5 BOOKS

People who don't know me don't give me anything, and people who know me don't give me books. Generally speaking. There is a method to my friends' discretion and in this case, it is grounded on two reasons. First, they're afraid I may have already read the book, and second, they're afraid I will never read the book.

True, a gift of book smacks of authority. It is like mandating somebody to spend some precious time for something you have somehow prepared for them. Reading, after all, could be a painful experience to some, and under certain conditions, to most. I remember a time when a co-worker gave me Left Behind, the first of many in this Left Behind series, and everytime we met she would ask, Did you finish? Did you like it? Isn't it great? and each time I would cringe and ask the gods of white lies to find me a reply that did not hurt feelings.

Left Behind was awful but of course I did not tell her that. I just said it was OK but at the back of my mind I just wished she had given me a terrible t-shirt instead - because there is no pain in wearing a terrible t-shirt when you go to bed at night. But for a book that found a market in all religious suckers in the world, with zero literary value, going through it as simply going through the motions of living is a harrowing way to live, an experience that should never be repeated.

I, too, had been dictatorial in many instances whenever I gave books. But there was a twist to my dictates. Everytime I intended to give a book to a friend, I tried to find him/her first in that book. I research. I calculate.

But then, times change, things evolve.

In the last holiday season I got 5 books from 5 people who disengaged from my universal rule - with some very pleasant surprises.

The 1st book was "from" my counselor. She gave me a $25.00 Borders gift card with a note to buy a book I long for, and whatever it is I chose will be regarded as her choice. The counselor is a great person with a strong sense of discretion and generosity. At first I thought, Maybe I should buy something she reads, like Steinbeck's or Saroyan's, until I realized the ploy won't work and the matter will be unfair for both of us. When I was at Borders looking at the shelf where the 2 S authors share billing, I felt like I was Angela Solis looking at a box full of ampalaya: while I know fully well those were good for my mind and body, somehow, for some reasons, they just did not appeal to me.

And so I looked around and from the corner of my eye found this one book which was mentioned in the other book I was reading. The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil was that discovery, and this book is packed with so much power it bore a gaping hole in my otherwise busy schedule.

The 2nd book was given by Alice, a co-worker from my department. The book is small, smaller than my palm, and if I have to put both hands together as if in prayer while the book is sandwiched inside, the only one who will know its presence is he who I pray to. The little book is called The Best Things in Life Start With C, a collection of quotes that begin with the letter C, and when I gave Alice my thanks, mostly for the flattery, she said rather seriously, Don't mention it C, I gave that to you because you are the best. I would have been flattered even more, but was not because when I passed by (another co-worker) Mary-ann's desk, I saw a similar book perched atop her computer like a little figurine, and the cover reads - The Best Things in Life Start With M.

The 3rd book, given by my associate, is something I cannot name. It is the story of a wealthy Jewish Ivy Leaguer who was enjoying the spoils of youth, fortune and a great job when, one day, he killed a man. He spent time in prison and a great part of the book, told in vivid, colorful details, is about his life as an inmate.

The author of the autobiographical book - now in his middle age but still very intelligent and witty - is my colleague in the company. As far as I can tell, only three other people in the office know his story: the CEO who hired him, my associate who happens to be the CEO's niece, and because of this gift, myself.

Shhh, I hear some steps...

The 4th book was from a very respectable Filipino-American immunologist from the South who, very smartly, wrote his memoirs in the form of an anthology of short stories. Telling about his parents' life during the Spanish era, and his children's in this contemporary period, in the form of short stories, is something I truly enjoyed reading. Of course my copy was autographed.

Last but definitely not the least, the 5th book was authored by a blogger whose link appears on the left side of the screen, Tekstong Bopis (sent by my friend Belleloved) entitled A Shift of Eyes and Nine Other Stories, and it is not just a book but a cd as well, for electronic interpretation on pc and dvd.

The author, blogger par excellence and UP Lit Professor Dennis Andrew S. Aguinaldo, handwrote on the first page:

Kay CBS,

Salamat sa pag-udyok.
Sana may magustuhan
ka rito, kahit isa man
lamang. salamat sa
patuloy na suporta.

may isa rito,
mula sa blog!

- dennis a.

There you go.

The 5 people I met in my literary heaven.