The first book that I can remember reading and enjoying was The Wishing Chair series by Enid Blyton. My mother recommended this book to me and I remembered feeling so excited walking out of The Big Bookshop at Clementi Central holding this big book. (The book was super thick because it contained three series of The Wishing Chair). This book enlivened my imagination and gave me a taste of imaginative fiction and fantasy. Other books that I remember fondly during my childhood include the Famous Five series and the Secret Seven series also by Enid Blyton.
In secondary school, I was exposed to Ho Minfong's The Clay Marble and Louis Lowry's The Giver in lower secondary literature classes and Susan Hill's I’m the King of the Castle and William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in upper secondary literature classes. I especially enjoyed Hill’s book because I somehow was able to relate to the darker themes of manipulation and psychological bullying during this time of my life. It was also during this dark period of adolescence that my interest in Stephen King and Michael Crichton grew exponentially. I was hooked onto the Dark Tower series by King and especially enjoyed Congo by Crichton. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury was also another book that I thoroughly enjoyed along with Rowling’s Harry Potter. Also, Dan Brown’s novels were in vogue during this time and I devoured all of his books, although I quickly grew tired and disappointed of his predictable literary style. Amongst all the authors that I read in secondary school, I particularly enjoyed King’s writing as it allowed me to escape into the realms of imagination, fantasy and possibilities.
My interest in fantasy took on a whole new dimension when I entered Junior College (JC). In particular, I especially enjoyed my elective Literature Paper: Paper 4 - Exploring Other Worlds. Reading the set texts in JC were thoroughly enjoyable. Specifically, I enjoyed reading Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale, Orx and Crake, Edgar Allen Poe’s anthology of gothic fiction, Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Anthony Burgess' Clockwork Orange and George Orwell's 1984. Compared to Paper 4, the other Literature paper was merely palatable. I read Shakespeare’s Othello and Charles Dickens' Great Expectations for Paper 1. Great Expectations was a particularly painful read but it nonetheless left me with a deeper appreciation for Dickens. I was somehow able to relate to the main persona - Pip - and themes from that book really resonated with me during that time. Other books that I read during JC include H.G. Wells’ Time Machine, Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and all of Haruki Murakami’s books.
Some of the books that I read during National Service were Alexander the Great series by Mary Renault, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Tess of the d’urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks.
In University, I was able to read more on Shakespeare’s works and was also exposed to J. M. Coetzee and Jane Austen. The Bluest Eye was particularly memorable for me as I was able to better appreciate the thematic concerns as well as the context of that novel when I studied African-American history in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the semester following that class. During this period, I also became more interested (and later, really passionate) about Catholic Spirituality and books regarding the Catholic faith and inter-religious/faith dialogues. Some of the most memorable books in this genre include The Jesuits Guide to almost everything, Between Heaven and Mirth both written by James C. Martin SJ, The Wounded Healer, The Inner Voice of Love, The Selfless Way of Christ: Downward Mobility and the Spiritual Life all by Henri Nouwen and Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton. Timothy Gallagher OMV’s Ignatian Spirituality, Ronald Rolheiser’s The Restless Heart, Fulton Sheen’s Guide to Contentment and Bret Brenner’s To Save a Thousand Souls were also particularly emotionally enriching and intellectually invigorating reads.
I am currently reading Thinking Historically: Educating Students for the Twenty-First Century by Stephane Levesque and have recently completed Sold by Patricia McCormick, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Emily of Emerald Hill by Stella Koh and The Courage to Teach by Parker Palmer.
In secondary school, I was exposed to Ho Minfong's The Clay Marble and Louis Lowry's The Giver in lower secondary literature classes and Susan Hill's I’m the King of the Castle and William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in upper secondary literature classes. I especially enjoyed Hill’s book because I somehow was able to relate to the darker themes of manipulation and psychological bullying during this time of my life. It was also during this dark period of adolescence that my interest in Stephen King and Michael Crichton grew exponentially. I was hooked onto the Dark Tower series by King and especially enjoyed Congo by Crichton. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury was also another book that I thoroughly enjoyed along with Rowling’s Harry Potter. Also, Dan Brown’s novels were in vogue during this time and I devoured all of his books, although I quickly grew tired and disappointed of his predictable literary style. Amongst all the authors that I read in secondary school, I particularly enjoyed King’s writing as it allowed me to escape into the realms of imagination, fantasy and possibilities.
My interest in fantasy took on a whole new dimension when I entered Junior College (JC). In particular, I especially enjoyed my elective Literature Paper: Paper 4 - Exploring Other Worlds. Reading the set texts in JC were thoroughly enjoyable. Specifically, I enjoyed reading Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale, Orx and Crake, Edgar Allen Poe’s anthology of gothic fiction, Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Anthony Burgess' Clockwork Orange and George Orwell's 1984. Compared to Paper 4, the other Literature paper was merely palatable. I read Shakespeare’s Othello and Charles Dickens' Great Expectations for Paper 1. Great Expectations was a particularly painful read but it nonetheless left me with a deeper appreciation for Dickens. I was somehow able to relate to the main persona - Pip - and themes from that book really resonated with me during that time. Other books that I read during JC include H.G. Wells’ Time Machine, Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and all of Haruki Murakami’s books.
Some of the books that I read during National Service were Alexander the Great series by Mary Renault, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Tess of the d’urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks.
In University, I was able to read more on Shakespeare’s works and was also exposed to J. M. Coetzee and Jane Austen. The Bluest Eye was particularly memorable for me as I was able to better appreciate the thematic concerns as well as the context of that novel when I studied African-American history in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the semester following that class. During this period, I also became more interested (and later, really passionate) about Catholic Spirituality and books regarding the Catholic faith and inter-religious/faith dialogues. Some of the most memorable books in this genre include The Jesuits Guide to almost everything, Between Heaven and Mirth both written by James C. Martin SJ, The Wounded Healer, The Inner Voice of Love, The Selfless Way of Christ: Downward Mobility and the Spiritual Life all by Henri Nouwen and Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton. Timothy Gallagher OMV’s Ignatian Spirituality, Ronald Rolheiser’s The Restless Heart, Fulton Sheen’s Guide to Contentment and Bret Brenner’s To Save a Thousand Souls were also particularly emotionally enriching and intellectually invigorating reads.
I am currently reading Thinking Historically: Educating Students for the Twenty-First Century by Stephane Levesque and have recently completed Sold by Patricia McCormick, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Emily of Emerald Hill by Stella Koh and The Courage to Teach by Parker Palmer.
Hi Christopher, Parker Palmer's book was one of the first books I bought from the now-defunct Borders at Wheelock Place when I got my place at NIE. It is a definitely an inspirational read and remains a treasured book on my bookshelf.
ReplyDeleteHi Christopher, from looking through the books you've listed and what you mentioned of what you are drawn to, I think we share quite a similar taste in reading! I especially like how you tend to (not just in this entry but during class too) think about books and reading in a way that is linked to our "maturity" in life.
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