Read Me Your Story

If there's a culture I'd like my children to have is to read lots of books.

As a child, I grew up reading my dad's books. He has quite a collection back then, ranging from History to biography books to Politics but most of those made no sense to me when I was younger. I also grew up reading magazines my dad had subscribed to, like the TIME magazine or Reader's Digest. Every other weekends my dad would bring in newspapers both in English and Malay for us to read. Believe it or not, I only learnt to read and understand written English when I was 7 years old. I think that's pretty late right? Hehe. Before that I only get to read books with pictures and few words because I couldn't understand much. But I'm glad that I have sufficient and complete education for adopting English as a second language even though at a slow pace. One of the earliest English books that I owned was "Kampung Boy" by Lat. I read it 2-3 times over.

These days, I only read 3-4 books maximum, per year. At first when I got my own money, I bought books whenever I have the chance. As months go by and expenses rise, I realized it's too expensive for my budget. It used to be (sort of) a necessity but due to economic constraints it has become something that I take for granted. I used to walk into a bookshop casually like it's where I belong, but nowadays I can just walk away without a glance. One paperback can cost me from RM20 to RM50, for new releases. I think at that price range (and for something that you'd only use at least once) it already look like it's more of a luxury than a necessity! I guess this is where online literary medias (e.g. blogs) became a replacement for the traditional ones.

But I hope the future generation won't depend so much on the internet for reading materials. They have to feel, touch and smell real books in their hands.. it's more exciting that way!

So.. hmm. What's the point of writing this? I'm not sure. Haha. I just want to rant about it because I've not enough money to buy some books that I wish to have. When I'm in campus, I go to the library for fun (oh, no wonder still not in the Deans List. Hahaha!) and that's because I can't concentrate to study when I'm out exposed in the public. So while my friends read the textbooks, I spend the entire time looking for other interesting books to read. Even buku biography David Beckham dekat library pun aku boleh khatam.. what a loser.

Here's some books on my wishlist :



1) The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer
2) Class : The Secret Diaries of a Teacher In Turmoil by Jane Beaton
3) The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar