I am a voracious reader and proud of it. I read everything, from medicine brochures, pamphlets, roadside posters, children books, ebooks, practically anything I could get my hands into. I can read an entire novel in a day, in one sitting if the plot is really good. I remembered when I had all the time in my life and I would spend it meeting people, monsters, aliens, animals and whatnot. I talked with monsters, heroes, princes and princesses, magical creatures, famous people and long lost friends.

My love of reading and books started at a very young age. If I can remember it right, the first book I read when I first learned how is The Bible. I would memorize verses and whole chapters, my memory retention back then was superb . I won a lot of Bible contest back when I was young. I got to know Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys really well. I then found suspense novels and they retained my attention for quite awhile, I hoarded them, I read them voraciously, I dream about them. Stephen King, John Saul are my best friends. They entertained me and I spent most of my allowance buying their books.

I read romance novels every now and then but they just don’t have enough content to keep me entertained. I do love the idea of a knight in shining armor but too much of it is just, well, too much. I then found the world of fantasy and it got me, hook, line and sinker. I am a very practical(?) person, but the idea of a fantasy land where magic is abundant and happy endings can happen (but not always) appeals to the child in me. I got to know JRR Tolkien, JK Rowlings, David Eddings and Piers Anthony among others. They were my constant companion, and they still are.

Although, I do not have enough free time to read books the way I did before, I still can squeeze in a chapter or two in between work. I fell in love with Piers Anthony’s Xanth series and I even named my son “Xanth Reign” in honor of this magical land and its people. I have most of the collection in ebooks which I download into my phone to read once in awhile. Although not as fulfilling as holding a real book in your hands and manually flipping the pages, reading books in my ebook reader can still give me the satisfaction that only books can give me.

So, am I addicted to books? Nah…