Wednesday, July 04, 2012

Words

I was quite young when I got exposed to the wonderful world of books. Our parents gave us books as gifts instead of toys and/or dolls which would only gather dust after we got tired of playing with them.


As kids in a Catholic prep school, English was the medium of instruction so our spoken tongue was the Queen's language. My sister and I excelled in English so we would win most of the spelling bee contests in our school. Our prizes were books of all shapes and sizes.


As the years went by, my eyesight deteriorated so I got saddled with wearing thick eyeglasses. Not a very fabulous look to sport back then or even now for that matter. But luckily, we lived in Europe where people basically don't give a hoot what you look like and minded their own business.


French became our spoken tongue in the mid 1970s till early 1980s. Being the nerdy type, we also excelled in the language of Marie Antoinette. We spoke, read and even dreamed en Francais. But our passion for reading still prevailed and I remember raiding the WH Smith bookstores to add to our collection of Nancy Drew mystery books. Being in my tween years, I got hooked on young adult 'literature' like "Nancy Drew", "The Hardy Boys" and the "Sweet Dreams" books.


During my High School and University days, my interest in books waned as I concentrated on my studies. Thick text books were the norm as I desperately tried to memorize them for oral recitation in class. Being a meticulous student in class was the only way I knew how to shine and boost my self esteem, given that I was mostly ridiculed for my nerdy looks.


After I graduated I made an effort to improve my looks as well as widen my horizon vis a vis my reading. I developed an obsession with books which narrated about other cultures. Stories set in exotic locales like Turkey, Afghanistan, Israel and Iran would wind up in my book shelf. I noticed that I was too sarcastic to enjoy chick lit which would be laden with romance and happy endings, too unrealistically corny for my taste.


Now that I am in my 40s, I've mellowed so to speak but I would still avoid chick lit, mind you. There was a phase when I read books which were turned into movies like "The Lovely Bones", "My Sister's Keeper" and "The Time Traveler's Wife". I was curious to find out more details behind the characters in the film.


As I glance at my book shelf, I see that spy thrillers with heavy emphasis on industrial espionage and top level corruption are holding fort. I figure the best way to break the routine of my monotonous life, is to get lost within the pages of a well written novel. Most of the time, it works. Other times, I fall asleep but not due to the boring story but from fatigue.

7 comments:

Photo Cache said...

my taste in books run from the romantic to the spy thriller. although i also love to read biographies.

i'm just not getting inspired to read nowadays.

D@phneL@ur@ said...

I've only read one biography. The one written by Andrew Morton about the late Princess Diana. I was such a devoted fan of hers, I read everything about her, back then! :D

Kayni said...

Ah books...I haven't held one since my summer vacation started. I still love reading but I think after reading textbooks and writing papers for a whole semester, I'm staying away from them for the time being.

Heart of Rachel said...

I still have all my hardbound Nancy Drew books and a few Bobbsey Twins. I also had my share of Sweet Dreams and Sweet Valley High but gave them to my younger cousins.

Lately, I seem to enjoy light-reads. The last book I read was Mocking Jay.

I'm curious about Fifty Shades of Grey. I'm thinking of buying the three books.

D@phneL@ur@ said...

I get your point, Kayni. Studying those huge textbooks can put a damper on reading.

D@phneL@ur@ said...

I have no idea where my Nancy Drew and Sweet Dreams books are as we kept relocating, several times.

Yes Rach, I'm curious about "50 Shades of Grey", too. I didn't know it was a trilogy. I'd probably check out the first book, muna. But I still got a huge pile of books waiting to be read.

I usually purchase books during the sale period. I'd wait for it to be sold at a discounted price. :D

witsandnuts said...

I did watch The Lovely Bones, My Sister's Keeper and Time Traveler's Wife (TTW). I bought the TTW book because I want to find out more, but until now I haven't religiously finished it.

I recently read The Hunger Games and liked it. I read nowadays via Kindle so I can take it with me anywhere. Yung 50 Shades of Grey kakaintriga din.