World of Words


I love books and consider myself to be an avid reader. I'm not so particular about what I've been reading lately. In the past, I heavily relied on Oprah and her book club to tell me what was the latest find or on friends such as Voodoo who had a knack of discovering good reads as well. Other times, I spend hours at Borders browsing the shelves and sometimes choose books based on the cover. Still, there are times when I try my luck at Costo or Sam's Club. It's cheaper and I've been fortunate to find many good 1st time authors' work. As I stumbled upon Nicholas Sparks (author of The Notebook, Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember), he quickly became my favorite author simply because of how he hooks the reader into such compelling love stories and never fails in making me cry. After reading the last word of the last chapter in his books, I'm left completely satisfied and anticipate another from him. He's actually the only author whose entire collection I have!


My books have pleasantly grown into an array of top best sellers and recommendations. My mini library spans only one tall bookshelf, but as I see it, will only continue to grow. Lately, I've been wanting to read and reread classic literature. I've found some of the books that were required reading in high school and am looking forward to immersing myself with brand new eyes. I'm positive that my perspectives will differ greatly from the high school self that probably didn't and couldn't appreciate it as much as I could now as an adult. So far, I've yet to indulge again in "The Great Gatsby," "Separate Peace," "Beowulf," and others. On my various and many trips to Borders, I'm drawn to the classics. I am slowly recalling which books I enjoyed (Shakespeare) and which ones I simply detested (Canterbury Tales). Yet, I strongly feel that I have to reread them again to get the best experience out of what I was made to experience back in high school.


I visited Arkipelago Books when I was in the Bay and spent a great deal of time talking with Marie. It's like family whenever I see her, considering that I did work for them for a bit back in the day! Aside from the classic literature, I've been really interested in poetry, mainly poetry written by Pinays. I bought "Gravities of Center" by Barbara J. Reyes and "Beyond Life Sentences" by Eileen R. Tabios, both local Bay Area poets. Their thoughts, perspectives, and experiences are so REAL and so UNIQUE to the Pilipina women out there and yet, their poems speak to everyone on a somewhat universal level as well. After reading some of their work and even reading the creative blogs of friends and others I chance upon, I'm utterly inspired to put my thoughts on paper.


Reading and writing. It's a kind of drug, isn't it? It's something that many people don't take pleasure in as much as they should. For me, reading is an escape into my own reality, it's a chance to experience so much from the comfort of my own bedroom, and it allows my brain to numb into blissful pleasure of countless words. Writing, on the other hand, makes sense of all the thoughts running around in my head. Sometimes it's a story, sometimes it's just words, and other times it's a perfectly crafted poem. It's addicting to create something solely your own and yet, when the creative bug is nowhere to be found, you're left staring at a blank page yearning to be written on. It's funny that I've found a new love for writing now that I'm older. Perhaps if I started all this much earlier, my writing and reading experience would be more sophisticated and mature. Hell, perhaps I'd be a published author by now. One day...one day.