not include the complete list of the books I read back in 2011-2013. So maybe make that, 900 max.

    Huhuhu. Bebs, hindi kaya ng on “top of my head” ‘to. HAHAHAHAHA. Alam mo na, old age and CS. Pero dahil ikaw ‘to, sige upuan ko yan one of these days.

    I only read 13 books last year and I have a couple of post to write on books–kapag sinipag si acoh. Sana sipagin na si ako. HAHAHAHA

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Alona
        Reply

        850-900 siguro yan talaga kung naupdate ko ung Read List ko ng 2011-2013 ata. Namaalam na kasi yung Kindle ko, eh andun lahat yun. Nakakatamad na ding iupdate kasi antagal tagal na.

        Ilang years naman, mga isang dekada din.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Jolens
      Reply

      Para namang hindi namin alam ang edad mo! Haha.

      Kaya mo ‘to! Sabi “don’t think too hard” daw e, haha. Part ng exercise ‘yung spontaneity so kung ano lang talaga ang maisip mo, haha. Think of it as a snapshot of that moment: in that particular instance, which books come to mind? Choz, talagang pinush ko ‘no?

      Sana dalawin ka ng sipag baks! Kaya mo ‘yan! 😁

      Like

  6. nerithenomad
    Reply

    I love lists! 😀 Thanks for the tag! Btw I took a peek at your earlier top 10 and we have a few in common. Pak!

    My ten (in no order):

    1. The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
    2. Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel / The House of the Spirits – Isabel Allende / One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Andami kong magic realism favorites! Tie lahat. Char)
    3. The Witches – Roald Dahl / Boy – Roald Dahl
    4. Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami
    5. Written on the Body – Jeanette Winterson
    6. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark – Alvin Schwartz, illustrated by Stephen Gammell (Read this in grade school, never forgot the imagery)
    7. Ex Libris – Anne Fadiman / Slouching Towards Bethlehem – Joan Didion
    8. Thinking, Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman
    9. Griffin and Sabine trilogy – Nick Bantock
    10. Great Short Tales of Mystery and Terror – Selected by Reader’s Digest (Tinry ko ‘to nakawin from my HS library, pero I chickened out and binalik ko after almost a year. Dahil ka-vibes ko yung librarian waived ang overdue fees haha. I bought a used copy for my own a decade later :D)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Jolens
      Reply

      Waaat, we have a LOT in common! Who are you? Chareng.

      I love all three books in number 2! As in! They were big favorites in high school and they’re the reason why I got into Latin Am lit! At beh, muntik ko na ring nakawin ang Griffin and Sabine ng teacher ko noon! Ang mahal-mahal kasi e, ‘di ko talaga afford huhu.

      I will check out the other titles that I haven’t read yet. Feeling ko magugustuhan ko! Weeee ang saya-saya! 🙂 ❤

      Liked by 1 person

  7. DJ
    Reply

    Hola! Benta sakin na isinama mo si Hibbeler, at na siya lang ang nabasa ko sa list mo dito haha. Salamat sa tag, at ito ‘yung sakin:

    Twelve Seconds to Live (Douglas Reeman)
    Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling)
    The Silmarillion (J.R.R. Tolkien)
    The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization (Thomas Friedman)
    Salamanca (Dean Alfar)
    Muling-Pagkatha sa Ating Bansa (Virgilio Almario)
    The Corrections (Jonathan Franzen)
    14 (Manix Abrera)
    After Dark (Haruki Murakami)
    Clear and Simple As the Truth (Francis-Noël Thomas & Mark Turner)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Jolens
      Reply

      Nagsasagot kasi ako ng probset n’ung sinulat ko ‘to e, haha. Shameless question: magaling ka sa dynamics? Pwede paturo? Chareng!

      Narinig ko na ‘yung The Lexus and the Olive Tree. Hanap akong kopya tas basahin ko. Teka, hindi ko pa pala natatapos ‘yung book ni Padre Ong! Humahaba listahan beh!

