In Britain, 2008 is the National Year of Reading and it was launched by no less than British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday. In the headline of her article, Denise Winterman of BBC News asks: “Do we still need to read books to be clever? She goes on to ask: “With so many other ways to get information these days, do we still need books?”
Why we read books
We read books to be informed, entertained, inspired, to expand our horizons, to pass the time, and to lull us to sleep. We read books because they offer escape from our daily routine and because they’re there.
When I was a child, I remember reading the books published by Ginn & Company lying around the house. When I was in high school, there were no malls and fast food and I had no money. My extra money could only afford the 10-centavo jeepney fare to the Thomas Jefferson Library on Sta. Mesa St. (now Ramon Magsaysay Blvd.) in Manila. So off I went to that library on my free time. In air conditioned comfort, I would lose myself among the book shelves browsing at the thousands of book titles. I must admit that going to the Thomas Jefferson Library to read its books was my only imaginary escape from my limited resources. But it did expand my horizons and desire to achieve. I went on to finish high school and college which changed my life. I was offered a job even before graduation day and my first pay was PHP 305 a month, a far cry from the 10 centavos in my pocket. Later, I got an East-West Center scholarship which was like icing on a cake that my college education had baked. Well, the rest is history. I have moved on and the library is no longer there. In 1970 it moved to G. Araneta Blvd., Quezon City; in 1980, it moved to Buendia Avenue Extension (now Senator Gil Puyat Avenue), Makati City. Today, the library is located on the ground floor of the Annex Building of the U.S. Embassy on Roxas Boulevard.
Do Filipinos read books?
In February 2007, Virgilio Almario, national artist for literature, delivered a speech with a catchy title, “Nagbabasa Ka Ba?” (Do you read?) at the Read or Die Convention. He spoke about an ancient disease of the modern Filipino society–the problem of education and the related puzzle of why more than 90 percent of the Filipino nation do not read. He said that no one will admit that they do not read, even if the truth is their reading is narrow in scope and more often than not limited to the daily broadsheet.
According to Almario, reading is cultured, it is taught and it is carved into the hearts and minds of young children, sown into their very personalities, so that they will love the book like a precious gem or find it as delicious as their favorite treat in McDo or Jollibee.
A parallel observation was found by the 2007 National Book Development Board (NBDB) Readership Survey. Reading has declined across all socioeconomic groups, except those in the AB class. Public school students now read fewer books, newspapers, magazines, and comics than they did in the 2003 Readership Survey. For private school respondents, there was a slight increase in those reading comics. The median number of books read was three which suggests that even if half the adult population of the Philippines have read three or more non-school books in the past year, the other half have read only at most three, or no books at all.
Do college students and teachers read?
While we were on the topic, how can we improve the quality of instructional materials, Efren Saz also shared with us the results of a little survey he did in his Sociology 11 class on the books that his students read. He was surprised to find that most students cited the dictionary. I hope that survey result does not reflect the overall pattern in universities. If college students don’t read other books, how can we expect them to have better writing skills, a wide vocabulary, and a broad world view? In my undergrad days in UP Diliman, the English and Humanities teachers nurtured in us the importance of being a complete person. So whether we read The Book of Job, The Old Man and the Sea or Catcher in the Rye or appreciate the tapestries in the Sistine Chapel (from slides) a link was always made to being a complete person. In my classes, my mantra is read, read, read. But do college students really read books outside their required text, the dictionary or the Bible?
In the same breath, do teachers read? If you do, when was the last time you read a book outside your discipline and finished it? So what books have you recently read? How do you choose the books that you read?
To start this informal survey, I texted my son what book he is currently reading. He texted back: Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami which he “just saw in the bookstore and judged by its cover.” I have just read Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Paulo Coelho’s The Devil and Miss Prym and Michael Crichton’s Next. Since I live far away from Fully Booked, A Different Bookstore and Powerbooks, I often rely on my son’s hand-me-downs. I’m sure my next read will be the Murakami book. Interesting how children can influence the reading fare of parents. In fact, it was my son who introduced me to the Coelho books and a lot more.
Why do I get to read more books? Because they’re in my son’s book shelves and I no longer watch that much TV. Like other leisure activities, book reading is often displaced by TV viewing. So if you’re not an avid fan of telenovelas and fantaseryes, chances are you will be drawn to book reading. If you’re a book reader, chances are you write well.
So, why do you read? Send in your comments.
24 responses so far ↓
buenjosef // February 10, 2008 at 9:30 pm
hi ma’am moni….okey, i’m kicking things off right now…
With regard to my frequency in reading books, I should say that I don’t really read books that frequently. The last time that I read a book was last Christmas break. The title of the book that I read was Kama Sutra…(hehe). I was intrigued by the book (because frankly speaking many said that it’s “cool” to read that book). And, it was also the recommendation of my kuya that excited me to read it from cover to cover. The contents of the book did not really live up to my expectations. I thought it would entail explicit, erotic and somewhat pornographic contents but I was wrong. Instead, its content was like a must-do list of practices that will enrich the Kama (physical aspect) as well as the Dharma and so on (just try to read it).
