One of my favorite pastimes is to read, but my interest is very selective and somewhat “bipolar.” The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown is one of my all-time favorites, yet I also love to read A Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren and Joey Velasco’s They Have Jesus. But whatever theme a certain literary piece revolves around, for as long as it catches my interest, be rest assured that I’ll devour that work.

            I think the first time that I really got interested in reading books was when my aunt, Tita Beth Collante, bought her son, my cousin Paolo, a set of Disney storybooks, which had titles like Robin Hood, 101 Dalmatians, Aladdin, and The 3 Little Pigs, among others. I was in primary school.

            Then with the turn of the new millennium, specifically in 2001, the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone movie hit cinemas in the country. Liking the Harry Potter story, I learned that it was based on a novel by J.K. Rowling. Luckily, my cousin, Pia Posadas, owned a copy of the first Harry Potter installation. Soon enough, I read the Harry Potter books religiously, now waiting to read the seventh and final novel, The Deathly Hallows.

            Then in came Dan Brown. I can’t remember how I was able to read The Da Vinci Code, but rest assured I was able to. After Da Vinci, I read Angels and Demons and Digital Fortress. However, I still haven’t been able to read Deception Point. Dan Brown novels are very interesting reads, with a lot of suspense and mystery spicing an already breathtaking plot.

            Then there are the religious books that I was talking about earlier. It had been my desire to be able to read A Purpose-Driven Life, having heard testimonies of its greatness as an inspirational write-up. It was in the summer of 2007 that I finally got my own copy, receiving my grandfather’s own copy of Rick Warren’s masterpiece. My A Purpose-Driven Life now has its sentimental value. Before PDL, however, I’ve already begun reading religious books like “What Am I Living For?” by Brother Ed Lapiz. Most recently, I have acquired by first autographed book: They Have Jesus, by author-painter-“heartist” Joey Velasco. They Have Jesus narrates the stories of the children that Velasco has painted in his 2005 masterpiece, Hapag ng Pag-Asa.

            In this section, I have allotted spaces for my favorite books and their respective authors. Check ‘em out!