Books

Related to my previous post, I just want to share my reading pathway I had written for my class assignment :D

My house is full of books. Every corner, there are books, whether on the shelves or even scattered on the tables. I think that is why I love reading books since I was a child.

            I do not really remember about my early reading. The earliest book I can recall is a novel, a birthday gift from my parents. Written in my native language (Malay), the story revolves around the life of a girl entering a boarding school. Although I was still in elementary school, it was such a good early experience for me with novels. After receiving the novel, I know the books published by the publisher were very good and interesting. That was a kick start that I started searching for new novels, especially when the International Book Fair was approaching. Most of the novels I bought was about adventures and science fiction, such as traveling to the future and the Famous Five series (in Malay). During that age (about 9 years old), I  also started reading English short stories by Enid Blyton from my sister’s collections. Most of the stories were about fairies and talking toys, which I found them interesting and imaginative. I think those were the only English stories I read when I was a child.

            Those novels stated above were only about 200 pages long. The first ‘thick’ novel I read was ADAM, and I love that novel very much. It was not about a person named Adam though. ADAM is actually an abbreviation that generally means ‘I am a Malaysian.’ It was about a Malaysian guy traveling to the states to visit her daughter who was studying there. Alas, they met with an accident. The Malaysian guy was accused as a drunk driver and was sentenced to prison. That novel was heartbreaking yet really suited my interests. From then, I became a fan of the writer, who is claimed as the first thriller novelist in my country. Actually, this interest is shared among my siblings, so we never miss even a single of his books, although sometimes we need to wait for the Book Fair to get lower prices.

            My experience in exploring books does not stop there. During my years in middle school, most of my friends liked to read the novels written by a popular anonymous writer. They are popular among my brother’s friends too. Thus, we decided to buy one of his or her novel, which was about a young woman’s life. We tried to read, and it surprised us! Both of us did not like the book at all. The most irritating factor about the book is the language used. The words are so informal and sometimes we could not understand them. Maybe it is suitable for the current generation who used with weird and unnecessary abbreviations, and misused words. Although it was not using improper words, but I still feel that it was not appropriate to use spoken words in writing. That makes me realized that I am quite a perfectionist on using the proper language, and also concern about the changes of language culture.

            Currently, I have three favorite authors: Ramlee Awang Murshid, Faisal Tehrani and Hilal Asyraf. The similarities between them are of course, they are Malays, and their books includes religious perspectives of Islam and moral values which I think are beneficial. Ramlee Awang Murshid’s novels are mostly fictional, and there are always plot twists in the stories beyond one’s expectations. That what makes his stories interesting. For example, at first the story looks like a horror story, but at the end it actually has a scientific explanation about the scary incidents. Faisal Tehrani’s novels are mostly about histories and they are told in excellent ways such that people will not feel bored. One of his book was about our nation’s history, but he supplied it with food stories, about how certain food got their names.  On the other hand, Hilal Asyraf actually writes both fictional and also motivational books. However, I mostly read the novels, which always about friendships, action and faith. What makes his books special are religious moral values are instilled while people enjoying the action stories. An example of his book is Hero, which basically about a superhero in a suit, who was changing himself to the better. I really enjoyed reading their books.

            The books I currently read is different from my childhood readings in which I read thicker books with more intellectual and religious values. My family and I always go to the International Book Fair held every year to get new books and novels, mainly because there are discounts. Although our house is full of books, they are still not enough for us to fill our free time.