Pillars of the Earth

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Literature & Fiction
Author:	Ken Follett

Christian Villanueva, one of my students recommended this book to me. I took his word when he so enthusiastically told me that it is the best novel there is. And believe me when I say that he is right. Very right.

In paper back, it was a thousand page long and the task of reading it seemed insurmountable so not unlike the building fo the cathedral of kingsbridge which is the central focus of the novel.

Thanks to typhoon Egay, to the government's predilection for holidays, and the two day weekend which is one of the perks of being a teacher, I got myself a total of five days to finish the entire thing under a leaking roof and amidst hundreds of papers to check.

When I went back to work last Tuesday, I immediately informed Christian that I had finished reading the novel. Judging from the way he looked, I think he felt happy and proud that I agree with him.

Reading the novel was an adventure. It was meeting new heroes in the person of Philip the Prior of Kingsbridge, who is religious in every sense of the word, but very human, Tom the builder and Ellen who in her eccentricity was judged a witch, Aliena and her love Jack.

Philip is not like any religious protagonists I encountered in the past. He struggled against his pride and against antagonists who are also working within the Church. He experienced fear, doubts, and uncertainties, and yes even temptations of the fleshy kind. He emerged in triumph at the end of all his struggles but there was no false pride in him for he got truly bruised in all his fights.

While plowing through the novel, I remember with gratitude my Medieval History teacher at the Ateneo, Fr. Bartolomew Lahiff, SJ for instructing us about gothic churches for that knowledge assisted me in making sense of the church building and in appreciating the struggle against gravity that medieval mason-builders had to face.

The novels had numerous twists and Ken Follett's genius in tying up all the loose ends was amazing.

Harry Potter at the Ateneo Website

A few days ago, several students excitedly told me that I am in the AdMU Website.  My first reaction was verbally expressed: "Why?  What did I do?" But because they were grinning from ear to ear while saying "'Cher, you're famous..."  my second reaction was that of fearful self-doubt.  As a person who is so private and secretive of his ways and so pessimistic about life, particularly that of my own, my mind was in a hurry to find a single answer to a diluge of questions: "My _ _ _, was I caught by the security cameras doin something urm... unimaginable?  But what?  And in Ateneo?

Then I remembered the Harry Potter picture.  It was ten o'clock in the morning of the 21st of July.  I was at the AdMU High School library and had gotten hold of the 7th book along with a free copy of the 6th courtesy of a 300 peso reservation fee made by Jay, my big brother.  

The soundtrack of the Harry Potter movie was playing in the background and inside the library about four students were already feasting on the delight that was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Pictures of the early birds that got the novel probably at as early as 7 am were flashing on a computer desktop nearby.  I blurted out quite audibly in the hope that the person who was responsible for the pictures might hear "I hope I'll be on that screen too..." 

And magically he from somewhere heard me. He asked a former colleague from the AdMU High School and I to hold our books, to smile and then... he immortalized me slim looking, happy, and wo-boy in a hurry to brag to the world that I have the Harry Potter 7 and a picture to prove it.    

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