      At hmm, interesting: bakit Azkaban ang favorite mo? Gusto ko rin ‘yun, though siguro mag-tie sila ng Deathly Hallows para sa akin.

      At wait, nabasa mo na ang The Silmarillion? Have you read all three LoTR? Pati The Hobbit? Tolkien geek ka ba? Waaat? (Wala lang, na-excite lang. Hahahaha!)

      Liked by 1 person

      1. rAdishhorse
        Reply

        cha-chime in lang ako..

        The Silmarillion lang ang nasubukan kong basahin sa LOTR books. Sabi kasi nung kaibigan kong mahilig magbasa yun daw ang the best sa lahat. Kaya yun ang pinahiram nya sa ‘kin. As usual, hindi ko nakayang tapusin. Base sa ilang pages na nabasa ko para syang Old Testament, Genesis kumbaga ng LOTR. Tama ba?

        14 ba ang sequel sa 12? O may 13?

        Liked by 1 person

      2. DJ
        Reply

        Nako, nakalimutan ko na ‘yan, hija. Hahaha.

        Hindi ko alam kung maganda ba talaga ‘yung The Lexus and the Olive Tree, nilista ko lang kasi ‘yan ‘yung unang non-fiction book of its kind na nabasa ko.

        Tie din sa akin ‘yung Deathly Hallows! Pero inisip ko isang HP book lang pwede sa listahan, at nauna si Azkaban haha.

        I was! Ikaw din?! Hahaha. Binasa ko lahat ‘yun in first year high school. Utang ko yata kay Lolo Tolkien ang love of language ko.

        Like

      3. DJ
        Reply

        To rAdishhorse (dahil wala nang reply button sa third-level comments): the best siya in terms of scope. Unimaginable as it may be to some, mas epic pa siya sa LotR. Pero mas bleak/depressing haha. Tumpak ‘yung Old Testament comparison. LotR kasi up-close and personal, ‘yung Silmarillion parang traditional epic talaga.

        Sa alam ko, 14 ang sumunod sa 12, pero hindi siya sequel, at walang 13. Pareho lang silang ‘silent comics’.

        Like

  8. Krishel
    Reply

    Sobrang tamad ko magsulat lately kaya i comment ko nalang. Haha! Eto yung mga peborits ko. Hindi ako masyadong wide reader eh. Pag nagustuhan ko yung author madalas babasahin ko nalang yung iba pang sinulat niya. Pero I am thinking of checking out other authors na, yung mga di meshedong mainstream.

    Eto na sila.

    1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
    2. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
    3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows/ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K Rowling
    4. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
    5. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
    6. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
    7. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
    8. Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult
    9. If You Could See Me Now by Cecelia Ahern
    10. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Jolens
      Reply

      Ang power naman ng listahan mo, may classics! At female authors pa ha, naks!

      May napansin pala akong theme: mahilig ka ba sa coming-of-age stories? Hehe. Nabasa mo na The Lovely Bones ni Alice Sebold? Bet ko ‘yun. Batang babae ang narrator tas patay na siya so nagkukuwento siya from “heaven.” Interesting naman so baka magustuhan mo rin kung ‘di mo pa na-check out, hihi.

      At may reason ba kung bakit Deathly Hallows at Goblet ang tumatak sa ‘yo? Nag-stick sa akin ‘yung Deathly Hallows kasi grabe, nilagari kong basahin ‘yun. Siguro mga 10 hours straight jusme. Tas kung ano-ano ang naramdaman ko within that 10-hour span — na-agitate, na-shock, nalungkot, (nagutom), natakot, natuwa, tas nalungkot ulit sa huli kasi ‘ayun na, tapos na. Ahuhuhu.

