Thoughts on A.S. Byatt’s “Possession”

Here’s my first book review for the Read or Die blog… I hope it ends up being somewhat more substantial than the random babbles of a self-confessed bibliophile. ^_^;

“You have not known what it really means to love someone madly and irrationally until you’ve read this book,” I remember my professor telling his graduating lit seniors last year. “If you want to have a taste of what real love must be like, Possession is the best read that one could possibly offer you in that direction.” Now, after reading it, I’m inclined to believe him.

A.S. Byatt’s Possession is the story of two literary scholars uncovering the secret love affair of two renowned Victorian poets through the letters and poetry they exchanged with each other. It’s a romance through and through mixed with all the elements of a good mystery novel and framed with delicate dialogue and unforgettable imagery.

I say that anyone can enjoy reading this novel, but I think that arts and humanities students will love it even more. Possession lends itself to those familiar with art and literature, whether they are scholars (formal and self-styled alike) or people who simply love a good story. As to those who are in it for the romance, I guarantee that they will not be left unsatisfied: Possession mirrors the past and the present, showing the many different types of relationships and of love in itself through the characters and their dealings with each other.

From letters to epic poetry to the more ‘traditional’ storytelling narrative, Byatt employs a wide range of literary styles and engages in many different forms throughout this work, adding a great amount of variety to the reading of Possession… as such, readers like myself feel sucked in by the story that Byatt has to tell, drawing one into the mystery at foot and making one feel the sense of urgency behind the actions of the protagonists and partake of their deep desire to uncover the secrets of the dead poet lovers for themselves.

I will be posting a book review on a weekly basis, give or take a few days. I’d also love to hear some feedback from you guys, be it book recommendations, comments or constructive criticism. Keep reading~

Fully Booked at Rustan’s, Makati

In case some of you (or a lot of you) do not know (I wouldn’t blame people for not knowing, it’s not even in their site), Fully Booked has a branch in Rustan’s, Makati. Yes, THAT Rustan’s. It’s been up and running since November of 2006, although I was first introduced to it around March of this year.

Getting there is simple enough once you’ve managed to get past the perfumed maze that is the Rustan’s department store (and in extension, Glorietta). Make your way all the way up to the fifth (yes, fifth) floor and you’ll end up right smack in the middle of the branch. You might take the other set of escalators, in which case you’ll find yourself stuck in the fourth floor – worry not, just make your way to the other side of the floor and there will be a magical escalator to take you up to the fifth.

The first thing you’ll see from the escalator is UCC, a café of sorts. Immediately to either side of you are the two halves of the branch. Turn to the right and you’ll see the Fiction (young adult, fantasy, novels) area, while to the left is the Non-Fiction (cookbooks, self-help, travelogues) one (I always go to the right).

It’s a pretty small branch, though they are impressively well stocked. If you’re the type who likes your bookstore quiet, then this is the place to go. They also have an array of chairs, tables, and couches, as well as a lot of spas and the café in the area, so there’s definitely no lack of lounging space there. The atmosphere of the store is comfortably cozy, and there are hardly any people around. The design is also very neat – they use more whites here than in their other stores, and it looks perpetually clean. Most importantly of all, it has my favorite bookstore couch.

Reminder: NBDB Book Club Meeting

The National Book Development Board warmly invites you the second NBDB Book Club meeting this May 25, 2007, 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM at the Café Lupe Family Restaurant, EDSA Guadalupe, Makati City.

The club will be reading Felisa H. Batacan’s award-winning book, Smaller and Smaller Circles (UP Press, P135). The next book to be read is Charlson Ong’s Banyaga, A Song of War. R.S.V.P. Erin Cabanawan 929-3881, 09155361188

More information about the NBDB Book Club:

The NBDB Book Club is envisioned to be a high-profile reading group held at coffee shops and restaurants in the metro, and attended by a powerhouse guest list. By starting this Book Club, NBDB hopes to encourage and influence book lovers and non-book lovers alike to start book clubs of their own. Through the establishment of these book clubs, the readership experience will be enhanced and passed on to more potential readers.

Through the leadership of NBDB’s new Executive Director Atty. Andrea Pasion-Flores, the agency spearheaded the creation of a book club, which is also in support to its major readership program, the Get Caught Reading campaign. The Book Club is another way for the NBDB to fulfill its mandate in create the best condition for literary creations and appreciation to flourish.

