On Reading

I come from a family of readers. I remember a house full of books and people running around with a newspaper, magazine or bestseller in hand engaged in a favored pastime: reading. Well, reading while eating; reading while watching TV; reading while listening to the radio; reading while on the phone; even reading while in conversation; and the habit we all picked up from our father: reading in the bathroom while engaged in our daily, morning ritual: a steaming cup of coffee, lighted cigarette and newspaper in hand, surely at that time my truest description of what experiencing Paradise on earth is like.

My father was the first person to have gently pushed us to the habit of reading by wisely providing for his growing family a library that he faithfully added to yearly. This was when we were already settled in our home in Marikina in 1965. I cannot forget our collection of The Grolier’s Encyclopedia and Encyclopedia Britannica, The Book of Knowledge, The Frontiers in Science Series, Reader’s Digest Condensed Books and two huge volumes of the Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary which when I started reading must have weighed heavier than I did when I was nine and of course the indispensible Thesaurus, without which a true “literati” remains incomplete.

These books sparked my curiosity to learn about our world, its history, great men and women of ages past and of course the meaning of words. From reading these books I could rightly say that my horizons broadened and brought the added impetus for me to learn more, which school failed to do for me. Curiosity drove my reading and reading in turn drove my curiosity. The more I read, the more I wanted to read.

I enjoyed immensely our collection of Children’s Classics; books that made reading for me a truly pleasurable experience. I still remember with clarity the colorful illustrations from some of these books: Grimm’s Fairy Tales; Water Babies; Heidi; Black Beauty; Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn; Oliver Twist and David Copperfield; even Ivanhoe and Moby Dick. These Children’s Classics were beautifully bound in dark red leather with embossed golden inscriptions on the cover. I cannot forget how I used to rub my palms on the covers of these books and feel excitement in anticipation of the magic reading the printed word brings. I was captivated by words that were strung together to express thought. In fact, even just a single word could elicit wonder from me.

We had other books, both fiction and non-fiction that my father bought with regularity. We always had the latest bestsellers and the titles in our library reflected the varied literary tastes of our home: several Bibles; books on World War II; biographies; Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series; Barbara Cartland romances and Jackie Collins novels; self-improvement books; the bestsellers of the seventies: Mario Puzo’s The God Father; Peter Benchley’s Jaws and William Peter Blatty’s the Exorcist which are both bigger scares reading than watching the movie and many, many more.

My aunt, whom we fondly call Tita Tits (her first name is Teresita), is the younger sister and only sibling of my mother. She lived with us in Marikina and was also a book buff. She regularly bought all the bestselling romance novels and many bargain books which she hunted from books store sales. She also is a cross word puzzle fan and my older sister Bing takes after her fondness for doing crosswords. Tita Tits who has comfortably retired in California is never without her crossword puzzle books which she takes every where she goes. And guess what she does to put herself to sleep: she reads (of course).

I also enjoy doing crosswords but scrabble is the word game I am most passionate about. I have to admit my sister Bing is the better crossword player but at scrabble, I am unbeatable. We use to have marathon scrabble sessions in our home in Marikina when we were younger but my scrabble game was honed when I lived with the de Jesus family in their home in Pasig. I would sit for hours just watching Tito Onoy, Tito Dolar, Tito Titchong & Tito Efren play a level of scrabble that could only be world class. This is where I learned how to “set up” words for the connection that would bring the highest possible score.

This paid off. I was champion for two straight years (2003-2004) in the LA Metropolitan Detention Center Scrabble Open and believe me the competition was tough. The stiffest competition I faced was from a black gentleman, in his early sixties, a double PhD holder (Physics and Economics), who was listed in America’s Who’s Who in Banking. This guy could not believe that I beat him twice for the championships which were down to the wire contests. Believe me, even now he has nightmares over that come from behind win that I had in our second encounter.

I was down forty-two points and scrabbled the word “quantify” which I connected to the letter “Y” to his word “defy”. I ended up beating him by over sixty points. After that, he would not play the game anymore and instead spent most of the time in his cell reading which by the way was the favored past time of most of the inmates including myself. My period of incarceration afforded me the luxury of time, time well spent in reading. I surely read hundreds of books during my enforced vacation and without reading I would have ended up with a blanket around my neck, which is not at all an exaggeration. Reading kept my sanity.

