Why I love...

...Reading =D

Recently I was in MPH Bookstore and I couldn't stop myself from indulging. I have a cravings for books and somehow always manage to make my way to bookstores whenever I'm near one. Only book lovers can comprehend this magnet that pull us to these printed materials that sometimes resembled blocks of bricks.

I'm a sucker for romance novels but not those cheesy ones with Fabio look alike on the cover. I have a more refined taste in romance =P My favourite romance author is Judith McNaught whose books I read and reread so many times until the pages are falling off. Eric thinks I'm nuts for reading the same book so many times. He doesn't understand how am I not bored reading the same story over and over. I don't know either!

This is Fabio with a leading lady...

Generally, I could read any material that pricks my interest. I even read Eric's car magazine...though till today I fail to see the logic of writing a car review with a pathetic looking model laying across the seat/hood/gear or just any part of the car while pouting her lips as if she just ate some bittergourd. It's so sad to see how some gals sell themselves short just to get some attention.

Geez...I'm doing it again...running off topic. Let's just say I love reading. I get lost in my own world while reading...even the newspaper. Mum is a strong believer that a child should love books as there is where knowledge is acquired, so since young, I didn't lack supply of books. I remember books were my reward for getting good grades in school. Oh...how hard I studied just to get my Enid Blyton books in those days. I had a huge collection of children books back then and my heart still pains at the memory of Mum giving them all away when I grew up. She thought that I no longer read Enid Blyton and would move on to teen books instead. How wrong she was...I still long to read my favourite books about St. Clare and the Wishing Chair. But I did move on to bigger and better books...much to my heart's delight.

Beyond kiddie books, I discovered a world of romance, fiction, autobiography and adventure. Historical is one subject that I have yet to grab any interest in me. I've never had any interest in history and that almost lead to me failing my history paper in SPM. I can't seem to appreciate poetry as well...and could only understand Romeo and Juliet when it was made into a Movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

I find that reading feeds the imagination and provoke emotions. It's only words that makes up a story but the mind gives it life. So often tears will run down my cheek as I get to a sad part of a book. I could feel their pain, their suffering, their lost. Equally as often, I would be laughing all to myself as the funny part of the book tickles me. Either way, Eric thinks I'm nuts. Maybe I'm just too emotional, but then I've come to accept that words have a powerful effect on me.

Joy of reading should be shared right? I'm embarrass to admit that I'm very protective of my books. I won't lend it to people I can't trust just in case they dogeared or stain the pages. Or God forbid, fold the cover 0_o I get a little paranoid thinking of my book's fate in another person's hand. Okay, I know it's a little overacting and I could always buy another copy of the same book for less than RM50 but it's not the same. It's so hard to explain it, but it's just not the same. It's something like falling in love for the first time. Subsequent love falling is just different...maybe stronger maybe hotter but still it's not the same.

I hope more people would love reading. Pick up a book, a magazine or the newspaper and just read a little. Or easier, just read my blog =P Hey, that's reading too! If anyone is having trouble figuring out what gift to present me during birthdays, Christmas or just for fun, a book is always appreciated (just not historical, poetry or in foreign languages!) from the bottom of my heart.

"If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all"

- Oscar Wilde-