Lost in Books….Once More

The heavy downpour last night made me a little afraid, thinking of  the typhoon that flooded Metro Manila three years ago. I wonder why no matter how I try to shake it off, it comes back. Typhoon Ondoy left an indelible mark  and it haunts me every time the rainy season sets in.  This morning  I decided to re-arrange  our  book collections  by putting the  more important ones higher up the shelves and bringing down the unread hardbound fiction books  to our small shelves in the sala. We lost  a lot of volumes during the flood and  it is so hard to replace books that you grew up in.  Only this morning, my daughter asked me again if I want to buy a Nook or a Kindle so we could save on space and I told her I am not yet ready  to give up turning the pages and smelling  a new book in my hands. Suffice to say, the magic of words come alive in every page and the good thing is it makes for a good feel seeing one’s book collection prettily lining up the walls.I arranged them by authors.  I was surprised to see those which I thought were gone but were just behind the arranged ones.  Nissa has utilized every space, so to speak. I even found the flower press kit that we bought together a long time ago.

I’ve always loved  Kahlil Gibran and I don’t know how many times I bought  copies of The Prophet to give  as gifts to friends.  Haha, I read while arranging everything and it reminds me of those times when I was still a student librarian in UST . I kept  some thick  journals and painstakingly copied quotes from whoever author I happened to be reading. I’m including some quotes here.

On Joy and Sorrow:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

On Love:

When love beckons to you follow him,
      Though his ways are hard and steep.
      And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
      Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you believe in him,
      Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
      For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
      Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
      So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth. Like sheaves of corn he gathers you  unto himself.
      He threshes you to make you naked.
      He sifts you to free you from your husks.
      He grinds you to whiteness.
      He kneads you until you are pliant;
      And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.

On Prayer:

You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.

On Friendship:

Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.
When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the “nay” in your own mind, nor do you withhold the “ay.”
And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.

They would still leave me breathless with the beauty of his words.

Then I found this old copy of Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds. The first time I read this book, I just started working,  then an office mate borrowed it and never returned it to me. I bought another copy, a friend asked if she could have it for good so I was left to buy another copy at Booksale. It’s one of the most beloved books of all time. Back then, it was made into film starring Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward but I watched it on Beta. That’s how long ago it was.

“There is a legend about a  bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And dying, it rises above its own agony to out-carol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen and God in Hiss heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of pain.”

“The bird with the thorn in its breast, it follows an immutable law; it is driven by it knows not what to impale itself, and die singing. At the very instant the thorn enters, there is no awareness in it of the dying to come…but we, when we put the thorns in our breasts, we know. We understand. And still we do it. Still we do it.”

And who could forget  Richard Bach? Who could forget his best works, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, One, Illusions, The Bridge Across Forever?   I like Jonathan Livingston Seagull best,  it teaches one how to fly and be different. Bridge Across Forever is just as captivating, a love story, the best ever. And here are some  quotes I love about both books:

“I’m here not because I am supposed to be here, or because I’m trapped here, but because I’d rather be with you than anywhere else in the world.” – Bridge Across Forever

“That’s what learning is, after all; not whether we lose the game, but how we lose and how we’ve changed because of it, and what we take away from it that we never had before, to apply to other games. Losing, in a curious way is winning.” – Bridge Across Forever

“I had grown up in a house with a fence around it, and in this fence was a white smooth wooden gate, two holes bored round and low together so the dog could see through. One night, the moon high, late for me home from the school dance, I remember that I stopped, hand on the gate, and spoke so quietly to myself and to the woman who I would love that not even the dog could have heard.

Bridge Across Forever

“There are no mistakes. The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they’re necessary to reach the places we’ve chosen to go.” – Bridge Across Forever

“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly.” – Jonathan Livingston Seagull

“If our friendship depends on things like space and time, then when we finally overcome space and time, we’ve destroyed our own brotherhood! But overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now. And in the middle of Here and Now, don’t you think that we might see each other once or twice?”– Jonathan Livingston Seagull

“We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill.”– Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Gosh, I’ve made this unconsciously long. Lost in thoughts. Lost in the magic of words. Lost in books….once more!

     

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