[Serene] My Reading Biography

My love affair with books began with Enid Blyton who was the author at that time. For some reason, I was never interested in fairytales such as Cinderella, Snow White etc – with their forever unrealistic happy endings. My discovery of the original versions of these fairytales – they were really quite dark and gory, and the princesses aren’t that innocent after all – further confirmed me in my skepticism. I went on to read The Famous Five Series and moved on to Roald Dahl’s books such as Matilda – boy, did I wish I have her powers (actually, I still do) – The BFG, James and the Giant Peach and – how can I forget – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! These books somehow had a touch of magic to them and I could never manage to put any of them down when I started reading and I never got tired of re-reading them again and again. Just as Charlie and his grandfather was mesmerized by the extraordinarily amazing characters (little midgets called Oompa-loompas and their fantastically hilarious songs) and events (a bunch of squirrels catching a naughty child visitor and cracking her head to find that she is a ‘bad nut’ and proceeded to dump her into the garbage chute!) in Willy Wonka’s factory, so was I. I even bought ‘Willy Wonka’ sweets (obviously under the influence of the novel) for a while! When it was adapted into a movie, I was determined to catch it and was pleasantly delighted to find that the movie stuck pretty much to the events in the book. 

Since I was young, books were my rewards and this love for reading grew well into my adulthood. Speaking of this, I really ought to thank my parents who often brought me to the bookstore (The Big Bookshop was the big thing for me then) and we would spend many hours poring over books, selecting those which had interesting titles and attractive cover pages.  During my lower secondary school years, I was introduced to Sweet Valley High by my classmates. While I appreciated the simplicities of the plot, I found myself, unfortunately, steering clear of the romance genre – and I still am, when it comes to selecting books and movies. I made frequent trips to the school library and community libraries. I was enticed by the mystery and multiple-ending formats in R. L. Stine’s Goosebumps series. I suppose the ability to choose routes which lead to different endings gave me a sense of empowerment as a reader, though I recall being frustrated sometimes by the minute few choices I could make. It was considered quite hip to be reading this series at that time; my classmates would be talking about it and asking which endings we choose. I particularly loved Night of the Living Dummy I & II – I was thoroughly fascinated with Slappy the dummy coming alive at night and terrorizing the children in the house – The Haunted Mask I & II, Beware, the snowman, Welcome to Camp Nightmare etc, Piano Lessons can be Murder. I guess this was the period which sparked my interest in the gore and horror genre. I recall reading Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry which intrigued me with the constant fear and perils the African-American communities lived with and the mighty strength and spirit they showed. I only discovered my fascination with this genre when I went on to do American and Postcolonial Literature at the university level.

In the later part of my adolescent years, I read books like Charlotte’s Web, Kiss the Dust, The Secret Garden and more. I also found myself reading Roald Dahl again such as Skin and Other Stories, which I found to be real witty with its intense satirical flavor. In university, I found myself forced to read books of other genre, which widen my perspectives and honed my critical thinking and analytical skills – particularly with the humongous load of essays I had to write. I found myself falling in love with Singapore literature, American literature, and Postcolonial Literature. I also found in myself a fascinated fixation with arguing against androcentric interpretations of novels. 

When I revisit my books, I stumble upon new and different ways of reading them. And I am waiting to discover more. I hope to be able to pass on this obsession with reading to my students so that they may, too, discover and experience the infinite moments of magic in books.