5 Random Books Anyone Should Read
My recent encounter with some good books have proven an impact I couldn't imagine. It inflicted a feeling of rare inspiration that drove me to write and read more. The books on this short list were the ones I recently bought guiltlessly (the prices!). I command you to read them. Yes, lost souls, I command you.
1. Notes of a Dirty Old Man - Charles Bukowski
Buk is an underrated literary god. In this book you will witness the grandeur of a man who lived life on his terms. Filled with booze and women and violence, this semi-autobiographical chronicle of a madman and the showcase of American low life will surely drive you mad and drunk with epiphany. Bukowski is a god turned human and made a liking out of typewriters.
2. Report From The Abyss - Karl De Mesa
This is the gem of creative nonfiction. Angelology, anting-antings, cockfighting, left wing accounts, debuting in the film industry with porn flicks, this book revved up my sunken spirit, more to note that the author is a Filipino and a geek at that. Geeks are harmoniously connected.
3. The Kobayashi Maru of Love - Carljoe Javier
This madman is a geek, too! The back cover made me buy this baby: "The Kobayashi Maru of Love is a book about love, in all its maddening, inscrutable, exquisite permutations: requited, unrequited, elusive, gone missing, left for dead, held hostage, lost, found. But it is ultimately a book about women, one woman, at least, and at first, then several others, gorgeous and fleeting and elusive and imaginary, and the severities of the pull they have on our grotty, awkward male selves. Self-help, diary entries, encyclopedia of boy things, stumblebum comedy of manners, rom-com gone wrong, RPG walkthrough, horror story. The Kobayashi Maru of Love is all this and funny as all hell, too."
4. Damned / Doomed - Chuck Palahniuk
Two books. Both legendary. "Are you there, Satan? It's me, Madison," spat the first line of Damned. Well, that made everything wilder! This is a comical account of a girl's unexpected adventure in hell. Filled with satire and hilarious dialogues, Chuck once again proved that he writes even better each day after Fight Club.
5. Eating Fire and Drinking Water - Arlene J. Chai
Clara Perez is a reporter on a small South Seas island. An orphan raised by nuns, she is a young woman with origins shrouded in mystery. Full of idealistic ambition, Clara grows tired of the trivial assignments she's given at the daily paper, yearning to write articles with substance. So when the tiny street of Calle de Leon bursts into flames after a student demonstration--and a soldier kills an unarmed man--Clara seizes the chance to cover the explosive story. Yet after Clara rushes to the burning streets to investigate the tragedy, she discovers another, more personal story involving some remarkable truths about her unknown past--ghosts, she realizes, which have been silently pursuing her all her life. And as family secrets begin to unfold, Clara's missing history slowly spreads itself out against the tumultous backdrop of a country wracked by revolution.
You may have noticed by now, but I don't recommend YA books. It's been overrated the past months. These gems deserve more attention.