I believe in angels. Do you?
So following my read-a-thon of Paulo Coelho's The Deluxe Collection, I just finished reading my fourth book from the book set, which is The Valkyries.
I have known the term Valkyries from the Mythology lessons in my high school days. It is part of Norse mythology and I recognize them as similar to gods and goddesses. They are allegedly supernatural beings in Norse myth.
I didn't want to preempt my expectation of this book because of its predecessor. I read The Zahir before The Valkyries, and to tell you the truth I do not like some ideas from the book, but I will never recommend The Zahir not to be read. I enjoyed reading it, I love the whole journey that comes along with the book.
Going back to the book at hand, The Valkyries is a book of faith. Paulo, the writer himself, is also the main protagonist of the novel along with her wife, Chris. Most of the details are based on the author's personal experience with little ingredients of fiction to smoothly lay down the idea of the story.
The experience of reading this book confronted me with my very own stake in faith. Have I believed enough? Have I truly surrendered everything to the LORD? Have I sincerely accepted His forgiveness through Jesus Christ? Do angels really exist? Have I talked to my angel or have I even seen one? Provoking thoughts that will make you hold on to this book at the very end.
Paulo and Chris are on a mission to see and be able to talk to their angels. It was originally only Paulo's desire to see and be able to converse to his angel, but his wife, Chris, was drawn gradually to the whole journey and conspiracy of meeting an angel.
Desert has always played a significant role in Coelho's works. Just like in this novel, it is a supernatural place where supernatural things can happen. It is a double-edged sword, it has its danger and beauty. One of the magnificent creation of God where angels would likely appear, where miracles most probably transpire. It is a sacred place of mystery and conspiracy.
The Valkyries in the story are women who travel and dwell in the desert. They are women of liberty. Wild and free are how others perceive them, lesbians, even. But they are not. They live a life of purpose. Others might never understand it, but there are great fulfillment and freedom in living out your purpose without submitting to what the current society calls normal. Others might even say they are insane.
There is a world beyond what we can see right now. The spiritual world is closer than we think. Its parallel existence to our current reality is more than authentic than we could ever imagine. There is a physical and spiritual war. What's persistently transpiring now beyond what our eyes can see is the spiritual war. Our soul can see it, yet it is corrupted by the sin of this world. We should receive the gift of free salvation through Jesus Christ, our LORD, accept Him, surrender our life, and be renewed in the power of the Holy Spirit, and all these are possible because God loves us. Because of love everything is possible, because of love, you and I will be freed from the corruption of this world and be able to come out victorious in this so-called spiritual war.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
Roses are red, violets are blue. Look me in the eyes and tell me you love me too.
I am not sure if my introduction makes sense but they just ran out of my mind and insisted to be written on this blog.
Contemporary poetry has a huge following in this modern era. Lang Leav, Michael Faudet, Rupi Kaur are a few to name international writers in the book category of prose and poetry. I read works from Lang Leav and Michael Faudet, but never Rupi Kaur, maybe one of these days I'll get to read my e-book copies of her book. Leav and Faudet's works are good.
There are few Filipino writers who also work on contemporary prose and poetry. I got to read some of them.
1. Maybe You'll Love Me When I'm Gone by Neil Jed Castro
This is the first book of Neil Jed Castro. I bought a copy from the Big Bad Wolf Manila 2020 in the ABS-CBN Publishing booth for a discounted price. It talks about the what-ifs when someone disappears in your life. I have my favorites and you can check them out in my review vlog about Maybe You'll Love Me When I'm Gone by Neil Jed Castro.
2. What If It's Too Late by Neil Jed Castro
My second book from Neil Jed Castro is What If It's Too Late? It is about love and regrets in life. I so love the covers of his books. I also made a review vlog of this book.
3. Shadowed Truths by Charlene Tinaza and Kim Derla
Shadowed Truths is an independently published prose and poetry book by Charlene and Kim. It presents the realities in life and mostly the harsh ones and how to accept and overcome them. Click here for a review vlog of this book.
4. The Last I'll Write About You by Dawn Lanuza
The Last Time I’ll Write About You is popular Filipino YA and romance writer Dawn Lanuza’s debut collection of poetry. Featuring beautiful, relatable poems about first love, this book is the perfect companion for anyone who has loved, lost and emerged anew.
I got an e-book copy from amazon.com. This collection of poems shows us the art of moving on from our first love, especially the unrequited and also the ones that did not last.
6. Before I Lose My Nerve (this is NOT about you) by Layla S. Tanjutco
If you’ve ever had your heart broken you would know that it takes courage to love again. Before I Lose My Nerve is a collection of poems about heartbreak, the journey to finding the courage to love again, and realizing the kind of love that one deserves.
I got this book for free from the author way, way back through amazon.com. Thank you, author! This book talks about moving on triumphantly from heartbreaks and people who let you down.
If you like other recommendations, I also wrote some prose and poetry books, they are available on Amazon Kindle except for Unspoken Words ni Olivia.
Let's plant plants!