Well, we have lots of books in our house mainly because my parents and my kuya are book lovers. When I was a kid (around 5 or 6 yrs old), my parents bought a set of encyclopedia (Encyclopedia Americana) for us siblings. I think their purpose was to enrich our knowledge and also serve as reference for our future homework. This proved to be a good idea. This also aroused my interest to read. At first, I just scanned for beautiful pictures and illustrations but later on I began to read them. I even remembered reading encyclopedias while using the toilet. I read many topics from A-Z in that encyclopedia when I was a kid. And I enjoyed reading them.
It’s not only books that I read. I also read Reader’s Digest, newspapers, National Geographic, magazines, Newsweek, short stories, etc. anything under the sun. But, I only read them when I have spare time, on the weekends, or during midnight when I can’t sleep.
Some of the books that I read were Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevski, The Prophet by Khalil Gibran, The Prince by Nicholo Machiavelli, Sadomasochism in Everyday Life by Lynn S. Chancer, Kama Sutra. These books were from my kuya. I also rely on him for books (he has good taste). Whenever he has money, he would spend them for books rather than spend them on clothes and liquors (unlike me). When I was staying at Mahogany Dormitory, our adviser Mr. Ernesto Bulayog also encouraged us to read books and invest on them rather than spending money on irrelevant things. He also gave me a book by Og Mandino entitled The Secrets to Happiness and Success. Well, it was supposed to be an inspiring book and sort of performing a mantra or something but I never had the chance to learn from it…hehe.. He also lent me a compilation of Reader’s Digest articles.
Jojo Agot // February 11, 2008 at 12:38 am
Q: When did you last read a book?
A: Yesterday. I just finished Prince Caspian of the Chronicles of Narnia series last week and I’m trying to finish Eragon in the next two days so I could start with Golden Compass later this week.
Q: What books have you just read?
A: A little bit of almost everything. I know this is mad and impossible but I do it anyway. In 2007, I made it my personal mission to read the classics. I stumbled over an old copy of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet at BOOKSALE in February and from that day on, I got hooked with literature. I particularly liked TWELFTH NIGHT because it was made into a movie (She’s the Man) starring Amanda Bynes. Then I moved on to Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, and Hamlet.
I must say it was a drag reading Old English and it took me a while to get used to Shakespeare’s weird sentence structures, not to mention the extra effort of looking up archaic words from my dictionary. I did it just for the sheer pleasure of knowing what captured the imagination of so many people from previous generations who praised Shakespeare’s genius.
I tried reading other plays like Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and The Crucible and those written by George Bernard Shaw just because they were often quoted in books and I wanted to know the original source material.
When I got fed up with archaic English, I tried Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper, Huckleberry Finn, and Tom Sawyer, Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, and Oliver Twist, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and a little bit of the Brontë sisters.
I also took an odd interest in essays on politics, history, religion, linguistics, philosophy, and sociology just to have a grasp of the prevailing ideas in these subjects and so I would know what to think about when these topics come up. I find this interesting because essays, unlike history or prose, provide a deeper, albeit slanted understanding of a certain topic. My Newsweek subscription is also a great resource in world politics.
Honestly, I only read these books because I wanted to know who the writers were, what they were famous for, and what it was like to live in a different century.
Then came July and Harry Potter 7 was coming out. I was one of the billion Harry Potter fans who bought the book on the morning of the release date. I finished the whole book in two days and was one of the millions who succumbed to what they call the post-Potter depression (Voldemort being killed and Harry marrying Ginny, having kids 19 years later and suddenly it’s all over).
To fill in the fantasy void of the recently concluded Harry Potter, I started reading THE HOBBIT and the LORD OF THE RINGS series by JRR Tolkien, then did a little back tracking with the Silmarillion and the History of Middle Earth.
In October last year, I tried Old English again by reading Beowulf but before I finished it, the movie came out.
Of course I also read Paulo Coelho’s THE ALCHEMIST, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera, Neil Gaiman’s AMERICAN GODS and Stephen King’s Dark Tower series but I’m not done with them yet.
Right now, I’m stuck with Eragon, Golden Compass and the last three instalments of the Chronicles of Narnia series.
I’m planning to read Michael Crichton’s NEXT and Neil Gaiman’s STARDUST afterwards. Or maybe Plato’s discourse, depending on my “topak.”
Carmille Bales // February 11, 2008 at 9:58 am
“No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting.” -quote from Lady Mary Wortley Montagu-
Why I read books? Because I love books! I always take time to read a book and would want to see a book lying on my bedside every night. I read books of different genre and whatever seems to be the latest craze. So, you can call me a bookworm. I’d take it as a compliment.
