The joy of reading

As the first typhoon of the year brought heavy rain in Metro Manila, I went late Sunday night to the Big Bad Wolf Books sale.

Touted as the world’s biggest book sale, Big Bad Wolf Books says it “aims to encourage people of all ages to discover the joys of reading…”

Reading, unfortunately, seems to be a vanishing activity in this age of TikTok and communication through short messaging and emojis.

It was my second visit to a Big Bad Wolf Books sale in Manila and I wanted to avoid the crowds, so I picked a stormy Sunday night. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people, despite the typhoon, at the book sale at the Parqal Mall along Macapagal Boulevard in Parañaque.

Parents brought along their kids who rummaged through the huge piles of children’s books. I was glad to see people also browsing through the Filipino publications.

Launched in 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by BookXCess founders Andrew Yap and Jacqueline Ng, Big Bad Wolf Books has since toured 37 cities in 14 countries mostly in Asia, and has ventured into Africa, beginning in Tanzania and Kenya.

Its website declares: “The primary mission is to cultivate reading habits, increase English literacy nationwide and build a new generation of readers, by making books more affordable and accessible, to everyone.”

Its mission, as described by the founders, is “to empower people to gain knowledge and promote the reading habit and certainly, the joy of reading.”

*      *      *

The joy of reading, unfortunately, is becoming lost to the generations whose reading attention span is limited to short message bursts.

Even I, an avid book reader, have been carried along by the shift in information consumption. My parents encouraged reading in our family at an early age. I finished reading our entire set of Grolier’s Book of Knowledge in grade school. I read illustrated comics (Filipino and English), pocket books, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, sci-fi, voodoo, you name it. I often fell asleep with a book in my hand. Much of my college life I spent reading at the massive library of UP Diliman, with its extensive collection of out-of-print books.

These days I still enjoy curling up with a good book, but more often I de-stress after work by watching Netflix.

The loss of the enjoyment of reading in the Philippines has been aggravated by the deterioration in the quality of education. International assessment tests have shown our 15-year-old students ranking at the bottom in terms of reading comprehension.

Whether in Filipino, English or the mother tongue, reading comprehension is a challenge for millions of our youths. Our educators seem to be at their wits’ end testing and trying to determine the most effective medium of instruction for basic education.

These days, heavy incentives are needed to pry people from passive video entertainment, dirt-cheap and so easily accessible on TikTok and YouTube, and to get them to read books.

For many Filipinos, books – especially those that aren’t used in schools – are seen as luxuries. The Big Bad Wolf touts book discounts of up to 90 percent, with some publications priced as low as P20, although the better ones begin at around P400.

There are actually cheaper books available in the Philippines, in the numerous outlets selling second-hand books. I’ve bought hardbound books in these outlets for as low as P35, which would have otherwise cost about P3,000 brand-new (I know the prices because I often browse in bookstores). But Big Bad Wolf has a more extensive selection, for all ages.

*      *      *

I’m also glad to see the Komisyon ng Wikang Pilipino encouraging reading by releasing classic novels translated into Filipino under its Aklat ng Bayan initiative, such as Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.” I read the English version many moons ago, so I hope the Filipino translation by Lamberto E. Antonio is as enjoyable.

The language used in “Digmaan at Kapayapaan,” however, is rather formal instead of the colloquial Filipino so the two volumes could prove to be heavy reading even for native Filipino speakers.

There are younger Filipino authors writing in English and colloquial Tagalog. I was told that during a recent book fair, their locally published books, mostly of short stories and short novels, enjoyed brisk sales.

Salesclerks in a book chain also told me teen lit and romance books written in Taglish sell well. These are not “War and Peace,” and some that I’ve scanned struck me as milder versions of the porn booklets that used to be sold along the sidewalks of C.M. Recto in Manila.

Still, anything that encourages reading in our country is a welcome development.

*      *      *

DISHEARTENED: Speaking of writers, I will miss one of the columnists in The Philippine STAR’s Lifestyle section, Barbara Gonzalez. We never met, but I’m a fan; I liked her spunky spirit. She wrote regularly and I enjoyed the articles, so I knew about her battle with Stage 3 cancer and how heartbroken she was following the death of her husband Loy Ventura. I feared something was seriously wrong when her column, “From My Heart,” didn’t appear in the past weekends.

Upon hearing of her death on May 28, I re-read her last contribution to Lifestyle, and was again deeply saddened by some of the lines: “I have absolutely no idea what to live for. I pray to God and my husband to please take me away from all this but it doesn’t look like they intend to… I also realize that this is the first time in my almost 80 years that I have felt so deeply disheartened.”

May she now rest in peace together with her beloved husband.

