I first learnt how to read and write Vietnamese through reading. I left Vietnam when I was 6-7 years old. At that time I just finished kindergarten in Vietnam so I could not read and write much. When I got to Philippines I started to attend school. Although, we are refugees and we don't really have a proper education system but the adults managed to teach children very well.
I cannot recall how it started but I was very interested in reading, especially the folk-tales. I have read all the Vietnamese folk-tales - at least 1000 short stories if I can remember correctly, and many other legends and fables. And thanks to that I am quite proficient with my mother language now.
When I arrived in Australia, at the age of 11, I started school but because of the language barrier, I don't have many friends. And because of that, books started to became my friends. I still remembered every lunch time, I sat at a corner of the block with a book, a high-lighter and a dictionary. At first I don't understand the whole story and have to keep flipping the pages in the dictionary. Days after days, I started to understand what I was reading.
Since then, reading became my daily habit. Although, I am quite busy with life at the moment but I still arrange sometime to read. When I was younger I read the books by Enid Blyton, Carolyn Keene, R. L. Stine and M. A. Martin. Recently, I started to fall in love with young adult novels especially the series by Stephanie Myer, Melissa de la Cruz, L. J. Smith, Maria V. Snyder, Richelle Mead, Claudia Gray, P. C & Kristin Cast and Christopher Pike.
Beside my love for books, I am also a collector of books. Up to now I must have more than 500 books in my basement since I arrived in Australia. And because of my book collection hobby, I have spent so much on buy books. After many years of book collecting, I have found out many online sites that provide cheap prices and free delivery or very low cost shipping.
Please visit my books blog to check out the books I have read and recommended for to buy.
Enjoy reading :)