The NBDB invited authors, publishers, reading organizations and members of the media for its first Book Club meeting last 20 April 2007, which discussed Katrina Tuvera’s award-winning book, Testament and Other Stories. Hosted by Casa Xocolat, the first Book Club meeting enjoyed a full attendance, including NBDB Chairman Dr. Dennis T. Gonzalez, NBDB Director I Wilfred M. Castillo, award-winning authors Katrina Tuvera and Felisa H. Batacan (Smaller and Smaller Circles), magazine editors/writers Myrza Sison, Paula Abiog, Anvil Publishing’s Karina Bolasco, and award-winning author Tara FT Sering, who is also the moderator.

The NBDB Book Club meets once a month, usually during the third or fourth week, at the host’s venue. The second book club will be held at the Café Lupe Family Restaurant, which is also the site of the first Get Caught Reading Campaign Billboard featuring Lyn Ching-Pascual reading Charlson Ong’s Banyaga, A Song of War, which is also an award-winning book.

The NBDB Book Club reads only Philippine-authored books in the goal of influencing Filipinos to love and appreciate the wonders of their own literature.

The NBDB Book Club is the probably the first government-initiated book club attended by distinguished authors and members of the publishing industry. NBDB hopes that the NBDB Book Club would continue to meet every month, exploring new books and meeting new authors along the way.

High Chair Launches Three Books

High Chair will unveil three new collections by poets Marc Gaba, Jose Perez Beduya, and Mesandel Virtusio Arguelles. It will be held on May 25, 5pm, at the UP Press Bookstore, Balay Kalinaw, UP Diliman.

Titles to be launched include Gaba’s How Sound Becomes A Name, Beduya’s Seem, and Arguelles’ Hindi man lang nakita.

A founding member of High Chair, Gaba received his MFA in Creative Writing from the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Last year, he won the Boston Review Poetry Prize.

Beduya finished his MFA in Creative Writing at Cornell University and currently holds a residency at the Santa Fe Art Institute.

Arguelles is the author of two previous collections of poetry, Menos Kuwarto and Ilahas. He won a Palanca award for his poetry in 2005.

The event will also coincide with the launch of the seventh issue of High Chair’s online poetry journal.

Featured are new poems by American poet Frank Bidart, Rosmon Tuazon, Oliver Ortega, Kristine Domingo, Alex Gregorio, as well as critical essays on poetry by Marc Gaba, Conchitina Cruz, and Mabi David.

High Chair is a non-profit small press that aims to promote genuine interest in poetry in the Philippines. Apart from maintaining an online poetry website, it regularly publishes full-length books and chapbooks.

For more information, email highchair@gmail.com.

More on Reading Habits

Do you have a favorite comfortable reading position? Like a particular way you sit, or a particular chair that you can sit on for a long period of time. Do you prefer lying down, or reading with a proper table, or do you just throw yourself on any chair and read? On my part, I have back problems that basically make me incapable of sitting still for long periods of time, especially if my back is left unsupported like if I read while leaning on elbows on the table or sit down on chairs without backrests (although if it’s sitting in front of the computer, I seem to have an iron back – I wonder why).

I like reading while lying down on my stomach, with my chest propped up on a pillow. It hurts the shoulder, neck, and upper back after a while, though, so I turn to my side and read like that. When THAT’s become a pain, I sit up. My last resort is lying down on my back, but that’s a little hard if you’re relying on ceiling light.

There’s rarely ever a bed available, though, and it doesn’t work for bigger books. I still lie down if there’s a long enough chair for it (they are harder to come by for me than one can imagine – I am very large), or try to have as lazy a position as possible without hurting my neck. Sprawled out is usually good. Lately, I’ve found that sitting down properly is actually pretty comfortable, although it reduces my attention span by about half and I never know how to position my arms. Pity I still haven’t managed to learn the basics of sitting down properly.

On another, related note: Do you eat while reading? I generally try not to – I’m Very protective of my books, and there’s nothing more I hate than damaged or dirtied books if they’re mine (except, probably, the sun and staircases). Smears make my heart stop and creases on the spine always, always give me mini-heart attacks. When you’ve found the perfect reading position, though, food seems like it would go so well with your book.