Uhm, I actually just read a book (unfinished) an hour ago just because my homework for this week is based on that book and apparently I’ll be reading that in an hour again. I got groggy trying to figure out pathways and mechanisms until I gave up (temporarily) to grab something to eat. It’s cold today and what a perfect excuse to curl up in the couch and read something so “un-plant”. Ok, I read Plant Physiology… apparently a textbook from a class. Not that I love to but I have to.
So what are the books that I love? Aside from textbooks (alright, I admit I need to love them because I spend a week worth of pay just to buy them!)… I read legal thrillers (John Grisham), crime fiction (Sidney Sheldon, Tom Clancy), action/conspiracy thrillers (Robert Ludlum), detective fiction (Edgar Allan Poe, Carolyn Keene, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), inspirational books (Bo Sanchez, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Rhonda Byrne), motivational books (Stephen Covey, Zig Ziglar, Robert Kiyosaki), children’s literature (J.K Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, C.S. Lewis), science fiction stuff (Michael Crichton), Archie’s comics and almost anything under the sun. I still have a lot in my list and I could go on like forever just enumerating them.
I love trilogies (Lord of the Rings), series (Harry Potter) and books that hit the silver screen (helluva lot of ‘em in my list!). One funny thing that I do (and I think some do this too) is that I read a favorite book more than once! And if there’s this author that I love, I’d start scouting for his/her other books and make a checklist of it.
Just finished: Rising Sun by Michael Crichton
Unfinished book in my bedside: The Gunslinger by Stephen King (trying out another genre: horror fiction)
Unread books in my bedside: Genome by Matt Ridley and The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond (too much about genetics—remember I must to get away from them sometime)
Upcoming in my list: The Appeal by John Grisham; New Moon, Twilight, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer; The 8th Habit: from Effectiveness to Greatness by Stephen Covey; Mind Lines: Lines of Changing Minds by L. Michael Hall et al (because my mother told me to buy it for her and I can’t resist to read it when it’s sitting in my bookshelf)
Must-reads: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
Have you ever heard of audiobooks? Try to listen to them in your mp3 player or in your car (audio CD) when driving long distance. I just listened to Angels and Demons by Dan Brown and Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus by John Gray. Awesome!
Nelfa M. Glova // February 11, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Ma’am Moni, am I so glad you’re putting up this informal survey!
Reading books is one of the most powerful tools for growth. Books teach new ideas, new things; books inspire us to imagine and be creative. When a person stops reading books, s/he stops learning. When a person stops learning, s/he grows old—like murky water in a pond.
I read a book last year by MK Wren entitled A Gift Upon the Shore (everyone, please read this). The story revolved around two women in a post-apocalyptic Oregon racing against time to save and preserve a treasure that they wanted to pass on to future generations. The treasure is actually a collection of books which mankind gone-haywire vowed to destroy. The protagonists believed that through books, seeds of hope, wisdom and compassion could be sown back into man’s heart and mind amidst the rubbles of nuclear war.
When I was a kid, my mother would draw me a reading list which covered the classic works in literature. She made me read Hardy’s Tess of the d’ Urbervilles, du Maurier’s Rebecca, and a lot, lot more. I resented at first. But a mother who worked as a young girl in the sunbaked sugarcane fields and grew up believing much of her success was due to her love for books would not let me be. Little did I know that she was building me for the future!
Now, I have become a certified bookworm, enriched in all the books I interacted with but humbled in the humility of their writers. I read to learn, to be mystified, to be inspired. I read to cry, to laugh, to be angry, to sharpen my emotions, to satisfy the child and the adult in me. I read for action and pleasure. I read for my work.
I read everyday. We have a collection back home and my mother borrows from the local library which is, ironically for a rural setting, quite rich. I just put down a book last night, The Wind Singer, written in the tradition of JK Rowling. Last month I had Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel and there was this anthology containing a short story of Nadine Gordimer (1992 Nobel Winner for Literature) titled “The Ultimate Safari.”
I have read a lot of deep, critical stuff in the past like Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Dante, Polybius, Locke, Hobbes, Machiavelli, Fanon, Camus and Rand, even the very controversial Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie and the historical novel Poland by Michener—required readings in politics. I read Margaret Thatcher’s autobiogs, and Elizabeth Debray’s I, Rigoberta Menchu an Indian Woman in Guatemala. I also read contemporary ones like Isabel Allende’s House of Spirits and Portrait in Sepia, Sandra Cisnero’s House on Mango Street, James Patterson’s The Lake House, Wilbur Smith’s Elephant Song, Anna Quindlen’s One True Thing, MG Jaffe’s Dance Real Slow, Kazou Ishiguro’s The Unconsoled, Coelho’s Zahir, Trevanian’s Shibumi, Alice Sebold’s Lovely Bones, Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd and the book no one should miss, Writing Alone and With Others by Pat Schneider. Last December I had two in a row: White Oleander by Janet Fitch and We are the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates. The book I pick depend upon my mood. Now I am reading The Practical Skeptic: Readings in Sociology.
