I can't find her.

I am already in the middle of the book, but there really isn't much to write.  Her essays mostly point out to her experiences as a single woman who chose to be and stay single.  Most of them were realizations and turning points.

I tried to google her - Theresa "Jew" Lariosa.  But the funny thing is the number one site that came out is... this page... and most of them are only online catalog of her book on e-lib.  I couldn't find a facebook profile, well, not even a friendster profile (if there is still friendster). 

I wanted to find out more of her - like which newspaper does she writes for or magazine.  But I couldn't find anything.  I wonder. 

Bulalo Soup for the Sole: Jew Lariosa

She had found someone who loved her truly, regardless of the conditions that society imposes on us.. 

He loved her enough to sit through the whole ceremony in front of three priests and a huge crucifix looming overhead.  He loved her enough to endure the coaxing for friends and family to drink some more.  He loved her enough to beam at his wife and dance with a bunch of sloshed cousins, though he was burning with fever.  He loved her enough not to say a peep when they served pork at the table where he dined.

Still no go after second attempt

Again, it's been a while.

Apart from not bringing myself to read these days because of the effects of chemotherapy, there are still other reasons.  Chemotherapy effects make me sleep a lot of times, especially when I'm on the fifth day after the cycle.  But, needless to say, I stopped reading long before the third cycle started.

I guess I would have to admit that I was having difficulty reading between the lines.  James Joyce is really hard to decipher, but that doesn't make him less of a writer for me.  I guess the timing isn't just right and I am not ready for a James Joyce book.

I stopped on the part where Stephen Dedalus and his friends were somewhere on river - this I am not sure - and some of his friends ready for a swim.  I remember they met someone - a navy or a sailor - and was trying to teach them some things.  Halt!

So, this brings me to a point where I have to look over my old books to see if there were copies whose fonts were large enough for me to read.  I don't think this is what I need, because I think what I need is a new pair of glasses.  This thing has been with me since 2006.  But anyway, there weren't old books with fonts large enough so there goes my motivation for reading.

Then, a good friend of mine who learned about my medical condition voluntarily sent some two books that I could devour.  She said she wanted to send one more but she checked and I've had that book as a gift to me since I can remember.  That book - the gift - was also a spiritual book which I stopped reading by the time I reached the third chapter.

I must admit that seeing those two books she sent for the first time, I wasn't interested since the first one that caught my eye was a spiritual book and I felt like I am not inclined to that one... at least not yet.  So, both of the books sat on the table for days until yesterday when my hunger for reading was growling louder than my stomach upset.

The first book I opened of the three was the gift to me.  It was Rick Warren's "The Purpose-Driven Life."  I started reading the first chapter and hopefully I could go on to finish it in forty days, as per his recommendation.

I skipped the second book which was "Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese Of Lisieux." I think I'll start it later.

This brings me down to the third book.

It's not a spiritual thing.  "Bulalo Soup for the Sole" by Theresa "Jew" Lariosa.

She's a local writer.  And the book is a compilation of her "Essays for Savoring Life as a Single Woman."  That's what the title of the book says.

I wonder why I haven't heard of her nor her writings.  Was it because when her book was published - 2007, I was in Dubai?  And the whole time that she was writing articles I was in Dubai?  And if so, where is she now?  I haven't heard about her now and would have wanted to hear more of her at least on the tube.  I can google her whenever I want but I want to hear about her on the news.

Anyway.

I'm going to finish this book this week.