10 Phases of My Reading Life

I was planning to post this at the beginning of the month, but I … didn’t. At least it’s still November, which is my birthmonth. As I’m getting older, I reflect back on my reading habits growing up.

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As soon as I stop holding a book upside down, my mom has been supplying me with books, starting from those picture books, Disney stories, kids magazine, and all the stuff I could no longer recall. My earliest memory of being obsessed with books was of a series called:

The Famous Five
Phase One

It was of course the translated edition of The Famous Five (I didn’t understand English back then, and even now…). I remember wanting to go on adventure with them, eating sandwich, and drink lemonade. I still have The Famous Five books in my shelf (the English version) and I still like to look at them for no reasons.

As I get older, I became interested in other things besides adventure. That is when I started reading:

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The Baby-Sitters Club
Phase Two

I used to WORSHIP Claudia Kishi. She was like the coolest person ever and I wanted to be Claudia when I grow up. I reread each book in The Baby-Sitters Club multiple times, although I never own the complete series. I memorized the name of all the Pikes and the name of each kid they babysat.

Alas, nothing last forever. So did my obsession with The Baby-Sitters Club. Before I knew it, I moved on to:

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Malory Towers
Phase Three

*shrug* I was raised by Enid Blyton, okay. Anyway, there was a time in my life when I dreamed of going to girls-only boarding school and doing all the pranks and become best friend with Alicia.

This phase lasted only briefly because I discovered:

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Fear Street and Detective Stories
Phase Four

Soon after, I entered a prolonged phase when all I read was either Fear Street or detective novels, from “Three Investigators” to STOP (the original title is TKKG). I would beg my parents for new Fear Street books everytime we went to bookstore, some times buying two or three books at once.

As I grew up, I stopped reading these books altogether and started reading:

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Sweet Valley High
Phase Five

Ah that blissful feeling that you are now old enough to buy and read Sweet Valley HIGH, and not SV Kids or Twins. This was a hormonal phase I think.. because looking back, I didn’t really like the drama in this series that much. :p

I got over it when at one point I was fed up with some of the characters. So I journeyed to the library and that was where I found:

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Harry Potter
Phase Six

That’s right, I actually discover Harry Potter in my school library. (Thank you librarians, I forgot your names but you’re awesome!) Theoretically, I AM still in Phase Six. I never got over my HP phase. 😀 If anything, Harry Potter is the one that starts it all, my journey through the middle grade and then young adults shelves. Back then, there was nothing that could beat the excitement of queueing to get the new Harry Potter books. I still would.

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Legal Thriller, Crime, and Mystery
Phase Seven

Near the time when Harry Potter ended, I stumbled upon John Grisham’s The Firm in the bookstore (I totally didn’t buy it because Tom Cruise was on the cover). I plowed through it and soon I’ve read most of his books although I stay away from the contemporary ones. I also read other thriller books, although my favorites are the ones with a lot of courtroom drama. Oh, and during this phase, I also became slightly obsessed with Agatha Christie’s books. I particularly like the last chapter during which Hercule Poirot would boast his otherworldly observation skill. But I also enjoy her Miss Marple books.

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Michael Crichton and An Introduction to Sci-Fi
Phase Eight

During my college years, I started reading Michael Crichton. I started like almost everybody else, with Jurassic Park, but in my opinion his best book was either Sphere or The Great Train Robbery. I love how Crichton took his time to do a thorough research before writing his book. I know that his writing style is not for everyone, but I enjoy his books very much.
This phase didn’t last long, mostly because Crichton didn’t have that many books. I do, however, still like to read good sci-fi books if anyone would point it out to me.

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Young Adults Fantasy
Phase Nine

I AM NOT SURE HOW I GET HERE!? Maybe it started with Harry Potter, with a boost from Percy Jackson, but I’m pretty sure it was Cassandra Clare’s fault. Yup, I became an avid YA Fantasy novels since I read The Mortal Instruments. Since then, I read her friends’ books (namely, Holly Black’s and Sarah Rees Brennan’s) and one of my tumblr friends made me a list of all young-adults fantasy novels I should read before I die (she didn’t call it that, but I’m pretty sure that’s what she meant). For years, I read almost nothing else.

But then I realized that hey, maybe I want to read something else too… And that led me to:

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NOW
Phase Ten

I am still very much a fan of fantasy books, but I try to balance it by reading at least one contemporary novel each month, and I also try my hand at reading classics. Surprisingly, I found myself loving Pride and Prejudice. I am currently trying to get through Jane Eyre, but I got distracted a lot so yeah… I like to think that my reading habit has become more diverse, but let’s be real, I’m still far away from becoming a diverse reader.

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How about you? Did you go through any of these phases yourself? Or did you grow up reading something totally different than me? Let me know below and let’s go back down the memory laaane (I totally sing that in Tom Fletcher’s voice).

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Windie
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