Hat Rin

I stepped into Borders at Berjaya Times Square to kill some time.

The movie only started at 5pm. 1 more hour to go.

I wandered from shelves to shelves at in fiction section but I couldn't find any interesting things to read. 

So in the end, I thought I would make an early exit. As I was crossing out from the entrance, I noticed a new section of books. Fiction books but more like popular fiction books and I thought I saw a familiar cover.

Sands, a beach, peaking hills and a blue sky. It was one of my favourite book. Alex Garland's the Beach.

As I still had the time to kill, might as well. So I picked up this book and simply flipped the pages. 

I landed on a page. A chapter titled 'Hat Rin'. I tried to read a passage or two. The stale bodies sunbathing on the beach, the beer, the smell.. All of this were too familiar to me.

At the back of my mind, I recalled Hat Rin. It was a place that I had been to. A beach that is famous for its full moon parties.

When I was reading the book many years ago, I had not been to Hat Rin yet. However, when I went to Hat Rin last year, I did not realize the 'Beach' story was set there too.

I noted Koh Pha Ngan being the stopover island before Richard arrives at the 'Beach' but I completely forgot about Hat Rin.

It was all too surreal.

Magicians

As I was entering the KLCC after having just exited the Lrt station, I saw a young guy holding a book.

I tried to take a peek at the cover of the book but I couldn't. He was walking too fast. As he ascended on the escalator, I only managed to see a sliver of the book. He was gripping it while I was having a hard time discerning it. Finally, what I saw were the familiar bees dotting the spine. I recognized it. It was the Magicians by Lev Grossman.

Seeing someone reading this book did bring up some good memories that I once had when reading it. 

It also brought up some joy in me that someone was actually reading such a quite obscure book. Never could I imagine someone was actually reading this book in my home turf (in Kuala Lumpur, let alone in Malaysia). Moreover, a Malay guy.

Not to say people in Malaysia are not reading these days. They seldom bring their reading materials outside. Lately, I have seen quite a number of people reading books in the public. 

Once, in Starbucks (Borders, Gardens Mall), I saw people reading some business-related books and fiction too. On Lrt, I saw someone reading a Haruki Murakami. Finally, hope is abundant. They are actually literary people who exist in KL!! ;)

A Dream About A Bookish Friend Of A Friend..

I had a dream about a bookish friend of a friend of mine yesterday night.

In my dream, I couldn't tell who my friend was but she was a girl. We were happily chatting away while we were apparently having a dinner. Then, her friend emerged from nowhere, from behind me and she told me while gazing at her friend as if she was illustrating a point that her friend was also a Haruki Murakami's fan and that he had finished reading all Murakami's books.

At that moment, I was deeply impressed by him. No one had ever claimed to have done that. It was really an amazing feat. He was really a fan, undoubtedly.

She told her friend that I was also a Murakami's fan but I had only managed to finish one of Murakami's books i.e. Norwegian Wood so far despite my slight embarrassment at her comment.

This was my first time being introduced to an unreal friend, an imaginary one too, as a bookish friend, moreover in a dream  as I don't have many bookish friends in my life (may be I'm not that sociable :P). It was a very COOL experience indeed :P

The Accumulation of Books..

Why do we keep on buying books despite knowing that we won’t be able to finish reading them? Why do we still feel the urge to keep accumulating them? 

Reading is a pleasure only a reader would comprehend. Are you an avid reader yourself?

We don’t buy books knowing one day we will be reading them. We don’t buy books because we know we have an addiction of collecting them.

We buy books merely for pleasure. We buy books because although we may not be reading them anytime soon, we may be reading them one day. Even though we may not be reading them, we buy books because we know we can own the stories.

The stories speak to us desperately at many levels. Before we choose to buy that book, we already know what the book is going to be about.

We know the summary of the story in the book. As such, it is ok if you are not going to read the book one day. This is because the summarized version of the story of the book will stay in your heart (whilst the longer version of the story you will know should you choose to read the book).

In your mind. In the shelves. In your vision. They are always in your company. Within your reach ;)