Essential Reading: September 2013

Posted by bennardfajardo on September 5, 2013 · 6 Comments 

It seems that the only constant thing in my blog nowadays is its monthly reading feature which, I think, is generally good blogging duties notwithstanding. It basically means that I am still a very engaged reader albeit a very disinterested reviewer and blogger at the moment. I still read my books with great interest even though my blog is gathering dust most of the time and only to be dusted off at the end of the month.

Anyway, speaking of reading, here are the awesome books that I’ve read in August:

• Manila Noir edited by Jessica Hagedorn (4/5)
• Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn (4/5)
• Manila Envelope 4: The Best of Contemporary Filipino Novelists edited by Jessica Zafra (5/5)
• Monstress by Lysley Tenorio (5/5)
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald (3/5)

I only missed one book from my supposed list which is Nick Joaquin’s very interesting A Question of Heroes. I am currently halfway through that book but other books caught my attention so Heroes is currently in stasis. Ever since reading books made by Filipino authors, I’ve been more interested in exploring the Filipiniana section of bookstores that I frequent and I am becoming more intrigued by the body of work created by my compatriots.

For the month of September, my reading list is composed of 5 novellas (and one novel). I defined my choices for the novella as books with fewer than 150 pages and I think my choices are justified. So here they are:

1. May Day by F. Scott Fitzgerald – I will be lying if I told you that The Great Gatsby didn’t leave a mark in me. I certainly loved it enough to make me want to read his other works, which I began with Benjamin Button last month. May Day is going to be my next Fitzgerald and it is supposed to be the rare political commentary in Fitzgerald’s oeuvre.
2. The Fatal Eggs by Mikhail Bulgakov – My current best read for this year is still Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita and I sensed that the time is right for me to read another of Bulgakov’s work which is this little known sci-fi work of his about a Soviet scientist who tampered with nature.
3. The Porcupine by Julian Barnes – I know that if you’re going to read a novella by Barnes, it should be The Sense of an Ending but, since I still have to find my own copy, I am going to start with another of Barnes’ shorter work and one that has a political story that deals with a trial of an old communist dictator.
4. The Day of the Owl by Leonardo Sciascia – In the attempt of trying to familiarize with the ever interesting NYRB Classics, I am going to read my third book published by the NYRB Classics imprint. This one by Leonardo Sciascia is about the assassination of a man and the subsequent investigation that eventually leads to the secret world of the Mafia.
5. The Eye by Vladimir Nabokov – One of Nabokov’s lesser known works (I wouldn’t know of its existence if I did not see this in a secondhand bookstore) is about a suicide struggling with his identity and his existence in the afterlife. The summary does not give me something concrete but it certainly piqued my interest.
6. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov – Another Nabokov and, this time, it is his most known work of fiction about Humbert Humbert and his forbidden love, Lolita. It is often hailed as one of the greatest works of the 20th century. This is our book club’s selection for the month of September.

So it goes.

Filed under Books, Reading List · Tagged with Books, Dogeaters, Essential Reading, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jessica Hagedorn, Jessica Zafra, Julian Barnes, Leonardo Sciascia, Lolita, Lysley Tenorio, Manila Envelope, Manila Noir, May Day, Mikhail Bulgakov, Monstress, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Day of the Owl, The Eye, The Fatal Eggs, The Porcupine, Vladimir Nabokov