Amira's Reading Journey

My love for reading started with frequent trips to the nearby Jurong East library with my family. I was 7 years old, I think, and enjoyed going to the children’s section, which back then had an open carpeted space surrounded with low bookshelves. My parents were (are) overprotective and stories are a form of escape and adventure for me as I explore different viewpoints and worlds. The first author I enjoyed reading was Enid Blyton. Her various short tales were interesting and all I can remember is how much I enjoyed reading about the different weird characters and whatever adventures they had. At the library, I borrowed the maximum number of books the library allowed, and had a competition of sorts with how many books I can read in a set time (I think it was 4 books in 2 days).

Then I had an R.L. Stine phase where I devoured his books almost every day. Each trip to the bookstore will warrant an R.L. Stine purchase. I discovered Borders at 13 years old after winning a Borders book voucher, and had a lot of fun exploring the different kinds of books. I wasn’t a particular wide reader then, and would stick to 'safe' books like chick lit, or Captain Underpants.

In secondary school, I took Literature during Lower Secondary, and thoroughly enjoyed reading Minfong Ho’s The Clay Marble, a sentiment not shared with most of my classmates. I enjoyed reading about the main character’s struggles, and how the clay marble itself is a symbolism of her character. At that point of time, I was in such awe of how much power words have, and how it can convey all the incoherent thoughts and feelings that I have.

Unfortunately, there was not enough demand for Literature in my secondary school (even back in 2005, sigh), and I did not take Literature in Upper Secondary even though I desperately wanted to. I read leisurely for the next 2 years, reading chick lit, and random books based on TV series or movies.

When I entered Junior College, the only subject that I knew I definitely wanted to study was Literature. We did R.K Narayan’s The Guide, Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, and Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale. Studying Brave New World and Handmaid’s Tale definitely ignited my love for dystopian literature, and I started to read more dystopian literature such as A Clockwork Orange and 1984. I absolutely love 1984 because sometimes it reminds me of this small island that I’m residing in.

My choice of reading material was opened up in university. As a freshmen, Chaucer and Robert Frost were foreign to me (or maybe I just didn’t pay that much attention in JC). I was forced to read up to 5 novels/texts a week, and to me, that slightly killed my love for reading (and led to my discovery of Sparknotes). While I still loved some of the texts that we studied, reading for leisure only existed during vacation. However, university life led me to Natsume Soseki’s Kokoro, which blew my mind because of the ideas it explores, such as the role of a teacher, and the relationship between memory and time. I recently read Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go and realised that I like the simplicity of Japanese authors. I’d love to explore Haruki Murakami next. 

My belief in the power of words is also present in The Book Thief, another book I fell in love with. The movie was nice, but the book is definitely better. The books are always better. (: I started taking some Philosophy modules (Moral Philosophy, The Struggle for Human Rights, Philosophy and Film) in my third and fourth year of university, and while they gave me a headache, I found them extremely interesting. Then I read Sophie’s World and had my mind blown. I’d highly recommend this book to those who love Literature and Philosophy.

After university, I remember talking to my friend about how much we miss Literature, and we hope to never lose the love for intellectual discourse, because that was one of the things university has taught us. As of right now, my current reads outside NIE’s texts have been  the Divergent series (I prefer The Hunger Games series). YA texts are my go-to texts when I want an easy read. Having done my Graduation Essay on Alfian Sa'at, I have also realised that I need to explore more local literature.

My hope is to instil the love for literature and the written word in my students, and open up their minds just like how mine was opened up. I hope to never lose this enthusiasm.