ESL Blogs

I love reading. As far as I can remember, I will always have a book in my hand where ever I go. I can even read when I was travelling either by bus or car, which most people cannot do because of the jostling about. But I have to admit, I do not like reading those inspiration or motivations books, self help books, or biographies. Most of the time, I just read fictions. So, maybe my bookprint is not as profound as some other members.

I used to read two to three books at one go and within a week, I will just flip from one book to another when the mood strikes me. So there are definitely a lot of books that I have read. I cannot remember much about most of them. I used only to read only books written in my mother's tongue, Malay, but then my friend introduced me to English materials. My first English material that I was willingly read was not an English book, but English Comic. 

The Adventure of Tintin was a comic series written by a Belgian cartoonist; Georges Remi (1907 - 1983). It was a story about a young Belgian reporter and his faithful dog, Snowy. Tintin got involved in many adventures as he investigated his stories. Tintin and Snowy had saved each other in many occasions. The Adventure of Tintin opened my eyes to the beauty of English words. I wrote about my experience about it in my blog; Rin Tin Tin - My English Hero. Tintin will forever have a special place in my heart because it changed my view about English. That is why he is forever be my English hero.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was so profound that I thought Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were real. This book is a collection of twelve short stories and how Sherlock Holmes used his power of deduction to solve the mysteries. This book made me read all other Sherlock Holmes adventures. I even felt so sad and cried when he was killed in "The Final Problem" and like most readers before me, cannot believed that he died. I really thought that Holmes was real. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle successfully made me believed that the characters were real. That proved his power as an author.

"Please Sir, I want some more?" was the famous line uttered by Oliver Twist written by Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist was born into the live of poverty and misfortune. When he said that word to ask for some more food from a board of well-fed gentlemen who administered the workhouse where he worked, an uproar was ensured because no one ever asked a second helpings from these men. Later he had the misfortune to met with the Artful Dodger and Fagin and became a pickpocket. Oliver Twist introduced me to the wonderful world of Charles Dickens' books. Though Charles Dickens was born during Victorian period, but his novels and his social views remained timeless.

First Among Equals by Jeffrey Archer introduced me to a more "grown up and serious" book. It was about four young men journey in the world of British politics and ultimately the keys to the No. 10 Downing Street, the official resident of British Prime Minister. The book unfolding the stories of these young men for three decades. Jeffrey Archer remains as one of my favourite authors.

I was compelled to read the novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo when I read an article about the late author Stieg Larsson. He was a Swedish author and journalist. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a part of a Millennium trilogy series written by Stieg Larsson. It was about a journalist, Mikael Blomkvist quest to uncover the truth about the disappearance of Harriet, the grand niece of Henrik Vanger. While he was investigating the story, he met with a brilliant hacker Lisbeth Salander who assisted him and eventually became his lover. The novel made me read the whole trilogy and also made me read English translations of other non-English authors such as Jo Nesbo. All these while, I only read books written by English speaking authors.

This is my bio, kindly written by one of EC most prolific writers. I was always amazed with the way ⊱ Mickey ⊰ could come up with ideas on what to write. Her "little novel" was really amazing, and her poems were poetic. Once again, ⊱ Mickey ⊰, thank you so much for this little bio. You are a remarkable sister and writer.

Ladies and Gentlemen, attention please! Mickey is going to introduce you a very kind friend. She is an old member of MyEC, who joined here in 2006. During the long journey, she left here for several times due to some personal reasons, but finally she stays. Now she is one of the spambusters here.

What impress me most are her sincerity, diligence and humor. She is sincere, yes, ask the friends here, and you'll know she treats every of her friend kindly with her warm heart. She often supports her friends to keep practising English, including me. I've picked up a lot new words and expressions from her blogs, and it's she who is the first person on MyEC to encourage me to be brave and write whatever I like in English. Moreover, she always leaves very positive and complimental comments as long as she has read the blogs. She warmly welcomes new members who join in EC whether in the main chat or in the blog part. She is generous to share her English learning experiences and methods to people.

She is diligent, yes, ask the friends here, and you'll know she has written a lot of brilliant blogs and discussions. Check her page, and you'll see a long list of them. Her English is elegant. As I have told you, I've learnt a lot of new stuff from her creative blogs. She has tried different writing styles and different genres, legends, novels, life and work experiences and so forth...

She is humorous, yes, ask the friends here, and you'll know the way she chats brings people lots of laughter. She knows Mr. Google well, and she digs quite a few funny and lovely cat pictures. She has left a batch of "cats" in my wall, my blogs, my discussions and other parts. Her jokes aren't the sarcastic ones but mild, cute and polite. Trust me, this granny cat is interesting!

One look is worth a thousand words. I'll stop here and let you find her! Oh, her sweet name is NOASLPLS. [I call her sis pls often. It's easy to remember, no asl pls. It means if you ask her for help about English learning, she is at service whenever she is here, but for games, no need to waste your time even ask her asl. Lo and behold, she is a girl of character.