Pages are the Food of Sages

Happy World Book Day!!

Collecting receipts for tax purposes tells me that I've spent at least RM 600 on books and it's only been 4 months into the year. YAY! (Bear in mind, I am a cheap book trundler and my favourite shop of the moment is BookExcess that sells brand new but cheap because they take in over-runs, slight misprints, etc etc.)

Books are pretty much my biggest indulgence at the moment. I've forsaken my ever-stylish fashion (*cough cough*), my extravagant jet-setting lifestyle (*cough cough cough*) and my energetic clubbing routine (*cough cough hack*) for a homelier sit-on-a-couch-and-curl-up-with-a-good-book lifestyle. Which is SOOOO not what you'd imagine i'd do. *roll eyes*

Anyhoos, i am truly happy about world book day because book stores are totally into it offering great discounts. Cheaper books makes Jeannie a happy bunny. =)

I read the other day that while Malaysia's literacy rate is really pretty darn high (approaching the 90th percentile if i'm not mistaken), we have a very poor reading culture. The stats on the 85% of Malaysians that read regularly, 77% read newspapers, 3% preferred magazines, 3% read books and only 1.6% read comics.

No, really. 3% read books?

If you are Malaysian and have attended ANY book warehouse sale, you will definitely dispute that statement. Who the heck did they survey anyway? Have you SEEN the aunties grabbing books off the shelves? Heck, they're strewn in random stacks by the time you can get to any books! (Look, this lady blogged about it. Check it out and scroll down so you can see the madness)

We're probably the only country that has Happy Hours on their books. Picture stolen off this blog.

The only rational explanations I can think of are:

1) The survey was carried out with a very limited pool of respondents. Probably busy government office type people who have to trundle through newspapers to see who to arrest next.
2) The crazy people at book fairs are really only crazy over their kiasu nature. They buy the books to use as kindling for fires, as roof tiles, toilet paper, tables, chairs, wall deco... I mean, i have bought my share of books where the pictures already make their RM 10's worth. (I feel really sad for these books because i'm probably paying less than what it costs to print the book. What about the author's royalties?) Why you buy books? CHEAP WHAT! How to miss such a bargain!??! Not to mention reading materials are TAX EXEMPT up to RM 1000. Cheaper than buying furniture...
3) The large majority of people living OUTSIDE this crazy cosmopolitan world of KL cannot actually access books.


You know, I'm gonna actually opt for number 1 and 3. Living in the city, it's easy to forget that the world doesn't revolve around you and that you know, people are living vastly different lives just across the border.

Currently, 45% of bookstores are in the Klang Valley, 20% in Penang and Perak,
while Johor has 10%.

In some rural areas, books arrive by boat! While we are choked with glitzy bookstores, some kids don't even have a place to find things to read.


No credit to our National Library, which, when last I went (about 8 years ago), was dark, gloomy, depressing, full of antiquated books that catered to... well, noone. Even as I surf the website now, they show their latest reference books - Baby and Toddler Sleep Solutions for Dummies, The Macmillan English Dictionary, The Embedded Internet, Total Supply Chain Management, Stabilising an Unstable Economy... How, intellectual.

Anyway, my bone to pick is this. While other libraries are under-stocked, the National Library's idea of celebrating World Book Day is this (and I quote):

Various activities based on reading will be held from today, with the Jom Membaca event as the main highlight, where 200 guests will be reading together for five minutes.
The main objective of the programme is to cultivate an interest in reading and generate a positive mindset towards reading as a lifestyle.

So your HIGHLIGHT of World Book Day is to gather 200 people into a room. Say, 'Alright people, this is our main event!' [crazy crowd cheering!] 'Let's countdown now!' 'THREE! [Crowd chants in unison], TWO! [roars of excitement] READ! [five minutes of silence]


No, really. 200 people read in a room. BIG WHOOP. I'm sure that will impact those people so greatly that they will pick up the habit for life. In fact, who are these 200 people anyway? Government officials and library staff? Way to reach out to the public.


I'd rather you unveiled a prize for the best upcoming authors, opened a new library for a rural community, distributed excerpts of the best books of all time... Anything that would spark off an interest in people. Needless to say I don't believe 5 minutes reading time will work.
Not to mention if it's our government officials, at least 3 of those 5 minutes will be spent dozing off.


I have a not-so-subtle disdain for the national education system, as you can tell, and reading, or the lack of, is just a minor peeve. But let's leave that for now. Reading really is wonderful, and i'm saying this after 3 years of trudging through sociological journals and political ideologies (not my favourite reading material). Let's end this on a more positive note.


Jeannie's picks from not-so-recent to recent reading:

• Time Traveler's Wife (but you already knew that) by Audrey Niffeneger (sth like that)
• Cautionary Tales for Grown-Ups by Chris Addison (very light reading)
• Marley and Me by John Grogan (cos it made me cry)
• Anything Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (because it's dated but very fun reading a literary CSI)
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (because it's amazing the perspective he gives you)
• Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne-Jones (because it's nothing like the anime which is fun in its own right)
• One Big Damn Puzzler by John Harding (because the story line is amazingly unique. And you can pick up vocab like pwili)
• Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (because their wit combined is amazing)
• Anonymous Lawyer by Jeremy Blachman (his take on the corporate law world is really funny! Sharp biting cynicism- love it!)
• Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham (was written about 50 years ago but is a great piece of science fiction. People's reactions are totally spot on)

Now Go Forth and... Read! (stop trolling the internet, it doesn't count)