Reading - The Journey

Listen up! I am here proud to announce that I have pick up READING again....! Yes. After like soooo looooong , I finally won the battle against whatsoever lame & unintelligent excuses I came up with for giving up the hobby I used to love so greatly.

My journey of the reading kingdom took me way back when I was 8. (lost to Yasmin, hers started at 7). Then I was a member of a library which was abolished to make way for IJN-Institut Jantung Negara. The books of my choice were books with colourful pictures & should not exceed 20pgs. Obviously, I could have finished reading those thin books within 10 minutes... but it was so cool checking out books with your own name written on that small piece of paper at the back page ;-)

At the age of 10 or probably less, I started to appreciate Enid Blyton's short stories. "Anytime Tales", "Bedtime Tales" & Amelia Jane series. Hooked with EB, I continued with Famous 5, Malory Towers & St.Clare's series (no Yasmin, I didn't read Secret 7 then). At 12, I felt that reading EB was rather uncool. I changed to "Nancy Drew Files". A year after, introduced myself to "Sweet Dreams", "Sweet Valley High", "Sweet Valley Twins" & fell in love with those. Other books untouched. I remember my brother whom I hired as my walking library. He was then in VI, wld pass Central Market daily to take the mini bus home. There was this bookstore inside CM, selling pretty cheap books. In fact we could rent out books. If I found any interesting book, I would look for the oldest of its batch. The older the book, the cheaper the rent. Sometimes, I managed to get 50sen for the rental but the condition of the book was very sad. But who cared, as long as readable...

After SRP, I was into Danielle Steel's & then Sidney Sheldon's (or was is Sheldon's first...). Steel never failed to make me cry. That was how engrossed I could be with the protagonist & even with the plot.

At 16, I came across a novel left by my aunt in her room. I sneaked reading the book & fell in love totally with the story. It was my first Jude Deveraux novel - "Highland Velvet". But by this time I had to restrain myself from reading too many novels. Had to put my studies first - SPM.

This was the Highland Velvet that made me so curious to read. Hahaha...!

This is the copy that I bought for myself somewhere last year. Hoping that the cover is not that inviting... ;-)

After SPM, I went back to reading business. Then, was head over hills with Jude Deveraux's & Judith McNaught's. Was really really crazy over their novels! What more... I was in a relationship... & love was in the air! Hahaha!

In college, I ventured other authors'. LaVyrle Spencer for instance and Jackie Collins too. Still cannot runaway from the same genre. Well... love was still in the air! I am definitely a fan of Spencer. Then still made my regular visits to the same bookstore at CM. I think, I have covered all Spencer's books that the store had for rental.


Familiar with Mills & Boon or perhaps, MB? I skipped this era. Tried reading it once... OK, the truth! I found loads of MBs in my aunt's room. I chose one MB & somehow was attracted to the cover of Highland Velvet. Whoaa... MB was very dull! Of course, what was MB in comparison to the genius touch of Deveraux ;-)

I do read biography/autobiography books too. The books will I never touch are thriller & horror. OK... am the coward type. I do sometimes get eerie watching CSI! Go ahead & laugh... I doubt , Harry Porter is a good read for me!


I married early (well...). After having Yasmin, my reading materials were more to books about parenting & babies. My magazine changed too from Cleo (I own the 1st Malaysia issue!) to Mother & Baby. I tried reading books but felt guilty. I was not the type of reader who is discipline with time. There was once I didn't sleep all night just for the sake of finishing a novel which I had read before! Imagine that! So, once becoming a mom I tried my best not to get involved with novels. Now, I opt for Women's Weekly. Malaysian issue of course... cheaper ;-)

Once, Yasmin refused to read a Famous 5 book which was given to her by my friend. She did not like the title, sounded scary - Five Go To Mystery Moor. In order to convince her, I read the first few pages of the book & ended up reading it till the end!

Along the way, I have influenced one person. Not Yasmin. That's inheritance... hehehe. It's HB. He failed to understand the luxury of reading. However, a couple of years back, he joined the boat voluntarily. He's more into Grisham's & Archer's which are not really my cup of tea.

Now, my target is Wardah. She is very much like her father. Not into books but like father, like daughter... easily influenced. I will slowly include reading as one of her hobbies. Time will tell but so far she is making quite a good progress. Will keep you updated ;-)

As for now, I am a Kinsellaholic... hehehe. Thanks to Shera. Will blog about this another time ;-)