FOR THE LOVE OF BOOKS
Hard times are here again. Once more we can expect the rise of "escapist" diversions, starting with poster calendars featuring starlets in various states of undress. Sex, violence, comedy, soap drama, action and fantasy would be the prevailing theme in the movies, television, radio and the print. Naturally, the circus during the campaign period would also expose Filipinos to politicians' singing, dancing, mudslinging, grandstanding and fiery rhetoric. Plus, voters will have the added treat of seeing movie stars and other celebrities campaigning either for themselves or for their candidates. More escapism fare.
How I wish that we'd all rediscover the joys of reading. Reading newspapers, comics, magazines, romance, bestsellers, self-help manuals, the Holy Bible, or the Reader's Digest. It is one of the cheapest forms of entertainment, and could be informative and enlightening as well. When we read, we free our minds to explore and discover many thoughts, ideas, insights, places, expressions and emotions. "Free your mind and the rest will follow."
"Jurassic Park" the novel was far more frightening, thrilling and action-packed than the film version notwithstanding the fact that computer technology and anima-tronics make it possible for today's moviemakers to depict fantasy more realistically. In fairness to the film as an entertainment medium, the James Bond movies are also more thrilling and action-packed than the stories upon which they were based as written by Ian Fleming. Nonetheless, the main difference between a book and a movie version of the same story is akin to sitting behind the steering wheel and sitting in the passenger seat of a car. Or being a traveler free to explore places at his own pace armed only with a good map compared to a tourist being ferried from one destination to another along with other tourists by a guide who spoonfeeds what they are about to see, hear and experience, and perhaps even how and why. There is a wider room for imagination and discovery in the former.
Those who love to read seem to be most comfortable with solitude. It does make sense for in order to enjoy a good read one must be alone. A bookworm's pleasure is both mababaw and profound at the same time. He needs the space to hear himself think in peace. To truly appreciate what one is reading, one must digest and reflect on the significance of the writer's message, while at the same time reveling at the music, the prose and poetry of how the words and sentences are put together. Again like traveling, how we get there is equally important as the destination or ending.
Sadly, the younger generations' reading preferences seem to be limited to comics and romance novels. Their limited attention span is already bombarded by movies and videos, television and cable TV, computers and video games, the American top 40 and MTV. At work we receive many letters from college and post-graduate students whose faulty English grammar make us wonder if modern technology is somehow to be blamed for this. I've seen better English in my late grandmother who finished Grade 3 only, and some other old people who did not make it past elementary or high school.
We are not wanting in affordable reading materials. I would have added to my woes the loss of the Music House where I spent many hours browsing and buying second-hand journals and paperbacks at bargain prices. The good news is we now have more bookstores and those US Book Sale counters at shopping malls and near universities. Along P. del Rosario st. just a hundred meters from Sun.Star is the San Francisco Book Sale where one can buy bestsellers for P50 or less.
In closing, let me share this quote by John Ruskin that I pasted on every book I owned in college:
"The very cheapness of literature is making even wise people forget that if a book is worth reading it is worth buying.
"No book is worth anything which is not worth much. Nor is it serviceable until it has been read and re-read, and loved, and loved again; And marked, so that you can refer to the passages you want in it."