I have always loved reading. As far as I can remember, I read and read and read since I was a kid. I remembered spending countless hours reading the then very popular "komiks" when I was still a boy in my small hometown, even spending time squatting in our local market with other kids during lunch breaks renting them and reading them there. It is good that I heard Carlo Caparas and his wife is trying to resurrect "komiks" - and the Filipinos' habit of reading them - in the Philippines. When I become a little bit more "mature" in my hobby (that is not to say that only immature readers read "komiks"), I started reading magazines and pocketbooks. I remember starting from Hardy Boys stories in high school, then gradually shifted to science fiction, particularly Isaac Asimov's Robots and Foundation series during my first years in College, and finally into conspiracies and thrillers with the popular authors of that time - Ludlum, Clancy, Forsythe, Sheldon, and others. My favorite in this genre - and in this era of my reading - is John LeCarre, but it did not stop me from reading the works of all the other authors, whenever and wherever I get hold of them. I've read about spies and agents and Jason Bourne long time before they got the chance to be watched on the big screen. After that, I moved into reading legal stories - the John Grisham variety. And I was totally hooked. I became fascinated with each novel so much, that I practically collected all of Grisham's books and read them... you could say learn them by heart, even. During this time, I did not only become more mature in my reading, I also reached a certain maturity in life, as you might say.When I become a teacher, my love for reading became more intense. If before I want to read just for the sheer pleasure of doing it, this time it became an inherent requirement. I feel that to become the best in my craft, I need to read more. Not only on the areas that I learned to love and appreciate all these years, but on all areas possible. I started exploring (and reading) new genres, and I began expanding my reading habit in the process. During this time, I got fascinated with reading general business and management books, aside from books about IT and computers. And so, I started collecting them also. I read about Microsoft, Intel, National Semiconductor, IBM, General Motors, Dell, and countless other successful stories of organizations. This provided me the foundation to be curious and interested about the life of the people that run them, and so, I started reading about their lives - Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Jack Welch, and many more. It dawned on me that reading biographies and memoirs not only give you immense reading pleasure, more importantly, it gives you important lessons - life lessons which you can always practice in your own context, in your own situation, and in your own time. I bought and read books about the life of Colin Powell, Rudy Giuliani, Albert Einstein and a few other individuals who, in one way or another had very colorful and important lives from my own perspective. I even read a chapter in the life of Osama Bin Laden in one of the books written about him, the title of which is lost on me now. And I continue to read and read and read...
When I read about Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, I become fascinated with everything religion. I read several other books relevant to it and for that matter read and learned also about the Knight's Templars, the Freemasonry and the Lodge, and the so-called secret and discarded gospels. I become facsinated with Dan Brown's stories that I also read his other novels. (Sadly, except for Angels and Demons, his other stories did not measure up to the same league as the Da Vinci Code, so I thought).
When I first came to this place, I had a hard time finding books to read. And I don't know for the life of me why I decided to accept a job here in the first place because of that. It was actually the first time in my life that I couldn't read anything, except for some old educational textbooks and newspapers. I'd been to several places already - and always, plenty of books are there for reading. And I thought, this is becoming not fun anymore... but then, I need to sacrifice a bit inasmuch as circumstances really need for me to work here in the meantime. And so, I waited... something, I hope, will eventually happen.
Yesterday, when I visited the city center once more after a long vacation, I was greeted with a new shop called Borders at the newly-constructed wing of the mall . It's actually one of the biggest bookstores I've ever seen in quite a while... and the good thing is, it houses thousands of books that I love! The place even has a small Starbucks Coffee shop in one corner, which made Alice very happy :) Now, Alice can stay there and wait for me while I scan all the titles there and choose my next read. Borders really get me going again.
I actually did not stop reading during the whole time I stayed in this area. Although there's not that many books to get, I contented myself reading magazines - computer magazines for that matter. I even collected one publication which caught my fancy. From time to time, I also download eBooks (although good titles that do not have copyrights are scarce). Overall, my reading did not suffer too much, and I would say it's not that bad afterall. However, the coming of Borders is indeed a very welcome development, and the resurrection of my reading hobby is definitely in the offing once again - I already bought three new titles for me: The Google Story, one by Isaac Asimov, and I'd like to try Cormack McCarthy now by planning to read The Road. I bought Alice one as a gift - A Mighty Heart, to prepare her also for a long time of reading again.
If you wish hard enough, and hope long enough, everything is possible... really.
