Memories...

Although a little fuzzy, I still remember the first few books I’ve read when I was young. It had pictures on every page as the story unfolds itself. My mom had showered me with lots of picture books to encourage me to read. Some of it even had audio tapes! Every day, I would read and listen to the tapes (one of it had an orange cat named Oliver or something like that), which brings me into the story and join the characters in their little adventures. I still remember most of it were Ladybird books such as Rumpelstiltskin, Three Billy Goats Gruff, Sleeping Beauty, and many more. Among my favourite books were Tales of Peter Rabbit as well as the other books written by the same author, Beatrix Potter. These books had drawn me into reading and let’s just say I was pretty much addicted to reading after that. My mom had accomplished her goal.

As I grew up, I read books written by Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl, each of their stories different and interesting, which brings me into the magical world that they’ve created. Stories such as The Tower of Ho-Ho Woods and other stories had taught me not to be mean or we would suffer the consequences. It never failed to draw me into a fantasy world of my own where fairies and wizards exists, princes and princesses, that makes me want to have a happy ending of my own some day. Roald Dahl’s stories too had the same effect except his stories some how seems so real that sometimes I find myself believing in it too. Stories like The Enormous Crocodile, The BFG, and The Magic Finger were among those that I’ve enjoyed reading. I love reading his poems too! Besides that, I also read Peter Potts the Plumber and Horace the Friendly Ghost too. All these books had helped widen my imagination and makes reading so much more fun.

R.L. Stine and Stephen King, too, came into picture during my primary and secondary school life. My best friend, Kylie, had influenced me into reading R.L. Stine’s books then just as she had done the same with Harry Potter when it first published. Although I may be in my teens, but reading horror stories then really scared me since I grew up reading fairytales and happy-ending stories. But as usual, me being me, I still continued reading those stories despite the fact that it gave me nightmares at times. As the saying goes, “curiosity killed the cat.”

A few years back, my cousin made me read Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie and that had change my perspective in life. Reading different books had shown me another view of the world and about the life of others. After that, I got my hands on Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, which I found in a pile of books that my aunt had given me. I was amazed by the old man’s strength and sympathized with his character. It had also shown me the way of a fisherman’s life. Then recently, I read Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons, which was really interesting, and it also made me realize that life is cruel and evil people do exists. Well, I’ve read a lot of books when I was young so I can’t really remember the titles clearly but I can still remember how the stories go. To me, reading books is like being in the playground of my mind. I can be any character I wish and just let my imagination run free. It gives me a chance to explore and create a whole new adventure of my own and that’s why it is important to me.