I choose readings according to their importance in literature and to my need—rather bourgeois. I go for the names—if it says work of Emily Dickinson, I’ll pick it up. There are writers whose style I adore. I sometimes look for works recommended by friends. I search the net and the Book-of-the-Month Club not for best-sellers but for great storyline and style. Nowadays, there are divergent voices tinged by the boldness and idealism of the youth from around the corner.
What only saddens me is my crude observation that our students don’t read much anymore. And with their failure to read you could only imagine how much in our knowledge bank are they missing. They could have learned what we know, they could have used it in their studies, in their social circle, and later, in the workplace. When I taught Philippine History, Government and Constitution last year, I encouraged my students to read, and read in advance. I gave quizzes based on current events so they would read the dailies. But the blank stares they threw me and the failing scores told me they did not. Sometimes I felt like I was swimming in the big black hole of my students’ ignorance. But then, what could have happened in their formative years, in elementary and high school is too much to correct in one semester. I wonder what could be done with this?
Efren B. Saz // February 12, 2008 at 11:46 am
Its funny how the conversation has moved from the looks of IMs to the subject of reading itself. Its bound to go back to the issue of reading. Why? Because the basic issue of IMs basically is not the appearance. Its the substance. Now, one does not read because something looks good. One reads because something is good. What is good? Its a personal judgment. And even if something is not good, one still profits from the reading of it. Was it Bacon who said “Reading maketh a full man” ? (apologies to feminists). Yes, reading itself is good. And this is the very basic fact that is lost among those who seem to blame the material or the instructor for not reading. The urge to read, when not part of your system is difficult to teach at a later age (hs/college age, I suppose).
I grew up from a poor family that did not have books and I did not have access to books other than the required ones in the elementary grades. Its even funny how we memorized the books Pepe and Pilar. Even the books that my younger siblings used like Si Trining did not escape me and I still could recite many lines from some of Trining’s misadventures. I wish I had Moni’s or Nelfa’s access. We had a school library but the sad story is that it was always closed because the in-charge was not always available or she did not want to lend for fear that the books will get soiled. No wonder that at one time the COA had all of them condemned and burned, many of the volumes seemed brand new after years of stacking in the shelves.
My access to nonschool related material came from months-old issues of Reader’s Digest which my seminarian cousin brought home during vacations. He was a pampered boy and I guess he was allowed a subscription without question by our aunt’s family who raised him. Starting grade four I competed in spelling and general information contests and I found that my facility in both categories came from my reading and my teachers would dump volumes of a national school paper called School News Review (?) which contained many facts about countries and Geography was one of my favorite subjects so I devoured all of them with gusto. And I got all the books required in all subjects and read all of them. In high school, I had a teacher who had a collection of history books and I borrowed all of them. When I graduated from high school I still did not have any love for fiction although I had already read the Swiss Family Robinson in my freshman year. I really was into history, biography and science.
In college my reading outside of my courses was confined to condensed versions of books found in Reader’s Digest. Never read much other material. After college I had access through colleagues to fiction so I read almost all of Ludlum’s, Robbins’, some of Follet’s, Uris’ and many others. Then I realized I missed the classics and that I had like one century of reading backlog. so when I went to the States, my most valuable purchases were books and I gave priority to the classics–Homer, Virgil, Pasternak, Buck (the Good Earth), Tolstoy, Gone with the Wind and many more including collections of American short stories. I still missed many of the Russians and Americans. I got Puig’s Kiss of the Spider Woman after it came out of the press courtesy of a Latino friend. The copy was quickly swiped by someone else and I don’t know where it is now but I’m happy that its being read. I have donated to the ISRDS library my collection including the Thornbirds and many more. I still have some nearly recent Pulitzer and National Book Award winners– Ann Proulx, Jumpa Lahiri, etc. Indians Narayan, Naipaul and Vassanji (the latter two are Indians only by ancestry) Konrad, Stevenson. I’m stuck with Orhan Pamuk (Turkish). I have three of him and I can’t stand his style. For feminists I have Jung Chang’s Wild Swans–a story of contemporary China (1949-up) from her family’s story and the Poisonwood Bible (also a good sociology of religion). We also have the Chicken Soup Series. Those who want to borrow just let me know. May I also borrow from anybody any of the Russians: Doystoyevsky, Gogol, Chekov or any of the South Americans Garcia-Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude specially? For food lovers I have Trillin, two of his.
paulo // February 12, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Just in time. This post coincides with the time I just decided to read again. I am just a few pages towards the end of Sidney Sheldon’s NOTHING LASTS FOREVER. This is a ‘fast-paced, snap-crackling murder trial with twists and turns’—F. Lee Bailey. I was intrigued by the paragraphs on the back cover so I decided to read it. Also, a classmate of mine inspired and persuaded me to read back again. I tell you, she knows a lot. And she owes it to reading.
