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.

I'm back with Ulysses on my hands

I'm back with Ulysses on my hands, a photo by hengeworx on Flickr.

I started "Ulysses" today... again... and from the top.

It's a good thing that I started it from the top, because even in just in the first paragraph, there were things that I didn't understand the first time I read it.

I hope I can sustain reading it this time.

The reason why I stopped the first time is that I can't seem to relate to it.

And the reason why I am getting back to it now is that those other paperbacks that I have right now have fonts that are too small for me to read nowadays, even with my reading glasses. And it's a good thing that I bought trade paperbacks back then.

I would have started with Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series which I have read way back in college. I have read it until the fourth book, the last one at that time. I was able to buy illustrated books (I don't know what to call this editions) when I was still at the call center, four of them. BUT, I just discovered and remembered that I wasn't able to find the first book, "The Gunslinger," in the illustrated edition. So, this means that I can't start this series. I don't want to start the series again until I get the first book. I wonder if I can get the same edition as the four that I already have.

Anyway.

I just wish that I could sustain reading and writing about Ulysses this time. To say the least, I am on my way to my third chemotherapy cycle and sometimes I don't really get the mood. I've been lagging behind my reading. My Shelfari says that I haven't read any book this year, so that's how bad I've been lagging.

I'll post something about the book tomorrow.