after a year of 'forceful' reading in 2024, i found out that my reading preference is at two extreme > romance in Chinese and self-help books in English
reading Chinese romance books started way back when i was only 12, a year or two after 蔡妈咪 picked up the habit as i had to tag along her to book stores to rent them so very often... every visit would last at least an hour so might as well make my time and her money worth...
in my peak, usually during the school holidays, i could finish 3 books a day... headache was a norm from long hours of reading and crying over all the misunderstandings and unacquitted love of the characters...my eyes would be so puffy from the crying that i had multi-layer eyelids... 😂😂😂...
i stopped reading them during JC times, after an S-0 told me that they made me form unrealistic expectation of him... and i think i also got busier with school, then with work and definitely with more fun things to occupy my time with...
then Covid hit, confined at home, watched one show after another on Netflix and i was hooked onto a C-drama that was adapted from a "juicy" novel... and the floodgate is open once more... now even more because of the many many online platforms... 就是喜欢谈恋爱的感觉, 甜甜的... 以前是希望发生在自己身上... 现在是接受现实, 享受想象就可以了... 😍😍😍
i think i was only a English reader in primary school... have recollections of reading all, if not most of the books by Roald Dahl and the series of Nancy Drew, Secret Seven, Hardy Boys, Famous Five, Sweet Valley Twins... moved on the Reader Digest in Secondary school and stopped reading altogether when silent reading was no longer mandatory in my life... 😂😂😂... completed the first few books of Harry Potter before it got too dark and sadist and Twilight because of the movies...
Read an English suspense / adventure book hoping that it would ignite my love for reading in English... nah, didnt like it... too adulty for me with the much violence and sexual references... eventually it was books on how to be better at my job and how to better my life that kept me willing to continue reading...
so for this year, i'm gonna continue my love for trashy romance novel in Chinese as nutrients for my heart and self-help books in English as tonic for my brain...
the trashy romance novels that i read / listen to are so trashy that i'm too embarrassed to mention the titles to anyone... hence the title of this post is "Beneficial" reading where i only document the worthy books... 😅😅😅
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started this book on Friday afternoon and received the heart aching news that night... it's as if whoever / whatever here there is prepping me for the terrible news... my viet green bean cake whom was under my form-ship for 4 years has passed on last December... if only... but there's no 'if only' in life after it happens... 早知如此 何必当初..
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