To tell you frankly, this is not supposed to be the book that I’m reading right now. It should have been the DA VINCI CODE. But my classmate refused to hand the book to me. (Anyone out there with that book who could lend it to me? How about Harry Potter Book 7? This is the last installment I haven’t read yet.) Ate Carms, can you lend me some of the books you read?
Nothing beats reading. In education, this is a fact that no one could ever question. Almost all geniuses and ‘great brains’ in the planet owe their superb intelligence and brilliance on reading books. Books provide a vast area of information and knowledge, and everything we know came from books (aside from experiences of course). ^_^
Through books we believe that there is God, that He created everything that exists, that there is Armageddon, and so on. How come? The greatest book of all, the Bible, tells so. Through math books we learned how to compute numbers in four operations, do statistics, measure probability, etc. Through science books we learned about our body parts, the Doppler Effect, the properties of light, etc. And through English ones we knew about how to read and write English well. We also get to blend in human interest through novels and learn more of life. See, you get to know a lot through them.
I used to read books when I was in my grade school. I often read the Webster’s Encyclopedia that my father brought home one afternoon way back in Manila. At first I was just enticed by the colorful pictures in it. But pictures for me weren’t enough, especially that they do not inform me of anything (what are they, what do they tell, etc.) by just plainly looking at them. So, I decided to read the sentences below or beside them. I enjoyed reading books, especially those of general information. Because of this I often answered a number of quiz show questions on TV. My favorite then was LG quiz bee on GMA-7. My parents were so proud of me whenever they hear me answering the questions correctly. My dad used to say ‘Kung sumali ka sana diyan anak, panalo ka sana!’ (If only you joined the contest son, you could have won!) I was very happy, and I felt superior over others. ^_^\
But eventually, things changed. I slowly lost my enthusiasm and interest in reading. I’m already done with the books in our house. And I don’t want to read them all over again. Our elementary school has the books locked in the library. And the books that we’re using in the classes back then were defaced and in adhesives. Well, for me that’s a factor that affects my reading. Oftentimes, I judge a book by its cover. Who would want to read one with that condition? In high school, we have a big library of books categorized in Dewey Decimal System. I started reading books again. I thought I’d revive my interest back. But that was just momentary. With the rise of Internet and the variety of entertainment it lays, I noticed myself in front of the computer monitor during my spare time, and not in the library reading. Some of my friends also do that. They go to Friendster or play online games, chat with someone else, etc.
Another that got me is television. I got hooked in watching anime or manga in the afternoons- Ghost Fighter, Flame of Recca, Naruto and many more. Until now I do this whenever I visit cyberspace. They eat most of my internet fees, leaving little in looking for the assignments or reading postings and supplementary information for some topics. I know a number of students also do this. I still read, but seldom. I still learn, but a little. I move forward, but not as fast as those who read. I’m not blaming the Internet nor the TV for this. It’s my choice to access them.
But continuing doing so would do me no more good but just flat entertainment. They wouldn’t expand my horizons. They wouldn’t teach me something practical in life. They are but just imitations of reality. They are but just pure fiction. But the real world is not like that; real life is not like that either. I know I must get back on reading… to get more… to know more… of real life. ^_^
Carmille Bales // February 13, 2008 at 9:52 am
Hi Paulo! I didn’t know that you have great interest in books too. Regrettably, I cannot trace where my Da Vinci Code was because a lot of people were waiting in line to borrow it. It came to a point that I lost track of who the last reader was. I know it is somewhere out there and I just took comfort in the fact that someone is reading it right now.
Ironically, I haven’t bought a copy of Harry Potter 7 yet! You see, I read books 1-4 all in one week the summer after my sophomore year. I borrowed books 5 and 6 at the library and I have to sabotage the librarian to keep the book for me when someone returns it or else I can’t grab hold of it. That’s what I did with the all the Chicken Soup books in the library too. There’s no way of spotting them in the shelves! Anyway, I just can’t believe that it will be ending (Harry Potter series) so I’d rather want to think that I have one more book to read yet =) You can check at home if I have some books left but I doubt you’ll find anything. I have a sloppy system of keeping my books. But I am definitely keeping the books that I bought here. As what Sir Efren said, books are valuable purchases.
ella // February 13, 2008 at 7:39 pm
I agree with Prof. Saz. Reading habits of students is basically the problem today. If one really has the desire to read and study, no matter how the IMs are done badly, he or she will really read the material. But because only a few people read by all means, I think, this is where our forum on IMs comes in. In as much as we want our students to study, we have to do something to those factors that affect studying or reading. (e.g. appearance of IMs, etc.)
When I was young, my father always urge us to read the encyclopedias on our shelves. Usually, at the end of the day, he would ask us about the things that we read during the day. Sometimes, we are able to tell him, but oftentimes, we just put on a timid smile and scratch our heads. This had been the routine until my father gave up in urging us to read, seeing that it only yielded a little or nothing at all.