Writers’ Rooms

The Guardian takes a look at Writers’ Rooms. I love the photographs because 1) I’m a snoop; 2) I’m especially snoopy about workrooms. I have little interest in the internal structure of a house–the living area, say, and I barely glance at bedrooms and couldn’t care less about bathrooms (I know somebody who’s very persnickety about bathrooms though)–but I really like looking at studies, workspaces (the kitchen qualifies in this respect). I especially love rooms with lots and lots of paper and books (’impedimenta,’ as Will Self would say ), and in that order, so this special series by The Guardian–since it focuses on the workrooms of writers–is like primetime viewing. For bibliophile snoops.

I like Geoff Dyer’s study and find the red armchair incredibly fascinating. However, I think it’s the sort of room which I’d just like to look at and admire and absolutely can’t work in. For one, the red would give me a headache. Same with J.G. Ballard’s workroom. I like pictures and paintings and keep them all over the place when I’m writing something which needs a specifically visual dimension (for texture) but an entire canvas propped up within my immediate line of vision?

Hanif Kureishi’s room approaches my ideal (it just needs–more paper).

… I would like to pilfer Claire Tomalin’s wastepaper basket, because I’ve been looking for something like that for the longest time since I can’t seem to endure plastic trashcans.

Andrew O’Hagan’s write-up is particularly charming: “I think I am becoming obsessive-compulsive. David Beckham apparently turns all the Diet Coke cans in his fridge to face the same way every morning, and I nerdily sharpen all the pencils in my pot before sitting down to work. Any day now I’ll start ironing my cushion covers.” A little wary of the chair, though.

Diana Anthill (now, I like that chair) says–apparently following Somerset Maugham’s dictum, quoted and practiced by Michael Frayn–that she writes facing away from windows because looking outside is distracting. I, on the other hand, make it a point to sit beside windows when I write. I think it’s the sun–I like natural light, it gives me a sense of well-being, though after having spent years dwelling in the stacks when the necessity arose (it did arise quite often) and since my current apartment is in the inner court of the building which means I hardly ever get any sunlight when I work there, one unthinkingly adapts. What about you?

Speaking of windows, Antonia Fraser’s study comes up to standard. Likewise with Esther Freud’s.

I like AS Byatt’s file drawers and wish the photographer had snapped the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves she speaks of. Trust her to interpret her room as a metaphor of her mind though.

David Hare’s room reminds me of a basement study (also an okay lifestyle choice, windows or no windows) and I prefer his table. It doesn’t mean I like it–give me–a la Andre O’ Hagan–Dickens’ table any time–but I like piling on stuff so much a normal-sized desk might as well be a wardrobe.

There was a time when I lived back home for a period of six months because I was assigned to a project in the provincial branch of our institute. My parents had bought the house next door and let me use it as a makeshift study. The star attraction, in my opinion, was the exceedingly long refectory table which my father must have bought at some garage sale in a seminary and which he’d temporarily stored in the previously empty house. Ah, I loved that table. It enabled me to sort my projects in the same place so I didn’t have to spend time trailing mess all over the room while searching for something. To work on something else, I just inched my chair a little to the left (or right). Rather like how Richard Burton worked, come to think of it, though in his case he had several tables which he probably navigated like an assembly line.

My current workroom is, by comparison, rather uninspiring. I have bookshelves–a proliferation of them, thanks to my landlady’s penchant for structural oddities–but the problem is they aren’t in one place, and when they are, they go on indefinitely in a horizontal fashion. Should I bring myself to budge from my digs (give me two more years to muster the necessary enthusiasm and perhaps another one or so to actually get around to it), I’ll look for something with wooden floors, high ceilings, very long tables, basket-weave wastebaskets, and a huge window. Or two.

Anyway, if you’ve a mind to indulge my snoopiness, take a picture of your workroom? XD Or wherever it is you hang out to realize hm creative pursuits. I would–if it isn’t obvious yet–really like to see.

