Delayed post -- wrote this on June 1, 2010
The half-year mark. What do I have to show for it?
Well I definitely haven't been writing, here or on any of my journals, notebooks, notepads, etc. Very very bad.
BUT it does not mean that I have stopped reading. I still have although I must admit there was a hiatus right after our wedding. If I can't muster up the courage to list all the things I have done (or haven't done) since the start of the year to prove to myself that 2010 is turning up to be more than mediocre, I will then list what I have read so far to at least make me feel like I haven't been a stupid lazy ass for the last few months.
Graveyard Book -- read this because it was lying around in my house. The book belonged to my niece Martha and I had Neil Gaiman sign it when he was here in March. I must admit that though I was very tired from work and had to get away from any work-related stuff, which included Neil's fiction I still couldn't resist the lure of a boy called Nobody. Nobody or simply Bod, grew up in a graveyard due to mysterious circumstances that could only happen in the cloak of a misty night with a notorious villain present. His parents were ghosts who were alive at the turn of the century, his guardian, a being that is between the living and the dead. This is his story, of trying to live a normal life under very abnormal circumstances. There is the thrill of literally walking with the dead, the lonliness of being different, the happiness in friendship and the adventures one can only find while traipsing in and around a graveyard that time forgot. I am happy to have read this book because in my mind, I was able to bond with my 8-year old niece. It brought back the giddiness of a good story told in the middle of the night.
Gabriel's Gift -- Hanif Kureishi is a novelist whose stories are never a chore to read. He writes plainly and without reservation or guile. His lines make you nod and his characters aren't overly complex even if they are. It's what I like about him. This novella focuses on Gabriel, a talented teenager in the middle of a crisis. He is an average student in school, has one really good friend and has a penchant for talking to his dead twin, Archie. He finds himself in the middle of his warring parents, an alcoholic father who once played in a popular rock band and is still reliving a glorious past and a controlling mother who desperately wants to get away from the constraints of a relationship gone awry. Gabriel has a busy time refereeing his parents, being an obedient son to his mother while taking care of his ailing and lonely father that he doesn't have time to focus on himself and his remarkable gifts. It takes other characters to pay attention to his talents and this turns the story towards a phase of self-discovery and awareness. I would want for my future son to read this story some day.
Neverwhere -- Another fantasy book by Neil Gaiman. This book is Richard Mayhew's story. A person with a very normal life and job, not too many friends, a not-very-nice girlfriend. When he stops to help a girl on the street one day, he finds a world that is very different from the one he knows. This is the world of London below, where the characters are dark, the dangers are real and the power of magic is strong. An angel, a beast, an earl, two assassins are just some of the people he meets. With Door, the girl he helped on London above, he has to help open a door to solve a murder when all the while what he wanted most was to go back normal, frosty London above. Though I don't often read fantasy, I like Neverwhere very much because it's chockful of twists and turns, the plot is unpredictable and the characters always surprise the reader because of their decisions, personalities and various agendas. As always, I am always in awe of Gaiman's work and this book did not disappoint.
Shadow of Doubt: Probing the Supreme Court -- a piece of investigative journalism that was made into a book, Marites Danguilan Vitug is a brave journalist for having written this. The Supreme Court is rarely questioned for the machinations behind its closed doors and the decisions of the Justices is final and must be upheld. The nation regards the third branch of government, the last bulwark of democracy. All parties that seek the final serving of justice appeals to the highest court in the land, so the Supreme Court Justices are supposed to have unquestionable conduct at all times.
So it is very disconcerting to finally know what happens behind the velvet curtains. Corruption, partisanship, flip-flopping of decisions, approving the cases of the rich and landed...all these were exposed by Vitug. This book is so timely as outgoing president GMA appointed the last Chief Justice Corona which unsurprisingly, is not being recognized by President-elect Noynoy Aquino. Corona figures prominently in the book, an Arroyo appointee with a penchant for voting pro-administration and even changing his decisions a few times. For the average person (like me) who does not read the newspaper like she ought, the cases presented are galling in the least. How can we trust the highest court in the land to serve justice when we now know that it can be served with a large helping of corruption?
With the new administration, one can only hope for the best. And I also hope that Vitug has ended a culture of blind trust in the Supreme Court. We should always question, seek answers, make the people accountable for their actions, especially those who are there to uphold the so-called last bulwark of democracy.
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