Geraldine's Reading Biography

I started reading as a child mostly because both my sisters (7/8 years older) had a strong passion for reading. So, being the youngest, it would naturally be considered unacceptable if I did not follow in their footsteps. This also meant that most of the books I read were hand-me-downs. Basically, I read what my sisters read when they were my age. There was a lot of Enid Blyton: The Faraway Tree, Famous Five, Malory Towers etc... As I started to read more, reading became less of a chore and more of an enjoyable process. Once I got older, I started to read Roald Dahl. The more prominent ones being Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach and The Witches. I remember having a slight obsession with Archie comics at one point. Every birthday or Christmas, I never failed to receive Archie comics as gifts. I guess I was hooked because of the slapstick humour and also, they literally could be read anywhere. Another book that left a lasting impression was Judy Blume's Are you there God? It's Me, Margaret?. It is a book which describes the process of growing up and into the teenage years. I read it when I was still young, naive and had no idea what puberty really meant, so, my mum had to answer some really awkward questions.

Secondary school was a period when reading moved down the priorities list. I think I was more caught up with doing well in my CCA, socialising with friends and acquainting myself with the internet. However, it was during those years that I was introduced to one of my major obsessions (even till today)- J.K Rowling's Harry Potter. I read the books over and over again during school holidays. J.K Rowling managed to draw me into her magical world and it made me constantly wish I was not a 'muggle' but Harry's BFF at Hogwarts. I consider it an honour to be part of the generation that grew up with Harry Potter. I also read the entire Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot. It was a refreshing read for me because I think it was the first book I read that revolved around popular culture. In upper secondary, I read Nicholas Sparks' A Walk to Remember, without crying. However, I read it again in JC and I cried. I guess this has something to do with growing up and being able to relate and empathise with the characters more.  Looking back, I do regret the fact that I did not do as much leisure reading as I should have during those days. 

My Literature texts in secondary school ranged from Shakespeare to Arthur Miller. My school covered books like Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Arthur Miller's Enemy of the People, Mildred D. Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. The text that I really enjoyed the most was a collection of poems called Touched with Fire. Despite the challenges of studying poetry, reading Touched With Fire was mainly the reason why I started to like poetry. I was inspired by the way the writers made use of so few words to tell such complex stories of their lives. My Literature teacher put in a lot of effort while teaching Touched With Fire. She would go through each individual poem extremely thoroughly in terms of its meaning, themes and literary devices. Also, since the class size was pretty small, she was able to conduct productive discussions about each poem very effectively. My only gripe was that since everyone was extensively taught the meaning of each poem, this meant that during the exams, most students would have almost the same ideas, just written differently. 

It was such a hectic 2 years in JC that I barely had time to read. I attempted to read the Twilight series but I gave up after half of the 3rd book. My school did Shakespeare's Othello and King Lear, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Sylvia Plath's Ariel and Boey Kim Cheng's Another Place. I enjoyed Plath and Boey the most because their works were poetry collections. Plath's poetry was dark, depressing, kind of creepy yet honest and intriguing. Boey was also extremely honest, especially whilst expressing  his displeasure with many aspects of living in Singapore. Shakespeare terrorized me throughout the two years, but, because of NIE, I have learnt to appreciate Shakespeare as a writer more, even though he is still not a favourite.

 In NIE, I appreciated the exposure to local and SEA stories because they are something that I did not get to do much of in secondary school and JC. Even though post-colonial literature was a challenging module, I really enjoyed reading books such as Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea, J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Outside of NIE's prescribed readings, Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, Stephen Chbosky's Perks of Being a Wallflower, Kathryn Stockett's The Help and Markus Zusak's The Book Thief are some of the books I have read. Currently, I am reading J.K Rowling's new adult fiction novel The Casual Vacancy. I tend to read books based on many other media influences. 

While I started off reading books simply for its entertainment value, I have grown to enjoy books which not only engage but contain some sort of social commentary. It is important to me that what I read has a strong voice regarding something about our world, our society, our reality. I do believe that even if we are not born with the natural desire to read, it is possible to nurture a passion for reading and to develop a realisation that reading plays a pivotal role in our lives. For me, reading has become important because books and stories are like unspoken companions. Whether is it a book which mirrors reality or one which revolves around make-believe fantasy, the fact is "we read to know that we are not alone" (C.S Lewis). Novels, short stories, poetry etc... Reading provides us with that sense of comfort and an escape from our cruel realities.