When I reached high school, I found joy in reading novels. The first novel I read was Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity. After that, I decided to read the most craved Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling (my classmates in highschool always talk about this in class. I just can’t help but try them as well). Then I tried Grisham’s The Firm but I never finished it because I didn’t quite like the mid part of the story. I never read books of love like those of Mills and Boons’. I just can’t relate to them. I also happened to read one inspirational book. Buen had also mentioned this in his comment: Og Mandino’s The Secret to Happiness and Success. I also began reading mythology books. Not only that, my tastes had gone classic and I began to read the works of Shakespeare (dramas), Charles Dickens and Jane Austen. Then, I stumbled on a book with the same author who wrotet he famous A Walk To Remember which was produced into a movie. I am currently reading Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha.
My father came to notice this habit of mine. He bought me books from National Bookstore whenever he had time. He appreciated the habit. He told me to just go on with it because as time comes, when I don’t have a novel to read, I would always tend to look for a material to read may it be an encyclopedia or any reference book. Well, part of what my father said was true. I did try to read those encyclopedias on our shelves but I never tried to pore over them for hours like what I usually do when I read novels.
Anyway, Prof Saz reminded me of Bacon (if he meant Francis Bacon), a great essayist of the Renaissance period in England. I was able to read one of his essays which offered a special interest to students. It was entitled Of Studies. He quoted there “Abeunt studia in mores,” translated as studies develop into habits. He added that “there is no impediment in the wit but maybe wrought out by fit studies; like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises. Every defect of the mind may have a special remedy.” That is summed up by the statement that Prof. Saz said in his comment that “reading makes a full man.”
I guess there would be a great difficulty nowadays in bringing to the children the beauty of reading. I have read in one of the articles in the Reader’s Digest that children in one country (I forgot) tend to read a lot after having read Harry Potter books. The book seemed to have “bewitched” the children to read more. As for myself, I find the book really captivating. Aside from having a child-friendly plot, the book can be read with ease (I’m talking about the author’s writing style and the words that she used). That is why, when my Chinese students at ZGSU asked me on what book I could recommend for them to improve their English comm skills, I said Rowling’s Harry Potter. I hope it will really help them.
As for most VSU students, surely I would recommend anything interesting but it will never be the dictionary…
Monina Escalada // February 17, 2008 at 6:00 pm
I am visiting my son this weekend and when I opened his shoe/book cabinet, I was amazed to find a treasure trove of books: The Last Time I Saw Mother by Arlene Chai, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Kafka on the Shore by Murakami, Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco, Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King, Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan, Blood and Gold by Anne Rice, The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien, After the Banquet by Yuko Mishima, The Woman Who Had Two Navels by Nick Joaquin, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, The Feast of All Saints by Anne Rice, Wicked by Gregory Maguire, Manual of the Warrior of Light by Paulo Coelho, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, The Satanic Verses by Rushman Saldie, The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, The Song of the Silver Frond by Catherine Lim, Les Aventures de Tintin (11 volumes), etc. These books must have eaten up into his allowance and I wonder what cost items were displaced to enable him to buy these books. Perhaps he skipped a meal or two to afford all these books. But I’m glad that he has a vast reading repertoire.
Monina Escalada // February 25, 2008 at 2:37 pm
After a ho-hum Sunday lunch at Portico in Serendra, my son and I stopped by Fully Booked. From rows and rows of books on the ground and second floor, I bought two books: The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho and A Spot of Brother by Mark Haddon. I will read these when I get back home.
neil // February 25, 2008 at 6:04 pm
It was a very long time that I have not visited devcompage (i guess so,having weeks of not posting comments on this site).As I was reading the latest posts,I was quite interested in placing comments about “When did you last read a book?”. Actually,I just finished the novel I borrowed from Marlon entitled, “Eleven Minutes” by Paulo Coelho. Some said that this is the daring novel written by Coelho,and I do agree with them.
I also tried reading Arthur Golden’s “Memoirs of a Geisha”. Its fascinating story encouraged me to read and explore the secrets of a geisha. I was entertained by its literary form and well-informed on what these geishas are. The novel consists almost thirty-five chapters but I just finished until chapter twenty three. But thanks to HBO channel, and the motion picture of memoirs was shown last February 10, 2008.
During my Christmas vacation,I spent my vacant hours by reading “In the presence of my enemies” by Gracia Burnham & Dean Merill and a fiction novel “Hollywood Husbands and Hollywood wives” by Jackie Collins.
When I got many vacant hours, I read books which I usually borrow from my English teacher during my elementary grades, particularly in Grade 5 & 6 (but these were not english grammar and spelling books per se).This English teacher of mine has a good communication skill and more knowledgeable than any other teachers in my elem. school. I was inspired and made me follow her. She loved reading books that will entertain and educate her.
