Prohibition
I am strangely wistful about the end of the holidays. “Strangely” because my schedule during the holidays was no different from my schedule the rest of the year. (If you like your independence, I suggest freelancing: the pay is unsteady, but the schedule is fantastic.) Metro Manila is so much nicer when nearly everyone is out of town and the road traffic is fairly light (three taxis stop the second you step onto the sidewalk). There is a lower stress level when people aren’t killing themselves and each other to scratch out a living; you can feel it in the air. However, I will be happy to get my usual haunts back minus the hordes of shoppers and strollers.
Last year, on New Year’s Day, Ernie, Bert, and I made a solemn oath to radically decrease our book backlogs. We each had dozens of books we had not yet read (or finished reading), and we knew that we would never get to them if we kept buying new books. (It’s not just avarice or bibliophilia. If you see a book you want and you don’t snap it up immediately, it will probably be gone by the time you come back. Unless it’s a bestseller.)
Therefore we resolved that we would allow ourselves to buy only one new book for every five that we finished. Then we went to dinner. Then we went to the bookstore, and Ernie and Bert immediately broke our New Year’s resolution. At least I managed to hold out for a week, although I had the advantage of being broke.
Because I have what Kierkegaard calls “the despair of possibility” (what I understand of it anyway), the fact that I didn’t keep last year’s resolution does not prevent me from making an even tougher new resolution! I will not buy a new book for the next three months. Instead, I will read the books I already have, and there’s at least a year’s worth on my shelves. Let’s see how long this lasts.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
January 5th, 2009 at 07:36
I have the same resolution. I am under a self-imposed ban and will not buy a book for a year or until I’m done with my backlog – whichever comes first. Lasted all of three days when I bought Ricky Lee’s Para Kay B yesterday.
January 5th, 2009 at 11:07
Ah, I should take on this same resolution. By the way, I’ve already finished the Flip compilation book. Ahhh, I remember your office in Makati back when Flip was alive!
January 5th, 2009 at 13:51
I bought a 2009 2-Day a Page Portfolio, which I converted the other day into a personal “Reading Diary”. I intended to write every single day titles of poems, short stories and essays that I have read on the “diary.” This includes also current reads. And sadly I am starting to lose interest in keeping this “Reading Diary.” I have not read any poetry since the start of 2009. No essay. No short story. I am presently stuck with Thomas Mann’s novel Buddenbrooks.
About book-buying, well, what is there to restrain me? At Fully Booked I saw The Tale of the Genji and The Executioner’s Song and they surely looked future possessions.
January 5th, 2009 at 17:32
I have the same exact resolution. I have lasted for 5 days. I don’t think buying the latest Reader’s Digest breaks the rule. Or does it?
January 5th, 2009 at 18:56
Yeah, I too imposed a book-buying moratorium last year. My friends scoffed when they heard about the moratorium coz I almost always end up buying a book every week–even if it’s from Booksale.
BTW, a sort-of-related to your post query: Know anyone who’d like to buy a lot of books? I’m leaving for a job in Singapore by the end of the month and I can’t take the books with me. I can give to anyone who has contacts with libraries or those who can provide the books a good home. Thanks!
January 23rd, 2009 at 17:49
Basta Mabasa ko na yung review niya yun na rin ang view ko kahit di ko pa nabasa yung novel. Ang Cute.