In thinking about how to write this reading biography,
I asked a few people around me why they read. One person told me that it is
because he likes to be transported to another world. Another person said that
he reads to find out more about the world, to learn new things. One other
person replied that in fact, he only reads because he has to, for example,
reading the textbook or notes given by teachers. As for me, I have always found
it hard to articulate why I read because there are just too many reasons. The
most basic explanation for why I read is simply because I enjoy reading. But
what makes me find reading enjoyable? Through this reading biography, I would
perhaps be able to reflect on why I read and the reasons I enjoy reading.
I believe that who we are, including our interests, personality,
and lifestyle, influences what we read. And I also believe that what we read
influences who we are and who we become. For example, when I was in lower
primary, my teacher talked about this thing called deforestation. I remember
feeling fascinated and sad at the same time that people could destroy large
areas of forests. Like many other children, I was naturally inquisitive.
Curious and wanting to find out more about deforestation, I started reading
more about anything related to deforestation, from science magazines to
encyclopaedia entries. What I read made an impact on me in that I started
becoming more environmentally conscious, especially in the aspect of saving
paper. For instance, I remember being hard on my younger brother whenever I
felt he was wasting paper on ‘useless’ things.
Other than deforestation, I had various and varied
interests as a primary school child at different times, ranging from inventors
and scientists to the history of Egypt and China respectively. I tried reading
encyclopaedia entries from the encyclopaedia set my parents had but turned to
children encyclopaedias when I could not understand. I even had a notebook
which I used to copy the entries into. I also found story books that were
fictional but drew on real historical facts related to the topics I was
interested in at the time. I found it exciting to learn new things about the
things I was interested in.
Books that occupied my time when I was in Primary
school also included a lot of Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes stories. I enjoyed
being part of some mystery and feeling like I was on the same journey as these
detectives in uncovering the truth. However, I also remember my parents
discouraging me from reading the Hardy Boys. I still do not know the exact
reasons but if I were to form my own theory, I think what they did was
influenced by the belief that what we read as a child is part of our
socialisation. I was already enough of a tomboy as a child so that was probably
why they tried to stop me from reading about a bunch of boys.
Reflecting on my reading habits as a child, it has
made me realise that my parents had a lot of impact on me and how I cultivated
a habit of reading. They created an environment that encouraged reading. As far
as I can remember, there have always been a lot of books in the house; some
stored in the cupboards outside where shoes are supposed to be as there was no
space in the house. The bookstore was always a stopover during shopping. They
always encouraged us to buy a book and this was one of the times when the cost
did not matter.
However, I started reading less during Secondary
School. I became occupied with friends and CCA, watching TV dramas, and it did
not seem as cool to read. What I read was probably mainly provided by the
school or for English and Literature classes. Although I read less, there was a
series of books which accompanied me through my adolescence, none other than
the Harry Potter series. The Harry Potter books have a special place in my
heart as I feel that I had grown up with them. Those were the books that I
found myself sitting for hours to read them and finding it hard to put the book
down, wanting to get through the book because the story was so exciting and at
the same time not wanting to finish the book because that would mean the end of
the story and back to anticipating the release of the next book. I found enjoyment
in reading this series because I was transported to a magical world and because
I could relate to the characters who were about the same age as I was.
In JC, similar to my time in Secondary school, I also
mostly read only things required for the curriculum. The only difference was
that I felt obliged to read the news too because of GP, which I had not really
bothered to before. JC also exposed me to more types of texts as I was a H2
Literature student. I read more poems than I ever had prior to JC and it was also
the first time I had to read and analyse plays.
NIE also exposed me to an even greater range of texts.
I started reading academic journals. I tapped on them for research into essays
for both my English and English Literature courses. I also got to read a wider
range of literary texts in Literature courses. For example, texts from
Chaucer’s time to contemporary literature, and also texts not in Western canon
like local and Asian writers’ works. University also helped me to mature into
becoming a more active reader who can read with a critical mind. I am no longer
a reader who only reads passively to gain enjoyment from reading; I am also
empowered to read critically, sometimes without even making a conscious effort
to do so. I have come to realise that reading is important to me as it gives me
different perspectives of the world, through which I reflect on my own life and
values. It also in these few years that I started reading literary books and
stories on my own, like 1984 by
George Orwell and The Tell-Tale Heart
by Edgar Allen Poe. Perhaps you could say that studying Literature over the
years has cultivated in me a ‘taste’ for ‘good literature’?
Through this exercise of writing my reading biography,
I can perhaps express some of the many reasons we read – the subject matter is
of interest to us, to be socialised into ways of the world, to gain knowledge,
to escape, to know that we are not alone in our experiences, to see the world
through lenses other than our own, to reflect. The points that I have made are
not new but these are the few observations that I have managed to make through
looking at my reading habits. For all these reasons and more, I genuinely feel
that reading has played a very big role in my life and who I am have been, and
will continue to be, shaped by what I read.
No comments:
Post a Comment