When I was still young,my form of entertainment was watching local and international movies. But it all changed in a sudden because I find more interest in reading books.
After the three day national congress I attended last December 13, 2007 in Laguna, I, together with my schoolmates, toured in Makati for just a little while. One of our stops was in Powerbooks and I was amazed by many books I’ve seen. All types of books and reading materials were there but all were at high cost (how i wish i would have such number of books so i could just easily pick a book and read it). I don’t own many books so what I usually do is borrow them from friends,visit high school and college libraries or just search through the internet on the information I wanted. Through reading books, I become an eager-beaver to read more and feed my ever-inquiring mind.
Right now,I always encourage my younger sister to read books. If we will be encouraging them to read at young age,they would consider it as part of their daily lives.
neil // February 25, 2008 at 6:17 pm
To ma’am moni:
The new book of Paulo Coelho “The Witch of Portobello” is another good book that talks about love, passion, joy and sacrifice. I just read some information through the web (hehe, how i wish there is a bookstore here in Baybay so I can buy that book). Enjoy reading the book,Ma’am.
Cata // February 26, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Reading, I should say isn’t a hobby of mine especially at this date and time where we have everything the world offers (I’m referring to computers, Internet, cell phones, MP3 players, television, and other new advancements). In my experience and in my viewpoint as well, these technologies caused the decline of one’s readership as one is allured to spend his leisure time to surf the internet, watch the television, or to text.
During my Elementary years, I like to read books. In fact, I was a member of the Book Lover’s Club in my school at Saint Peter’s College. Every Wednesday and Friday we went to the Library to read books. Some of these books are Encyclopedia, Reader’s Digest, Almanac, Short Stories, World History, which until now are my favorite.
When I was in High School, my taste for reading books change. At that time, I like Reading Inspirational Books and Lifestyle Magazines (though I still continued to read the Encyclopedia, Reader’s Digest, Almanac, for reference). One of my Favorite is The Purpose of Driven Life by Rick Warren. This book was introduced to me by my adviser in 3rd year. Luckily, a cousin of mine has this book and I was able to read through it. But unfortunately I didn’t finish it since my cousin brought it with him in his stay in Cebu.
In my 4th year I got interested in Reading the Novel. The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice which was produced into a Movie in 2002 was the first Novel I finished reading. The book was only handed to me by a neighbor — a foreigner who has a big appetite for reading Novels. The moment I step up College, I put a halt in reading. Not until last summer where I began to read Blood Stone by Ken Eulo. Until now, I’m still in the middle part of the book, hoping to finish it by summer.
-laine- // February 27, 2008 at 11:49 am
I learn to love reading not beacause i’m obliged to read about the lessons that i’ll be sharing to my students; but because i realized that reading definitely feeds one’s brain…
josie ann // February 27, 2008 at 10:25 pm
This entry reminds of Ms. Avril. She kept telling us (her journalism class) to read before we die…
Anyway, it was my mom who first taught me how to read. I think I started reading when I was around 5 years old. We had lots of beginner books by Dr. Suess and P.D. Eastman and other children’s book. My mom would ask me to read it aloud and pronounce the words correctly. Usually it was my older sister that would correct me with my pronunciation. Sometimes, my mother would ask me to read a book before I can go out to play. I would sit beside her and read a book while she sleeps. I just mark those words I don’t understand or those that I can’t read. Then, she would check the book for the words that I have marked.
I remember the book that I kept reading over and over again was the King Midas and the Golden Touch.
My mother also bought a complete collection of “My Bible Friends” by Etta B. Degering and “Uncle Arthur’s Bible Book” by Arthur S. Maxwell for me to read.
I didn’t really have the interest of reading novels. I found it boring. What I usually read are articles from Readers’ Digest and Health and Home that would heighten my interest. I remember when I was about to go to high school and my sister is about to have her first job, she promised me that she would collect Nancy Drew books for me. I was like “no thanks, I don’t read novels anyway. They’re boring”. I’d rather have a bike than novels. (I didn’t even know Nancy Drew at that time. Not until high school.)
But in high school, the library was my favorite place to hang. I would usually spend my free time there. I’d go there to read abridged novels (usually Sherlock Holmes) that I can finish before the next class. But I have also read the unabridged “Round the World in Eighty Days” and “Gone Away Lake”. I borrowed it from the library.
But when I transferred school, I didn’t get to visit the library like before. I guess maybe because of the school system. So all I read are again articles from Readers’ Digest, Health and Home and Candy magazine. Also I just read books that are available at home.
Last year, when the Da Vinci Code was the talk-of-the-earth my brother got interested. But when he went to the National Bookstore it was all sold out. So he bought Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons instead. He gave it to me after he finished reading it. I find it interesting and I got hooked into it. We would even discuss about it during meal times. After that, he borrowed Da Vinci Code from his officemate for the both of us to read.
