BoOkWoRm

I'm definitely, absolutely and proudly a self-confessed bookworm. Reading books is my passion. My affair with books started at a young age, in my elementary years. My father was a great influence 'coz being a wide reader himself, he encouraged me to read books and magazines most especially Reader's Digest. From then, I started to read the encyclopedia of children stories that my father's cousins owned. Following that, I discovered the paperback novels. Actually, if my memory serves me roght, the first book-novel I read was in hardbound - "Vendetta: Lucky's Revebge" by Jackie Collins but following that were all paperback novels from a collection of books of ny uncles, grandfather and father. I encountered and was amazed with Sidney Sheldon's novels at around age 11; Jeffrey Archer and John Grisham followed. Soon, I found myself enjoying and loving reading books and be particularly inclined to crime and mystery novels and legal thrillers. Yet, I haven't forgotten where it all started- Reader's Digest. I still read it from time to time, and it was during highschool when I found out about their (RD) special edition hard-bound books. My mom was not much of a book reader but she loves yo buy bookss for uss to read and she always support my reading hobby so I when I requested her buy me a book on RD's list, she did it with no hesitation. It was "When, Where, Why and How Did It Happened?". On the next years, other books have followed such as "The Unexplained." Now that I'm earning my own money, I'm buying my own from the RD's book edition and have already bought two books plus continued the RD's monthly subscription.

During the whole course of my life, reading is an essential part of it. In my elementary days, it started to introduce me to places, people and events I have no knowledge of. In highschool, it opened my mind to a new horizon from reality to fantasy. In college, it helped me understand some things and appreciate others. In my post graduation life, it still is part of my life in more ways than one.

I understand that people have different interests and I know for a fact that some people totally dislikes reading. But what I don't understand is the existence of people who mock and ridicule people like me who simply loves to read. During my highschool days, a few people referrred to me as a geek or abnormal or strange because I would hang out on the school's library during break time to read. Well, fortunately, it didn't fazed me at all and told myself that I'd rather be an "outcast" than be ignorant. And so, I marched on my highschool life with reading as my interest and ignoring people's stark comment as a hobby. :)

There was a time, around my last college days when I took a momentary halt to reading (with the exception of my study books, of course) which lasted around two years. It's not that I totally ignored reading but it happened during a turning point in my life when I transformed from a student to a working girl. Yet, slowly but surely, I found myself back where I longed to be- in the bookstores and in thrift shops offering second hand books, then straight to my room reading relentlessy about different things. Reading books also became my stress-reliever. At this point, I've finally recognized the fact that reading is my passion, not just a hobby and that I will read books as long as I can.

Call me nerd, call me geek or call me whatever words you can think of to ridicule my passion for reading. But here I am and always will be, proud to be a BOOKWORM. ;)