Hilang - cukup tinggi

I am 36 years old and I always spell in full whenever I text or email for I loathe the sms language used widely by youngsters these days.  Boleh buat sakit otak ok. A case in point, a bbm that said 'k t sye tang' received just a few nights ago gave me an instant bout of nausea.

Why am I making the above statement? Because I have just read Dayang Noor's second novel, Hilang (thank you kak for posting it out to me) and it didn't give me a single hint of headache nor nausea. In fact,  I got glued to it for 4 hours or so and read it from cover to cover just in one sitting. It was a pretty good book with unexpected twists here and there. The story plot developed in unexpected manner from one chapter to another that my imagination and opinion on one of the main characters, Khairani, kept changing over the pages and only firmly established at the last page of the book. There were also moments when I chuckled while reading it, especially when I saw 'Harsa' and 'Intan's Oven'. I can sooo imagine them for they were based on real people that some of us might know.

Anyway, over hundreds of books that I have bought over the last 10 years, Hilang is only my 3rd malay book. The first one was Lantai T Pinkie (ada autograph Pak Samad Said!) and the second was Jerat, kak Dayang's first ever novel (it was a good one too). Truth to be told, I stopped buying and reading malay books back in the late 90s when Khadijah Hashim stopped writing novels. Other books by the then 'aspirational' writers, mainly focused on love stories but with repetitive and expected boring story plots. Even the owner of one bookshop that I used to frequent in Ampang Park said to me one day.. 'Sama saja la dik!'.  The language used too were too berbunga and jiwa karat that I couldn't stop laughing while reading (hilang feel ok), hence another reason why I stopped.

Back to Hilang, it is one of the 2 Fixi books banned by Popular Bookstore Malaysia with the excuse that the book contains words or languages that aren't suitable for the general public particularly teenagers. Seriously??? If based on the same ground, I can honestly say that ALL the english novels I have bought from this exact bookstore over the years should be banned as well since they all contained far worse language with either direct or sexual innuendos. The irony is, 50 shades of gray which is clearly classified as an erotic novel is. apparently, being sold by the bookstore. So, why the double standard?

The funny thing is, the founder of PTS Media Group (who is, ironically, also a STF alumnus like kak Dayang) came out with this statement indirectly supporting the action by Popular Bookstore, labelling Fixi books as using Bahasa Melayu Rendah (BMR). Honestly, for a publisher who came out with a supposedly educational book entitled 'Studi Secara Smart' (hancur bahasa!), it is to me like the pot calling the kettle black. Heh. 

If I, a 36-year old (fairly) educated woman, can actually enjoy reading Hilang, a book that to me, uses acceptable language and grammar of today's standard to engage our general population to start reading malay books again, why not Popular or PTS? Why the holier-than-thou attitude? Apart from students sitting for malay literature papers and language professors, tell me honestly, who else are using Bahasa Melayu Tinggi (BMT) in today's world? Would you prefer people shy away from malay books altogether?
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Anyway, love this song. It's been awhile since KRU came out with a beautiful number like this one.

Buku

For a person who used to enjoy buying and reading fictional books,the fact that I only bought my first book for the year just 2 weeks ago is somewhat unimpressive. And it was a hurried purchase over lunchtime from Cyberjaya Streetmall weekly market too, not from those bookshops that I used to frequent. But it was a good bargain. The small stall minded by a middle age english lady has many titles from authors that I like such as Tony Parsons, Paul Coelho, Khaled Hosseini and many more. And when I saw this book selling at only RM20, I grabbed and paid for it in less than 2 minutes. Where else can I get a wrapped, first-hand Tony Parsons' books at RM20 right?



This morning, after settling the laundry and a bit of cleaning, I started reading. It was just me and the book on the sofa with some old songs playing at the background from my MP3 collections. Not everyday I get to indulge myself like this, such a bliss.

Tony Parsons' books always bring back some of the old memories due to the familiar places used at the background settings of the story. Reading George (the lead character in Starting Over) pushing his bike through Regent's Park for example brought a smile to my face when a memory of a picnic with some friends in that exact park came flashing in. It was spring and the daffodils were blooming and we went on with the picnic although it was damn cold. Well, it was already spring and the daffodils were already blooming, who cares about the temperature? We even brought our own homemade tuna and sardine sandwiches and drinks (we were skinned students living on crazily tiny scholarships) yet, we had a blast that day. Life was much simpler back then. It was full of optimism, hope and joy.

Anyway, I finished reading Starting Over by 4pm. It is a good book I must say. A chance to start over doesn't mean that you have to pursue what you previously failed to achieve, it just mean that you should cherish and appreciate what you already have. And I am doing just that.

Books, books, books!

I joined Dr Bubbles for a book-shopping session (for the orphanage library project) after a basketball season finale with the guys today. It has been a few months since I last spent some quality time in bookstores, so the bookstore-hopping trip this afternoon was a great refresher for me. Our first stop was Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and here's a picture of what we borong:



It has been donkey years since I last bought books by local authors so when I saw the english version of A Samad Said's evergreen Lantai T Pinkie, I took it straightaway...



