the vitriolic nads has landed me with a book meme. it couldn’t have arrived at a worse time. book-wise, i’m on a hiatus.
i don’t know what it is. MRCPath exam revision? my anal retentiveness in sorting out the added info (with CD cover to boot) in the hundreds of downloaded music on my iTunes? my still spanking new desktop (which i pay more attention to then the now semi-defunct SKY decoder)? whatever it is, it took me months to finish the last book i read. anyways, no apologies if you think this is the worst meme you’d ever read in a blog. probably because it damn well is!
How many books do I own?
a pitiful 163. i actually did a count of the stuff i have on my bookshelves (and the toilet). and this count includes my pathology text, cookbooks and the odd graphic novels. they are still books in my book (hey!). magazines not included lah.
The last book I bought?
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & other stories by Tim Burton. yes, that tim burton. this is a collection of simple poems short of a dirty limerick. twisted as the gnarled tree branches in his films, dark as the gotham city he envisaged. i wish i can say more, as i have only read like two chapters (each two pages long) last night. stick boy on fire! stick boy on fire!
oh ya. the murakami in the sidebar? also a book of shorts. residing currently in the laundry basket next to the royal bog.
The last book I read?
Life of Pi by Yann Martel. read about it here. haha.
Five books that mean a lot to me?
aiyo. i just read them lah.
1. Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road by Neil Peart. after a devastating life event that occurred last april (which coincided with the birth of this blog), i started to read this well-written post-death-of-daughter-then-wife-trauma travel memoir by the drummer of rush. it showed me that if you think you have it bad, some people are much worse off. his story had a happy ending. i don’t see mine yet. this review of mine masuk book review blog ooo. hahaha.
2. Mat Som by Lat. okay, by all accounts this isn’t strictly a book, but it is such a good yarn. lat wrote (and drew, obviously) very well on this semi-autobiographical story of a part-time arts columnist for a local newspaper in KL. and this was the book that sparked my interest in sastera melayu moden. i never get tired from re-reading it (i don’t have the english version) to this very day. i love it because i see a lot of myself in som. part dreamer, part realist and trying his very hard to get by.
3. The Three Little Pigs by Joseph Jacobs. this grade 1 ladybird book was my first ever english read as a 5-year old. i learnt to read it with all the different voices (as per mama’s instructions). no, i don’t read like that anymore, if you are wondering.
4. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. i was introduced to murakami by my mate, leQ. like the protagonist, i lead a mundane life peppered with disasters (i better stop opening myself up to you lot now. haha.). it’s bad enough i get through a day in a daze, but reading the bird chronicle on top of it? forget illicit drugs, man. his other book, sputnik sweetheart, was much more sober.
5. Two Faces by Syed Husin Ali. the fastest read i have ever done on a book. this was about detention under the ISA after the student riots in the early 1970’s. way better than raja petra’s books on the same subject matter. scared the bejesus out of me. ’nuff said.
now i am to pass this to five others. i say, why don’t any of you pembaca budiman do the meme on your blogs as i really can’t think of anyone at the moment. yo, lisa o queen of books and all that is kundera 🙂 ! pick yin? idlan? anuarF? have you guys done one? i’ll be surprised if you guys haven’t! satu lagi orang woi!
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footnote: to the avid reader of this blog (if there’s any), this list is different from that seen here. they were good reads but may not mean much to me personally.
dem…tadi gelak kat idlan. So this is what instant karma feels like. Will work on it. I’ll start counting books
I need to erm.. panjat my bookcases. Luckily I have no books in the toilet or laundry basket. Will get to it tonight. 😀
163? I bought nearly as much in the past 1 and a half years. And I’ve only read ten since…. Gila. Takde masa, beb.
Kundera, Lisa? I’ll be looking forward to that then 🙂
You did it! You actually did it! And passed it to all these interesting ppl, hehe.
Been looking for ‘Two Faces’- out of print, ka? Also I don’t think Mat Som in English would be the same, lah.
Bila mau buat performance of Three Little Pigs: The Woodstock Years?
I will post after Father’s Day OK? I bought 6 books for Terry for Father’s Day and since he reads my blog… I don’t want him to know what exactly he is getting 😛 😛 😛
great! ada response! will look fwd to see all of ya with your more substantial list of tomes.
Lisa: when is Father’s Day? This Sunday?
Yay Nads kata aku interesting…
Anuar,
yupp! Thsi sunday but we’re celebrating on saturday 😛 cos sunday going to rotterdam for Terry’s Oma 90th birthday bash!
Saya sudah terjebak….
Syed Husin is in the UK for a few weeks, but going home soon. Loved Two Faces, never bothered with Biduk di Papan Catur (can’t remember Petra’s book’s English title).
Also loved Generations by the triad of young (well at least then) Msian writers. Bought it at Silverfish, kebetulan Amir M was there, so got an autograph.
Murakami’s a gem too…