You are what you read

I think we all know that we are what we eat, but I just thought that maybe that could be applied to reading as well.

I have a love-hate relationship with books. When I was young, I really loved reading, and just like any other primary kid out there, my favourite author was Enid Blyton.

I had every Enid Blyton book, or at least what I could lay my eyes on when I entered the bookstore. Haha.. My gifts, prizes were all spent on books, and reading was likely my only pastime during my lower-primary years.

And then, I grew out of reading. Don't ask me why but I kinda stopped reading after the Secret Sevens and Famous Fives... It's like I could no longer find any new books by Enid Blyton and I took it as a cue to stop reading too.

The only books I read since then were the books that were part of our English Literature curriculum in secondary school, and even so, I did not finish any of the books. "To Kill a Mockingbird" totally killed off whatever minute remaining interest I had in reading.

That lull period of non-reading lasted for a very long time (more than a decade!). I am actually referring to reading of books here, not newspapers, magazines, websites, etc.

So it took more than ten years, and some positive influence from a book fanatic to get me to pick up my first ever read. I wouldn't say I was hooked, but I was just pleasantly surprised that I could finish reading the book (yes cheap thrill I know).

Previous limp attempts to read failed terribly as I could not bring myself to advance beyond the first few pages. I find myself drifting out of the story after only a few minutes - I had the shortest attention span!

So having picked up reading again, I can say I have benefited immensely. I read mostly non-fiction books and my shelves are lined with tons of those now. I get excited when I enter bookstores, and many a time, I find myself buying more than what I can read.

But..... my attention span is still short. Or rather, you could say its highly selective. haha. There are still books that I have bought that I do not read beyond the first few chapters, as they are just plain boring. These books drone on and on about the same stuff, sometimes it feels like I'm reading an article spinner!

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Anyway, my point is that having picked up reading again, I have learnt quite a fair bit. Different insights, thoughts, experiences, ideas, reflections can all be derived from the yellow and unattractive pages of a simple paperback (or sometimes the e-ink interface of my Kindle). When I find myself devoid of ideas, I start reading.

It always gives me perspectives. I like to read, and to think out loud. Oh well, and if you still remember Bookworm, you will remember their slogan:

And if you're interested, this is what I'm reading now:

It talks about how to welcome change into people's lives, why do people always focus on the bad things and never the good things, and how not to fall into the deceptively comfortable trap of the status quo... (I've only read 2 chapters so far)

Okay, happy week ahead!