      Btw wala rin naman sigurong masama sa mainstream. Marami sa ‘tin dito HP fan, may me-mainstream pa ba kay Manay JK Rowling? Hahaha. Pero ‘pag may masipat kang bagong author, balitaan mo kami! 😀

      Like

      1. Krishel
        Reply

        Kasama yon (The Lovely Bones) sa original top 10 ko kaso naalala ko bigla ang The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Haha.

        Halata bang mej pambata yung mga trip ko kong book. Haha! Naiintimidate pa ako sa mga book na feeling ko malalim eh. Haha. Baka di ko maintindihan.

        Same sa Deathly Hallows. Tanghali kasi namin sya binili ng ate, pagkauwi diretso basa agad ako tapos madaling-araw na ako natapos. Grabe yung feels ko dun. Juskoooo. Tapos. Basta ang galing-galing ng lahat ng revelation sa huli. Tapos bet ko ang Goblet kasi sya para saken yung start ng transition from pambata to mej mature na theme. Dun na naintroduce kasi yung sobrang pagka evil ni Volde.. You Know Who. Hahahaha.

        May nabasa ka na bang book ni Milan Kundera nga ba yon? May nabili ako nung isang araw eh kaso di ko pa masimulan. Hahaha.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Jolens
          Reply

          Hindi naman pambata! Haha. Bagets ‘yung mga bida pero may self-actualization kemerloo din tungkol sa pagtanda, ‘di ba? Ang fancy schmancy term yata sa mga ganitong kwento ay ‘bildungsroman’ (charez, narinig ko lang din ‘to sa kaibigan ko hahaha).

          Kumpleto ako ng Kundera! Okay lang siya, pero tingin ko mahirap siyang sakyan kung mahilig ka sa maaksyon na narrative. Dami niyang sinasabi e, pero interesting naman. ‘Slowness’ ‘yung pinakagusto kong libro niya. Maikli lang so less kuda haha.

          Na-try mo na si Eliza Victoria? Nagsusulat yata siya ng young adult e. ‘Di ko pa siya nababasa pero curious ako, haha.

          Like

          1. Krishel

            Bago sa akin ang salitang bildungsroman. Talagang ginoogle ko pa kasi ang weird. Haha. Pero yaaas, mahilig ako sa ganern. Naaamaze kasi ako sa kung gano ka self-aware yung mga young characters sa ganung klaseng story. Hindi kasi ako ganon nung nasa ganong age ako. Hahahaha.

            Ang nabili kong Kundera eh yung Unbearable Lightness of Being. Iniisip ko pa kung alin ang uunahin kong basahin, kung yun o yung The Martian ni Andy Weir. Haha.

            Di ko pa knows si Eliza Victoria. Chineck ko (sa Google) yung books niya eh pero parang wala pa akong nakikita dito na book niya. Medyo mailap pa yata sya.

            Liked by 1 person

  9. rAdishhorse
    Reply

    Salamat sa tag, Jolens. Try ko magisip ng top ten. Parang mahirap yata. Hehe. Gusto ko talaga magbasa ng mga gawa nina P.K. Dick, Nick Joaquin, at Gabriel Garcia Marquez (altho ambilis ko antukin tuwing bubuklatin ko yung Love in the Time…)

    Pero nung minsan nabasa ko na na-interview ni Gabriel Marquez si Shakira, dun ko talaga naisip na shet, paglaki ko, gusto ko maging si Gael Garcia Bernal!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Alona
      Reply

      Gusto ko din yan, pero hinehele ako ng mga libro nila. Agree ako dun sa Love in the Time… hanggang page 10 lang inabot ko. 4x ko din sinibukan, 4x ko ding tinulugan. Ayun, inamag na ata yung kopya ko.

