Thank you all for visiting. Yours sincerely, Jan Paul (J.P.D.T.).
I never liked reading…. before. I hate it but not anymore.
I used to hate reading. I remember one time when I was still in high school, our educator required us to read a short story to answer few questions related to it. I immediately refused to read that and just copied my friend’s work instead because when I searched for that story in the book, I found that the said “short” story took up 3 pages. And back then, when the story takes up about half the page of a bond paper, I would call it a novel and novels for me are “Self-torturing devices” made for masochistic people.
Looking back when I was growing up. Every bedtime, before I go to sleep, I would always stare at all the precariously stacked academic books atop my bookshelf, and I would always look at those while asking myself, why? Why would anyone torture themselves? Why would anyone force themselves in to reading those books? That’s boring, just a waste of time.
My prejudice mind never changed pretty much up until late 2015 when out of curiosity and just to see what the fuss is all about, I downloaded wattpad. I signed in and scrolled for something good. I found one that is interesting and not too long enough to bore me, about half the size of a novel. I was hesitant at first, I kept questioning myself if it really is worth my “precious” time but I did it anyways.


The genre of this book is horror, my favorite at that time. I always read it at night ’cause it is a lot scarier when it’s dark and when I’m alone in the room. I find this book really interesting, scary but good. While reading, I didn’t really notice that time’s passing by really quickly. The room’s dead silent at first and everything gets amplified, I can hear every noise in the room, the air condition’s rumble, and the air buzzing outside. But as I dove deeper into the story, the outside noise slowly fades and my mind is slowly drifting into a vast universe. Feeling every sensation that the story is describing.
When I finished the book, I asked myself, “is that it? That’s too short!” Like why in the heaven did I not noticed that the book is ending, why didn’t I realized that I just did what I thought was painful and unbearable. How did that happen?
Then to satisfy my new-found craving I looked for another story, something good and novel size this time. I look for something popular because this would guarantee me that it is interesting enough not to bore me and go back to hating.
I read the book and I fell in love with it in an instant. This book answered my question why people endured the pain of reading a book. I found out that there’s no pain at all in reading. It is fun, exciting, and a roller coaster ride experience. It is more immersive than watching a film or a TV series. But what really sells me is it feeds my brain with stories to think. I dream all the time, I constantly think and make stories in my head to compensate for my lack of social abilities. Reading books is like fixing my mind for me. It kind of massage my brain, it’s very relaxing and for the first time, I finally understood those people who go in silence just to read. And for the first time, I finally liked reading.
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.”
George R.R. Martin
I know I’m not good in english, grammar, and my punctuation is terrible. And I am not good at writing either, sorry for wasting your time. Feel free to comment, no need to sign up.
Here’s a link directed to my site Jan Paul (J.P.D.T.) Please do not reproduce.
Copyright © By JAN PAUL and J.P.D.T, 2017-2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to JAN PAUL and Jan Paul (J.P.D.T.) with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
©By Jan Paul (J.P.D.T) All Rights Reserved
What an excellent quote. All three of us at T.B.C are avid readers. Two of us only got into it about 2 years ago. I would read plays – just because I had to and only when I was cast in them. Reading seemed too hard to do until I went up to Edinburgh International Book Festival and immersed myself in a whole new world of Ideas. I could live in such a diverse world just from reading and I could go back time and again. One of my favourites books is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Every I read it I am transported to literally another universe in which I find many things that I had missed the first time. Reading is such an important activity for the mind, creativity and the heart – it is soul soothing. So pleased you found enjoyment in reading/. Happy reading x
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Wow. This is such an awesome comment from you. I’m happy to know that I share the same kind of experience, history, and feelings towards reading. Reading really is hard to start but when you do, it’s hard to stop. I can’t find anywords to say, I really do appreciate your comment. Thank you so much😍😍
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You write from a place of knowledge and hope. You write from the heart. Thank you for sharing your experiences with honesty 🙂
I used to read a lot when I was younger but fell away into a watching TV and YouTube and playing too many video games. Recently I have dived back into the wonderful worlds books can lead us through. I’m glad you’ve found the joy of reading. A recommendation, if you like action stories (think modern-ish Indiana Jones), would be to read anything by Matthew Reilly.
