Shereen's reading biography

I can't remember exactly when I started reading. It's one of those things that I feel like I've spent my whole life doing. I've been told that I 'started reading' when I was a wee little one, and my father would read to me books every night before bedtime. My mother says that my favourite day of the month was always her pay day because she would bring me to the bookstore on the same day to buy books for me. I don't remember ever being without a book.

Over the years, the book has followed me, everywhere.

I have vivid memories of ...

• my mother teaching me how to read with Peter and Jane
• pretending I was Georgina in yet another adventure with her friends and dog Timmy in Famous Five
• Reading Roahl Dahl and wishing I could drink out of the chocolate wonder that is Wonkaland in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
• Religiously collecting every single Babysitter's Club book
• discovering the sillyness of Sweet Valley

Over the years, my reading habits have definitely progressed from reading the Babysitter's Club.. although my love for such books (in the adult genre, we call it chick lit) has never wavered. I suppose I always turn back to my 'girly' books because they remind me of my halcyon days of youth, and how much characters in those books like Kristy from BC or Georgina became my 'role models' and people I've always wanted to be like. And in many ways, I think I've suceeded in becoming a little like them.

I've read and re-read a ton of books over the years at the library, in my room, on the bus en route to work, but one of my favourite places to read remains at the dining table. I don't do it as much today, but I remember countless nagging and scoldings from my parents every dinner time. While they devoured dinner, I devoured my books (and dinner, but books first). I looked something like this..



I still do this from time to time, especially when I revisit my schoolgirl novels.

I've always liked stories that revolved around girls in boarding schools like Mallory Towers or stories of daring girls like Anne of Green Gables.

These days, my taste in books have varied a little. I read more non-fiction books with my favourite being autobiographies. One of my favourite books is A Mighty Heart by Mariane Pearl, a journalist who lost her husband (also a journalist) in Iraq.

I've also taken a greater interest in reading magazines and international newspapers because of the diverse story angles and the beats that they offer. I read papers like The Australian, CityNews Canberra, WSJ, The Nation and CNNGo just to name a few.

Despite my more serious tastes in reading material today, I still enjoy books by Jodi Picoult and even Ann Brashares. My latest read (which I just finished yesterday) is Sisterhood Everlasting, the last book in the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants.

I will always be with a book, or a reading and I don't ever think this will change.