WHEN I was in Grade 6 leading to my high school days, I was so fond of reading paperback romance novels. I started reading Sweet Valley High which featured the fictional life of twins Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield. As a teen who can relate so much to the plots and twists of the stories of this novel series, I made sure that I read all the latest books and even borrowed from classmates and friends after they finish reading the new novel released.
When I stayed at my grandma's house, I discovered my aunt's massive collection of novel books, which were mostly by John Grisham. During my spare time, I would often read one book and hopped on to the next. I remember not being able to sleep one night because I kept on moving on to the next chapter because of the exciting parts that were left hanging at the end of each chapter. It's quite similar to the feeling of watching drama series on TV or on Netflix, often breaking our promise of sleeping after this chapter or episode. However, my habit of reading pocketbooks stopped when I was in college since I devoted much time to studying and working on the course requirements.
When I started working, I became interested in reading Dan Brown's collection and I remember the feeling of having read the novel before watching the movie first. The movie, although it starred one of my favorite actors, Tom Hanks, fell a bit short of my expectations based on how I appreciated the novel before seeing the movie. That was the last novel, other than the book Purpose Driven Life, that I was able to finish reading so far.
Lately, I've been seeing some sponsored feeds on my social media account and I was lured to reading one of the introductions to the online stories. I kept reading only to find out that it was just the beginning chapters and that I need to subscribe to an app to be able to read the whole novel. Being left with the thrill of what will unfold in the story, I did not have much choice but to give in to download the app. I have now started reading one romance novel, and I am no way near half the story but it has engrossed me at this time.
And how I missed this feeling, of being able to read and imagine the scenes that were written in each chapter. With how the author describes the situation and the characters, I am able to fantasize about how they look like and what the scenes would turn out to be. Well, I tried to write a novel once, and it is not an easy thing to think of the good lines and the right words to describe the plots that lead to the climax of the story. I also have to learn how to develop writing cliff-hangers at the end of each chapter to entice or lure readers to continue reading.
Reading is indeed a hobby that can help us develop many skills such as comprehension, writing, vocabulary, and even creativity. Unfortunately, not all kids nowadays develop a love for reading because of the gadgets and the online apps that have been introduced to them at an early age. While the habit of reading may have evolved from reading hardbound and paperback books and novels to online library apps like Kindle and Good Novel, reading still has a lot of advantages, especially in the cognitive skills of our young students. Let's bring back the habit and love for reading.