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Thank you so much🤩🥰🔥❤ for this comment, I really appreacite that you spare some time to read my blog. I’m glad too that your back into reading. Thank you for the recommendation, I try to read some of them🔥🔥❤🥰🤩 thank you so much🥰❤
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Nice piece, thanks and an important comment.
How old were you when your attitude changed? Sadly, many who were not introduced to reading for enjoyment at an early age never acquire the habit.
It’s interesting how some people can spend hours a day on social media or watching TV, Netflix etc but consider it a waste of their time to sit and read. Reading on social media on people’s phones are also shortening their attention span (and of course a body of text looks really long there), so that many writing on blogs now have to indicate the average time reading the piece in order to entice the reader. Sad state of affairs.
I hope you keep reading … and writing.
Diarmuid Breatnach
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Thank you for your comment🥰😍I prefer not to say my exact age but I was a senior high school student at that time. I guess it’s on the type of person even if they were not introduced to reading at an early age, it’s their that genes that craves for it. There’s an interesting coment from Ace Worldwide News Group here in this blog post about his/her story, he was devoid of knowledge during his childhood but deep inside he wants to explore books.
I don’t really have a problem with those people who prefers watching or playing over reading because I like doing those too and also we cannot generalize people. Yes reading is good but there’s still a lot of informative videos out there they would just have to explore. People has different types of learning styles, interest, motivation, and we have different “perceived relevance of the materia.l”
Here’s the link to the comment (if it works LOL) https://janpauld.wordpress.com/2020/06/01/i-never-liked-reading/comment-page-2/#comment-124
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I come from a family of readers, but it wasn’t until he read “watchers” by Dean koontz that my brother learned why we lived reading (if you haven’t read it yet, you should!) Welcome to the (book)club!
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I’m happy that you found reading, enjoyable. A part of me bugs that my years before are such a waste of time because I haven’t read books, which seems popular worldwide. I am a proud lit major student, dahil dun, lumawak ang ang mundo ko sa literatura, not just wattpad or pocketbooks. So explore more! Naku, marami kang matutuklasan 🙂 parang nasa ibang mundo ka at isa ka sa mga characters.
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Thank you😍 talagang naeenjoy ko na ang pagbabasa ngayon, and pinagsisihan ko din na hindi ako nagbasa ng libro noon lalo na nung natapos ko basahin yung twilight recently. Parang ang dami ko nakaligtaan noon😍😍 Good luck sa course mo and sa future mo. Thank you sa comment, I really appreciate it😍😍🤩🤩
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Na-excite ako bigla! I can suggest more books for you to read (hehe) Thank you! It means so much to me 😍
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Sure. Babasahin ko yan, pero yung mga bagong books hahahahaha😍 Nahihirapan ko intindihin pag mga luma hahahahaha😍🤩😍🤩🤩
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The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw
The Mermaid by Christina Henry
November 9 by Colleen Hoover
The Bastards Series by Andrew Shvarts
Marami pang iba. Para sakin yan yung pasok sa taste ko. Fantasy genre ee. You can check James Patterson, Stephen King, Haruki Murakami, and waaahhh damii haha. Softcopy binabasa mo o book talaga?
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Sure babasahin ko yan pagnatapos ko na yung binabasa ko ngayon🤩🤩😍😍. Currently ang binabasa ko The Emperor of All Maladies about cancer yan hahaha. Madalas sa phone kasi di na kailangan ng lamp or ilaw pag nagbabasa sa gabi hahahaha🤩😍😍🤩 pero minsan sa books din
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Yayyyy. Sige try ko yan. Hanapin ko mwahaha. Nangongolekta kasi ako. Tambay mag-isa e haha. Sa phone, dilat na dilat mata ko (radiation? Lol) sa libro, inaantok ako. Pero iba pa rin pag may copy. Binabalik-balikan. 😂
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Sige sige hahahaha pero non-fiction yon hahaha🤩😍 autobiography ng cancer pero okay rin naman basahin lalo na kung nasa med field.🤩✌😍 hahaha masarap nga pag may copy ng book. Yung smell ng libro🤩😍🤩😍hahahahaha
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Oo nakakaadik muka akong tanga sa bookstores dahil inaamoy ang books lalo na pag pre-loved haha 😂. Di pa ako nakapagbasa ng novel na related sa med field, bagong experience na naman haha 😂😂😍
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Haha haha. Trip mo amoyin eh pake ba nila hahahaha.😂 try mo, masarap basahin, konti lang yung med terms na ginagamit niya😍😍 madaling intindihin. 😍😍😍
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Yayyy mag-eenjoy ako niyan!
