The Makings of a Bookworm

This was the First Sweet Valley book and first (and definitely not the last) book that I finished reading in one day. I bought it from one of the newsagents at Heathrow Airport. I remember asking my father for some money to buy the book. My father has always been good at things like that. He'd always encourage and support any interest relating to books. There was something about the cover of this one that attracted me to it. I must have been about 11 or 12 at that time.

After that first Sweet Valley book, I was addicted. Whenever I had any pocket money, I would spent it on Sweet Valley books. As I progressed to upper secondary, my reading progressed to Sweet Valley High. Then all my girl friends would read them too which gave way to many book swappings. We'd made sure we don't buy the same Sweet Valley books.

Other books also formed part of the "unofficial" book club. Judy Blume was another staple, and to a lesser extent, Paula Danziger.

I went on do to English Literature for both my O and A' Levels. Most people thought I was mad and rather...boring. But I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. A favourite of mine, even today, was All Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. It is such a wonderful book. I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't studied it.

I also remember enjoying John Donne, more than I did Shakespeare. I thought that his poetries were so thought provoking and well beyond any ideas or concepts accepted during his era.

My reading went through different phases as I grew older. There was a time when I was into Danielle Steel though funnily enough I was never into Jackie Collins. Then it was Barbara Cartland, followed by an experimental stage of Robin Cook (no not the British politician sort). Then at one point I decidedly went gothic and read Ann Rice with fervour.

Today, my love for reading and books still live on. I could never swap the smell of new books for a virtual one that you can download from the internet. However, my reading is a lot more varied now. Somehow I don't go for any particular genres or authors anymore. My book buying habits has come to depend on the sentiments and mood that I feel at the time the book was purchased.
To illustrate, my modern day favourites are Monstrum by Donald James and A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, which has since inspired me so much to go India (this is still in my must-do list).

Apart from my love for reading, I must confess I am absolutely anal about how my books are handled. I am always careful not to crease the skeleton of the book as more pages are turned. And I absolutely hate it when people fold the pages by way of book marking. Why did people invent bookmarks in the first place?! You can tell really why I'm not particularly fond of lending my books to anyone.

Yet some might accuse me of being weird...but I'd say if only for the love of my precious books.

~ My precious! ~