The Spark Project [3]: LYNAI

The Spark Project is a monthly blog feature where a reader and/or book blogger is invited to talk about that one book that sparked his/her interest in books and reading. He/She will tell us about the what-when-where-why-and-how of this topic, how his/her reading habits have evolved since encountering that book, and so on. Wouldn't it be fun and interesting as well to know how a fellow book lover discovered the wonderful world of books? :)

The featured reader/book blogger for March is my pañera from TFG, Atty. Lynai, who, like Tina and Angus, I also first met online. Lynai is one of the pioneers of TFG, and although she's based in Iloilo, the rest of us from Manila have had the pleasure of meeting her in person last year when she flew in just in time for the first anniversary of the book club. Not only were we able to meet this lady who is endowed with both beauty and intelligence, but we also got to meet her boyfriend-and-soon-to-be-husband, Luigi, who tagged along. ;)

Lynai's profile: checking out paperbacks. :)

When she's not busy drawing up pleadings or attending hearings, Lynai spends her time reading. We both love John Grisham! Not surprising at all that we love legal thrillers, since it involves our bread and butter, i.e., the law. But her tastes in books have evolved since then, and she hasn't hesitated to venture out into other genres.

Lynai has indulged me when she willingly agreed to be featured in this project, so I will not hold off any longer. Give it up for Atty. Lynai, who in a couple of months' time will be hyphenating her last name. :D

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(1) What is the one book that sparked or kindled your love for reading? Describe the circumstances in which you found or discovered it.

To be honest, I really had a difficult time recalling what particular book sparked my love for reading. I have said time and again that I learned to love reading from the time I first learned how to read. While I was in grade school, I remember reading all the stories in my Reading subject textbook weeks before classes even started. Plus, I had an equally bookish best friend with whom I exchanged Nancy Drew books and spent too much time in the library. We eventually read all the storybooks in our small library so we started to go to the high school library instead. (Sounds dorky, but that’s the truth.) In high school, I grew up with Sweet Valley, and if I could not borrow any SV book from my best friend, I would read my mom’s books for her college Philippine literature class.

Even if I cannot remember what particular book had gotten me addicted to reading, I can still recall what book made me interested in reading and enduring thick novels – those thicker than the Nancy Drew and Sweet Valley books. Some of my high school classmates were already reading Judith McNaught and Kathleen Woodiwiss but I had been greatly intimidated by their thickness. When I eventually “crossed over” to thicker novels I felt I had graduated from reading “childish” books and moved on to more “mature” ones.

Lynai's collection of Koontz and Grisham paperbacks :)

I was in college when I “discovered” John Grisham’s The Firm from the shelves of our university library.

I was already dreaming of becoming lawyer then and the blurb intrigued me so I borrowed it and finished the whole novel overnight. It was then that I found out that “thick” books are not necessarily boring books. In fact, they are even more interesting because of the complexity of the characters and the plot, the reason why I kept going back to the library to borrow novels.

(2) How has it affected you - both your life in general and as a reader?

Lynai at a Book Sale branch :)

Ah, The Firm. Even if this book is not my favorite among all John Grisham books I have read, I can say that it sparked my interest in crime and suspense novels. I can no longer recall what the story of this book is all about except that the suspense really blew my mind away after I read it. (Hm, maybe it’s time for a re-read, don’t you think?) It’s really cool that our university library carried fiction novels because I was able to read more of John Grisham after The Firm, and it was also then when I fell in love with Dean Koontz. Alas, I can no longer recall the title of the DK book I first read.

Because of The Firm, John Grisham remains on top of my favorite authors list, followed by Dean Koontz and John Sandford. Of course, I have read other awesome books and discovered other wonderful authors in the years that followed especially after I joined Goodreads, but whenever I want a comfort read, I would always go back to Grisham or Koontz.

My love for Grisham and Koontz also brought me to Booksale where copies of their books are always found on the shelves. Up to now, Booksale remains to be my little heaven on earth, considering the lack of bookstores in my place, aside from National Bookstore. Reading will always be my guilty pleasure and I plan to pass on this love for the written word to my children, if God blesses me with them, in the future.

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Lynai blogs about her favorite books at It's A Wonderful Bookworld. She has her own little corner, too, where she talks about her life, love, and her love for life. Do drop by and say hello! :)

And, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, Lynai! <3