So here are some of my book collections by authors from various countries, let me list them down for you.

• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
• Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
• Pulling by Leila S. Chudori
• Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
• The New Life by Orhan Pamuk

Books are my second love in this world after music and during my teen years, my library consisted of mostly young adult books. Fantasy, teen-lit, adventure, a little bit of romance here and there, so basically a lot of fun. Now, Harry Potter still remains the best series in the entire world. Also, I confess that I’ve devoured all four of the books in the Twilight series and I’m not even guilty! Let me just tell you when the final book came out, I was in a Singapore airport and I literally ran around to various bookstores to have it in my hands (and succeeded).

But since senior year of high school, I started reading books outside of the genre and my love of reading grew even more. Then university came along and my boundaries are pushed even further. Books like Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha and John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men taught me a lot about how even suffering can bring us peace, the importance of brotherhood. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies exposed me to the dark side of human beings, the evil we’re capable of when we’re free from the restrictions of rules. To Kill a Mockingbird suddenly became my ultimate source of advice when it comes to not putting people down when you don’t even know their story and to never give up on what’s right, no matter what position your decisions will put you in society. Then, there’s Murakami….oh Murakami. How do I even begin to explain his writing.

Reading is just like traveling, therefore being windows to the world. By exposing ourselves to books from many countries will open our eyes to different cultures, customs and help us be more open-minded which I think is so important for someone to be. To put it bluntly, reading is such a fun activity and no shame admitted, I want to be one of those people who can easily quote lines from books that I love. I’m a nerd like that. So don’t stop reading my fellow bookworms, relish in the act of looking into someone else’s life, thoughts while you read and travel the world as you flip the pages.

It’s beautiful.