The Growth of my Reading Experience

At times, before I pick up a book these days, I question how I might benefit from reading it. It has not always been like this.  I was made to read Barthes article on “Pleasure of a Text” a couple of years ago, and it was about the readerly and the writerly position of experiencing the text, and Barthes asserts that the latter produces a higher level of bliss. While I would not use the metaphor of sexuality to describe any of my enjoyable reading experiences, I do wonder at times whether my reading has been reduced to simply fulfilling pragmatic purposes. 

When I was a child, my mother tried various means to get me to pick up the habit of reading. They were all to no avail, until I read my first Famous Five novel by Enid Blyton. The novel opened me to a world of adventure, and I started consuming the rest of the series voraciously on my own. 

Once my journey with the Famous Five was complete, I entered the world of intrigue and mystery of The Three Investigators and The Hardy Boys. I lived vicariously through the characters, imagining myself to be a master of deduction. The common theme that ran through my childhood and early teenage years was that I read purely for pleasure. If this habit aided me in crafting a sentence, it was purely a by-product.

As I grew well into my teenage years, I entered the darker recesses of Jeffrey Deaver. While these thrillers provided much entertainment, I realised that I enjoy works that described the inner condition of people. At this juncture, I also started reading more avidly and was exposed to Dickens in the form of Great Expectations. This particular novel also made me consider the state of the human condition, and how the perpetual quest for socio-economic betterment is futile. It was at this time that I recognised that the process of reading provided a different kind of pleasure, an intellectual one. 

When I was serving my national service, I stumbled upon the works of Philip Yancey. His works spoke to me at multiple levels. In his works, he traces the innate desire of human beings to find fulfilment and overcome their sense of alienation. The book entitled What’s so Amazing about grace? is one that provided solace for me. I also then began to delve into works that were more philosophical in nature. 

My new range of interests in books coincided with my entry into University, where I read English Literature. I was then exposed to more philosophical and theoretical works like Focault and Derrida. I was also introduced to literary works from different time periods and other continents. Ironically, I started to appreciate Singapore Literature only at that time, and even wrote my Dissertation on it. The Singaporean playwright, Kuo Pao Kun opened my eyes to the cultural dislocation that is present in Singapore.

While my time in University enabled me to broaden my reading horizon, I seemed to only have time to complete the readings that were required for my discipline, or read something because I felt that it would make me more well versed in my subject area. I did and I continually do make time for works by C. S. Lewis and have a new interest in the form of A. W. Tozer. I read these works for leisure, and also to keep me grounded in a world where I am surrounded by so many kinds of truth. 

All in all, reading has grown to become so many things to me over the years. I certainly hope that this will continue to be the case and I won’t read for simply pragmatic purposes, particularly when the demands of this life grows.