Reading Girls

November 7, 2009
Visited 313 times, 1 so far today

I grew up reading stories by Enid Blyton. It’s easy to imagine that I was part of their camping and mystery-solving gangs. Maybe it was natural that I’d enjoy such stories because of my inclination for adventures and the outdoor.

After Enid Blyton, I moved on to legends and folk lore. I’ve read legends from many countries but I remembered that the most interesting were always Asian. Perhaps this was the phase which triggered my interest in culture.

As I grew older, I read more history and science - specifically, the supernatural and the unexplainable. I read stuffs like the Bermuda Triangle to Loch Ness to UFOs when I was in upper primary school.

My foray into romance stories was late and short.

Unlike most of my friends, I was never a fan of Mills & Boons. Of course, there were some romance writers which I did read a lot of at the time when I worked at a public library and had access to all the books I could handle, many years ago.

But how many chicklit or romance books can you read without thinking “enough nonsense already!”?

Maybe that is why, unlike my daughters who think, dream and speak like Disney Princesses, I was never into Cinderella or Snow White or Rapunzel even then - because they are nonsensical to me. Besides, we were not inundated with so many Princess stories then as the kids are now - they really cannot escape but to be crazy about this.

Still, I should definitely limit my daughters’ exposure to anything related to fairy tales. Who knows what comes next when a 5-year-old can ask :

“How many suitors did you have before you met Papa?”

Posted in Thoughts