      Liked by 1 person

    2. Jolens
      Reply

      Try mo na lang 10 Movies! Punta ka sa page ni Bessy (si bessclef) may listahan kami d’un! Haha. Interesado ako kung anong mga pelikula ang papasok sa isip mo. 😀

      Kalimutan mo na muna ‘yang Cholera! Ang para sa akin pinakamahusay na nobela ni Gabo ay ‘yung ‘100 Years of Solitude’, hindi masyadong nakakaantok choz. Sobrang interesting ng simula n’un e. Ang first line: “Many year later as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.” (LINK! haha https://tinyurl.com/y9kpy6y9)

      Or subukan mo muna short stories para mabilis lang! Try mo ‘A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings’ (LINK https://tinyurl.com/kec6xmz).

      Haha, sorry dami links! Nahuhusayan kasi ako kay Gabo e, feeling ko dapat siyang i-share charaz! 😀

      Liked by 1 person

  14. Trisha
    Reply

    Heyyy, thanks for tagging me in this, and I’m sorry for replying so late! It’s really difficult to single out ten, because so many have made a significant impact hahaha. Here are the books I can think of right now in no particular order:

    1. Super Freakonomics – Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
    – Reading this felt like someone took a needle and poked at my brain until it burst open and all my thoughts came spilling out. It’s one of those books that bloat your ego because you now have a cache of relevant random knowledge in your head, but humble you at the same time because half of your preconceived notions are whacked at with a sledgehammer.

    2. Protector of the Small series – Tamora Pierce
    – Ahhhhhh, this series. I’m a huge fantasy geek (more of a fantasy > sci-fi person) and back in high school, the strong lead with her struggles of making it as a knight in a path dominated by men pulled me in. This is cheating, I know, but I can’t pick a single book of the four that I like the best! So I’ll just name the entire series hahahahahaha

    3. The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexander Dumas
    – Monte Cristo was the very first novel I read as a kid. My uncle gave it to me as a birthday gift in 2nd grade, and I remember skimming through it but not really understanding much. What I understood, I got from the Viggo Mortensen adaptation my family watched soon after. I reread the book a few years later, and ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. I returned to it almost every year, made a book review of it for 3rd year high school literature, made another book review in 1st year college. I just… aaaaaaaaaa.

    4. A Ring of Endless Light – Madeleine L’Engle
    – Found this in the library when I was a first year in high school and fell in love with L’Engle’s writing. Although I also equally love A Wrinkle in Time and Many Waters, I’m choosing this particular one for the list because of how I kept going back to it every school year. I loved the concept, the communication with dolphins, the idea of non-linear memories, and the use of Henry Vaughan’s poem, The World.

    5. Fables – Bill Willingham
    – A more recent find, but something I now count as my very favorite graphic novel series. I am a sucker for fairy tales and fairy tale adaptations, and how Fables brought the characters to life and humanized them so realistically… God. I actually found about about this after playing the game adaptation, A Wolf Among Us — which I also very highly recommend!!! It’s dark, gritty, urban, and tells so much of human nature and politics.

    6. Forever Odd – Dean Koontz
    – Another find from my high school library and the first book of the Odd Thomas novels I read, though it’s the second in the series. I loved the way Koontz told the story, and I love Odd as a character. I remember writing down a number of quotes from this on a few pieces of paper that I kept with me all the time to read back on. My love for this series extended to my attachment to the movie adaptation of the first book, and eventually made me feel a strange connection to Anton Yelchin — I know what they say about crying over celeb deaths, but I really did suddenly start bawling when he died.

    7. Razorland series – Ann Aguire
    – Of all the strong female lead dystopian novels I’ve read — and I’ve read a lot of them — this is my favorite series. I am cheating again because I’m listing the entire trilogy. It completely drew me in, and this, I think, is the only (dystopian) series where I wasn’t disappointed by any of the individual titles.

    8. Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi
    – Persepolis 1 & 2 are must-reads. I cannot recommend this enough. I regret that I only read this last year; I really wish I read it earlier. Yes, I believe that reading Persepolis earlier would have made a substantial difference in my life.