(This idea is by no means unique–I came across another blog long before I saw The Guardian’s feature. The blog was for crafts artists, showing their artistic habitats, but am glad for the writerly version. Come to think of it, this might also be a good project for RoD, since having to deal with writers–especially for RodCon–meant that I had (and would have) to see quite a lot of studies. F. Sionil Jose’s certainly reflected the man. On the other hand, you have the room of someone like Pedro Ricarte, one of the best poets and Tagalog writers, but now largely ignored. He lives in my town and I visited him once to invite him to a poetry event which I helped organize. He’s in his eighties and suffers from arthritis and has stopped writing. I looked in on his study. An old typewriter perched stoically–ignored and unused–amidst a profusion of herbal ointments. I should see him again).

Call for Submissions to Philippine Speculative Fiction Volume 3

Dean Francis Alfar is now accepting submissions of short fiction pieces for consideration for the anthology Philippine Speculative Fiction Volume 3.

Speculative fiction is the literature of wonder that spans the genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror and magic realism or falls into the cracks in-between.

1. Only works of speculative fiction will be considered for publication. As works of the imagination, the theme is open and free.

2. Stories must cater to an adult sensibility. However, if you have a Young Adult story that is particularly well-written, send it in.

3. Stories must be written in English.

4. Stories must be authored by Filipinos or those of Philippine ancestry.

5. Preference will be given to original unpublished stories, but previously published stories will also be considered. In the case of previously published material, kindly include the title of the publishing entity and the publication date. Kindly state also in your cover letter that you have the permission, if necessary, from the original publishing entity to republish your work.

6. First time authors are welcome to submit. In the first two volumes, there was a good mix of established and new authors. Good stories trump literary credentials anytime.

7. No multiple submissions. Each author may submit only one story for consideration.

8. Each story’s word count must be no fewer than 2,500 words and no more than 5,000 words.

9. All submissions must be in Rich Text Format (.rtf – save the document as .rft on your word processor) and attached to an email to this address: dean at kestrelimc dot com. Submissions received in any other format will be deleted, unread.

10. The subject of your email must read: PSF3 Submission: (title) (word count); where (title) is replaced by the title of your short story, without the parentheses, and (word count) is the word count of your story, without the parentheses. For example - PSF 3 Submission: How My Uncle Brought Home A Diwata 4500.

11. All submissions must be accompanied by a cover letter that includes your name, brief bio, contact information, previous publications (if any).

12. Deadline for submissions is 15 September 2007. After that date, final choices will be made and letters of acceptance or regret sent out via email.

13. Target publishing date is December 2007/January 2008.

14. Compensation for selected stories will be two (2) contributor’s copies of the published anthology as well as a share in aggregrate royalties.

Adarna Sale; Summer Reading List c/o Ateneo Press

Adarna House has a back-to-school sale from May 21 to June 21 in their showroom at 2/F FSS Bldg., Scout Tuason cor. Scout Castor Sts., Bgy. Laging Handa, QC. They will be offering 50% to 70% discounts on books. The Adarna Showroom is open from Monday to Saturday (8AM to 5PM).

Suggested summer reads by Ateneo University Press:

“Acquiring Eyes” by Jonathan Beller brings into focus the works of HR Ocampo, Lino Brocka, Ishmael Bernal, and Emmanuel Garibay. The book analyzes these masters’ paintings and films not only for their contents, but also for what they have to say as media regarding modes of life and struggle.

“Body and Sexuality” edited by Agnes Brazal and Andrea Lizares Si. This groundbreaking anthology provide  much needed insights for Asian Christian women to affirm their body and dignity. It makes significant contributions to Asian feminist theology and is a valuable resource for churches, clergy, seminarians and pastora  workers involved in women’s emancipation and liberation.

“Colonial Pathologies” by Warwick Anderson traces the development of medicine in the American period, albeit in a context of analyzing how the political rationality of colonialism became manifest in a technical discourse on bodily practice, mundane contact, and the banalities of custom and habit. In short, it tries to show how experiencing hygiene was also a way of experiencing race and empire.

“In the Name of Civil Society” by Eva-Lotta Hedman chronicles the history of mobilization in the name of civil society, from NAMFREL in 1953 to People Power II in 2001. The book examines the notion of civil society not as a set of identifiable actors or interests, but rather a zone where opposing forces play out against each other, and where a powerful bloc seeks to perform a dominant role.

“Investing in Miracles” by Katharine Wiegele delves into the phenomenon of El Shaddai, and its so-called prosperity theology. It offers an in-depth look into this movement, characterized by its effective use of the mass media and its huge, emotion-filled outdoor rallies. The book argues that El Shaddai’s theology directly engages and affirms desires for material signs of modernity in ways that neither the mainstream Catholic church nor the leftist movement do not.

