DID it ever cross your mind that your choice of books reflects your age? Does the format of the book you are reading mirror your generation?
Join me on a journey through the shelves of a library called Memory.
As kids, we were amazed by picture books and pop-up books. We loved browsing these books in our school library and at home because we are creatures of visuals.
In grade school, many of us Lourdesians loved reading Sweet Dreams. We borrowed them from each other and shared stories. Some stories were sad, and some were not. Who could ever forget, P.S. I Love You? Then we became spies, diving into the adventures of Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, both in their hardbound editions. There was no paperback back then.
I grew up reading fiction. My Lola Dolly loves reading Mills & Boon, those Cinderella-like stories, and my Lolo Nick loves cowboy books. Their tastes and personalities were poles apart. Over the years, Lola Dolly received audiobooks from his son, but she never loved them. She never got to finish one.
As I grew older, my book preferences evolved. I had an era where I was so obsessed with reading crime and detective stories, likely because my Papa and Tito Emmy would pass on their reads to me. I loved those crime stories so much that I even dreamed of becoming an FBI or CIA agent. To balance things out, I read poetry, influenced by my college professor, Mark, between detective novels.
I’m old school and prefer print books to digital ones. I have a digital book for those I don’t need to buy. Some books are entertaining for a single read, and those are the books that I download.
One day in the office pantry, my officemate Roro and I discussed books. The discussion ranged from the types of books we love to the benefits of reading. Then our other officemate, Gab, chimed in and introduced us to a new kind of book—an interactive digital book. You can create your own story and choose characters. Your choice changes the storyline. Now, that’s something new to us, Generation X.
Present day, I love reading memoirs like that of Michelle and Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton, among others. I leave the fiction stories to the streaming platform services, which have become too many in the last five years. You end up subscribing to six services, while before, you only subscribed to one cable service, and voila! You get hundreds of channels.
There goes—the books we read are more than just stories. They become companions, teachers, and even reflections of our experiences. No matter what age you are and whether it is your first novel or revisiting an old favorite, each page matters and will always give a new layer to your understanding and outlook in life. Keep flipping those pages, chapter by chapter.
