Literary Treasures

I was cleaning and vacuuming my room today because I’m in a good mood. Since I wrote 15 new chapters today and have a feeling I would be able to stick with my goal of finishing Secondhand Memories Book One by Thursday (before I leave for my Bahamas vacation). Just imagine, if I do finish, how liberating it would be for a retreat and how proud I would be. LOL. It’ll be freaking AMAZING.

Oh, on that note, updates is that once i’m done book one, i’ll edit the entire book and then start Book Two immediately after. So there will only be a short editing break or maybe Extras Collection writing. But no worries, I’m a cellphone novelist not dependent on publishing books haha. So those of you who worry I will only write book two after book one is published, don’t you worry.

Okay, so back to my latest discovery in the past five minutes. I was cleaning my room and realized I need to put away some books lying around. And a journey to my bookshelf made me realize I am such a book person. I have this natural affinity and affection for my books. And some of these I haven’t even finished or read yet, or need to re-read!

These seriously are what I consider true literature. They are some of the building blocks of my writing style and my influences, and the messages in itself are powerful and inspiring.They open up your eyes.

I also notice this taste I have for certain books. I’m more into the contemplative, thoughtful, deep, provoking, philosophical, existential, spiritual, metaphorical… uhh i could use more adjectives but anyway, you know what I mean. THOSE kinds of books. I’m not very much into the fantasy, sci-fi, action-packed, thriller type any more. When I was younger, like.. junior high, I was into that. But I’ve matured alot. And it shows in my literary tastes.

Here are some of the “classics” or masterpieces that I treasure alot (** means need to read, * means need to reread):

A Wild Sheep Chase – Haruki Murakami, **
Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami, (I’ve reread this like five times so no need to * it)
After Dark – Haruki Murakami *
Goodbye Tsugumi – Banana Yoshimoto, *
My Year of Meats – Ruth Ozeki, **
Mao II – Don DeLillo, *
As I Lay Dying – William Faulkner
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies – Jane Austen/Seth Grahame-Smith
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte,
1984 – George Orwell
Waiting For Godot – Samuel Beckett,
Collected Poems – T.S.Eliot,
The Educated Imagination – Northrop Frye *
The Ways of Seeing – John Berger

and more.

Some of these I had to pick up for English Lit classes right? Since they’re for class, we barely put any effort into reading them, and most of us leave it to the last minute before a quick scan before exams and essays. Yep. Sometimes we don’t even read it since theres sparknotes. LOL. But anyway, it’s really our own loss. I need to read the ones I haven’t read and reread some of those important ones.

They are masterpieces and I realized I have been writing lately just at most under the inspiration of fellow Textnovel authors. These literary greats (in my opinion) need to be my core for inspiration. I shall read what i need to read before commencing editing for Secondhand Memories book one so that it will be optimized with strong influences. My vocab is also horrible so I should increase that while I read.

On that note, perhaps I should take a longer break between book one and two and retreat to my books. xD On reading, check out what I think of writing: Write #1 , Write #2

I wanted to rant more but I think i should stop there and regroup my thoughts for a blog post at another time.

Adieu

-Takayaki (takoyaki?)

Share:
  1. Hahaha my books are the opposite of yours xD My shelves full with sci-fi, thriller, fantasy lol.

    Tho i also love the spiritual / philosophical, but not as many as the thriller ones, haha

  2. Yes! Finally someone else who tresures his books like I do! lol

    Ah, you like John Berger’s books too? Have you read “To The Wedding”? If you haven’t, you really should! It’s beautiful (although it’s a bit confusing in the beginning, but then you’ll love it)! I had to read it for English this year. I’m actually doing my Internal Oral Presentation on that book.
    Also, this student in my class looked up John Berger’s phone number and actually called him (he made an “appointment”, called back and interviewed him for his presentation)!! XP

    Well, anyways, your list is quite interesting. I’ve only read one of the books on here… :/ Many of them are on my list of books to read though ;P

    You should recommend books often! Love it!

Leave a Reply to ryby Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *