Books

I've always have this special affinity with books;
with genres ranging from historical accounts to science fantasy,
and literature classics from different eras and countries.
But for a start, I would like to recount this affinity from my first book:
a pictorial book featuring vehicles.

My childhood interest lies only in Lego and the TV;
and hence, in order to broaden my perspective and understanding of my surroundings,
at age 3, my parents brought me my first book.
It's a pictorial book, featuring vehicles and transportation-
trains, lorries, buses, cars, bicycles, motorbikes, planes, etc.
Till today I still remembered the reason that I've chosen this book-
I was amazed by that special Police Vehicle designed for speeding duties.
So, they paid the cash, and I got the book.

Then they started loading my with different kind of children's book,
basically hoping for me to have some improvement in my reading skills,
as well as developing reading as a good hobby in me.

In Primary School they had this programme called the 'Readers' Award';
the school made it a policy for students to bring a book to school everyday,
and read before lesson starts or during morning assembly and recess.
At that point of time I began to buy my own books, with my own pocket money;
Robin Hood, Ivanhoe, 10000 Leagues Under The Sea...
And every morning I'll just read the English off the books,
not digesting the content or absorbing into the plotline.
Times happen whereby I can read a book,
and don't a single sense out of it after reading some 800 words off it.

The real chemistry took place during my first visit to the library.
As mentioned before, the first book I read was titled 'Winston Churchill';
surprisingly I made every single sense out of that book.
Since then, I began to make weekly visits to the nearby library;
borrowing historical accounts and literature classics of various era.
It seem kind of weird to people that I'm reading books that are beyond what seem to be of my comprehensive level-
even my mother seems to be a bit confused, and perhaps, annoyed at my actions.
She thought that I'm merely looking off the black-white pictures;
and that, she believed, would not help to do anything to improve my English.

At age 7, I never get bored with historical accounts and critical essays.
Before my eighth birthday I'm familiar with so many historical figures;
dictators ranging from Adolf Hitler to Qin Shihuang,
revolutionaries Sun Yat-sen all the way to Simon Bolivar,
famous military commanders such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Julius Caesar,
and also many other Presidents and Premiers of great nations.
But surprisingly, I was never interested in scientist and inventors.

It was the 'four books a week' that not only earned me my Readers' Award,
as well as a great deal of knowledge that many deemed to be useless.
At age 10, I could list out the list of dynasties ruling China in chronological order,
having the knowledge of major Chinese battles at my fingertips,
as well as World war II, American Civil War, and some other fun stuff.
Nearing my eleventh birthday I've developed an interest in politics,
all due to the influence of various policies I read in historical accounts.
Besides all these, I gained knowledge of different religions in this world,
as well as some interesting facts of how name of certain things came about.

I'm not exactly a bookworm, after all, those books in childhood are largely related to history and politics;
but I do have to say, I gained a great deal of knowledge out of them.

I remembered there was this time in Primary Four,
when my form teacher, a Malay-Muslim lady, was doing an afternoon class.
She was then teaching some extra facts to the class about religion and religious harmony in the country.
When she went into Islam and the Crusade, I went on elaborating with Muhammad, Saladin, and the Ottoman Empire...

That took her by surprise, and the class, by shock.
It was then that I realised, hey, I do more a little bit more than everyone.

But alas, these knowledge are not traditional subjects.

My affinity with books seems to start fading when I entered Secondary school;
but I continue to read up articles and accounts on historical figures and events,
as well as analysing and studying various political ideologies.
Napoleonic Wars, rise of Prussia, Venice, Florence, Genoa....
and then Socialism, Marxism, Republicanism...
it seems to many that I'm some kind of weird kid wasting my time away on unconventional stuff,
but well, that's where my interest lies.

Surprisingly this affinity with stories and books didn't end here.
At Upper Secondary I realised my interest in writing discursive essays and historical critics,
and that greatly aided me in my English and Humanities subject.
I wrote a couple of narrative and novels in Chinese-
and they're published on the school's essay collections.

At a point of time, I have the thought of publishing a story in the future.

I believed that I was born to have something to do with books;
this affinity, I would say, is a gift.
But sadly this gift didn't really much help me in my science subjects-
but it do helped me amassed great knowledge of this world.
It seems amazing to some of my peers that I'm so 'knowledgeable',
to a point that I can mention some of the world's famous battles,
major events, major figures, and even the history of China in chronological order...

But well, sometimes it seems like what I'm having at my fingertips,
are actually, useless in aiding me in my pursue of education.

But all and all, this fondness for books never fade;
so does my passion for writing.
Though I might not be able to enjoy all genres of books,
and my writing abilities may not be up to standards...
But this affinity with books, with writing,
have led me to aspire of becoming something to do with books and stories in the future.