Looking back, I loved reading as a kid. Whenever I got home, I would either jump on the sofa and catch up on the latest Detective Conan episode, or read some books. It seemed like I would read whenever I got home.
Everyone read when they were young, whether it was bedside picture stories that was read by your mum, or a short fiction novel for your English class in primary school. But as we got older and older, we start to read less and less. In my personal experience, it is due to homework and my co-curricular activities. In kindergarten, I had no homework at all, and when I got home I would read or watch TV as there is nothing else to do. I still read when I went to primary school, both for educational purposes and for fun. Even when I moved to Australian around Year 2 I still read, as it help me learn English. I remember picking up a double-sided Harry potter book, with Chinese on one side and when you turn it around, English on the other.
I remember, I would visit the library every week, with around 20–30 book to return, and I would find more books to read. Stuff like Geronimo Stilton, Beast Quest, the “Just …” Series and the “Tree-house” Series by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton. Instead of binge watching TV shows, I would binge read through these books, as I had so much spare time. I would pickup loads of comics from time to time too! Around year 7, I picked up gaming as well. Although I did not have a PC, I was briefly addicted to this mobile game, but soon got bored of it and played other various games. The point is, up until around year 8, I was having the time of my life reading books, but when I transitioned towards year 8, I found that a huge boulder was dropped onto me, and that I had no time to read books. Slowly, I went to the library less and less, and I found it hard to manage time to do homework, play sports, practice instruments, play video games and reading.
After struggles to hand in assignment, I finally found an acceptable way to balance everything. I reduced the amount of gaming, and read around 1 book every week. Believe it or not, during this time, I had a odd addiction, to actually procrastinate by reading. It was funny, because you would think I would be play video games all day long, but no, as I controlled the amount I played, and I would put the device in an area away from me, I found books very interesting compared to whatever I was actually suppose to be doing. Once I started reading, I tend to not put the book down, and usually this would end up to staying up late. My parents thought I was playing video games, so they thought that turning off the WiFi at 9 pm would help my situation. It didn’t.
My reading habits in essence, did not change. The amount of books I read, however, did. I still binge read books, which were sometimes good, to help with my learning and with my English assignments, but other times, it was bad. I’m not saying reading is bad, but that I disagree with the view that we as students, us work as a excuse to not read. I believe that we each have stories unique to ourselves, and that there is a vast majority of people, who struggle with balance, and because of it, cannot get time to read. It may not just be school work, but it is a major factor. Currently, I only read around 2 books per month, and compared to what I used to read it is but merely scratching the surface and how much I can read.
Recently, I read “To Be or Not To Be: A Chooseable-Path Adventure” and “The way of Shadows”.
I cannot judge much of the Choose-your-own Adventure story, as it is mostly based on the famous and original William Shakespeare Play, “Hamlet”. All I can say for the book is that it is a unique way of engaging different types of readers to read a play that is over 400 years old. You can explore the story and view things as if you were that character, and get to know the view point of the main characters. It is a unique twist on the original, and leaves the readers wonder what other plays would look like transformed into this story type.
The way of Shadows, however, is a completely different matter. It a dark fantasy about a boy who grew up in the slums, barely surviving in a guild. The book is the first novel in a trilogy of three, and tells a tale of an apprentice and an assassin. The book is dark, as mentioned just before, and compared to other fantasy book I have read it is gloomy right from the beginning to the end. Right After the first few pages, I was intrigued by book, and could not stop myself from continuing to flip the pages. I got into the series because of a similar book series I read, with the first one being “Innocent Mage”, which got me into Fantasy again. I was bored by the same structure all the fantasy books I read followed, so when my local librarian introduced me to this book I was captivated by the blurb. After reading the book I wanted to read more of the similar structure, which is ironic as I was bored following the classic fantasy structure. I was not disappointed after reading The way of Shadows. The book has a plot twist at the end and leaves the audience hanging and eager to read the next in the series. The only fault I found in the book were some grammatical errors that made certain pages hard to follow, but other than that this book was really a well-rounded Dark Fantasy book. Taking a line from “Notes on the Art of Poetry” by Dylan Thomas, “I could never have dreamt that there were such going-on in the world between the cover of books” .
Although “the Innocent Mage” got me intrigued into Dark Fantasy, “The way of Shadows” was what really got me back into reading Fantasy books. If I could bring books with me to an deserted island, this series would certainly be with me. I really want to list out all my favourite book, but then you would be here all day. So, instead, here are some of the book that I believe are the best of the best, and that I would bring with me on an deserted island:
The Four Great Classical Novels — Journey to the West-Wu Cheng’en, Romance of the Three Kingdoms-Luo Guan Zhong, Water Margin-Shi Nai’an, The Dream of the Red Chamber-Cao Xue Qin
My dad kept the un-shortened copies of the novels in his study back in China. I have read the shortened version of all four novels, but, if I was on an deserted island I wish to read the original.
The “Just” Series and The “Treehouse” Series, Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
These books helped me learn english, and I enjoyed the little doodles on the sides of the pages. If given the time I would read all of it over.
Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle
I love mystery. This is probably the best definition of mystery fiction. One of the most famous list of short stories about the World’s Greatest Detective, what more is there to say?
Any mystery book by Harlan Coben
I love his books. Again, I love mystery. He has thorough research on all the topics he incorporates in his novels, and makes the story all the more convincing. My favourite series would be the novels including the free-lancer Myron Bolitar.
The Night Angel Trilogy, Brent Weeks, “Kingmaker,Kingbreaker” Trilogy, Karen Miller, and lots more Dark Fantasy Books
I already mentioned why I love these books. They leave a unique aftertaste that leaves you wanting to read more of the similar genre.
The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton
Although I had to do an English assignment on this book, after reading the first chapter I could not put it down. I was always a few chapters ahead when the English teacher told us to read it in class. Would 100% read it again.
The Percy Jackson Series, Rick Riordan
Funny enough, I said I would read this last year, but never got around to it. If I was on an deserted island it couldn’t hurt to try.
There are way more books I would bring, but these are the ones currently on my mind.
