“We must read books!”
My mother started teaching me to read when I was practically a toddler. I am able to read when I was 4 years old, and by the time I was 6 years old, I finished all my kiddy books and was reading my mother’s Khadijah Hashim’s novel. (So in the picture above, I can actually read that book and not just posing with it!)
The Ladybirds series, Penguin books came later. (I don’t know why Khadijah Hashim came first, Ladybirds later). Enid Blyton’s and Mr. Pink Whistle’s with it’s flying chair and talking fairies. Children’s Classic like Secret Garden, and Heidi, and Black Beauty. I read almost all the classics, but I didn’t finish reading Tom Sawyer or any books with a boy as it’s main character. And of course, those private boarding school series.
Malay storybooks of ‘Ceritalah lagi’, and ‘Tidurlah Sayang’. And I also remembered reading ‘Seorang Tua di Kaki Gunung’. Because I was reading the books when I was relatively young, (I cannot remember wether I’m in primary schools or before), I am always very scared and disturbed when reading the part about the man having to imputate his own leg to save himself.
Sweet Valley Twins, Sweet Valley High, segala-gala Sweet Valley was in primary school. R.L Stine’s scared the hell out of me and made me sleep with the lights on for many many nights. It also managed to make me suspicious of at least 2 of my best friends. I thought they want to kill me.
Ooh, of course Judith Mcnought came next. ehehe. I am a healthy, normal (curious) teenage girl! ;). I then get quickly bored of those romantic movies with the same story lines and the same raunchy scenes. There’s only so much ‘pulsating’ and ’swelling’ a girl can take.
Then I got hooked on those thriller/mystery/murder books with a lot of gory and brutal murder description. Alamak, I can’t remember the name of the author. What I remember though, I was reading that book while waiting in a clinic. And when my turn arrived, of course I brought the book in with me, and the doctor saw the book and asked me ‘You always reading those books?’. I said ‘Yes’. ‘It is not good you know. It will corrupt young naive minds like yours. You will be de-sensitised to crime and murder and nasty things’. I said ‘Ok’. And gradually stop reading those too.
Now I pretty much read everything and anything. Fiction, non-fiction, money, management, chic-lit, haruki murakami, a. samad said’s poetry, magazines, brochures, cereal box. Like I said, everything. But I still can’t take any romantic novels though.
I am very thankful for my mom and my dad for exposing me to reading since I was very small. For the countless trips to bookstores and book fairs. Reading has given me tremendous pleasure my whole life and I believe it is one of the most wonderful gift a parent can give to their child.