H

Sketches ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN The joy of reading

As the first typhoon of the year brought heavy rain in Metro Manila, I went late Sunday night to the Big Bad Wolf Books sale.

Touted as the world’s biggest book sale, Big Bad Wolf Books says it “aims to encourage people of all ages to discover the joys of reading…”

Reading, unfortunately, seems to be a vanishing activity in this age of TikTok and communication through short messaging and emojis.

It was my second visit to a Big Bad Wolf Books sale in Manila and I wanted to avoid the crowds, so I picked a stormy Sunday night. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people, despite the typhoon, at the book sale at the Parqal Mall along Macapagal Boulevard in Parañaque.

Parents brought along their kids who rummaged through the huge piles of children’s books. I was glad to see people also browsing through the Filipino publications.

Launched in 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by BookXCess founders Andrew Yap and Jacqueline Ng, Big Bad Wolf Books has since toured 37 cities in 14 countries mostly in Asia, and has ventured into Africa, beginning in Tanzania and Kenya.

Its website declares: “The primary mission is to cultivate reading habits, increase English literacy nationwide and build a new generation of readers, by making books more affordable and accessible, to everyone.”

Its mission, as described by the founders, is “to empower people to gain knowledge and promote the reading habit and certainly, the joy of reading.”

*      *      *

The joy of reading, unfortunately, is becoming lost to the generations whose reading attention span is limited to short message bursts.

Even I, an avid book reader, have been carried along by the shift in information consumption. My parents encouraged reading in our family at an early age. I finished reading our entire set of Grolier’s Book of Knowledge in grade school. I read illustrated comics (Filipino and English), pocket books, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, sci-fi, voodoo, you name it. I often fell asleep with a book in my hand. Much of my college life I spent reading at the massive library of UP Diliman, with its extensive collection of out-of-print books.

These days I still enjoy curling up with a good book, but more often I de-stress after work by watching Netflix.

The loss of the enjoyment of reading in the Philippines has been aggravated by the deterioration in the quality of education. International assessment tests have shown our 15-year-old students ranking at the bottom in terms of reading comprehension.

Whether in Filipino, English or the mother tongue, reading comprehension is a challenge for millions of our youths. Our educators seem to be at their wits’ end testing and trying to determine the most effective medium of instruction for basic education.

These days, heavy incentives are needed to pry people from passive video entertainment, dirt-cheap and so easily accessible on TikTok and YouTube, and to get them to read books.

For many Filipinos, books – especially those that aren’t used in schools – are seen as luxuries. The Big Bad Wolf touts book discounts of up to 90 percent, with some publications priced as low as P20, although the better ones begin at around P400.

There are actually cheaper books available in the Philippines, in the numerous outlets selling second-hand books. I’ve bought hardbound books in these outlets for as low as P35, which would have otherwise cost about P3,000 brand-new (I know the prices because I often browse in bookstores). But Big Bad Wolf has a more extensive selection, for all ages.

*      *      *

I’m also glad to see the Komisyon ng Wikang Pilipino encouraging reading by releasing classic novels translated into Filipino under its Aklat ng Bayan initiative, such as Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.” I read the English version many moons ago, so I hope the Filipino translation by Lamberto E. Antonio is as enjoyable.

The language used in “Digmaan at Kapayapaan,” however, is rather formal instead of the colloquial Filipino so the two volumes could prove to be heavy reading even for native Filipino speakers.

There are younger Filipino authors writing in English and colloquial Tagalog. I was told that during a recent book fair, their locally published books, mostly of short stories and short novels, enjoyed brisk sales.

Salesclerks in a book chain also told me teen lit and romance books written in Taglish sell well. These are not “War and Peace,” and some that I’ve scanned struck me as milder versions of the porn booklets that used to be sold along the sidewalks of C.M. Recto in Manila.

Still, anything that encourages reading in our country is a welcome development.

*      *      *

DISHEARTENED: Speaking of writers, I will miss one of the columnists in The Philippine STAR’s Lifestyle section, Barbara Gonzalez. We never met, but I’m a fan; I liked her spunky spirit. She wrote regularly and I enjoyed the articles, so I knew about her battle with Stage 3 cancer and how heartbroken she was following the death of her husband Loy Ventura. I feared something was seriously wrong when her column, “From My Heart,” didn’t appear in the past weekends.

Upon hearing of her death on May 28, I re-read her last contribution to Lifestyle, and was again deeply saddened by some of the lines: “I have absolutely no idea what to live for. I pray to God and my husband to please take me away from all this but it doesn’t look like they intend to… I also realize that this is the first time in my almost 80 years that I have felt so deeply disheartened.”

May she now rest in peace together with her beloved husband.