do we read enough?

my friend mira who inspired me to start blogging (but she stopped blogging few months ago for some personal reasons which i still dont know to this date); has been doing this audiobook review for NST for few months now.. kudos to her.she writes really well - lawyer kan, of course laa...which reminds me of chris, my colleague who teaches law, well liked (and loved) by the students who created a facebook account to honour him. even our group of academics admire him for his exceptionally good written and oral communication skill. he always wear suits and tie to classes; unlike almost all of us who always turn up in casual attire..


back to mira, last weekend dia sudah mabok beli over 100 books at the Big Bad Wolf sale somewhere in klang valley..i've lost touch with all the bookstores in msia; yang i tahu only kino, borders, mph to name but a few. she's always been an avid reader and i used to give her books as presents but i reckon now tak payah lagi dah sebab dia dah ada banyak buku haha.


i read a lot when i was single, staying alone in the one bedroom flat in glasgow, loved buying second hand books from the bric a brac shops on byres road; read while travelling on buses and trains.. now, my leisure reading has kind of gone down the drain. at one time i was into sophie kinsella books, my most recent buy is Eat Pray Love, havent started on first page yet. but i never stopped buying books especially cookbooks. now my reading is rather limited to more serious, reference reading for teaching materials or literature review for the assignment. sometimes i read a bit on the bus on the way to/from work but taking the reading glasses out of the bag is a bit of a hassle. yesterday i got an email from a book publisher, offering me to review a few chapters of a new reference book on estimating, written by a senior academician from a london uni. quite an easy job, get a bit of cash (cud do with a bit of money to buy xmas presents!) for about an hour of reading, filling in some forms and writing a short review. after glancing through few chapters, we reckon between both of us, we could write better book ! in the past, few students suggested that i compile my teaching materials into a book..a bit too ambitious if you ask me...

kamar loves reading and he used to read a lot. he's a big fan of tom clancy, dan brown and jk rowling - owns and read all of their books more than once.however he's finding it a bit reluctant to buy his books now cos they are not really his cup of tea.


now aisyah takes over and her reading is more on horses and teenager stuff such as jackie wilson, not a fan of stephanie meyers though. she spends most of her pocket money on books and also borrows from our neighbourhood library. i bought loads of books for aliyah at the car boot, at the moment she's into disney princesses books. and at preschool, they have reading/story telling sessions and when she comes back from school, she would narrate to me about goldilocks, magic porridge pot.

reading is a culture here, people read on buses and trains, in the cafe, while on holiday... and i hope my kids will instill that habit.