February seems to be my book month so far

Yesterday, I finished The Feet of of Juan Bacnang by F. Sionil Jose. My copy is autographed by the author himself (and I couldn't help but feel giddy being inches away from the illustrious F. Sionil Jose). One of the assignments of the author class was to see how a book launch is done. There's no better way to experience that than to buy the book being launched (this book was one out of two being launched that day) and fall in line to have it signed.

It was worth the P450 (got it at P50 off, hahaha) and waiting in line to have it signed. I'm not really a fan of Philippine lit per se, and I'll probably blame it on the way I was taught Philippine literature over the years (it was in no way thought-inspiring or nationalism-building). Until now, I try reading Noli and El Fili and no matter how much I invoke my fangirl love for Rizal, I end up stopping in the middle.

Anyway, the story of Juan Bacnang could be the story of any rags-to-riches business tycoon in this country - or  most of it. The themes of this book are akin to the current social and political state of this country, and I love how it shamelessly connects its major themes to the country's age-old problems. The first part of the story was rather hard for me to relate to, simply because I am not Ilocana and I cannot relate to being clannish or with the food and customs of the time. But when the protagonist of the story went to Manila, that was when I finally picked up the pace.

In spite of the realism, it is still a work of fiction. If you've read The Picture of Dorian Gray, you'll be able to see certain parallels to that in Juan Bacnang. At one point when I was in the middle of the book, I was speculating that the protagonist will have a Dorian Gray-esque ending. Whether that happened or not is something that you'll have to find out.  

Next book in my reading stash is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I wasn't supposed to buy this, but it didn't cost so much in Powerbooks, so what the heck. It's a classic anyway.

Excuse the sleepy pic. I fell asleep in the car going to work, and I've been drifting in and out of sleep since then. Le sigh.