I can’t remember when was the last time I actually read and finished a book, but lately, I’ve been really itching to read and then I remembered I posted this blog in my “book blog” that is long forgotten and hidden. So I figured, why not post this story here? Here’s how I got into reading…
When I was younger, maybe in 1st grade… there was a man who went to our school to sell books and if you’re from the Philippines, you might have experienced the same! I think it was pretty common here in that publishing houses would send an agent to schools and they would go room to room and try to sell books to students. So, my teacher gave us a copy of the list of books he was selling and we would go back home and ask our parents if we could buy one from the list. Money was tight in our family back then and even though I was studying at a private school, I knew my parents’ jobs were unstable and we didn’t have the luxury to buy books. But I wanted to read and I was very interested in this one book called “Uuwi na Ang Nanay kong Si Darna“, it was a good thing that my mum agreed to buy it for me. It was a nice book with a great message about OFWs, I still remember the story now. I think that book made me start to enjoy reading but as I’ve said, money was tight so I never really got to buy more books then. But thinking about it now, I just knew that even at such a young age, I enjoyed reading stories in my school reading books.
It was during sixth grade when I rediscovered my love for reading. I was in Book Sale, a bookstore franchise in the Philippines that sells second-hand books, and then a book called “The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez” caught my eye. I immediately bought it from the money I saved from my allowance. To be honest, at the time, I think this book was one of the reasons why I got very interested in blogging. Being also an otaku, I was introduced to reading mangas by my online friends from the Total Girl PH forum.
When I got into high school, I started getting interested in writing stories and Wattpad opened endless doors for my creativity. I read a lot of stories there and wrote some as well. I think this is the time when I also started reading ebooks. My high school best friend, Jesy, was the one who introduced me to Hunger Games. I first read the ebook version and totally fell in love with it so on our high school graduation, I asked my mum to buy me the physical set of The Hunger Games Trilogy.
I really enjoy reading a lot and looking at it now, I wish I could’ve attended more book signings, book sales, and other events. But hey, we can still do that soon!
If you’re a person who has always wanted to start reading but doesn’t know where or how to, don’t be pressured and just start one book at a time. Books are meant to be enjoyed so hopefully, you’ll find what you like~
So… yep! That’s how I got into reading! How did you get into reading? May it be manga, fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels… tell us all about it!