I was fond of learning English by that time, and these novels not only helped me improve my vocabulary collections, it also gave me an insight towards the past :3 Not that they were all historical fiction - I do love this genre- but the fact that we're living in the 21st century makes everything that happens in the plot considered history! What's more amusing than knowing how people live in the past centuries? ^____^ uh. Probably a large cone of chocolate ice cream, thank you.
So, since these are classics, and the authors have passed away a long time ago, the copyrights have expired and we could easily download these novels from a galore of sites in the world wide web. My first download was Arthur Conan Doyle's complete collection of Sherlock Holmes and the Jules Verne's adventurous science fictions. But seriously, reading a digital version was inconvenient to the maximum. So I came to the thought of actually buying these at a bookstore (Seems like this girl has got pots of ingots :p). Oh I have to tell you that I actually found a friend who pretty much has a similar passion towards books and reading :D She recommended an international bookstore, which I have once heard of but have never visited. I was extremely excited knowing that they sell imported books, and they're all not translated into Bahasa. U n f o r t u n a t e l y. . . It turns out that spending your money there would lead to bankruptcy- imported books remember. Well that's one bitter news. I don't recommend buying -real live- classics. But Google's always around to help :) here are some of my favorite sources:
- http://www.myharvardclassics.com/categories/20120212
- http://www.planetpdf.com/free_pdf_ebooks.asp
- http://www.classicreader.com/browse/1/title/
Happy aren't we :) ?
Happy! But now I'm happier since I gladly found a place where I can get these novels, without having to spend any money: The Library of Campus B! I have almost forgotten the concept of Libraries!! That's because Campus A's Lib wouldn't everrr have a collection of literature! (What for! They say med students only read anatomy atlases and medical textbooks. But they're the lame ones. Oops :p) It started out after a friend of mine asked me to make a description of Airlangga University for Medspin, and then I remembered this nearly forgotten information: We have a Faculty of Humanities, which has a department of English Literature. And what do English Literature students read? :D ahahahayy you know the answer!!!
So that particular day (July 3rd, based on this borrowing note from the lib)I rushed (by feet) to the B Lib - it was a cloudy afternoon, and it had just stopped raining, the roads and sidewalks (well there weren't literally any) were all wet, puddled and muddy. :( It was a really tough journey. Not a really long one. But it was so wet. When I arrived at the entrance gate of Campus B there was this really big puddle that I can't walk through, I almost gave up and I felt like turning back and going home. But I walked on, and managed to go to the other entrance. There were so many sidewalk shops and I actually bumped on a rope that supports their canvas shelters. On the head. It hurts so much >.< And people were looking at me and I felt really awkward. But then again I was so close. And I walked on.
And I reached the building. It was a big, three storey building :) painted purple (or was it gray), and so many hopes lay in it. I felt really good, but also anxious, worried that there might not be any hope for me to find the book I was longing to read. But I was more of excited and happy yayay :) it's a new place to explore anyway. There's always something interesting on an exploration. I went in and wandered around, going in and out of rooms, skimming the books, studying the patterns, asking around, trying to act (and sound) like a good student lol. Then there. I found the label literature: 009 Dewey Decimal system -whatever they call it.
Dickens, Bronte, Austen, R.L Stevenson. Mark Twain. Daniel Defoe. Hemingway. Rudyard Kipling. Robert Ludlum! Stephen King!! And a lot of other authors, some I hardly ever heard of, some very familiar names but never had the chance to read. Like Virginia Woolf, Anthony Trollope, Goethe, Tolstoy, George Orwell. It was just amazing.And I reached the building. It was a big, three storey building :) painted purple (or was it gray), and so many hopes lay in it. I felt really good, but also anxious, worried that there might not be any hope for me to find the book I was longing to read. But I was more of excited and happy yayay :) it's a new place to explore anyway. There's always something interesting on an exploration. I went in and wandered around, going in and out of rooms, skimming the books, studying the patterns, asking around, trying to act (and sound) like a good student lol. Then there. I found the label literature: 009 Dewey Decimal system -whatever they call it.
And There
On the third floor
On the southernmost row
A bookshelf labelled 009
Filled with E N G L I S H C L A S S I C S
(And other literature books)
And there were more and more shelves forming a corridor!
A corridor of books! What say you!!
I almost shouted. I almost jumped, I almost cried. I was so happy :D
They had everything!I had to borrow something. I have a long holiday ahead, and I have to finish reading these before I graduate and probably not have a chance to borrow from here. I could only pick two books and fr a period of two weeks.That was a hard choice to make. I saw a galore of books, I wanted to read all of them! So I walked to and fro, up and down the corridors, picking books, skimming through, returning them, wow-ing all the time, wishing that I could just grab them all and bring 'em home.
Despite the excitement, I was actually unsure of what genre I wanted to read. The titles were so amazing, but then again, titles don't tell much about the story don't they.
And I was questioning myself, what do I want to read?
After an hour of some tough consideration (seriously an hour), I picked up 1984 by George Orwell and The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway.
Reasons? a couple of days before, I stumbled upon an article in the web about the term Big Brother and how it emerged, and they talked about 1984 all the way, and George Orwell and his influence. I was quite amazed when I saw this title in one of the shelves. So I think I have to find out what the fuss was all about. And The Old Man and The Sea? It was just too popular that I wanted to know what was so great about the book. :)
And I have finished reading them, and they're already safe and sound back in those wooden shelves. I alredy switched them with another couple :) Kim (Rudyard Kipling) and Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)!! This time I read reviews on Goodreads so I don't waste too much time wandering around!
Reviews by me will be written as soon as . . . I have the time :/
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