Showbiz bookworms

THEN: A flashback on a book fare written April 6, 1989 - 21 years ago.

There are few stars in the entertainment firmament who read. The usual reason is that they don’t have the time. The very few celebrities who read, who really read, are therefore an interesting lot.

Cynthia Patag tops the list of those who are really into reading. She reads philosophy books and last year was into biographies. She studied in Assumption hoping to be a journalist and that was where she picked up the habit of reading. Another book lover is Tita Muñoz, whose home library is packed with books on spiritual inspiration and esoteric subjects.

Vic del Rosario Jr. of Viva films reads a lot of management books’, biographies of men like Lee Iaccoca and Nelson Rockefeller, and the corporate histories of such giant institutions as General Motors and CBS. Vic started reading only after he left school and when he was already head of his own business. It’s from books, he claims, that he learned one can make it big by not working for other people. “I never had a boss.”

Melanie Marquez is now reading health books as she is in that interesting condition. She loves to read magazines and when she was modeling in the US and Europe she found pleasure in interesting magazines to read and bring home.

The next best thing to bring to bed on a rainy night is a good book. Perhaps we would have fewer pregnancies on shows like That’s Entertainment if the young stars got into the habit of reading.

If it is hard to judge a book by its cover as it is difficult to judge a person by the book he or she reads. Flying back home from Hong Kong last weekend, I was seated on the plane next to a comely young woman who was earnestly reading Shakespeare in paperback. I thought she was either a teacher or a banker. She was also well-dressed in an understated way and I thought perhaps she could be in the arts or in a related profession.

We got to talking during dinner and she told me unabashedly that she was working as a domestic in Hong Kong and had in fact been on the job there for five years. She was coming home to see her son - one of three children - graduate with honors in her hometown. Her husband, a soldier, would be waiting for her at the airport in Manila. She turned out to be a delightful seatmate.

On a brisk foray to the bookstores in Hong Kong I got Alfred Hitchcock in French - a collection of tales combining death and humor. I also got Salman Rushdie’s first novel, Grimus. No, the bookshop didn’t have in stock that most celebrated satanic opus that week.

You can tell about the people living in the house by the books you find in their bookshelves. If they don’t have any, you don’t miss anything by leaving right away. Imagine going to a house and seeing only accounting books and nothing else. Or to a lawyer’s house that only displays grim-looking law books. You wonder if the fellow has ever picked up a paperback or a whodunit to loosen up. Nobody can be such a killjoy or a sourpuss.

I discovered years ago that there is a book in everyone. Three actresses who have had exciting affairs of the heart with men prominent in politics and the military are thinking of writing their autobiographies. One asked me how to go about it. I told her to start reading some books first. The last time we talked she said she was reading Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying.

NOW: April 28, 2010.

Cynthia Patag still reads a lot. According to her, she started being cause oriented in the last election because of our friend Behn Cervantes. She should be the one to write a book on her colorful love life. After studying at the Assumption and La Salle, she hibernated in Iloilo to join her mother and she decided to finish her Masters. During this time she went to Las Vegas for romance but it did not work out. Getting bored with Iloilo she is now back on stage with Nanette Inventor, Mitch Valdes and Pilita Corrales.

When Tita Muñoz died she was into religious books. For a while she stayed in a convent in Laguna. She willed her books to be distributed to family and friends.

Melanie Marquez still reads beauty books. But in our last talk I told her to write on poise and beauty which can help young beauty aspirants make the rounds of beauty contests.

Vic del Rosario still reads book on how to create wealth like the one authored by Robert Allen and the One Minute Millionaire by Mark Hansen.

Our style of reading changed with computers. I can rush to see the ending in one sweep to find out who gets the hero. Then I make it a point to get all the books by Filipino authors. I read all the books of Nick Joaquin, Greg Brilliantes, Federico Licsi Espino and Frankie Sionil Jose. I collect books written by Chitang Nakpil, Gilda Cordero, Mauro Avena, Ben Medina, Julie Yap Daza, Ricky Lee, Ricky Lo, Sylvia Mayuga, Frank Chavez and Al Cuenca. The latest is the book on Chino Roces written by Vergel Santos.