“Mindanao Ethnohistory Beyond Nations” by Shinzo Hayase traces how the maritime Southeast Asia tribal societies that prospered under the “Age of Commerce” lost their autonomy in the course of modernization and became minorities. In focusing his study on three societies–Maguindanao, Sangir and Bagobo societies– the author argues that history cannot just be written from a national historical point of view, nor a mainland-centered perspective.

“Minimizing Corruption” is the second in a series of Philippine Democracy Audit reports by Edna Co, Millar Lim, Melissa Jayme-Lao, and Lilibeth Jovita Juan. It takes stock of the extent to which public institutions and the society at large address the problem of corruption by examining the laws, policies, programs, as well as practice and culture, and examines how citizens deal with or even participate in corruption. In the process the book hopes to contribute to the effort of enlightening society about corruption and its meaning for democracy.

“Ang Sandali ng mga Mata” by Alvin Yapan relates the age-old story about Bicol, simultaneously with that of the past and contemporary events. The combination of the epic narrative with recent and current events gives depth to this first novel.

“Satanic Mills and Silicon Islands?” by Steven McKay looks at the high-tech electronics manufacturing sector in the Philippines, particularly semi-conductors. The book presents case studies of companies, and through these the everyday lives of workers are highlighted, showing how these are embedded deeply in the context of capital, the state and global workers’ networks.

All books are available or may be ordered from the following good bookstores: Fully Booked (756-5001), Popular Bookstore (372-2162), Powerbooks (490-1158), and Solidaridad (523-0870). On campus the books may be bought directly from the LS bookstore (4266001 loc. 5184) and the Ateneo press bookshop (4265984; 4266001 ext 4613; unipress@admu.edu.ph; www.ateneopress.org).

May 2007 Reading

Read or Die’s main selection for May 2007 is Orhan Pamuk’s “My Name Is Red.” The reading guide can be found here.

We still have to properly tag/catalog the contents of the library, but member or not, please feel free to browse around.  Inclusion in the library, in lieu of a proper review, will classify as a club recommendation

An informal survey of reading habits

I used to be able to read only in complete silence. I couldn’t tolerate sound of any sort, even music, which is why most of my reading usually took place either in the privacy of my bedroom, in the attic, or in the middle of some godforsaken locale. (For some reason, I’ve never liked reading in the bathroom. The plumbing always leaked).

As I went onto college and had no choice but to grow accustomed to the bustle of the university library in order to finish my readings (and dorm rooms are not exactly quiet spots in themselves), I started to learn how to read with a soundtrack, so to speak, a signal-to-noise ratio. I slowly graduated to reading while listening to actual music and not, say, only to my roommate’s muttered complaints about her physics professor’s lack of a discernible conscience, or to the assistant librarian’s wheezing and coughing as she pushed a trolley of books past my table. (The trolley itself groaned enough for a sickroom of people).

Now, while I still like to read in comparative silence, there are times when I actively seek human company in order for my reading to gain some flavor, some texture. I go to coffeeshops and parks. I turn pages in the midst of sudden bursts of laughter and trivial conversation.

I remember reading about a writer who could only write with music playing, but his music must be diametrically opposed to the material he was writing. If he was writing something light, or soft, or tender, he chose hard, noisy music. The more playful his writing was, the more violent his music. If, on the other hand, he was writing a work filled with darkness, a work which touched on and explored the cruelties and self-inflicted wounds of human nature, he invariably listened to love songs, ballads, sublime operatic arias.

I wonder who is more perverse–the reader or the writer? One would say that the writer is engaged in an act of creation, or demiurge, and that his or her writing must necessarily incorporate elements of his environment, internal and external, both of which would exercise inevitable influence upon the end result. But the reader engages the text and takes it to the world, which may or may not be the same world where the writer lived while he composed the book.

I find that, far from being careless about the context of my reading, I have become more sensitive and finely attuned. I don’t necessarily listen to noise rock while reading Shakespeare, for example, but I do find that William Faulkner is much improved by the sound and the fury of a train station on the eve of a national holiday. Reading is also a way of arranging the world, whether it is the world of the text, or the world outside it.

How do you arrange your reading?

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