    9. Catch Me a Firefly and Other Stories – Freda Jayme
    – I think this time I cheated in an entirely different way in that I took more than a few minutes trying to think of it hahahaha. I remember being in 4th grade and having an amazing adviser. She had a small collection of books on top of a cabinet behind her corner classroom desk and me, having no shame, asked to borrow the interesting-looking yellow one I usually saw her reading during her free time. She let me take it home, I read it, I was enthralled. It was a Philippine short story anthology in English, and I loved all the stories. This book actually stuck to me for years in that I never remembered exactly what the stories were — except that the title story was about fireflies — but the warm feeling of being in love with stories stayed. Just last night I couldn’t take it anymore and posted on FB, asking people for help in remembering the title and mentioning my teacher. Someone linked her new profile and voila! I struck a conversation with her and asked her about it. And that’s the story of how this list item came to be. Omg I’m sorry I’m making this so long hahahahahahahahaha.

    10. Basara – Tamura Yumi
    – Time for a manga! No joke, manga in general has left a substantial impact on my life. It’s a very valid medium of storytelling and offers a lot of the most wonderful content I’ve ever seen. And Basara, my God, Basara. It’s a long, now-completed manga series, published around 1998, which I guess some people would consider as old. It’s progressive, political, has a lot of relevant messages, speaks against tyranny, just… this is one of my very favorite stories of all time.

    Aaaaaaand that’s it for my list! Hahahahahahahaha I’m sorry I got so into this, it’s on Powerpoint presentation-tier lol. Again, thanks so much for tagging me Jolens! I enjoyed this a lot!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Jolens
      Reply

      Homygahd Fables! I started reading it early last year but I only got to issue 20, I think. Neri the Nomad has also recommended me Persepolis before — aw man, I really have to read these books! This year! Promise! Hahaha.

      I love Filipino short stories but I haven’t read any Freda Jayme yet. I’ll try to find a copy of her book; the title sounds interesting! I’ll also try to read A Ring of Endless Light soon, and maybe Basara too, because your description made it sound like it’s right up my alley, haha.

      And I’m curious about the Koontz book too! Never heard about it, but Anton Yelchin? I loved him in ‘Like Crazy’! His being Russian made me want to blame Putin for his death choz not choz huhuhu.

      Man, if only I could spend all day errday reading all these books! Thank you for doing this, Trisha! I see PowerPoint levelz of passion in your post, and migod I love it! I love the geeky enthusiasm! Once I get around to reading the books that I promised to read (and I’m not really good with promises haha), I will let you know! ❤ 🙂 ❤

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Trisha
        Reply

        Homaygad I didn’t expect you to know Fables but yessssss. I completely fell in love with it hahaha. I’m trying to look for another copy of the Jayme book as well, because I want to re-read it so badly. YOU WILL ENJOY BASARA, I GUARANTEE IT. Sorry, it’s just one of my all-time favorite manga and it’s that… damn… good. Another Koontz book I like is Life Expectancy! The premise is interesting and I enjoy how he wrote it.

        I’m actually really happy that your reply had the same levels of enthusiasm hahahaha! Take your time with the books, there’s no rush, but yes please do let me know if/when you read them. I would love to talk about them with you! ❤

        Like

  17. potechibaby
    Reply

    Hello! I read this last week, and I had planned to do the list over the weekend (because I can never do “off the top of my head” thing with my poor memory and possibly OCPD lol) butttttt ~stuffz~ happened soooo yeah. Iwan muna ako ng comment dito dahil sa recent news of

    URSULA K. LE GUIN

    😦

    She helped me crawl through 2017 and I just

    😦

    I think I saw some of your posts mentioning her so… this comment.

    :((((((((((((((((((

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Jolens
      Reply

      Grabe teh, I was damn sad when I read about her death. Dolores O’Riordan too, grabe. Tumatanda na nga tayo (or ako), iniisa-isa na ang mga taong hinahangaan ko. 😦

      Like

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