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Friday, January 05, 2007

Books for the week


They're none other than our very own Lydia's Honk! and Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things.

It was one of my year 2006's resolution to read as many books as possible in order to help change the statistic of Malaysian reading at an average of 2 books a year. So, last year I managed to complete 12 books (fiction) and 2 IT related books. That doesn't include the online books that I downloaded to my laptop and those I read for free at Amazon (yeah, they let you read a few pages and when things get exciting enough you'd realise that you can't click on the next button anymore... heheheheh... marketing strategy maaaa).

I planned to read these 2 books during the next 1 week or so. Honk! will be in my car, so that I can always finish one essay while waiting for the traffic light to turn green. Oh yes, I'm a speed reader and I'm as good as how I speed drive my car... hahahah... Thank god we don't get traffic summons for reading at 100 words/minute.

The God Of Small Things will be for bedtime reading. Well, that is supposed to be for winding down ..... let's see if it could keep me awake. I heard the story is rather intense. So, good luck to me. If you see me having sleep deprivation problem next week, you'll know why.

So, back to Lydia's Honk!, the best part of the book is actually a testimonial at the back cover by none other than Phua Chu Kang (Gurmit Singh) himself. I was reading it at MPH bookstore counter (yes, they displayed the book at the counter, you don't have to search for it at the fiction aisle), and I thought the guys behind the till machine as well as the rest of the customers were giving me a queer look when I laughed until my eyes were teary.

So far I have read about 8 essays and they left me either chuckling or laughing hard rolling on the floor, but later on made me think again about them. Not many anecdotal humours made me think. Some just left me feeling disgusted and then had to fight the urge of throwing the book away (or maybe donate the book to homeless people in cold countries, so that they have more things to get the fire going by the dirty alleys they live in).

Mrs. Lydia Teh's writing made me think hard and suddenly I found myself trying to find a formula or ways to help correct some of the social illnesses in the society or even how I could help to ease some of the Malaysian's burden. Waaa.... don't pray pray.... the book can even help inspire some of the readers to become a politician someday... heheheheh.

Well, if you haven't bought Honk!, please go to the nearest MPH bookstore and get yourself a copy. You cannot borrow mine because I haven't finished reading it... hahahahah.
By the way, the foreword by my favorite-of-all-time-Cikgu-Bedah: Adibah Amin is just marvellous. I'm getting her new novel some time next month :).

9 comments:

Lydia Teh said...

Hi Dayang, what a lovely review. Thank you very much. Hope you enjoy the rest of the stories in Honk!

D.N.A.S said...

Hi Lydia,
thank you for dropping by. I purposely snap the photo with Honk! on top of The God of Small Things (that happened to be The Booker Prize winner!). Hee hee hee.
We should have more Malaysian authors who can write 'responsibly' and 'sensibly' like you. Keep up the good work!

ku E said...

Dee dear dahhhlingg...

wahh... we two same2 one-wanna read books as much as we could. but too bad, i am stuck at 'gypsy masala' yang tak habis2 lagi rotfl...

guess what, my style plak-keep a story book that am reading, in my handbag. at least i could read it while waiting (i.e. 1) kids at school; 2) public places like banks; or 3) meeting/appointments) too bad... still tak habis2 lagi. by the time i wanna do it before bedtime, i dulu rodom ;)

NAH said...

Dee

Kempen mari membaca eh... I had that in my resolution last year.. I was too ambitious that I still have books that I'm yet to read... & it's a whole new year already... duh!
so u can imagine how many books that I bought eh.... (actually it's the 'buying' that excites me more than the 'reading' part)... hehe

Have a great year ahead!

D.N.A.S said...

Kue,
jommm... let's start the bring-a-book-in-yr-handbag campaign. I pun selalu bawak buku pegi mana-mana. Good for killing time.

Nah,
kalau tak larat nak baca sorang, nanti kita swap books nak?

NAH said...

Dee

Can ajer...... bila nak get together sempena New Year ni?

kimi azhan said...

Dee... I like the sounds of Honk! Maybe I try to look for it masa nak pi beli buku sekolah I this weekend (I seronok sgt dapat be back to uni!)

Yeah, me too support the idea of bring-a-book-in-your-handbag Campaign.... boleh buat alasan nak beli handbag baru yg muat letak buku... hehehe...

Aaaaa... pasal get-together for new year 2007 sounds interesting... this friday sapa free for lunch??

D.N.A.S said...

Nah and Kimi,
this Friday? I will make myself available. Lagipun next week I dah start reporting to a new boss, and I found out he's quite particular on all these ngular-ngular stuff... heee heee... So, jommmmm... jommmmm.... nanti I bring some of my story books if any of you would like to swap with me.

kimi azhan said...

Dee,

This friday is set then... what time & where? You guys suggest la.. I pun lepas ni akan busy... so let's make the most of our time!