Since Ron's going to spend the night here tonight, I decided to ready the extra-strong harness and the studded paddles he likes so much. I also made sure to give my room a good cleaning, since we're going to get dirty later on.

Seriously, though. :-P

Ron's allergic to cat hair, and the felines have been spending a lot of time in my room lately. I figured anaphylactic shock wouldn't really work for Ron. Bleh, taking mind out of gutter now.

Better to put it on the shelf, with all the books there. Mine, borrowed, given, forgotten at the house, read, unread, what have you. And I'm too lazy to use Shelfari or LibraryThing as yet.


Here, on top of my White Wolf gaming books, are my Shakespeare, The Shakespeare Book of Lists which the housemates gave me for Christmas, Nigella Lawson's cookbook Forever Summer (the show of which I've seen several times over), Reitch's Austen compilation, and Jon's Into the Wild.

To the left is a copy of The Last Tycoon, from one of my English professors, who gave it to me because I was (and am) such a Fitzgerald fan; The Faber Book of Modern Verse, which Aldus has had since our college days; the two Bridget Jones novels, which I bought when I had that hankering for Jane Austen; Jon's Kitchen Confidential, V for Vendetta from my lovely mother; Reitch's Books of Magic: Summonings; a TPB I got at National Cubao because it was cheap; and Tobie's copy of Adventure!.


The stack on the right has Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Oneal's pasalubong from Vegas; The Alchemist (overrated? haven't read it yet), The Screwtape Letters, and The English Patient, all from my mom; Reitch's The Satanic Verses, which I bought a couple of years ago and still need to pay for; my fiction instructor's Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories; Czar's novel, Warpath; Simulacra & Simulation, which Oneal got Rej during the heyday of The Matrix; Maryann's Orlando, and a copy of Myth and Meaning which I think I found lying around the house somewhere; and there's The Sibley Guide which the housemates got as a birthday present in 2006.

In the middle is the Tan twins' yoga book by Tara Fraser. Then there's the e.e. cummings compilation I got last week; my copy of Northanger Abbey; Mayo's The Portable Jack Kerouac; Baudolino, again from my mom; The Crack-up, which Aldus gave me (I'm a Fitzgerald fan to the point that people give me copies of his books :D); my fiction professor's Art Objects; a Norton Anthology I dug up at one of the Book Sales here; Vocalese by Aldus Santos (!); and Rant, a birthday gift from Burt.


And down below: Lost in a Good Book, a Jasper Fforde novel I found last week, part of a series my friends Lorie and Mylee love and I haven't begun (sorry guys!); the Grammar and Style Guide I use for my English training, and was published by the same guys who produced the World Book Encyclopedia; The Chicago Manual of Style, also from my mother who loves me that much; The Politically Incorrect Guide (PIG) to English and American Literature, which Rej got in California after the Rose Parade; and on the left, the Roseros' copy of 70 Favorite Stories for Young Readers, which I also had growing up. And that violet bundle in between books? Dante's Tarot cards (which I use), wrapped in Tita Ruby's scarf.

Of course, this is just the abridged, enumerative version. Maraming kuwento bawat libro diyan.

"...and it is not very wonderful that, with all their promising talents and early information, they should be entirely deficient in the less common acquirements of self-knowledge, generosity and humility. In everything but disposition, they were admirably taught."

"The politeness which he had been brought up to practise as a duty made it impossible for her to escape; while the want of that higher species of self-command, that just consideration of others, that knowledge of her own heart, that principle of right, which had not formed any essential part of her education, made her miserable under it."

* * *

Finished Mansfield Park around 5:00 this morning. Haaay, puwedeng pang Pinoy telenovela. Hitik sa drama!

Thanks to Shey for pointing him out.

I love this clip as someone who has despised, abhorred, and loathed that new-fangled mutation of a word 'thru' for half his life, because it warms my cold, English major's heart.

I'm hooked.

 

Damnit, Jane.

"I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."

- Fitzwilliam Darcy to Elizabeth Bennett, when asked "to account for his having ever fallen in love with her."

" 'I am not now to learn,' replied Mr. Collins, with a formal wave of the hand, 'that it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept, when he first applies for their favour; and that sometimes the refusal is repeated a second or even a third time. I am therefore by no means discouraged by what you have just said, and shall hope to lead you to the altar ere long.' " *

* * *

" 'When I do myself the honour of speaking to you next on this subject I shall hope to recieve a more favourable answer than you have now given me; though I am far from accusing you of cruelty at present, because I know it to be the established custom of your sex to reject a man on the first application, and perhaps you have even now said as much to encourage my suit as would be consistent with the true delicacy of the female character.' " *

* * *

" '... and you should take it into farther consideration that in spite of your manifold attractions, it is by no means certain that another offer of marriage may ever be made you. Your portion is unhappily so small that it will in all likelihood undo the effects of your loveliness and amiable qualifications. As I must therefore conclude that you are not serious in your rejection of me, I shall chuse to attribute it to your wish of increasing my love by suspense, according to the usual practice of elegant females.' " *

* * *

" '...and I am persuaded that when sanctioned by the express authority of both your excellent parents, my proposals will not fail of being acceptable.' " *

* * *

Barely 80 pages into Pride and Prejudice and Jane Austen has me in stitches. For everyone's delectation in this post-Valentine's season.

__________

* Pages 74-75, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen. The unabridged Dover republication of a standard text reprinted from the 1813 edition. Including obsolete English spellings from Ms. Austen's period. Italics and boldface text mine. :D

I'd always wanted to get my Shakespeare reading back on track, so last week I started to read The Merry Wives of Windsor, mostly for its protagonist, the amoral Falstaff. So there I was, ambling along the iambic pentameter, when lo! Old Will Shakespeare gave me a little surprise:

"This punk is one of Cupid's couriers." (Pistol, Act 2, Scene 2)

This discovery merited noting down in my (seldom-used) journal and some Googling.

According to Answers.com, the word means:

• A young person, especially a member of a rebellious counterculture group;
• An inexperienced young man.

It goes on further to say that it's an archaic term for "prostitute" (I read elsewhere it might mean to derive from "punctured"), with an additional note: "Origin unknown."

Yahoo! Answers, on the other hand, had another story regarding its origin. The question was posed to several users, which garnered a few proposed answers, and were in turn voted on by the community as to what the most viable answer was. Yahoo! Answers pegs the word's earliest usage to be in 1618 in Virginia, a word referring to overcooked corn, one who had Native American origins.

Too bad none of the Yahoo! Answers people bothered to check their Shakespeare, because lo! The Merry Wives of Windsor is generally believed to have been written for the Garter Feast on April 23, 1597 (St. George's Day). This was the same day when George Carey, the patron of Shakespeare's company, was installed as a Knight of the Garter.* This same order also figures prominently in the play.

If there's any doubt as to the veracity of this supposition, a corrupt text of the play was first printed in 1602, and the play was performed for James I in November 1604,* which predates them colonists in Virginia by at least 14 years.

Now I'm wondering if it's more appropriate if a "broken sonnet" hailed (hahaha, pun!) from a punk band.

Another discovery:

"I cannot tell what the dickens his name is my husband had him of."  (Mistress Page, Act 3, Scene 2)

I'd always thought the phrase found its origins in Charles Dickens, who was born in 1812, but apparently, the phrase's origin is this play! Amazing.

More on the play as I progress. Happy Valentine's Day, all!

__________

* William Shakespeare: The Complete Works, edited by Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor. Oxford University Press, 1988.

 

 

First, the Japanese version.

Next, the Korean version: