BOOKWORM LIKE ME

I bought a few books last night and the reason why I didn't write about it yesterday was because I was tired (yeah, so I answered loads of get-to-knows instead ). Anyway, PowerBooks included this free "Read" magazine which I just read a while ago.

Also, a quick digress, saw Roanna while I was paying - apparently, she was working in Makati and her sister is also on OJT. "My gosh, am I that old?" I had commented. I remember her kid sister as being maybe two years younger than we were... and, yknow, still in school and stuff. And now, she's OJT? Wow. Time sure flies.

Anyway, back to "Read", there were some articles for bookworms like me (as if I needed proof that I WAS a bookworm). And really, if I balk at buying a 349-peso outfit and yet would willingly and excitedly buy a couple of 349-peso books, doesn't that just sort of say it all? Where my interests lie and stuff? My one and only major vice that has survived ever since I was in third grade and opened my very first "Sweet Valley Twins" (I think every bookworm started out as a kid reading any of the "Sweet Valley" series).

So, here are the marks of a bookwork:

"You Know You're A Reader If..." (edited)
1. Dropping by the bookstore is not just a habit - it's a necessity, the way dropping by the grocery or gas station is routine.
--You said it! I don't even go to the grocery and gas station unless I need something, on the other hand, even if I'm not looking for a particular book, I love browsing in bookstores.

2. You drop by the bookstore "on your way out" of the mall, every time you have lunch or dinner wiht friends.
--"On my way out" as well as "on my way in" LOL

3. The first thing you do after purchasing a book is to smell the inside pages. You believe each new book has a distinct smell, and hard covers have the best smell of all.
--I believe it but don't bother trying to prove it every time I buy one. In other words, I don't smell. But I do love opening new books and flipping through the never-been-opened pages. Ooooh, aphrodisiac LOL

4. You design your furniture lay-out for maximum comfort - for reading.
--Not my furniture now, obviously, since the bed and desk is okay with me. But when I get my own house/place, I'd definitely buy a couple of sofas and that fainting couch thing and I'd definitely have a library in my home!

5. Your quest for the perfect bookshelves never ends. Not for you those shelves with knick-knacks between the books. Yours are stacked only with books, with another layer behind the first to maximize the depth of the shelves.
--The first, not so much, since I think I already found my "perfect bookshelf" but the second and third - oh yeah! In fact, the third sentence basically describes MY bookcase LOL I've got books in the back and books in the front AND they're not just two layers. I've got books lying down and stacked from down to up, for "lift" and then books standing up and arranged from left to right. And likewise for the outer layer LOL

6. You have books in closets, beneath the bed, in the cupboards, in the bathroom, in the hallway and even on the floor in every corner. Those luxurious coffee table books are not just on the table itself, but beneath lamps and picture frames as well.
--I'm obsessive compulsive so books HAVE to have a place. And I'd freak if my books are just arranged haphazardly for fear that they'd be folded or lined and stuff. My books have to be in pristine condition.

7. You know which lamps at home are best for 40 watts and which need the 60-watt bulbs, so you can read well into the early hours of the morning.
--I don't know what watts are needed, but I do know the prime locations for reading - with comfort and "proper lighting" in mind.

8. While thinking of the novel you're reading, you forget what you were supposed to be doing or where you were supposed to be driving to.
--Not quite the examples given, but I certainly can't leave a first-time read book to study. I can't concentrate that way. If I start a new book, I have to finish it or else I can barely function :p

9. Your "to read" pile keeps growing, to the point that you have to stash the books elsewhere because some other book keeps getting prioritized.
--I hear ya.

10. You can read two or three books at a time.
--Yes. Some might disagree, but really, when studying, I can even read 3-4 books at a time (my school book being one of them). It doesn't affect my understanding of the books even (with the possible exception of my textbook :p heh)

11. You become anxious if you find yourself about to finish a book on a flight. You dash off to the airport bookstore during the stop-over and blame yourself for not taking an extra book.
--Oh, this one, totally. My parents are forever on my case for buying more expensive books (due to dollar-peso ration) because I didn't bring enough and when I bring too much, they get mad because my carry-on bag is soo heavy coz it's filled with books.

12. You know the location of the bookstores in the cities you travel to. You ask around for secondhand bookstores as soon as you land.
--I try my best to not go looking around for bookstores in foreign land. Buying books outside is more expensive than buying books here. I only search out bookstores where there's a book/s that's hard-to-find. And I only buy buys abroad when I haven't seen that copy here.

13. You feel compelled to read certain books at specific times of the year - every anniversary, or every birthday, or every Holy Week, or every Christmas.
--Like food, my reading mood depends on my cravings too.

14. You know how to read in the car, in a bank queue, and how to read while walking (6-12-year-olds are experts).
--Why are those kids experts? Yes, I know how to do all those. Which is of great help now that I'm in med coz I can read my lectures anywhere too.

15. You pick your child's name based on the hero, heroine or setting of a book you loved, not because he/she was born on the saint's feastday.
--I'm not even aware of what feastday what saint has. But, yup, this is true. I plan on naming my future kid/s Shannara (Terry Brooks), Ehlana, Bel/Garion, Kheldar, Velvet (David Eddings), Whitney (Judith McNaught) and etc, etc.

16. You buy book marks all the time (and cringe at how expensive the nice ones are), but the best bookmark is still the reliable dog-ear, which you use with tremendous guilt.
--Nobody better dog-ear my books! I use any thin piece of paper or old pocket calendars as booksmarks. I don't buy any, but if given some, then I use them too.

17. You can't bear to be apart with any of your paperbacks, since they're arranged on the shelves by genre and by author.
--LOL how true. One of the most re-arranged and fixed areas of my room is my bookcase. And, yes, they're arranged by genre and author too.

18. Your paperbacks are yellowing but you insist on keeping them because you plan to reread them some day.
--They're not that yellow... yet...

19. Your present to friends and their children are usually books, so they've started calling you the "fairy book-mother".
--I know not all my friends are bookworms. If they are and I know they want a particular book, I get them that. Otherwise, I get my friends other stuff that I think they'll like.

20. You spend your Christmas aguinaldo on books, not toys.
--True. Heh. Either that or save them... and then spend them later on books...

21. You ask for a particular title as pasalubong when your titos and titas ask what you want from abroad.
--Again, only if they're hard-to-find or can't-be-found here.

22. You bring a book with you to the beauty parlor and the doctor's clinic.
--LOL yup. I bring books when expecting to stave off boredom.

23. You're a busy, macho executive and you admit you read fiction.
--Obviously, I'm not macho and neither am I an executive. So I guess it's not so bad to admit I read fiction.

24. You surf Amazon or Barnes and Noble just to check out what's new, or before you take the plunge and buy that hardcover, or to read the reviews.
--I care more about the reviews of word-of-mouth and I very rarely check those sites because I prefer browsing in bookstores to check what titles they have.

25. You chance upon a "library sale" in the States and bring home a balikbayan box of books as heavy as stones, "because they were only 50 cents each".
--I would if there was a sale! Is there??

26. You don't depend on critics' awards or Oprah to make your book choices for you.
--Oprah tends to go for the humanitarian, touchy-feeling books which I don't really like and sometimes a critic can have different views from me. I'd probably give it a chance but reserve criticism (or praise) until after I've read it for myself.

27. You know which was better, the movie or the book, and it's usually the book.
--I don't like movie- or tv-tie-ins. Just too weird and the book just usually repeates the movie. I prefer movies based on books to read the book and watch the movie. Usually the book IS better than the movie, but the opposite seems true for LOTR.

28. You have a book club, or you could find the time to be on one.
--Nope, sorry.

29. The annual Philippin Book Fair is on your calendar.
--There's an annual Phil Book Fair? When?? Where?? Do they sell? How much? What books do they have?

30.You can't end the day without reading, and you can't just stop in the middle of the chapter, so you end up sleeping later than you had planned, and resolve to be more disciplined the next day.
--LOL true. Which is why I don't bring recreational books to the dorm. Else I'll spend my days reading my books and not my text books.

31. A portion of your family budget is reserved for books.
--I have a budget for books? LOL when it comes to books... well, as long as I don't go over the 1,5k mark per month, I guess it's not so bad for me to spend that much.

32. You read magazines on books - such as Read Magazine (shameless plug here!).
--Yup. Shameless plug. And no, I don't read magazines about books. Better spend my money and time on books themselves rather than mags about books.


And there's a quiz here, too, called "Name That Novel" and sadly, I only recognized two ("Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone" and "Peter Pan"). I guess it's telling me that I'm not that widely read which I admit to being and admit to working on.

Ah, books...