Living in the province sans decent book shops—or those that
sell books and not school materials—was a challenge to any growing bookworm, but it did
not make me falter. A two-hour trip to Manila meant book hunting for me. I remember collecting Sabrina the Teenage
Witch series when I was still younger, when I was six years old, when I was
still in grade school. To read more novels, my friends and I would trade books
and that started my now growing collection of reading materials: fiction,
non-fiction, magazine, comics, coffee table book.
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| from my Goodreads account |
Perhaps, my first “legitimate” reading material was Nicholas
Sparks’ “A Walk to Remember”, back when I was still in Grade 5. By legitimate I
meant more texts and lesser or no photos. I’ve seemingly outgrown Barbie,
Sabrina, Alice, and Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. Spark’s novels were my favorite
subjects for our book review projects.
However, my high school days were not as prolific as it
should have been. I’ve never read the indispensable classics like Victor Hugo’s
Les Miserable, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, or Louisa Alcott’s Little
Women. Our class, unfortunately, was more focused with Science and Math. So it’s
only now that I’m starting to read them slowly, carefully.
Aside from turning the pages and watching myself transported
to different worlds, different eras, and different time, I am carefully
scrutinizing how each word was weaved to make smooth and beautiful sentences
and how these coherent thoughts made up a story.
Reading and writing come hand in hand. I like reading but I must
admit that my writing still needs improvement good thing I got a lifetime
dedicated to reading.