Since I was a kid, I was exposed to gardening even though we live in an urban place.
I can still remember clearly when I was in elementary, we had a subject EPP or Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan. I think if translated in English the subject is called Home Economics and Livelihood Education. Tell me what you think, did I translate it correctly or not?
Well, this subject was where we had activities in gardening. By group, we were assigned a small lot to take care of and nurture. It was a rectangular lot of almost 10 by 2 feet, I think, I do not know how to convert the size in a square meter. Anyway, we prepared the soil with the use of a trowel and water and barricading it with the use of straw rope tied on a tulos, a piece of wood, in every corner of the lot. We also made our own trowel by using tin cans and a piece of wood for the handle.
It was our teacher, Mr. Yambao, who guided us throughout the process of gardening. Each group planted peanuts on their garden lot as for the signal of our teacher. Now that I realized it, it was one of my favorite subjects. I always looked forward to this class, we got dirt on our hands and even in our clothes, but it was an experience and essential lesson I would never forget. I always look back to this experience whenever I see gardens or farms, especially ones with edible plants.
Every summer or Christmas vacation, we used to visit my father's province in Nueva Ecija, and this place is known as the Rice Capital of the Philippines. With my sibling, cousins, titos and titas, I got to see a vast horizon of farm fields with grains and trees like mango and some others I could not name since they were far from me, and as always I am entranced with that kind of scenery.
Fast forward during this Extended Enhanced Community Quarantine, I tried planting. There is no much available space in our residency, so the best way is to do urban gardening. My father already has plants placed in recycled plastic containers. He has been gardening ever since I can remember. Mostly, we have ornamental plants and some trees like papaya, guyabano, bayabas, and alateris in some small available lot in our residence. I am amazed by my father's talent in gardening, one of his many.
Now, I am returning to gardening. During this pandemic, I realized the importance of reconnecting with nature, to God's creation, through the simple way of gardening at home. I am aware that I got to do this and other stuff because of the community quarantine due to the danger brought by CoVid-19, but I hope and pray it can be part of my new normal after lifting EECQ on May 15.
Seedlings are coming out. Seedlings! Truest in its flesh! I felt giddy and excited when I saw the two okra seedlings this morning. I could not believe they were actually sprouting. (Yay! Yey!) This is my second attempt, and they are growing. My first attempt failed, but my father knows much better when it comes to planting. He gave me some tips on how to plant seeds the right way. I am still waiting and looking forward to the other seeds to come out.
I got seeds for free from the City Agriculture Office - the City of Santa Rosa, Laguna through the office of Barangay Caingin City of Santa Rosa Laguna. They still have plenty of vegetable seeds. You can still drop a message on their Facebook to get some seeds for free so you can start your own planting journey.
Every time I water the plants, I try to talk to the plants either silently or verbally. Just this morning, I read some Bible verses to the seedlings, since watching #CLOY I was reminded that I must talk to the plants and say good things. Aren't Bible verses good words to say?
I did not like the love story in this book.
My third book from The Deluxe Collection of Paulo Coelho's books is The Zahir. The term in the book title is quite new to me. Zahir is something that is not used in an everyday conversation and I wonder what meaning lies behind the word. At the beginning of the book, it was defined what the title meant. So you better get a copy of this book and see for yourself.
I had high expectations with this book since it was a predecessor of Veronika decides to die, and it did not fail me after reading The Alchemist. To be honest I did not like the other philosophical views mentioned in the novel, specifically the ideas of marriage and sex. The narrator of the story felt like he was so casual in taking another woman in his life when he was not even sure if his wife was alive, kidnapped, or left him for good because he was such a scumbag. He had no idea of the reason behind the disappearance of his wife and he willingly accepted a new woman to bed with him. Other people would think this is something normal, but not for me. Other people would believe that being open-minded with that kind of relationship was a sign of maturity, but again, not for me. And the same goes with the missing wife, Esther, she wasn't even different from her husband. She was missing for two years and at the end of the story, I realized she was just the same as her husband. It was like they had an open marriage with those years they were apart, and I do not approve of practicing such.
Paulo Coelho himself appeared in my mind as the narrator of The Zahir whenever I read the story. I could not shake off the idea that it was him. That's just how I imagined the protagonist and it stayed like that until I finished the book. It took me a long time to finish the book since it was thicker than the previous two books I read from the same author. I concluded reading the book in a week probably with rests in between.
I almost put down the book because I was not fond of ideas the narrator was persistently showing me, but I did not let go of the book. I was entranced by the whole journey of finding the missing wife. The mystery behind the lost and found journey of the narrator was a stronghold for me to never read the book unfinished. The narrator brought me with him every step of the way in discovering everything behind the story of his missing wife. It felt like I was with him investigating and exploring the different possibilities in life as we delved into the energy of love. I felt him, all his struggles and confusions just to find and maybe get back his wife.
This kind of love story is never my cup of tea, nevertheless, I enjoy the story, and if time and circumstance permit me I will not hesitate to read the book all over again and relive the excitement and experiences with the narrator.
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