Paperback Lover
I was in HMV in Central Building with my husband weeks ago. The plan was to get Cassandra a Barney video because she is just so giddy and happy about him... her. Anyway, it was unsuccessful after an hour of going round and about the whole store thinking of getting it or not. I spent more time though staring at the bookshelves than in the CD shelves.
When I reached the counter, I already had in my hands, not a Barney video or an audio CD, but two books, namely "Eat Pray Love" and "The Empire of the Sun". The trip to HMV was not entirely a waste of time after all, since Barney hunting was a fail. Had we gone out of there without any purchase, my husband would've looked at me with disgust.
My fascination or shall I say love for reading started when.... I couldn't remember exactly when. But I know it was even before I started having periods (ugggh, need I say that? Sorry).
My grandmother, who was a teacher for 32 years, by the way, introduced reading to me so that I could enhance my “comprehensive reading skills” just like any teacher would, I suppose. She also was my book financier at that time. We would stroll around National Bookstore and she would oftentimes buy me a book. Ever since, every trip to the bookstore becomes special. Even if the trip was just to buy a pen, a greeting card or a notebook, I would still find time to stroll around to skim some books.
Some books from my collection that I got from her included Enid Blyton's "When The Moon Was Blue and Other Stories", Sweet Valley High books, Baby-Sitters' Club books, etc. etc. I remember, every time she will give me a book, she would write a little dedication on one of the first pages of the book with the date and where it was bought. Even on my Webster dictionary there are my name, date and bookstore branch that she wrote before giving to me. I remember based on my “photographic memory” that it was back in 1995 that she gave it to me.
Now, I got used to doing that. Whatever book I buy, I would immediately write my name, date, and store I got it from. Yes, just to say the book is mine so whenever someone borrows it, she would feel a little embarrased if it stays too long with her and would return it because my name is somehow boldly written on the first or last page of the book.
To my growing enthusiasm for reading, I remember my Daddy giving me around 15 of those small square-sized books of classic stories as a Christmas gift back in 2000, titles included "The Last of the Mohicans", "The Tale of Two Cities", "The Wizard of Oz", etc. Until now, they are still stored in our study cabinet among my other books back home, waiting for me to get them and place on my own bookshelves in myown home hopefully.
In the summer of 2001, I was vacationing at my Tita's house. His son, well, my cousin, had 4 hardbound books, which at that time, he wasn't touching or reading. Looking at them, I thought they were some children's book simply because of the almost cartoon-like boy riding on a dragon, a flying car, and the like on the cover. Then, a girl from PREX choir told me she was into reading that Harry Potter series which she said was about magic and stuff. After the practice, I grabbed the first book and read it just for the heck of it. Days later, I couldn't put down the book to sleep, to eat and do anything else. I remember before the class started in June 2001 I have already finished the 4 books. From then on, I would wait for the new releases to hit the bookstores. If they were out-of-stock, I would still wait for the replenishment in bookstores.
When I started earning my own money, I saw to it that I would at least buy and read two books a month. Though it wasn't every month that I bought books, in between I was sure I was reading one. I would help myself on whatever book I had available and what I could afford. I would finish a chapter on to the next then a book to another. I would go on to an author to another. Those books that I found interesting were written by Paulo Coelho, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Stephenie Meyer (of course), Mitch Albom, Audrey Niffenegger and others. Of course, I own a Sophie Kinsella or a Cecelia Ahern book. It's just that they're one of each, "Confessions of a Shopaholic" and "P.S. I Love You". I could say they're not my type of books like how I say vegetables are not my type of food. I could have a bite of say, lettuce or romaine but I wouldn't finish them off because too much of it would make me puke.
Now that my lifestyle has changed a bit, my reading has gradually become extinct. Nowadays, it gets harder to find time, a short time even, to open the book and have a good read. I had to squeeze it between my free time to iron some clothes, do the laundry, watch a movie, take care of the baby or sleep.
Among the few things I did since I was young, this is one that I want to continue until I have clear vision, or even if I don’t anymore. I would want to preserve this habit of mine as the feeling of finishing a book gives me a kind of elation.
This also is one of the many things I am thankful for my Lola for “training” me to do. Without her, I don’t think I could have cultivated this. I don’t think I would have the patience to read thick paperback novels or have enriched my vocabulary a little. I even think I wouldn't be a better person without it.
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