The Tipping Point

Hindi kaya may epidemic ang kabagalan ng pagbasa? If ever, at least we're not alone. There's this article expressing guilt for feeling like a cretin whenever he abandons supposedly "good books":

It is a dark burden to bear, this business of not finishing books. You start out with all the goodwill in the world. You flip the pages diligently. Your circle of acquaintances expands by a dozen or more as this cast of made-up people enters your life. And before you even find out how it all turns out for them, you set them aside. What's your problem?

I don't know what my problem is. I started reading The Best American Erotica 2005 at Powerbooks in Megamall. I actually finished like half of it in the three hours I sat there. Then when I came back to finish it like two weeks later, all the copies were gone. As in all gone. And they're not to be found in any of the Powerbooks branches in Manila either. So I had to abadon that one. But Tamadita has a copy and if she lends me that I might still finish the book. Panalo yung story dun about the Salem witch hunt. Hint hint. Hehe.I'm also reading TBAE 2003, but I'm not even a quarter done, just 4 stories pa lang yata. At malamang na di ko siya matapos agad dahil I'm stuck with Butch Dalisay's Killing Time in a Warm Place na irereport ko dapat sa MA class ko later and well...I'm procrastinating by blogging here. Oh well.

So balik sa unfinished books. Gwen dropped by some weeks back to lend me Chuck P's Diary, which I haven't even cracked open yet. She asked me for recommendations on what to read. I scanned my shelves and stacks and told her I heard very nice things about David Sedaris. I lent her my hardbound copy of Me Talk Pretty One Day, which has been living on my shelves for like 3 years na, but I haven't read a page of it. She took it with her, and then I felt guilty for giving someone a book I haven't even read yet. So when I went to Powerbooks in Mega (again) I swiped a paperback of it from the shelves and digested more than half of it while I was there. David Sedaris is funny. That Wednesday I told Twisted/Sister that I found David Sedaris v v funny, especially that story about his stint as a CW teacher. Me can relate. Later that week, Twisted/Sister dropped off a nice copy of Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim which I had also started reading but haven't finished yet. I want to bonk myself on the head for not reading the damn book when I had it there gathering mold. Okay, thank you, Twisted/Sister. I'll try to return your book within this lifetime.

So on to something I actually did finish: Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. Quite interesting. Took me maybe five freaking weeks to finish since we declared Malcolm Gladwell Day at the start of February, but now I'm done and hoping that I get to finish everything that I started.