Rizal and Dumas

Since early childhood, Jose Rizal already loved books. His mother, Doña Teodora Alonzo taught him how to read a material in Spanish language and developed his mind and artistic talents by telling him wonderful and colourful stories and poems. Furthermore, his Tio Gregorio, a book lover, intensified his reading of good books. The favourite pastime of Rizal during his stay in Madrid was reading. Instead of gambling and flirting with women as many young Filipinos did in the Spanish metropolis, he stayed home and read voraciously until midnight. I can relate Rizal’s love on books to my passion. Since my high school days, I was drawn to insightful books and magazines. Unfortunately, this passion of mine was not developed early enough because our school’s library back then is poorly-equipped. There are only few books and most of them are outdated but I managed to gain insights from them. By the time I went to the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) in Cebu City to pursue my college studies, I was very much excited when I found out that the institution has a very fascinating library. The size of our library in high school is only one percent of the library of this University. I was amazed by the myriad of new and insightful books displayed in the book shelves. Furthermore, the facility has a huge space so that it can accommodate lots of students. It is during my stay in this University did enhance my reading skills and develop my personal character through reading good and informative books. Through reading lots of books and magazines as well as surfing in the internet, I was able to widen my knowledge and nurtured my soul. I gained lots of information and wisdom from these reading materials. Moreover, my vocabulary and grammar had also improved through knowing the meaning of new words I read from the books. Indeed, reading will truly bring you liberty-- freedom in your mind and soul. One of the most favourite novels of Rizal was