• I LOVE books.
• It was my father who nurtured my love for reading.
• One of my fondest memories of childhood is taking a drive with my dad to a quaint second-hand bookstore in Serangoon (in Singapore) and then going home to BURY myself in my new acquisitions.
• I don’t really like libraries.
• I love re-reading books.
• Books I have re-read: The Sealed Nectar (I have to read and re-read it because of my studies but I really do it because I love any book on the life of the Prophet ); To Kill A Mockingbird (still not sick of it and what’s more, what joy! Ms M loves it too!); Hilyat-ul Awliya Wa Tabaqat al-Asfiya (I love inspirational snippets!); all of James Herriot’s books (he describes everything so aptly and beautifully and always has me in stitches…) and of course, To Kill A Mockingbird
• I don’t like giving away or selling books I have read, although I have done so in the past.
• I am therefore running out of room and am having an awful headache trying to pack everything for the return home to Singapore.
• Much of my time in Islamabad (and allowance… ahem!) is spent on second-hand bookstores.
• The rest of the time is spent making up wishlists online… :)
• I don’t read as much as I used to.
• I love reading with my kids.

Stories of the Prophets by Ibn Kathir (on-going)

Malcolm X : A Fire Burning Brightly by Walter Dean Myers & Leonard Jenkins
Pompeii: The Day A City Was Buried by Melanie & Christopher Rice (DK)
Usborne’s Enclyclopedia of World History (on-going)
Voyages of Discovery – Viking Explorers by Luidi Prunetti (McGraw-Hill) (on-going)

Animal Talk from Singing Birds & Fireflies by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
Australia The Gift by Steve Parish
Fire! (DK)
Kangaroos & Marsupials by Lionel Bender
Koala Kate Talks Ablout Koalas by Denise Burt
Longman’s Inquizitive books: Bushfire
Longman’s Inquizitive books: The Desert Gallery
On The Trail from Animal Tracks & Traces by Kathleen V Kudlinksi
People & Animals: Work & Leisure by Barry Silkstone
The Magic School Bus Chapter Book: Amazing Magnetism
The Magic School Bus Chapter Book: Expedition Down Under
The Magic School Bus Chapter Book: The Giant Germ
The Magic School Bus Chapter Book: The Truth about Bats
The Magic School Bus Chapter Book: The Wild Whale Watch
The Magic School Bus Chapter Book: Twister Trouble
Travelling Through Time (DK)

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

A Bargain for Frances by Russel Hoban & Lillian Hoban
Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping by Peggy Parish & Lynn Sweat
Best Friends for Frances by Russel Hoban & Lillian Hoban
Beryl’s Box by Lisa Taylor & Penny Dann
Bedtime for Frances by Russell Hoban & Garth Williams
Bread & Jam for Frances by Russel Hoban & Lillian Hoban
Days with Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel
Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel
Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel
Frog and Toad All Year by Arnold Lobel
Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel
Koala Lou by Mem Fox
Miss Lily’s Fabulous Pink Feather Boa by Margaret Wild & Kerry Argent
Mom Can’t See Me by Sally Hobart Alexander
Possum Magic by Mem Fox
The Gold Coin by Alma Flor Ada
The Pudding Like a Night on the Sea by Ann Cameron

DK Readers
Beastly Tales
Dinosaur Detectives
Disasters At Sea
Free At Last: The Story of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Horse Show
Outback Adventure: Australian Vacation
The Story of Anne Frank
The Story of Muhammed Ali
Zeppelin

I confess, I am not a library person. I like OWNING books and reading them over and over again.

My father encouraged my siblings and I to read … and we read voraciously. When our hobby became an extremely expensive one, he didn’t turn to the library to feed our appetite for reading. (Maybe there weren’t that many good ones in my time? I don’t know…) He took us to a quaint second-hand bookstore in a quiet housing estate in Singapore called Serangoon. It was a small outfit with wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling book shelves. The owner set up his well-worn desk outside where several baskets filled with even more used books and magazines were placed. I loved trips to that store.

I have vivid memories of that store and when I found an old picture of it online (see above), I was transported!

When my daughter was born, I used to get completely stressed out, worrying about how to entertain her. Motherhood did not come naturally to me – I had to grow into it and I confess, it took a while before I felt comfortable with being a mother. There were days when I was at a complete loss – Itsy Bitsy Spider had been done to death so what was there to do for the remaining 8 hours till her dad came home? I was (am?) a bookworm who didn’t like dealing with people, what more babies, so… I did what I did best.

I read.

Ms Marz must have been about a month and a half when I read to her “No David!” by David Shannon. It just about blew me away when she paid attention so I kept reading. I joined book clubs and when we left the USA for Singapore, I kept the supply up. I had worried that living in Pakistan would mean fewer books for Marz – she was used to getting some 15 to 20 new books a month.

But, alhamdulillah, I was delighted to find second-hand bookstores galore. I’ve been able to get a wide variety of books for Marz, from fiction to science to geography at a fraction of their normal prices.

My daughter is an avid reader, ma shaa Allah, and trips to the bookstores have been frequent so these days, I can’t help but think about my late father. I remember how he would look on indulgently as we rummaged for our favourite reads.

I remember how it was he who planted and nurtured my passion for books.

I am glad I am passing it on.