Are You A Bibliophile?

November 25, 2021

How's your humpday (Wednesday) readcashers?

I was busy like a beaver. I had limited time to write an article yesterday because I had a lot on my plate. Early in the morning we went out with my boss and ran different errands, and only went back home after taking our lunch outside. Then the job continued and I indeed slammed with a plethora of work yesterday.

Then I came across with @CoquiCoin's article I'm A Reader And You? that inspired me to write this content and opted to make this my entry to Hive Book Club's contest entitled All About Readers.

Back to the question of CoquiCoin, am I a reader? Of course, YES! And it is an undeniable fact that you're a reader as well. We all are readers. However, not all are book lovers and it is another undeniable fact. Not all are bibliophiles or bookworms.

Bibliophile or bookworm or book lover. Whatever it is, whether you are or not, you can't deny the fact that our knowledge begins in reading. And reading becomes part of our daily lives. From waking up in the morning, until the sun dawns in the afternoon, and before we hit the sack at night.

And being a member of the read. cash community with the name read on its name. We are certified "readers" beyond a shadow of a doubt. Since we open the platform until we exit. And even when conversing with other users and shifting to other platforms. Because reading is part of our job inside this digital world. What would you do then before and once you converged into this world? 😅 Of course, read first before diving into this sphere. And read again to start the blogging journey.

Back on track...

Taking down the memory lane. I loved to read fantasy stories when I was a kid. And of course, the most famous books way back were about the Disney Princesses stories - Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and 7 Dwarfs, Rapunzel, and whatever Disney Princess story you have in mind.

Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of books at home. So every free time when I was in the mood to read, I would go to the library and look for something beautiful to read. Whatever book it is. In secondary school, our English teacher encouraged us to read books. And after reading a certain book, he would require us to play the story on the stage in groups. And that was part of our grading examination. The memorable play I had was about the 10 dancing princesses wherein I was one of the princesses and I wore a gown that time and danced with my male classmate. It was awkward as students watched us play on the stage and my heart truly pounded so fast.

Back to reading...

I loved reading fantasy stories and comics when I was younger. As I grew up, I liked reading nonfiction/fiction, as well as suspense, thriller, adventure, horror, mysteries, and who doesn't like reading Romance novel series? It was my hobby when I was in secondary school, especially when my teachers were out. I was actually influenced by my classmates as they love reading novels as well. We even rented some novels just to have something to read during break time. And once we're done reading our novel, we would exchange it with our classmate's novel.

When I started working. My reading hobby declined as I became busier at work and had less spare time to read books. But I do read random ebooks and articles if I have time. And there's a popular app called Wattpad in our country where we can read different stories wherever we go using our phone. I became addicted to it way back in 2017 until I flew abroad and stopped reading stories on Wattpad.

But when I stepped into my boss's house here abroad, one of the things that caught my attention was the bookshelf. It's full of books, both Chinese and English. And that's how my hobby in reading came back. It became my hobby every time I'm taking a breather. And even though I have watched the movies of those English books, I still read them, especially when I'm bored staying online and have no Kdramas to watch.

And one of the novel series I liked is Alex Rider written by a British writer named Anthony Horowitz. I like spy stories and Alex Rider is a teen spy which I admired the most. At a young age, he became part of MI6 or Special Intelligence Service in the United Kingdom. And his curiosity towards his uncle's death made him turn himself into doing spy things even it's against his will, and more stories started to unfold, including the case of his own father's death.

The Book 1 series entitled Stormbreaker had a spy film in 2006. But I was a bit disappointed when I watched the movie as it was out of my expectations. Indeed, books are better than movies. And I found out that there is another movie Alex Rider in 2020. I wasn't aware of this until yesterday when I searched the 2006 movie again. You can check the trailer here, and I might watch it on the weekend. I was like watching a real movie while reading the book series. Alex's cleverness and natural spy skills are truly commendable. And I finished the 13 book series within a week.

Reading in a silent place is what I prefer, as I am easily distracted by noises, and I like indoors, not outdoors. I can't enjoy the story if it's noisy around me. So if I want to read a book, I would stay in the corner of my room, put on my headset, and play soft instrumental music while reading. But I do want to experience reading in a cafe while sipping a hot tea or coffee. I especially want to try sitting in a famous Starbucks coffee shop while reading a book. I might do that one of these days.

The soft music and the story of the book are what make my reading moment enjoyable. The ambiance of the place is what makes me divert into the setting of the story and feel like I am part of it. Especially if the characters are intriguing with an unexpected twist in the plot. But have you ever felt like you want to change the plot to make the story better and for you to be satisfied with it? Or go into the story and pull the hair of the antagonist? 😅 I felt that many times, lol.

At the end of the reading, what we can get are lessons and thoughtful messages. That's the most important part of it. Because reading without a purpose is useless. And the story would eventually fade in your memory once you just take reading for granted, and do not absorb the lessons learned in the story.

However, when I started blogging, I stopped reading books as my spare time at work goes to writing articles, and of course, reading articles. And here's a book of my Chinese friend that she wants me to read, the Shakespeare stories by Leon Garfield.

I like Shakespeare as an author. His words are romantic, yet, so complicated to fathom, lol.

 "Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty."

It's from Romeo.

"My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep. The more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite."

And of course, from Juliet.

His words are wondrous. Thou who is reading this. Oh, tissue, please! 🤣

Back to the title, am I a Bibliophile? I love reading but not to the same extent as those bookworms or Bibliophiles that they like to collect piles of books, have a great love of books, and they frequently read books. So no, I'm not. I'm just an ordinary reader who loves to read when she wants to, haha.

That's all folks. What about you? Do you like reading?

Btw, some details here were from my submitted article on Hive. You can check it here Though Read And Love It (Contest #3 All About Readers). Busy bee since yesterday, sigh.

Thanks for your time.

©read.cash@Jane (All Rights Reserved 2021)

Time of writing: 11/25/21 @3pm