I Have Started Reading Books Again

Reading is a big puzzle piece of my totality as a human being. I grew up with history textbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias at home. I used to carry four to five textbooks of different subjects when I was in my elementary days. 

The funny thing is I had a backpack with the big picture of famous professional wrestler Batista as the imprint design when I was in Grade 2. It was a pasalubong by my auntie working in Canada who went back to the Philippines for a vacation. Maybe I did not feel any discomfort bringing the issued books daily as there was a muscular guy bearing the heavy weight as if he was Atlas.

In high school, we had to read our lessons in advance so that we can say something when we are asked by our teacher. That time, not studying the next topic in each class was a ‘mortal sin’. Standing during class discussion without anything to say would be embarrassing. Thus, scanning our books every night can save us from trouble.

This helped me a lot to survive college as there were voluminous handouts and photocopied books (Sorry for this.) that I had to peruse daily. Now that I am teacher, I am glad that I have reading as a habit as I need to inform myself about what to cater to my learners.

I have been exposed to textbooks since I was a child. I am reading books most of the time for academic reasons. Owning fiction books was hard for me that time as there were no bookstores near our home. Then, we cannot afford one as my family needed to spend money for our necessities and medical needs of my sister who was confined several times in the hospital. Good thing, our church had Bible stories and popular children’s stories like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and Little Red Riding Hood.

I learned about Bob Ong when I was college. I saw my classmate reading Stainless Longganisa and I borrowed it. She said that I can bring it home. I read it on the bus from Alaminos City to Anda. I managed to finish it before returning to the city.

When I had my first work as a college instructor in a private institution in our town, I promised to buy any Bob Ong book. I bought ABNKKBSNPLAko?!. I love his humor and wit.

As I earn money, I can buy books that I want, but of course with restrictions. If the book is expensive, I will be saving for month before buying it from bookstore. When the COVID-19 pandemic came, I learned to purchase online through shopping apps. I bought a lot of poetry books written by Filipino authors.

Reading is a hobby, but buying books is not. Whenever my parents see me holding a newly purchased book, they keep on reminding me that I have books in my cabinet that I have not read yet.

This practice of mine remains unchanged. I have parcels of books that I just opened this week which I ordered last year. I have to address this phenomenon called tsundoku in Japanese.

Aside from this, I noticed that I spend more time online than reading books. Whenever I am at home, I have to do teaching- related tasks after eating dinner. I do not have time to read fiction and nonfiction books. After preparing for tomorrow’s lesson, I go to bed, but I will not sleep immediately as I open Facebook, TikTok, and X for latest updates and entertainment.

Being chronically online is a blessing and a curse. You know the trends, but you will form Internet addiction habits. There are times that I just do doomscrolling because I cannot sleep.

I saw a TikTok video about analog hobby. It is about doing something to have break on using electronic devices. I browsed on the search about the concept, and I found another video saying that reading is indeed an analog hobby.

There are no excuses, I have to save myself from too much screen time. When I went to Baguio City last May this year, I found out that the Museo Kordilyera has a bookshop within the establishment. I bought fault setting by Joel Toledo. I enjoyed reading while I was waiting for my breakfast in Garlick. I finished it when I went to saLipong in Balai sa Bundok, Bolinao. I was moved by his style.

Now, I am currently reading Ali Abdaal’s Feel-Good Productivity and Atom Araullo’s A View from the Ground. Because of Abdaal’s First Experiment, I returned to blogging through this post intended for Book Lovers Day. I realized that I am a storyteller. I have something to tell. My blog site is a platform that I left barren for a very long time. I was not able to reach my targets as blogger for many years because of procrastination, perfectionism, selective participation, and impostor syndrome.

Now that I have published, I can say I still have it. I can still express my thoughts through blogging. I hope with Atom’s personal essays, I can improve my storytelling by learning the way he employed sensory experiences and other nonfiction elements.

I may not be consistent of doing this hobby of mine daily, but what matters most now is I have returned to holding paperback and hardcover books, cherish the smell of paper, and read words, lines, sentences, and paragraphs even there are days skip.

This is my Odyssey. I just need to hold the puzzle piece anew which I have been ignoring because of Internet stuff. I am starting to be as excited as a child in browsing pages and concentrate on the content unperturbed by time and the noise around me.