Me and Books.

I am an avid reader. I love books, fictional ones that is. I can't recall on what method my mother chose to teach me to read, but at the age of 5 years old, I can read superbly...and religiously..in Bahasa Melayu only. I found it a bit hard to read in English back then.

I still remember what type of books I read at that time. It is the RM1 classic fairy tales books, translated to Malay like 'Si Tudung Merah', 'Goldilocks dan Serigala' and 'Snow White dan 7 orang kerdil'. Mak will usually bring back home a dozen of books in various titles and I will spend most of my free time reading those books.

Then I move on to Enid Blyton's collection, also in Malay version like Lima Sekawan and Tujuh Sekawan.

I started reading in English quite late as I have trouble absorbing the reading techniques. For me, Malay is easier as it is concentrates more on syllable like B-A, BA..C-A, CA and so on..I can't really recall what is my first English book's collection, but I do remember that I love reading Enid Blyton's books (this time around in English) like Amelia Jane Series, The Faraway Tree collection and whole bunch of simpler English books written by her.

As my English reading improves, I move on to a higher level of English also written by Blyton like the Famous Five, Secret Seven, Malory Towers, Twins at St Clare's. Those boarding school series have made me wanted to go boarding school really bad!

Then, as I entered high school, I started reading Sweet Valley High and Goosebumps series, before I was introduced to books written by Virginia Andrews. Andrew's manuscripts envolved around a teenage girl's life who is entangled in between family deceptions, love and incestuous act. Her first published books is 'Flower in the Attic', which was later being adapted for the big screen. I actually watched the film first before reading the book. But I found the book is way far more interesting that the film itself (isn't that normally the case?).

I kept track of all Andrew's family saga from Doppelanger series to Castell till I reached form four, where I was forced to read Sidney Sheldon's book out of boredom. The first Sheldon's book that I read was The Naked Face, which drove me to love the book and continue reading almost all his publications. Even till todate, I always on the look out of his newly published book, though I found at times, his story becomes more predictable now that I know his style of writing.

While waiting for Sheldon's, I saw a friend of mine reading Whitney, My Love, a book written by Judith McNaught. She then lent me the book and from there on, I love reading Mcnaught's collection.

In between McNaught and Sheldon, I also love to read Malay novels written by Lamia Aimal like Donia, Tiga Wajah and Waja. Her captivating way of adding true facts and figures to romance is what makes me looking forward to her next book.

So, basically, my life has been envolved around books, so that makes reading my utmost interest or hobby. Hubby noticed a similarity among all the novels that I've read, which I would never have realised should he never pointed out. He mentioned "Eh! Why are all the books you read, the main character is always a female?". Emmmm...I wonder why...