Candelaria Reading by the Road Seven Days in January

Reading by the two lane highway on the porch in front of the family property in Candelaria, Zambales is one of my very favorite things. Candelaria is 250 kilometers from metro Manila and at least fifty years back in time.  No traffic jams, no fast foods, no malls, no cabs and it is a pleasure to draw a deep breath, most in the town of five thousand, versus ten million plus in Manila, have deep roots.  I find it a very spiritual place, I feel my third eye opening more and more as I stay.  Maybe it is the peace and quiet and serenity.  Sometimes I let my mind wander back to the days before the Spanish came near five hundred years ago.  It is a great place to read, relax, feel the breeze from the nearby South China Sea. 

       View from our porch

For my own purposes primarily I want to journalize my reading for the seven days I was just there.

Novels in Progress

1.  The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon by William Thackeray 

2.   Dr Faustus by Thomas Mann

Novels Completed while in Candelaria

1.  An Invitation to a Waltz  by Rosamund Lehmann.  My first read of her work, totally loved it.

2.  A Replacement Life by Boris Flishman.  Interesting concent, central character writes false claims  for holocaust payments for elderly New York Jews.

3.  The United States of Japan by Peter Tieryas.  Forthcoming shortly.  Really powerful 

4.  The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes.  My fifth of his novels, by far the best.

      Rice fields, amazing green

Short Stories Read While in Candelaria

1.  "In Another Country" by David Constantine.  Second reading

2.  "Strong Enough to Help" by David Constantine. Third reading. Read reading life story

3.  "The Pacific" by Somerset Maugham. A very brief work, almost a prose poem

4.  "The Shares of Loves" by Clarice Lispector, second reading

5.  The Quest for Latin" by Guy de Maupassant, newly translated by Sandra Smith, a fun to read work

6.  "The Watcher" by Clarice Hargrove, slowly reading her collected stories

7.  "Sabine Women" by Marcel Ayme.  My second read of his short stories

8.  "The Celestial Omnibus" by C. F. Forester.  Second reading. ,love this story but far from understanding it.

9.  "Dayward" by ZZ Parker.  I enjoyed this first venture into her work.

10.  "Irina" by Mavis Gallant.  The more of her I read, the more I like it.  Brilliant story

     The mangoes of Candelaria are considered the best in the world.  

Do you have a beloved reading get a way spot?  

Mel u