Lay's Library

My earliest recollection about books and reading was me reading Henny Penny. Yes, the Grade 1 book about a red hen. I remembered reading the book from cover to cover. I think this was my first solid evidence on my lifetime love affair with books. My reading materials back then were old books given to us by our cousins who went to private schools. I can also remember reading the dictionary. I don't know what prompted the madness but I guess, it was the boredom. 

Back in High School, when the fad were pocketbooks on romances, I joined too. I would borrow Tagalog and English pocketbooks from my classmates. I remember reading Sweet Valley series from Kids to University, Mills and Boons, etc. I still could not afford to buy books. In College, I was a working student so buying books was limited to my major. And even that was hard. My sister taught me that I can satisfy my thirst for books by borrowing from the library. Fortunately, the university library had a very good stack of books. So, when I have a free time, I would go to the Browsing section and borrow books for a week and renew each time until I finished. I never shared the love of many for magazines. For me, they do not satisfy. I was also curious about Psychology and started reading some books on them. 

My being hooked on books was again initiated my by sister. She discovered a thrift store where you can purchase second hand books at a very low price. And to maximize her purchases, she mostly bought Readers' Digest Condensed books. Each book contains 4 to 5 summarized books. As the title suggests, condensed books are abbreviated versions but they still contain enough for the stories to be still coherent and comprehensible. These condensed books were my first purchases and where I get to meet the best authors. Later, when I started working, I started buying books on classic stories and mythology. We never had Shakespeare or Dickens in High School, so I was curious and I started my own journey with these famed writers. 

As the years go on, I developed this habit of putting my name on my purchases, the date and where I bought them. I have also developed a knack for buying books in foreign places as souvenirs. And in the age of internet, I collected e-books also. No, audio books are never my thing. I love read, mince and savor the words and stories.

I have actually created an excel file with all the books I have collected for the past years but unfortunately the external hard drive where I kept it is currently inaccessible and I keep getting an error. So, until I can access that drive, I will have to do a manual inventory of what I have amassed for now.


Here goes, I have 1) paperbacks, hardbound, printed in paper; 2) in e-book format 3) audio books

I have just , gotten into the idea of audio books. At first, it was disorienting but then, I got the hang of it and actually enjoyed listening to the narrator changing her voice as required. This would be very useful when commuting.


I realized that it would be a lot easier to track the books I read, bought and downloaded through Goodreads. Please see link below for all the books I have read. You may visit my Goodreads profile to check the rest of my library. My handle is iamnotabookworm.


Reader's Digest Condensed Books Colleciton (28)

1
A stranger is watching by Mary Higgins Clark
Such a Life by Edith LaZebnik
The Last Convertible by Anton Myer
The Miracle of Dommatina by Ira Avert

2
Man-Eater by Jim Corbett 
The Actor by Niven Busch
Onions in the Stew by Betty MacDonald
The Captive City by John Appleby
The Missing Macleans by Geoffrey Hoare
The Searchers by Alan Le May

3
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Madame Curie by Eve Curie

4
Follow the Stars Home by Luanne Rice
Hunting Badger by Tony Hillerman
The Quiet Game by Greg Iles
Second Wind by Dick Francis

5
Hot Money by Dick Francis
Jenny's Mountain by Elaine Long
Trespass by Phillip Finch
Sara Dane by Catherine Gaskin

6
A Journey to Boston by Mary Ellen Chase
Hotel St. Gregory by Arthur Hailey
A Pillar of Iron by Taylor Caldwell
Eigth Moon by Sansan, as told by Bette Lord
The Ashes of Loda by Andrew Garve

7
Lone Woman by Dorothy Clarke Wilson
The Homecoming by Earl Hamner, Jr.
Papillon by Henri Charriere
Whitewater by Paul Horgan
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman

8
Mrs. Pollifax on  the China Station by Dorothy Gilman
The Brea File by Louis Charbonneau
Growing Up by Russell Baker
Octavia's Hill by Margaret Dickson

