My Love for Books

I love to read. I have been avid readers since I know how to read. My mom always said that Zai and books cannot be separated. Everywhere I go, I will have book with me. So what type of book that I read ?

Hmmm..let's start from when I was young. Since there was no library near my area when I grew up at kampung, I have to rely on my brothers and sister book. I mostly read my sister's magazine and my brothers' Dan and Beano comics. Whoo I loves those comics and if I saw it at bookstore, I will flip and read it. When I was 10 years old, my family moved to Port Dickson and my house was near to the library. So that's where I spent most of my afternoon, in a library. This small library introduced me to the world of Enid Blython's, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys.

Then when I was a teenager, my reading interest moved from Enid Blython to sport magazine. The first magazine that I bought was SHOOT Magazine. This is a magazine that talks about football and footballers. Initially I bought it because of the handsome, hot and tough British football players but after sometimes, I learnt to appreciate the game. From SHOOT, I moved to FanFare and others magazine. However my obsession with SHOOT and magazines was shortlived. When I was seventeen, my classmate loaned me Brabara Cartland and Mills and Boons books. WOW! I fell in love with romance after I read Barbara Cartland's book and until today my love for romance novel is still strong.

When I was in US, I bought my first historical romance novel and it was by Joanna Lindsay. From Joanna Lindsay to Jude Deveraux and then to Marsha Canham. All these books I kept with me and I brought it back with me to Seremban after I completed my study. My house mates brought back boxes of kitchen ware but I brought back boxes of romance books. After I came back from US, I stopped buying any books due to (1) no money as I was still not working (2) Bookstores don't have the book I want. Once I moved to KL, I started to buy romance books again but I stopped after I got married as my husband doesn't really like the idea of me reading romance.

So in year 2000, after 6 years of not buying any books, I decided that I cannot live without my novel. The first purchase was not romance novel but Harry Porter's book. And from there, there was no stopping me from buying books. The first romance book that I bought was Nora Robert's Sea Swept. Nora Roberts made me fall in love with Romance Novel again. So from Nora Robert's, to Jude Deveraux,to Susan Elizabeths Phillips, Linda Howard, Rachel Gibson, Julia Quinn, Julia London, Eloisa James, Lisa Kleypas, Jo Beverly, Mary Balogh, LaVern Spencer and the list continues to grow. Since I bought an average of 2 books a month, I have run out of space and I have to sell some of my books. But those books that I treasured are still with me and among those books are books by SEP, Nora Roberts, Rachel Gibson, Lisa Kleypas, Lavern Spencer and Julia Quinn.

Among those books that I keep, my favorite are Hummingbird by Lavern Spencer, This baby of Mine by SEP, See Jane Score by Rachel Gibson and few others.

Do I read other books beside romance novel? The answer is yes, I do but normally I will borrow from my sisters, nieces or friends. Among my non-romance books that I like are James Patterson and Tom Clancy. I also read self improvement books but if I compare the ratio between romance to non-romance book, it likes 50:1.

What do I get from reading these books? It helps me to relax and forget about work. It is an escapism for me. Escape from work and life pressure.

Since I have invested a lot on romance book, monetary and time, I made a promise that I need to invest my time and money to read religious book. It is time for me to enhance my spiritual and to prepare my next journey in the next world.