« Gangster in my family | Home | I Confess »
Books that I connected with
By bigpumpkin | August 25, 2006
My earliest memory of reading was 4 years old. I was at kindergarten when Christopher (a boy shorter than I) read me a book in attempt to impress entertain show off. But because I could actually READ, I wondered what the hell he was trying to achieve. I must say 30 years on, men haven’t changed much.
At 7, my mother used to read me ladybird books where she’d underline difficult words that I had to learn its meaning and spelling. It must’ve been then that my love for books began as it was also then that my mother stopped just as soon as she had started…….
Later, I remember reading practically every Enid Blyton book on Earth - Mr Pink Whistle, Mr Meddle Muddles, Malory Towers, The Famous Five, Secret Seven, St Clare’s, The Wishing Chair, Amelia Jane, The Faraway Tree, Noddy, and soooooooooooooooooooooooooo many more. Then at 10, the ‘in’ thing were these mystery books where you could choose your ending - does anyone remember those? I used to love them and would read and re-read until I got every possible combination of ending!
When puberty hit, I started on Sweet Valley High. I am proud to say though that I’d never touched a single Mills and Boons tale. Judy Blume must’ve been the absolute favourite as I kept every single book of hers and still have them today. Needless to say, they will be handed down to T (if she has my taste in books). My parents were never around when I was growing up so really, Judy Blume taught me about having my period and everything else teenagers go through. I will always have a special place for JB due to the impact of her books on me.
I started exploring more authors and titles as I grew out of my rebel years. Went through a lot of biographies for inspiration, Hollywood trash for entertainment, some really good philosophical life changing ones and great comedy, especially from British writers like Mike Gayle.
Then I had a book strike when I started my career back home. Working in the UK, I could still read but working in Asia, no chance. There was just no time for books if one wanted to excel in the corporate rat race.
I used to make myself finish every book I started, practicing what I preached about always finishing what you start. But after Motherhood, this no longer applies. If a book doesn’t keep me turning it’s pages 3 days in a row, I don’t touch it anymore…..way too much effort.
I started reading again a year back with my most recent being Life of Pi by Yann Martel. It was very original and very sweet. It reinforced why it didn’t matter what religion you were as long as you had faith in God and were a good person….My mother is Muslim, I am Catholic, my husband is Budhist/Aethist and we all live happilly together. So why are the rest of the world out there in the Middle East/Israel not getting it?
Topics: Pumpkin Learning, Pumpkin Thoughts, Languages |
One Response to “Books that I connected with”
Comments
Comments protected by Lucia's Linky Love.
August 25th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
oh yeah, I soooo remember those books that u mentioned. i also had them. But I dunno if I can hand it down to my kids as I did not keep them properly. They have yellow spots on them and smell too.
Did also read those “Sweet Dream” books too? I did but only a little bit. I also never did read M&B. Did ya know that Noddy was found to be be politically incorrect and I think they changed the names or took out some characters when the 90s came? When I was older I was hooked on fantasy stuff. I think I read all the fantasy stuff in “Walk in Rent a Book” shop. Ahhh, to have the time again to read. When “Da Vinci Code” came out, I finished the book within a night and had a major headache the next day.