Top 10 Books

5 out of 10...ain't so bad.

The Malaysia top 10 favourite books (fiction) list was revealed today in The Sunday Star. I am slightly dismayed to learn that I have only read 5 of these shortlisted books, and I consider myself an avid reader.




Actually, I was an avid reader. Call me a geek/nerd/bookworm, but as a child - when the Internet was a concept you heard about in shows like Beyond 2000 - my idea of fun was being left alone with a good book. A book a day, I lapped it all up with glee. I even started my own library - my books were catalogued using serial numbers and all had a "date due slip" pasted onto the last page - except that there was no patron. I enjoyed the trips I took with dad to various book fairs/exhibition/warehouse sales around KL, when we'd take a bus down from our hometown of Klang instead of drive. Those express bus trips (aka direct trip), windows down and wind beating on my face, with me struggling to keep my eyes open, will forever live on in my mind as one of those classic father-daughter moments. We'd return home after a tiring and fruitful day, pleased as Punch, with our individual loot. Mum would roll her eyes (all done with affection) in a way that said, like father like daughter. And of course, I once fantasised that I would meet the guy of my dreams in a bookstore!

Over the years I read less and less fiction. My reading list consisted of medical text and journals, guidelines and papers, all very boring stuff, I must say. The occasional fiction I read, I read during air travels, books I purchased at the airport bookstore and never quite got around to finishing when I got home. My last book? Amy Tan's The Opposite of Fate (which doesn't really count as fiction). Status? Unfinished.

I didn't take part in the poll, but my top choice echoes that of the Malaysian public. The Lord of The Rings rules them all!



Mr JRR Tolkien