9
The Street Lawyer by John Grisham
The Cobra Event by Richard Preston
Sooner or Later by Elizabeth Adler
Message in a Bottel by Nicholas Sparks

10
I'll be Seeing You by Mary Higgins Clark
Honor Among Thieves by Jeffrey Archer
Alex Haley's Queen by Alex Haley and David Stevens
Mrs. Pollifax and the Second Thief by Dorothy Gilman

11
Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha by Dorothy Gilman
Wildfire by Richard Martin Stern
Arnie and a House Full of Company by Margarete Sigl Corbo and Diane Marie Barras
Take Away One by Thomas Froncek
The Two Farms by Mary E. Pearce

12
A Woman's Place by Barbara Delinsky
The Unlikely Spy by Daniel Silva
The Cat Who Tailed a Thief by Lilian Jackson Braun
Beyond Recognition by Ridley Pearson

13
The Third Twin by Ken Follett
Small Town Girl by LaVyrle Spencer
To the Hilt by Dick Francis
The Burning Man by Phillip Margolin

14
We'll Meet Again by Mary Higgins Clark
The Marching Season by Daniel Silva
Miss Julia Speaks her Mind by Ann B. Ross
8.4 by Oeter Hernon

15
Trial by Clifford Irving
September by Rosamunde Pilcher
The White Puma by R. D. Lawrence
Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish by Dorothy Gilman

16
Killer's Wake by Bernard Cromwell
Blessings by Belva Plain
Grass Roots by Stuart Woods
Alice and Edith The Two Wives of Theodore Roosevelt by Dorothy Clarke Wilson

17
Pacific Interlude by Sloan Wilson
The Whip by Catherine Cookson
Open Heart by Mary Bringle
Banker by Dick Francis

18
Mrs. Pollifax on Safari by Dorothy Gilman
The R Document by Irving Wallace
Home Before Dark by Sue Ellen Bridgers
The Glory Boys by Gerald Seymour
The Spuddy by Lillian Beckwith

19
Edge of Glass by Catherine Gaskin
Great Elephan by Alan Scholefield
Color from A Light Within by Donald Braider
The Kitchen Madonna by Rumer Godden
Vanished by Fletcher Knebel

20
Driving Force by Dick Francis
Sotach by Naomi Ragen
The Doll's House by Evelyn Anthony
The Bears and I by Robert Franklin Leslie

21
Still Missing by Beth Gutcheon
A Princess in Berlin by Arthur R. G. Solmssen
The Warfield Syndrome by Henry Denker
The Dam by Robert Byrne

22
Acceptable Risk by Robin Cook
Local Rules by Jay Brandon
Salem Street by Anna Jacobs
Fast Forward by Judy Mercer

23
The Princess by Gunnar Mattsson
At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends by Dwight D. Eisenhower
The Least One by Borden Deal
Currahee! by Donald R. Burgett
The Walking Stick by Winston Graham

24
The Two of Us by Claude Berri
Bichu the Jaguar by Alan Caillou
The Minister by Charles Mercer
Mayo: the Story of My Family and My Career by Dr. Charles W. Mayo
Torregreca by Ann Cornelisen
April Morning by Howard Fast

25
Straight by Dick Francis
No Roof but Heaven by Jeanne Williams
The Evening News by Arthur Hailey
The Courtship of Peggy McCoy by Ray Sipherd

26
The State of Stony Lonesome by Jessamy West
At the Going Down of the Sun by Elizabeth Darrell
Callanish by William Hornwood
Find A Safe Place by Alex Lazzarino and E. Kent Hayes

27 
A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
The Camerons by Robert Crichton
The Japanese by Jack Seward 
Green Darkness by Anya Seton

28

Flanagan's Run by Tom McNab
A Parting Gift by Frances Sharkey, M.D.
The Big Bridge by Richard Martin Stern
Last Quadrant by Meira Chand


All other Books I have Read:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/56435494-iamnotabookworm?shelf=read



No comments:

Post a Comment