Great Classical Novels: Revisitation to "MY" Archives

 

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  Studying about heavenly bodies way back in my primary and secondary years inspired me a lot. Traveling through space shuttles, eating while floating due to lack of gravity, walking on the moon, studying lives outside the earth, learning things in other planets, and discovering tidbits of rocks outside the universe interest me a lot. Hence being an astronaut was my first  dream course and if lucky enough, work.  Most of the time before, I imagined myself working in NASA and daydream about meteors and all of such sorts around. I found it so so soooo SUPERB! I remembered I once told mama about what work I'd like to have in the future one evening while she slept beside me.

Me: Ma, gusto ko mag-astronaut inig dako nako and magtravel di lang sah tibuok kalibutan pero sa gawas sa kalibutan.  (Ma, I'd like to be an astronaut when I grow up and travel not just around the world but outside our planet.)
Mama: *startled* Day, nanrabaho gani mi ni papa duol nimu daun ikaw molayo nah nuon ka, mogawas pajud sah kalibutan? (Day, your father and I work closer to where you are, but then you want to work away from us, and the worst outside the planet?)

Such convo made me think but never hindered me of wanting to be an astronaut. But, when I came to my senses during my senior years, I realized there's no school offering aeronautics in Phil. so I decided to take Marine Biology when I will enroll for my college years. I was good in Bio back then, hence taking the course would make me an expert in the field AND I'll get the chance of learning how to swim. Everything went smoothly as I passed a scholarship in the school (MSU-IIT) I'm wanting to study for college which offers the aforementioned course,too.

Enrollment day arrived. My father did not allow me to study in MSU because of the chaos between Muslims and Christians back then. So I got no other option but to study in the university (LSU) situated in my own city. The very first Department the guard pointed was the College of Education, so without much ado, I got a prospectus and enrolled. I never noticed that the prospectus handed to me was for secondary education which required a major subject. It made me ponder whether I'll go for Biology which is closer to Marine Bio or English since literature was my second interest.

Flipping a coin made me settle for English. :) (photo from web)

My more than 4-year old prospectus. Crumpled and nearly rotten ;)

And so a sojourn had started. Despite of not becoming an astronaut or a marine biologist, I successfully managed my chosen course. Instead of doing the moonwalk outside the earth or swimming under the sea, I've done reading. Reading made me go what's beyond the universe and those which are under the sea. I've traveled. I've rode all sorts of spaceships. I've tried all submarines.I've made friends with those splendid astronauts, divers, above all, WRITERS . I was acquainted to those great persons both in stories and histories. We'll, what more could I ask for? ;)

...old  exam permits I've kept :)

. . . of all my 25 English subjects (yes, 25! I don't know how I did all those ^^) ,  English 7n "The Novel" was one of my favorite English subjects. For the entire semester, aside from our assigned novel,  we were required to read the novels  of our classmates and did the extraction of profound quotes/lines. I was tasked to do Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It's the very first novel I've ever read. The novel has it's movie as well so when I did the discussion of my novel to the class, I let them watch the film first. ;)


The novels we did read and study are as follows:

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
(hahahahah mine should be first in the list ^^)

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           Click here for remarkable lines from "Pride and Prejudice"


 2. The Tale of Genji by Lady Murashaki Shikibu
 (...the first novel ever written^^)

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 3. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

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4. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  by Mark Twain

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 5. Moby Dick by Herman Melville

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6. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

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7. The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway 

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8. Anna Karenina by Leo Toltstoy

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9. My Antonia by Willa Sibert Cather

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10. Mysterious Island by Jules Verne

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11. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

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12. The Pearl by John Steinbeck

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13. Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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14. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

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Im blithesome I was indulged with these great classical novels which were all well-written. A few made me inspired, and some made me fell in love. They made me admire great characters. They made me travel back to lots of events. And above all, they made me learn a lot out from their simple and unique stories.Truly, reading is incomparable.


At one point, I was able to contemplate that I could probably not read when I'll be outside the earth, for sure I will have to chase my book. I could definitely not read under the sea, too, my book will surely get wet. Therefore I know I've settled for what is the best for me.^^