He also gave me another novel. It was John Grisham’s The Firm. It captured his interest since it was about a lawyer and he is taking up Bachelor of Laws but it didn’t capture mine. Until now I haven’t read it. I even have it borrowed by my classmate. Lol.
But I think I will read it this vacation since I will be having more free time and it got a good review from my friend.
All in all, my interest in reading are not really with novels but with articles from serials like Readers’ Digest and Health and Home and also from articles that I find interesting in the internet.
So why I read?.. I think it’s for me to be entertained and be aware.
zee-m // March 6, 2008 at 4:30 pm
ma’am moni,
I did not consider myself as a wide reader of books. I seldom read books. There are many books that I started reading but until now they were still pending in my closet. There are only few books/novels that I finished reading. But I enjoy reading the bible. As what Paulo said; the bible is the greatest book. Our religion teacher in high school stressed that the bible is not just a book but a library, because the book was composed of different writings of various writers and philosophers in different generations. I found out that the book covers many topics and concerns like; leadership, relationship, marriage, encouragement, love, history, songs, sayings, predictions, etc….
Like any other books (science book, history, mathematics…) the bible also lives up its purpose for human development. The other books will show us how to make a living (economic books, other business oriented books,etc…) and taught us about life and the world (science books). In the other hand the bible will show us how to live life and taught us the essence of life as we live in this world. Our spiritual development will lead to our self and social development.
analou // March 15, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Like zee-m, i don’t consider my self as a wide reader of books. Honestly, reading just makes me lull to sleep (hehehe..) i don’t know but that usually happens. But though that’s the situation, i still find time to read. I read when i like. I read to gain information. I read to be entertain. And what i usually read, Reader’s Digest. It’s all in one.
Jojo Agot // March 19, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Ma’am Moni,
I just want to ask Prof. Saz if he has already read Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. In his comment above, he was asking if anybody would let him borrow any of Dostoevsky’s work. I figured I could give him a brand new copy if he hasn’t read that one.
I bought the book a few weeks ago, thinking that giving it to someone from here might be a good tribute to your Devcompage blog.
And to Nelfa, pick one from these options: Jane Austen’s PERSUASION, Emily Brontë’s WUTHERING HEIGHTS, or A POCKETBOOK OF SHORT STORIES– an anthology of masterpieces that include the works of H. Balzac, RL Stevenson, Gd Maupassant, E. Hemingway, Leo Tolstoi, Anton Chekhov, etc.
(To everyone else, I’m sorry I’m a bit unfair, lol.)
Thank you Ma’am Moni.
Monina Escalada // March 20, 2008 at 7:28 am
Jojo, I’m glad that Devcompage can stimulate a spiriit of sharing among its readers. Efren hasn’t been reading Devcompage as the Internet connection in the string of buildings facing the rubber trees (ISR, DDC, Econ, MMDC, DYAC) has been accidentally cut by a backhoe clearing the area. I will relay to him your offer and I’ll be glad to carry the books (for Nelfa too) back to them. At any time convenient to you, you can drop the books at The Columns’ front desk. Alternatively,you can hand me the books over a cup of latte and blueberry muffin at Starbucks-The Columns. My treat.
Nelfa M. Glova // March 24, 2008 at 10:17 am
Jo: A POCKETBOOK OF SHORT STORIES would be perfect. (Done with the other two way back in college.) A million thanks–there is no gift I’d appreciate more than a good book.
Jojo Agot // March 24, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Nelfa, I would have picked the same, hahaha. It’s a very good book– I can’t believe they could put together an edition like that. I’m sure you will enjoy it very much.
Monina Escalada // March 31, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Jojo, thanks for dropping by this morning with 3 books individually packed in paper bags for me, Efren and Nelfa. You made us feel like it’s Christmas in March. I got Michael Crichton’s State Of Fear. Efren got Crime and Punishment and Nelfa got A Pocketbook of Short Stories. Jojo said the books are his tribute to Devcompage. Many thanks, Jojo.
Efren B. Saz // April 1, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Jojo, thanks for the book. I am very pleased that someone who does not know me would be very kind to give me something that enjoy the most–a book. I have had the good fortune of having friends give lend me books. Moni actually brought me a copy of Garcia-Marquez’ One hundred years of Solitude and she brought two more, maybe, just pacing my reading speed. There are actually a good number of people in campus who read and have books of their own. Maybe we could start something like a book exchange where we put out our books for others to borrow. I can volunteer the ISRDS as the physical hub. I hate just storing my books after I read them. I want others to get the same enjoyment that I did with mine. Thanks again Jojo for the huge favor. And Moni for the et cetera. This Devcompage has done beyond what even Moni probably expected.
Jojo Agot // April 3, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Prof. Saz,
You are most welcome. It feels great giving out something to people. I like the idea of that book exchange, if only I’m anywhere near the vicinity. I’m sure there will be those who would love to be part of that.
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