Reading Frenzy

“There’s a time to read… if we just decide we want to do it.”
– Dave Llorito, my online buddy.

Words of wisdom, these are.

Until Ash Wednesday, I had not held a book in my hands for years. I really have to thank my good friend Nel Pascual — he gave me an “assignment” which was to read one chapter of Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life each day for the next forty days. And what an astoundingly life-changing book it was! I will not make a summary of that book here. You really must get your copy (our Multiply friend Bugsey has an e-book, even!) and read through it to appreciate the wisdom and the inspiration contained therein.

So here again, my blog topic. I was “bookless” for a good four years. Unless I can count the three-inch-thick Stedman’s Medical Dictionary, the PDR, and Principles of Surgery as the best nonfiction materials ever, I do not recall having read anything that normal people call BOOKS in the recent past. Blame it on medical transcription school. Blame it on Dogster, Multiply, and WordPress that came to my life after medical transcription school. Blame it on my own laziness. Staying online most of the time each day, I almost forgot about the charming, “old world” feel of paper on my hands. That was fine with me until I started blogging a bit more seriously. English is a second (maybe even a third) language for me, and I noted much to my consternation that I have been having difficulty expressing my thoughts in writing. I suddenly remember that I have not reading as much as I used to. I am no longer as comfortable with the English language as I used to be. My written communication skill has diminished in direct proportion to my reading.

I MUST start reading, I thought. In a fit of frenzy, I dug through stacks of books I have at home. I have forgotten about these as the bookshelf has already been dominated by medical dictionaries and references. There were management books aplenty. I set aside the heavy hardbounds and rested my hands on a small black book and smiled with much pride at having found a buried treasure…Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. This book was my favorite companion years ago as I served time in the human resource department of the Manila Standard. I dug some more and came across a few cookbooks and laughed. I don’t cook. I can’t cook! Funny I even bothered to buy those recipe books. Perhaps it was because the photos looked nice and good enough to eat. A few more minutes, and I was leafing through the pages of books discussing philosophy, religions and beliefs. There were a few classics too, including my favorite Greek and Roman mythology books. Gee, I thought, I did read all sorts of stuff.

It did not take long for me to find unread books stored in the covered bottom shelves. Even though I have stopped reading for quite some time, I still find myself visiting my favorite book store and buying a few books that I hope/wish/promise myself to read. I had kept all of these in their original book store plastic bags, and I already have quite a few. That’s quite embarrassing, really. I’m such a hoarder. I MUST start reading, I told myself again. That was a week ago. It was like learning to read all over again. Reading from a book somehow feels different from reading an article online. But I discovered that I still love the charming, nostalgic feel of a warm book on my lap. I still enjoy the feel of paper, the textured and the smooth, on my fingertips.

I have finished reading “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. I am halfway through “Warrior of the Light” also by Coelho. I still have the 25th anniversary edition of M. Scott Peck’s “The Road Less Traveled” to go through. Next in line would be “Maybe LIfe’s Just Not That Into You” by Martha Bolton and Brad Dickson, “Cat & Dog Theology” by Bob Sjogren and George Robison, and a not-too-big coffee table book, “Best Regards–A Treasury of the World’s Great Spiritual Letters.” And that is just scratching the surface.

Wish me luck. I intend to make the most out of this reading frenzy that I am in. I only hope that time will be be my friend.