Juggling

I dropped by at the KL Alternative Book Fest at the Annexe on Sunday and in less than 2 hours found myself laden with 8 books (Edited- I just realized there's another book on my side table, so make that 9). In this heat having to carry heavy load is not that fun and since I had to carry all of them to the LRT Station, I reminded myself not to let my future self cursed my then present self (geddit?).

These are the titles I got:

1. New Malaysian Essays Volume 1 edited by Amir Muhammad. I think my cousin had already bought a copy for me, but Amir was there and I reckon getting his signature would be nice. I also asked him to sign my copy of
2. Generation: A Collection of Contemporary Malaysian Ideas of which Amir was one of the 3 writers whose writings were compiled. They were giving it away for free and me being typically kiasu grabbed one for myself.
3. Kaki Script_10x10: 100 Minutes to Change the World is another book I got for free. Fill in the survey for Kakiseni and it's yours. Good scripts for short sketches in there.
   
4. Ayah Kita Bos by Tok Rimau and Sinaganaga is a blook. I have been visiting Tok Rimau's blog on and off for the past year. His entries are usually short but laden with meaning. The last time I checked, Tok Rimau was a lecturer who taught English at UTM (my alma mater) but he always writes in Malay. Guy's a damn good story teller.
5. Kasut Biru Rubina by Sufian Abas. I have been reading snippets from this book online. Sufian writing falls into the category of Pop Fiction and it shows through his choice of words. This book received rave reviews from some blogs I have been visiting and so when I saw it I just had to have it. Oh and he signed my copy too.
6. Turunnya Sebuah Bendera by Usman Awang. An effort to read more quality stuff in my mother tongue.
   
7. Tipping Points: Viewpoints on the Reasons for and Impact of the March 8 Election Earthquake edited by Oon Yeoh. Do I have to explain why I bought this book?
8. Religion Under Siege: Lina Joy, the Islamic State and Freedom of Faith edited by Nat Tan and John Lee. Nat Tan and John Lee are intelligent bloggers and activists and it would be interesting to read how they go about with the Lina Joy issue. I hope people are not that stupid to dismiss them against this book just because they are not Muslims and thus not 'authorized' to discuss this issue. (Typical Malaysian, cannot talk about issues not directly related to you as people are 'sensitive'. Bullshit lah.)
9. Aweks KL is an anthology of short stories allegedly written for KL girls (awek is a Malaysian slang for girlfriend). It also falls under the banner of Pop Fiction.
   

Being my usual greedy self, I have started reading all of them save for the final two (edited - number 7 and 8 actually). And I am still not done with No Logo. Or catching up with the 4 issues of Off The Edge. Or Monocle May issue. Or last 2 Friday's Guardian. Or even Hello! (Emirates give away free magazines and newspapers and that explains the Hello! You do buy my story right?)

Argh. Have to learn to be patient as my brain can't deal with digesting too many different information at the same time. I really am not that smart.

I also signed the petition to stop the banning of books. Book banning is one of the things that do not make sense to me. (Others are people wearing thick winter jackets while walking in KLCC Park and high density developments built without prior consideration of transportation). With luck in the future I wouldn't have to worry about people storming into my Mom's house to burn my books. Just as a safety caution, I'll remove all my dodgy titles and porn out of the country and stock the bookshelf with Mills and Boon titles.