Books are my first love. They opened me up to different worlds filled with infinite possibilities. Books moved me with the stories that touched my heart and left a mark on my soul. As a book lover, I have been on many literary adventures that helped me to discover the favorites that I love today. I'm excited to be able to share with everyone these favorites here. So hop onto your favorite seat, have your hot cup of coffee ready, and join me on this one.
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| Photo by cottonbro studio |
An off-season episode of the Fandesals talked about a book lover's origin story. As someone who reads books myself, I thought that it would be great to share my journey with books. I hope people can relate to it and reminds them of their book-lover stories too.
Starting Early
It was my parents who started my love for books. I remember growing up with shelves of children’s books that they encouraged me to read. We had Disney books, Dr. Seuss, Alice in Wonderland, and Winnie the Pooh. I regret not being able to keep those books when we moved years ago. Those books were significant parts of my childhood. It would have been nice to pass them on to my nieces and nephews. I heard that Dr. Seuss's books from back in the day are collector's items now. It makes me feel bad to think we left them in our old home!
In elementary school and high school, I discovered other book genres. There were mysteries with Nancy Drew that I was a big fan of for a long time. This was also the time when I was a fan of teen stories from Sweet Dreams and Sweet Valley High.
When I was an adult I learned that Carolyn Keene, the credited author of the Nancy Drew books, is not a real person! The name is a pseudonym of authors (yes, with an s), who wrote the books! I was a little disappointed because I was admiring how this one person could write all these books. Turns out there were several ghostwriters for the books. I first dreamed of being a writer because of these books. I felt cheated!
It was also during this time that my father introduced me to fantasy books. I remember first reading The Hobbit around this time. I loved it! Getting an early start on Tolkien books made me a Lord of the Rings fan. Not so much of the films or series, but of the books and that world in general.
This was the time when I started to fall in love with writing as well. All the books I have read sparked my imagination and I began to create stories of my own. I began writing about worlds and people I had created in my head during those early years. Even in my grade school years, I was writing short mysteries and dramas in my notebooks. Being a published author was my dream back then. It's still a dream of mine to this day.
Teenage Years/ Young Adult
As I got older, I started to veer towards the romance genre and chick lit. Most of the books I enjoyed then were by Meg Cabot and Cecelia Ahern. I became a fan of Meg Cabot because of her Queen of Babble series. With Cecelia Ahern, it was because of her book If You Could See Me Now. Both authors have a lot of other books that I enjoyed, but those were the books that made a mark on me.
I also got into more fantasy and young adult books from writers such as Melissa Dela Cruz. I particularly loved reading books that mixed real-world characters with a fantasy world. I cannot explain why, but that form of escapism is something that I enjoyed reading about. This is why her Blue Bloods series became such a favorite of mine. I am still hoping that I could see those books come to life in a movie series.
Adult Years
During a significant health scare years back, I also started reading inspirational books. One big favorite for me was The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. This is a book that makes me cry every time I read it. It is something that always makes me think about life and reminds me to make sure that I am making the best of it.
Self-help and psychology-themed books have been some of my recent reads. The amount of stress I experienced during the pandemic was what brought on this interest. As I get older, I also find myself understanding and appreciating these concepts more.
It's books on psychology, spirituality, and philosophy that I am drawn to lately. This is why you will see me immediately jotting down book titles when I am in that section of a bookstore.
When I see books about positive thinking, the power of the mind, and all that, I have to look them up to see if I want to buy them.
Lately, I have been in a bit of a book-reading slump. Reading has been a struggle for me. I start but hardly finish. I cannot seem to get past half of most books lately.
It is rare for me to finish a book. When I do it either takes me a long time to do so or it takes me a while between books. Considering the number of books I used to read in a year, it feels odd to only finish books I can count with one hand in a year.
I still love reading and I love books, but for some strange reason, I cannot bring myself to finish anything. It's heartbreaking. No matter how much I love what I'm reading, I can't seem to do it. There could be a psychological reason for this. I'd love to know what that is so that I can fix it and start reading again. I miss it so much!
I miss reading as much as I used to, but I cannot force myself to go back to my old pace. If I did that, I would start to hate reading and I do not want that to happen. Right now I am taking things one book at a time. One day I hope that I will get my groove back.
One way I am trying to get back into my book-loving life is to blog about it. I figured that by writing about the books I read I could get back to loving reading again. I'm hoping it would help me figure out what I loved about reading books in the first place. I need to renew my love story with books!
Writing Books
For now, I am also trying to draft books of my own. I have ideas and outlines that I have compiled through the years that I have yet to write out in full. For those who are curious, I do not have a fixed genre of books. I'm all over the place!
Right now, my outlines are a mix of romance, historical fiction, thriller, and fantasy. I have been trying to get into books of similar genres to have an idea of how to write down my books. This is a lifelong dream, and I want to make this happen. I am hoping to get something finished soon. I know I have been saying that for years, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that I get things done this time around. I know a lot of people who want to see it happen for me too. I don't want to disappoint them (and myself)!
Books have been a part of my life since childhood, and they will be a part of my life for a long time. I could read physical books or choose the e-book route. Or I could even be more into audiobooks, depending on my mood. No matter how technology changes, books will always be a constant figure in my life.
It doesn't matter how you access books. Loving them is what matters. Books can help us explore various worlds, discover genres, and get inspired by what we read. It helps us to become a fan of certain writers and series as we go on our literary adventures. This is a love I will never get tired of, no matter how many reading slumps I go into.
I hope more people can get into reading. There's so much to love about the experience of the written (or spoken, as with audiobooks) word. There is so much to discover, learn, and imagine. Books are amazing. We need more people to understand that!
Are there any other book lovers out there? What are your favorite books? Why do you love them? Share your thoughts and suggest some books to me in the comments section!
I'll end this post by leaving the episode of the Fandesals Podcast that I mentioned earlier in this post. If you understand Tagalog and you love books, you may appreciate this one. Enjoy!
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