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Articles that mention "reading"

Sometimes, it’s okay not to be the first

In the age of mass media, and the internet, people have developed the “scoop” mentality. Everyone wants to be the first. Media outfits will pay good money to get the scoop on an event and internet publishers sometimes try to out-scoop media. The more serious movie goer and book reader do it to their peers too. You can see it from the way people queue up on the box office...  (more »»)

Hidden meanings and violence in children’s literature

On Sunday evening, my daughter Alex sat down next to me in my study with Neil Gaiman’s “M Is For Magic” in her hands. Apparently, a lot of nursery rhymes were referenced in the short stories and, not being familiar with many of them, she decided it was more convenient to ask me rather than turn on her MacBook, go online and search the web for answers. The particular...  (more »»)

Define misanthropy

Alex is very much into non-fiction these days. Danielle Steel, to be more precise, whose novels I never read although I did see the film version of “The Promise” when I was very young. As it turns out, based at least on the questions that Alex asks, some of Steel’s novels are set in interesting periods of American history. And when Alex comes across an unfamiliar...  (more »»)

36 pesos from a second-hand bookstore

I found this copy of James Clavell’s Tai-Pan in a second hand bookstore, my signature on the flyleaf says I bought it in 1986 and the tag price on the front cover says I bought it for P36. It’s in terrible condition today after I’ve read it oh, so many times. I’ve also loaned it to a cousin (she still says to this day that I started her on the road...  (more »»)

Crossover from Facebook

I don’t like memes and I don’t often do tagging that is nothing more than a thinly-disguised meme. Even in Facebook, I don’t respond to all the tags. There are, however, those that I like either because they fun, or they share information that are valuable or interesting, or both. Like this one. The rule: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen...  (more »»)

The bookstore that loves me back

There are three bookstores we go to regularly — Powerbooks, Fully Booked and A Different Bookstore. What about National Bookstore? Oh, we go there for school, office and art supplies but when we want books, we go to real bookstores. Rarely do we go to Eastwood City without passing by A Different Bookstore although Sam doesn’t like it there very much because they...  (more »»)

What does my 16-year-old read?

Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore was required reading in school. I suppose Sam fell in love with the author and has since bought a second book by Murakami. She has also made me promise we’d buy more. Sam read Memoirs of A Geisha? Yes, along with Gossip Girls. The latter, by conventional standards, should make her “normal.” What aren’t visible are...  (more »»)

Book catalog

(Today’s column) Some people collect shoes, others collect trinkets, I collect books. See, I have a bad habit. I can’t seem to pass by a bookstore without buying a book. And since I buy books faster than I can read them, and because I tend to read what seems to be the most interesting at the moment, it is inevitable that some of them would get pushed to parts of...  (more »»)

I have a lot to thank manga for

Many people say it isn’t good to provide children with their own computers and internet access. More say it’s a mistake to let them go online unsupervised. I say that depends on how you teach your kids to use the computer and the internet. And it depends even more on what example you show. If a kid sees a parent going online for nothing more than chatting, gaming...  (more »»)

Revisiting Manderley

I’m reading Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca for the second time. The date on the flyleaf of the book says I bought it when I was 15 years old and I must have read it not too long after I bought it. When you buy books out of your school allowance, you tend to buy one at a time and you tend to choose the one that you like the most and can’t wait to read as soon...  (more »»)