Steph's Reading Biography

Steph's Reading Biography

A few of my first books were from the Jane and Peter series that my mum taught me to read from when I was little. It was good for learning new words.

I enjoyed looking at pictures, sometimes more than the words. I suppose they informed my strong visual perception in the future. One of my earlier books- and still remains my favourite (I still have the copy!) is Richard Scarry’s The Great Pie Robbery and Other Mysteries. My interest in picture books also lead me to Quentin Blake’s collaborations with Roald Dahl, such as The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me, The Twits, The Witches, and James and the Giant Peach.

In my later primary school days I liked Hannah and the Angels series by Linda Lowery Keep, and then followed the Harry Potter series till the last book in 2007. My first musical was Joseph and the Amazing Technicoloured Dream Coat.

Somewhere in my secondary school days I discovered Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series, as well as The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis. Around 15 or 16 years old I read Robin Hobb’s collection including The Farseer, Liveship Traders and The Tawny Man trilogies, all which took place within the same fictitious world. At that age I was very drawn to fantasy novels with young and/or female protagonists. I suppose this was a form of escapism, a place that I could go to sneakily by reading under my desk during lessons. These novels unravelled emotions, human relationships and questions the way the world works in those pages. For whatever reason Robin Hobb is not as famous as other fantasy writers such as Tolkein and Martin, which still puzzles me as the scale of epic fantasy is similar, and Hobb’s is extremely well crafted. For Literature Elective I read Susan Hill’s I am the King of the Castle (which I liked),  and also R. K Narayan’s The English Teacher (which I hated). I also watched The Phantom of the Opera and The Forbidden City: Portrait of an Empress.

At junior college I did paper 4 for English Literature, which introduced me to the dystopian novels such as Huxley’s Brave New World, Burgess’ Clockwork Orange, Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Gilman’s Herland (which I hated). The more classical texts were The Duchess of Malfi and Dicken’s The Great Expectations. I also read Waiting for Godot, and the absurd style pleased me. It was around this period of time that I started reading Gaiman’s The Sandman graphic novels, which were absolutely beautiful –albeit sometimes horrifying- both in visuals and philosophy. It was also the age when I started questioning religion and started to take interest in philosophical poetry like Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet. Plays I watched included the junior college’s drama staging’s as well as The Pillowman.

                            

As an art undergraduate I was introduced to a deeper range of deconstructionist philosophical texts. No, let me correct that, I was thrown into the deep end of the abyss that was Kant, Derrida, Deluze and Guattari, Lyotard, Lacan (whom, frankly, I still don’t understand), oh the list goes on. I didn’t study the entire works of these authors of course (that would take a lifetime!!) but it did introduce me to a new way of thinking and writing. I was particularly interested in post-feminism writers such as Judith Bulter, whose works hugely shifted my non-liberated binary ideology of male/female, masculine/feminine, man/woman to one that is now more complex and encompassing. This also sparked my interest in queer theory and writing, and subsequently also lead to transgressive works such as that of Georges Bataille and Derrida’s work on animalism. I wrote my graduating essays on Cannibalism and Sexual Deviances in Christianity. This was the period were I first picked up Jerrold Yam’s poetry, and starting reading a little more local authors (albeit it was harder to get hold of while overseas).

                   

 

Doing my undergraduate in London was an excellent time to catch a variety of theatre. I was fortunate enough to watch the following musicals: Wicked, The Lion King, Les Miserables, The Book of Mormon, Once, Miss Siagon, Billy Elliot, Matilda. As for plays I managed to catch: Israel’s Habima Theatre Company’s take on The Merchant of Venice at the Shakespeare Globe (see image below), 39 Steps, and the absolutely stellar, mind blowing experience of Punchdrunk’s The Drowned Man, which was an immersive, experiential theatre were audience don masks and wander around the massive sets and follow characters to unravel the plot. I have never experience theatre so immersive and intense- it felt like I was living in a movie. It was so surreal.

 

Now that I have graduated I am keen to read more novels again, as I feel I deserve a break from critical thinkers. My first novel after graduation was Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses which, interestingly, a magical realism sort of book, which reminded me of my old love for fantasy novels. It was quite a bizarre coincidence as I picked it up only because I wanted to know how an author could possibly receive a fatwa to be put to death over a fictional story. With the readings I did in university (which also included Said’s Orientalism), I felt the reading of The Satanic Verses serves as a very nice bridge between the fantasy novels of my past and the critical way of looking at things that I have now.

I am currently reading Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude that my friend recommended to me while in a car on a long road trip. I must have heard the name GaelGarciaMarquez and OneHundredYearsofSolitude countless of times while in the car along with “I think people are only interested in him now because he died.” Needless to say this author and book is now stuck in my head and it is my friend’s favourite book, so I do look forward to finishing it.