Every since I was young, books have been the window through which I see the outside world or even the real world. I come from a family where my father is very conservative and protective. He simply cares and worries for his children so much that he was afraid, if left unattended, some harm would befall his children. All the way till Primary 5, my routine was always school to home. It was my mother who inspired a love for reading in me. Every weekend, she would make it a point to bring us to the library and sit with us for at least half an hour to read to us some books. This simple gesture made a difference to my brother and I. We looked forward to going to the library every week and made it a point to finish as many books as we could during the weekends. The school holidays were the best reading periods simply because the library allowed a 8 book rental.
It was indeed books that roused my curiosity. I started out reading a lot of Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl. They engaged me and kept me interested through the many adventures the characters went through. This made me constantly day dream of my own adventure as a secret spy with a secret mission at home. When I was 12, and I guess puberty kicked in as well, I became obsessed with the sweet valley series. Simply because I wanted to read the books in the right order, I used to wake up early at around 8 in the morning (during the holidays) so that I would reach the library at 9 sharp to borrow books. Why early in the morning? It was then that the books were always arranged and I knew I would get the right order that I wanted. I was impressed with myself because I know by the time it was PSLE, I finished the entire series.
In Secondary school my reading journey continued. I was gifted to always have had good language teachers. They often stressed the importance of reading and its benefits. My literature class used two main books. They were Clay Marble and Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry. These opened my minds to wider issues that books carried and covered. The issues of poverty and racism in the books really made me feel in a different light. However, it was definitely Shakespeare that changed my secondary school reading history. It was the first time I was introduced to drama in a different type of english. It made me very interested and curious. I enjoyed deciphering what the sentences meant and sometimes I just knew what they meant without even trying too hard. My teacher even invited an Australian theatre performance group to perform my literature text, Julius Caesar, to my class and the literature class from another school. Watching our text come alive was amazing. I loved how the actors acted the text with such eloquence and passion. Here is where my love for drama slowly started.
In Jc, Gothic literature made me excited. My Jc teachers from PJC were a fiery group of teachers who seemed to live and breathe literature in the way they carried themselves and the way they taught. Gothic literature made me see my reality in a different way. I loved the book Dracula and started reading many novels with vampires as its base. I started to open my mind to Singapore literature and grew to adore Boey Kim Cheng. I started to love drama even more. Rosencrantz and Guildenstren are Dead blowed my mind away! <3!
It is really through the exposure of the many texts at my various schools that added to my reading list and pleasure. University simply added more texts and made me realise which genres I did not like, for instance Victorian Literature and Post modernism. I still love all kinds of dramatic texts, every kind and of every type.
Now in NIE, I do not seem to have that much time to read, but I still do, I just can't help it. Reading is not just a leisure activity but a necessity.
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