As cliché as it sounds, I must confess that I cannot live without books. Most friends of mine returned from UK with some Queen Anne silverware pieces, or some crystal vases and deco items, or Corelle dinnerware, or at least – the latest in audio stereo components.
I returned home with two large boxes of books - bought through book club, in car boot sale or otherwise.
There are three bookshelves in my room. All filled to the brim – and I need to add a fourth real soon. There’s one next to my bed, filled with hardcovers. Next to my TV, there’s one filled with my current and all-time favourite (read: “Learn Japanese” books, Chicken Soup for the Soul series, motivational books). Then, at the far end of the room, next to the door of the balcony, there’s the biggest shelf, five tiers storing all the rest – my teenage collection of Hardy Boys’ Casefiles, my meagre collection of Malay books, precious collection of Harry Potter series, mumbo jumbo “How-to” books, the X-Files coffee table book, 500 Amazing Facts for Children, Oxford Dictionary on Quotations and lots and lots of English novels by various writers.
Last night as I rummaged through the five-tier shelf to look for my Saga Artakusiad books – yes, I rummaged, because one tier could hold up to three horizontal layers of books – I stopped and thought for a while. They say that books help in widening your horizon, increasing your knowledge; that books are the treasured wealth of the world and could be the most generous inheritance – but have I learned enough? Mark Twain once pointed out that the man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. Looking at the whole lot of novels I own, it made me wonder if I had actually been reading good books, if I actually have some advantage over others who do not read or possess as many books.
Unlike my collection which mostly comprises novels, Mak fills up an antique cabinet downstairs with some real gems – collection of hadeeth in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, Imam Shafie’s "Al Umm", Imam Malik’s "Muwatta’", Imam Ghazali’s "Ihya’ Ulumuddin", "Fiqh As Sunnah" and all - which I regretfully admit have never really been read by me. I’d only browsed through them when I need to check up on some facts – but apart from those moments, I have never read them thoroughly, like I did with all the novels stored in my room.
In her own room, Mak keeps and builds her own library of contemporary books on Islam and the world, consisting among others - “The Great Deception”, “International Jews”, “Holy war and Unholy Terrors” and “The Fundamental of Tawheed”. It was Mak who introduced me to Syed Qutb’s “Maalim Fit Tariq” (Milestones) when I was in college, and I was immediately awed by his explanation of jihad, his take on the Islamic brotherhood and his sense of freedom. Despite my preference for contemporary books, despite it being written in the 60s, the book could still awake something inside me - almost as if it talks to me - every time I pick it up for another read.
Mak noted that I lack in reading wordly, non-fiction books and harped on me a few times, “Kak, I know that you do read a lot. I know that you spend a lot of money on books. But, have you been reading the best books?”
Well, I know I have learned a lot of the legal world, not only through my law lectures but also through descriptions of the legal world as found in John Grisham’s or Steve Martini’s books. I can definitely vouch that I have learned some medical terms by reading novels by Robin Cook. I was first introduced to British constitutions and politics via Jeffrey Archer’s novels. And what little ideas I have about extraordinaire/spies/private investigators/detectives were mostly drawn from my reading of Dean Koontz, James Patterson, Lee Child, Nelson DeMille and all. Oh – and like most other girls, I read romance too – mostly by Julie Garwood, Nicholas Sparks, Elizabeth Lowell, Jude Deveraux and Judith McNaught. And yes, I do read some classic – A Tale of Two Cities being my top favourite.
I supposed it won’t be totally wrong for me to admit being a self-professed well-read person. But last night, in the midst of novels and how-to books, I questioned myself, “Have I been reading the best books? Have I been reading the good ones?”
And I found that I could not give myself a truly honest and satisfactory answer – as yet.
5 comments:
Jordan: Let me share with you my Mak's advice - "Read the good books first, or you may regret not reading them at all."
A friend of mine,who currently studing in US, admitted to me that he dun like to read fiction. To him, reading biographical of succesful people or books on some facts or motivional one is worthier than reading those fiction one. Reading fiction to him is wasting our precious time. Is this true?
I dunno.
Why there is a nobel prize in literature?
Yusof: Different people, different taste. While I enjoy reading motivational books (Stephen Covey, Anthony Robbins, Dale Carnegie, etc) and glancing through some biographies - I won't totally agree if someone claims that reading fiction is a waste of time. If it's just a thrashy novel - maybe it's a waste of time (although some girls would argue that thrashy novels make a good company in the loo - honestly!). But if it's a novel with substance, written by an author who wants the readers to think & learn new things - then maybe reading it should not be labelled as wasting one's time.
As for the reason behind Nobel Prize for Literature - my guess is as good as yours since Albert Nobel's will on that was incomplete... U may want to check out: http://www.nobel.se/literature/
Reading is a way for you to explore the world and other point of views. At the same time, reading help you with your thought and logic process. This is especially true for writing types and style. The words and sentences that you read are considered to be data and information. The writing styles is how it was presented. Take for example:
1. Ali have an apple. He ate the apple while reading a book by Aasimov in his bed.
2. My name is Ali. I just ate a juicy red and ripe apple while reading an interesting and thought provoking book on the Three Laws of Robotic by the great sci-fi author, Isaac Aasimov. At the same time, I was making myself comfortable in my soft warm bed.
3. Ali ate an apple juicy and red,
On a soft, warm comfortable bed,
While reading on robots by an author that's dead,
While all three examples are about the same thing. It was presented in a different way. And each author have a different way of presenting how Ali ate an apple in bed while reading a book. This forces the reader to think differently. And this is the most important part of reading!. That is to think differently.
- Daeng Peletih
Daeng: So, this entry was what u did when the rest of us bekerja keras in Damai Laut, heh? I'm still feeling like a half-zombie after 2 nights of staying up late - up to 4.30 a.m. (bangun pukul 6 pg) and the next night up to 3.00 a.m. (bangun pukul 6 jugak)...
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