Tuesday, November 23, 2004

I Like To Read

Really. I'll read most anything. Books, comics, magazines, newspapers, leaflets, articles, essays. Well, anything well-written at least. When I first got access to the Internet, I was overjoyed. "Wow! Lots of stuff to read!" And I read a lot online. I started mostly with anime fanfiction, but pretty soon I enjoyed reading discussions on mailing-lists, message boards, news sites, etc. The internet is a treasure trove for one who always strives for information. But I digress, this post is not about the wondrous internet.

It's about the fact that I like to read. In particular, I like to read books. In fact, I thought about posting something like this because I was looking for a particular book. Specifically, the Wastelands, third book of Stephen King's Dark Tower series. And I don't want just any copy, I want a copy in the same series as the first two books I already have. I've looked through several National Bookstore branches already, but have yet to find one. I know they used to have a copy at the SM North Edsa branch, since that's where I bought the second book Drawing of the Three. However, I can't find it there; it seems that branch is under renovation, maybe I'm just too confused at the change in layout. The salespeople don't seem to be much help either. "Stephen King? Try the horror section." That would be great except Dark Tower is not a horror series!

But I digress again. Back to the topic. I like to read. I like to read books. The internet sort of changed that. After I first got internet access, I seldom read books for a period of time, meaning most of my college years. In fact, I think the only series of books I was able to follow during my college years was Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. (Short review? Started out okay, then got silly, then got annoying. Serious milking cow.)

After I started working, I had a source of income. (Wow, what a deep and non-obvious statement!) Given this, I was able to start reading again, not only by borrowing from friends (Hi Dave, Mike!), but this time I was able to buy the occasional book myself. So I've been trying to catch up. Sadly, I think the years of reading lots of stuff online has tarnished my reading skills. I still read far, far quicker than most people, but it takes me ages to finish a single book. nowadays. I'm currently reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods; I started about a week agao, but I'm not even a fifth of the way in! It's not that it's a bad book, it's okay, in Gaiman's usual way, but I think it's because there are a lot more distractions in my life nowadays (work, love or lack of it, video games, blogging); When I was young I was able to read a lot because whenever I had free time I would curl up with a good book. These days however, I find that whatever free time I have, I prefer to spend it in quiet muni-muni instead of having to use my brainpower to go through a potentially difficult book (thanks, Cryptonomicon!)

I also want to read more non-fiction, autobiographies and stuff. But I find that such books are usually more expensive than normal paperback novels, and I don't know who I can borrow such from.

Anyway, what's the point of this post? I like to read. And I want to read more. That is all.

No comments: