...reads for 2022.
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by PAM
Yes, it looks like we are back on track this first few days of 2022 in terms of giving due attention to special interests, which are reading and writing in my case. All my new five books arrived last week, two of which arrived yesterday. The books are: (1) The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway (c.1987), (2) The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (c.1952), (3) Servant Leadership by Liam Taylor (c.2020), (4) Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell (c.2019), and (5) Ikigai: the Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Hector Garcia and Frances Miralles (c. 2016).
Book #2 is just a re-read since this was a required reading back in my High School days in the Philippines, which was almost four decades ago now. So far, I've read one short story in Book #1, "My old man", and it was awesome! It was about a jockey who was very good but became part of the corruption ring in the world of horse racing. He reached a point where he wished to walk away from the callousness of game fixing, and wanted to
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| Five books to start the year 2022 with a mix of creativity, practicality and guidance in putting things to perspective. |
The story was told from the perspective of the jockey's son, Joe, who adored him, wondered about his father's 'secret life' at times but brushed off whatever possible ugliness there was because he loved and believed in his father. In the end, when his father was stripped of every shred of honor that he might have had left or trying to restore, and in the base brutality of his father's death, Joe accepted what he vaguely knew all along. He said, "...when they get started, they don't leave a guy nothing." And it was a powerful realization. The seemingly simple story was told with that vintage Hemingway sparklingly clear writing, not in an academic sense but rather in drawing a picture and getting the reader to become a part of the vividly painted scenes through the powerful strokes of his words. My heart was pounding, and I can almost hear the horses galloping down the race track as Joe described what he was seeing through his telescopes as he watched his father compete. As the tragedy approached, and collided with his father and his horse, I sat there shocked and speechless as if I was a live witness of the horrible 'accident'. I believe that no one can write with such clarity and precision that engage the reader intellectually and emotionally if the writer was not a true witness of similar or the same incidents in real life... hence, the importance of varied experiences with deep involvement in such experiences in any brilliant writer's life. Ah... someday!
As far as the other books, I've read about a quarter of Book #3. So far, so good... the writing is fine - not stellar, just fine, but the content is very useful. I am excited to begin reading books #4 and #5! I wonder when that could be, given the bulk of work that awaits me in the coming spring semester. Oh, well... as Captain Sulu of Star Trek said, "when something is important enough, you make the time." So, there.
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Photo credit: The photo used in this post is mine, and was taken for the sole purpose of this post.
