This blog is my second attempt to record all the books I have read. I tried it 2 years ago... and well.. that didn't last.
I have always been a bookworm.. or more like a chain reader, if there is such a thing. Not only do I love to read, I like to collect books. As kid (this was like preschool), I collected hardbound storybooks. The classics like Jack and the Beanstalk, Red Riding Hood, etc. I lovingly covered each book and numbered them like in the library (I still have some of the books to this day).
It was around Grade 2 when I discovered Sweet Valley Kids. My cousin had a Sweet Valley Kids book that I borrowed and from there, I was hooked. A few months later, my brother gave my very own Sweet Valley Kids Book for my birthday, I was over the moon.
In elementary school, we had a weekly "Library Day" where we spend the whole Language period in the library. You had to borrow one book and make a book report to be submitted the next week. It was during this time where I met the Bobbey Twins. I maxed out the allotted number of books we could borrow per week. I was probably at the library two times a week (to return what I've borrowed so I can borrow another set of books).
Our small town didn't have a bookstore back then. We had like two small stores that only carried oh so few books for a teenager. I remember gazing longingly at the end pages of books where there's a form you fill up to order other books. Of course, those would only work if you were based in US (and if you have the money to buy). I would fill them out pretending I could order all those glorious books. So it was hard to find books to read when I outgrew Nan and Bert.
Fortunately, in high school, someone put up a used bookstore. I would spend countless hours there trolling for books. That's probably when the book sniffing started. It was during this time, I also rediscovered the world of Sweet Valley. It stated with Sweet Valley Twins then Sweet Valley High and SVU. So you could sort of say I grew up with Jessica and Elizabeth. Luckily, my dad was doing his Phd in a nearby big city during the weekends, so I begged him to buy me books. Every trip he makes, I give him a list of books I wanted and he would buy onefor me (I am forever grateful for this). Thus, I started to seriously collect books. Other than Sweet Valley books, I collected The Anne of Green Gables Series, The Cat Who Series, the Sue Grafton Series and a few authors that I liked. Sadly, when I left for college, we renovated our house and my mom put all my books in a box and somehow misplaced them :(
But being "bookless" did not last long. In college, my apartment was a few walking distance to Book Sale and National Bookstore. So a huge chunk of my allowance was lost to books. There I found more authors to collect. The thing with me is that I don't particularly stick with a certain genre. I read what I feel like at the moment. And whenever I discover a good book, I search and read all the other books of that author. So when I meet a fellow book reader and they ask me who my favorite author is and what kind of books do I like, I am at a loss for words because I read anything that tickles my fancy at that moment. Favorite authors? I have plenty. Because if I stick to one, I'll read everything that author wrote and have nothing to read anymore.
The only time I stopped reading was during my pregnancy and the first few years my kid was growing up and it was for the simple reason of financial constraints. When I got back on my feet, money-wise, I started to read again. I usually buy used books because if I buy new ones all the time, I would be very broke by now. And it's very fun digging through used bookstores looking for a particular book or author and discover new ones along the way. And so my book collection has been piling up and I have run out of spaces for it. Thankfully I discovered ebooks!
It was three years ago when someone posted in their facebook the number of books they have read for that year. This made me do two things. One--it made me ask myself how many books I read that year. I was stumped because I never thought to keep track, which made me wonder just how many books have I ever read in total. Two--it stirred the competitor in me. I vowed to read more than that person did (it was around 41?) which ended up pretty easy to do because as I discovered (from tracking the books I read), I read a lot. And I mean a lot. I ended up reading 101 books for that year. Technically, it was more than that because there were a few old books that I have read previously that I read again. And since it was not a "new" book, I didn't include them in the count.
This year, I saw 9gag post about a book reading challenge for 2016. I thought I'd do it but halfway through, it was just hard to find the books I would enjoy that would fit the categories. So I decided to return to reading whatever I felt like reading.
And for some unknown reason, I decided to revive my attempts of keep track of the books I have read but this time in a blog format. My posts aren't exactly "reviews", it's more my thoughts and reactions in the books I've read. The reason is that I have no one to talk to about the books I've read. No one to share my delights or disappointments. There are no book clubs where I am. I just want an outlet where I can rant or rave. You know that lost, "what-will-I-do-with-my-life" feeling after reading a book? I feel like writing and venting about how you feel sorta helps you find closure and move on, so to say.
So there you have it, the main WHY of this blog creation. I also plan to transfer my old posts (which I kept in a digital diary) here so everything is found in one place. If you read everything, good for you! Sorry, when I started this post, I thought this would be brief, I didn't realize I would write this much.
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