After a nice lunch break, we continued our borong session at MPH Great Eastern Mall and surprise surprise... who did we bump into? Pak Samad himself! While Dr Bubbles was busy chatting to him and his wife about the library project, I was busy contemplating in my head whether to sprint to the car to fetch my newly bought T. Pinkie's Floor and get the great man to sign on it or not... As much as I wanted to do just that, I later dismissed the idea because... well, I was just lazy (nothing new there eh!).

But looks like my T. Pinkie's Floor will bear the autograph of Pak Samad afterall since Dr Bubbles has promised to help ask him to sign my copy when he meets the man again tomorrow morning...yay!

Anyway, I also bought this at MPH so looks like the rest of the weekend will be spent quietly in my room, just me and the books. A nice change after so many hectic weekends. Happy Merdeka and Salam Ramadhan to all!

When the cat's away, the rat's out for a field day

Most of the time, I am pretty orderly and in control, be it with my physical belongings, daily routines or the state of my mind. But things have changed for the worst in the recent days with a sudden rise in workload at the office (what's new?) and bouts of flu, diarrhoea and sore throat came one after another. A confusion on the love front and an argument with a dear friend added to the clutters in this small brain of mine too.


This photo of my messy work station yesterday summed up the state of my mind just perfectly!

So, I am now hugely relieved that the long-awaited chinese new year break is finally here... I am determined to be a total slob these 4 days to wind down and nobody can stop me. I will stay in bed for as long as I like and spend the rest of the hours in front of the TV or PC. I will only consume junk food, nothing less, and will only take my shower or change clothes only when they've become absolute necessary. This is my lunar-year resolutions and nobody can stop me from achieving it!

Ok...I did spent 2 hours in the morning today answering urgent calls from the hospital.. can we put that off-the-record?
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I received this song many years ago from a guy whose heart I broke ( I was young and stupid back then ok) and it still remain as one of my favourites. He gave me the lyrics of this song (dulu mana ada MP3!) when we last met to bid our goodbyes. I sometimes wonder what had happened to him since and whether we can still recognise each other if we one day bump into each other on the streets...


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Received an sms from Ardy yesterday telling that the third book of the Farsala Trilogy is finally out in paperback... and he has bought it for me too. Yahoo!

A nose job and two bloody nostrils

I finally had my nose surgery done last Friday. Had a cold feet a few days earlier after hearing a friend had to suffer a week-long of terrible pain after a throat surgery.. But went ahead anyway knowing that i didn't have much choices in hand. I had 2 procedures done at one go, Septoplasty and Turbinectomy (reduction of the turbinate, I believe) which weren't as bad as they sound really since they were both done under general anaesthesia.

The 3-day stay was pretty short but spending the days on the hospital bed for hours and hours on end with nothing much to do was not an experience that I would want to repeat that soon if I can. At one point, my boredom turned to anxiety that I started counting the minutes and hours to the next mealtime (not that the food served was that great), the next visiting hours, the next doctors' rounds and even the next toilet trips. Yeah... I was that bored! I did try to do a bit of work on the first day but got reprimanded by one of the doctors (no, I'm not that sad doc.. I just did it to kill my time and the work needs doing anyway!). I tried to catch up with some sleep too but the ward was so cold that I kept waking up shivering. Anyway, the only thing that I managed to do successfully to keep me occupied (apart from counting the hours of course) was reading and I'm glad that Ardy lent me this book just a few weeks ago. I finished it in less than 2 days on the hospital bed... a great company for a time in need indeed!


Anyway, I received a surprise gift just before I got discharged from the hospital... A huge surprise indeed. I was all over the moon and all smiley even when my nose hurt and bled like hell with tears all over my face when the surgeon pulled out the gauze packs from the inside of my nose or when he tried to clean the nostrils(no doc, you can't ask for one too!).


So friends (you know who you are), you can now stop your 'throw your phone into the Klang river' jibes since I am now officially NOT the user of the near-extinct monophonic mobile phone anymore!

Rise of a hero

Rise of a hero is a sequel to Fall of a Kingdom as part of Farsala Trilogy by Hilari Bell. I bought the first book more than a year ago when I first started reading fantasy books (they're pretty interesting, trust me!). The first book was a worthy buy and I've read it twice so that's the reason why I've been searching high and low for the second book.

Was told that it's been out for quite some time already but after months of fruitless periodic queries to a number of bookstores in KL, I gave up. But surprise surprise...I received an sms from my good buddy ardy last weekend telling that he found it on MPH shelves and he was kind enough to buy it straightaway for me!

Hurrah..The quest has finally ended. Since I've not got the time to see him yet, the book is still in his safe-keepings. I shall get it by next weekend so that I will have something to occupy me (apart from assignments!) over the merdeka weekends.. Can't wait!

Thanks ardy for the head-up!