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Sana talaga maenjoy mo😍😍😍✌👌 marami ka matututunan diyan😍😍👌
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I am definitely not a book person, too! I also wonder why my classmates would even read such thick books until I tried them myself. I also started at Wattpad and now I am so addicted to it that I even bought hard copies and hard bounds that I already have a mini bookshelf of my own. HAHA! Good thing that you are also starting to read now.
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I’m happy to know that we have a common starting ground😍🤩Wattpad is a good place to try since you can delete it if you don’t feel it😂🤩😍 I actually stopped reading from that app cause I felt like every story is the same. But I’m happy to know you’re still into it.😍😍🤩 thank you for your comment, I really appreciate it😍🤩😍🤩😍🤩
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Actually I just got back. THanks to quarantine I guess. HAHA! I am writing on a different platform now called dreams. If you’re familiar with it. ALthough I still read at wattpad.
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Same, ng dahil sa quarantine🤣🤣 ngayon ko lang narinig/nabasa yan. Lol🤣👌
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i loveeeee this!!! your story of moving from the “i hate books” mindset to “books are everything” one made me laugh a lot! i like the fact that you stepped out of that shell to actually explore the world of words. not many can do that. i’m most definitely going to be reading more of your work!
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Thank you so much for sending your comment, I really appreciate it. I’m glad that I made you laught with my blog, response like this keeps me motivated. It’s an “enlightenment” kind of moment for me to realize that reading is a fun activity.😍🥰😍 I never thought it would happen, but I’m glad it did.😍🥰😍
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Reading is like an escape pod for me. You accurately described how it feels like to read a book. It’s like entering another dimension that you never thought exist.
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Yes 🤩😍🤩thank you so much. I am happy to know that you can relate to this😍🤩😍🤩
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Wow…this is what you call being real Jan. Reading for me though has been like breathing. It comes naturally.Good job.
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Thanks you so much, I really appreciate it😍🤩😍🤩 Reading is a good activity. It calms the mind😍🤩😍🤩
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Well reading was never my habit too!! But the silence in library attracted me. Slowly and gradually I got to shelves, found books that collabed with my thoughts and taught me something or the other. But I am glad, once where we ran from books, we are here, writing the views, on each other’s blogs [lol]
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Wow. Thank you so much for this lovely comment🥰🤩😍
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have a good day Jan. And its worth appreciating the efforts of yours.
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Hi and thanks for the visit… wow this is fascinating!!! I really really really do not like horror so I loved reading notes from a horror-fan to sort of try to understand it better! Also interesting the wattpad detail. Thank for sharing this. Your writing is great if I may say so; keep up the good work! 😊🤩🙏
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Thank you so much for this comment🥰🤩 It really means a lot to me and I’m glad to know that you’ve gained something from it🥰🤩🥰🤩🥰🤩🥰🤩🥰
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Great Post: Surprisingly enough nor did l, and that was due mainly to my dad telling me l would never learn anything from books …..We had books on shelves including full volumes of Dickens leather-bound and always dust free…..but touch them and you got a belting.
Parents can leave children devoid of knowledge and learning back when l was a child it was Victorian values …
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oh… I’m really sorry to hear that. I never thought that this kind of treatment to a child still exist, normally, parents are eager to teach them or rather they are eager push their child to perform well in school, at least here in the Philippines. But your case is vice versa. I’m hoping that you’ll find the freedom to explore the world of books now without any restrictions.
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I thank you for the reply and since my father and mother have both died l have a partner who is a real bookworm and with her help l learned to appreciate knowledge and what many books can provide. And blogging has also helped me read and inwardly digest all forms of writing on my blogs l share many things with various sites l set-up and these include friends news here: https://acenewsdesk.wordpress.com/
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Thank you for the comment, sorry for the late reply it was put on spam. It’s great to know that you finally found what you’ve been devoid of doing for so many years. Hope you find happiness in it🥰
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God Bless You and Yours at this time in history 🙏’s
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