Banned Books

What can you say when you hear of classic, well-known works of literature like Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children being banned in this “beautiful, wonderful, truly Asia, [insert a Tourism Malaysia tagline here], etc” country of ours, eh?

You say, “Bullcrap!”

Then you say, “Who’s in charge here?”

Then, after a quick break, you say, “Does the PM know about this?”

Finally, just before you stop thinking for the rest of the day, say, “Do I have any say in how this country is being run?”

Then say no more. Go out there and get some books. Before somebody decides you can’t read them too.

Read more of these mind-boggling news at Silverfish Books:

• Commonwealth Prizes and Banned Books
• More on banned books
• Banned books – the saga continues

Sharon Bakar refers to them here:

• Midnight’s Children Banned … and a Hundred Others
• The Bane of Banning

Eyeris has more links here:

• How Books Are Banned

Payless Books Warehouse Sale at YMCA Brickfields

Found on Sharon Bakar’s blog.

And it’s a heck of a lot closer to my place too! 😉

Jumpa di sana!

MV Doulos: The Bookship

Went to check out the MV Doulos with some of my friends.

Stuff I learned from the trip

• The books are not cheap. Not exactly expensive, either, but not much different from the prices offered at your regular high-street bookstore.
• Selection is rather limited. They have music CDs and cassettes, too. But also limited. However, they do have a rather extensive collection of books related to sprituality, religion, faith, devotion, etc, so if you’re interested in that, you might find what you want here.
• They have a scheduled tour of the ship at different times throughout the day. You need to buy tickets for this. Tickets sell out fast. We didn’t know that, thus missing out on the tour because they were all sold out – for the whole day.
• My camera sucks at taking outdoor shots when the sun is out in full force. And where the hell was the haze? I think our friends in Sumatera have been slacking lah. Woi, forgot to burn the jungle today ah?
• Be prepared for a large crowd. It’s not always easy to move around in there.
• Fear not, coffee-lovers – there’s a Starbucks stall right there on the ship!

Paid Less for More

10 books. RM 40.

Not a bad deal, really.

The Pay Less Warehouse Sale was in its second day, and still lots of books around.

Wish there were sci-fi or fantasy books, though. Especially a Pratchett or a Gaiman or two. Would have snapped them all up.

Forget modern bestsellers, either they weren’t there in the first place or were snapped up on Friday.

In case you’re wondering, I got myself a mixed bag – including a Dave Barry, a Michael Crichton (no, really), a John LeCarre, and a book titled ‘How to Murder a Man‘. I don’t know anything about it, but the title sure clinched it.