My late uncle, Tito Pete, a bachelor and youngest brother of my father, also for a time lived with us and shared our family’s passion for reading. I used to surreptitiously “borrow” books with adult and racy themes from his room like Sidney Sheldon and Harold Robbins. He even had books which are now considered adult classics such as Lady Chatterley’s Lovers and Marquis de Sade, which I must confess I also read. My uncle had a large collection of suspense and mystery novels written by Robert Ludlum and Irving Wallace, two of America’s best-selling authors of the seventies. I also enjoyed reading the historical novels of James Clavell and James Michener. Then of course I have read and reread the novels of Leon Uris one of which “The Exodus” had such a profound effect on me and developed my admiration and sympathy for the Iraelis and the Jewish state of Israel.

I remembered when Tito Pete moved out of our house. This was shortly after my father died. He loaded three large boxes filled with paperbacks and books into the back seat of his 1965 Mustang convertible and I was really saddened by the fact that he did not leave a single book behind. He could have considered leaving “Lady Chatterly’s Lovers” for me as I already grew a fondness for that book: just kidding.

When my father was still alive, he subscribed to a couple of daily newspapers besides regular subscriptions to The Reader’s Digest, Asia Week, and both Time and Newsweek. My mother was heavy into book buying also but this was mostly text books for college and high school which we needed and children’s books for our youngest sister and brother, Angie and Toots. But once in a while, my mother would splurge on expensive coffee table books by known local authors. Those few books were prominently displayed on the glass top of an intricately carved narra coffee table in our living room where my mother entertained guests. I distinctly remember a book by Gemma Cruz- Araneta, the title of which escapes me but this book was filled with beautiful pictures of Philippine scenic spots from all over the country.

When my mother moved to the US, she maintained her love for books by compiling a carefully chosen collection but then her tastes were more conservative and her reading leaned heavily more on classic English literature like Shakespeare, Milton even Dickens and contemporary American classics: Ernest Hemmingway, William Faulkner and John Steinbeck. She is constantly looking for first editions of her favorite books.

I read through all the books of our Children’s Classics at least once a year since my fifth grade and until I think ’81 when part of our house burned down and many of our books were destroyed by fire or damaged by water from the firemen’s hoses. The fire damaged one wing of our house where the children’s rooms and library were located.

When the many books that were part of my growing up years were lost in that fire, I was inconsolable. I felt that a part of me, a whole gamut of memories and experiences which I could never again relive, was destroyed by that fire. Even if I could eventually buy copies of those books it will never be the same: the feel of the pages; the familiars creases, even the particular smell of those books can never be recreated, hence I truly mourned the loss. Needless to say, my lifelong love affair with reading continues and even though it is over half a century since I learned to read my fascination for the printed word remains.

If there is one habit that would return to us immense value it would be reading. Our education would not be complete if we fail to become readers. Through reading we are exposed to ideas and experiences that we may never come across in real life. There is real wisdom in cultivating this habit for in this path lies the bettering of our selves. Indeed, if we want to become better persons then let us read “a good book” and there is no daily reading fare that could help us change our lives for the better than “The Good Book”.

Of course the Bible stands out as The Book. Its primacy and importance is unparalleled as both Literature and Scripture. May I add that I could testify to the life changing influence of the Bible. It happened in my life. It surely could in yours. But even it were only read for its literary merits, the Bible remains the ultimate book on man, his relationships, and how he has responded to the world.

The Bible’s universal themes echo both the noble and baser nature of man; of man’ identity and destiny; and more importantly a concept of God which offers us the opportunity to believe and to eventually discover our faith. If I were made to choose only one book in the world to take with me on a deserted island, it could only be the Bible. The preamble to the Gospel of John starts with: “In the beginning was the Word…..”

I truly believe that it was only when man began to transmit his thoughts into written symbols (words) that an innate, creative power was unleashed that saw us from fearful creatures cowering in dark, primeval forests to becoming the masters of the world. Man’s ascent and domination of the world began with “the word” and when he was able to record his thoughts and ideas more permanently (books) then the commodity of knowledge became readily available. Knowledge is power and reading is the best means to acquire knowledge.

All the interesting, engaging, and wise conversations I had have been with individuals who were widely read. These people are gems that literally shine in our lives. I have been blessed through the years with many encounters such as these and I have truly benefitted from them. In essence: people who read with a passion to learn and through experience distill wisdom are real treasures whose presence in our lives will surely enrich us. You could become that person. The last word I leave you: READ.