THE BIG BAD WOLF

THE BIG BAD WOLF

Sometime towards the end of 2012, a small advertisement appeared in the local newspapers. An event called The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale would take place at The Mines Convention Centre in Sungai Besi around December 2012. I remember the rather plain ad which promised massive discounts even better than those seen at MPH Warehouse sales. I remember the slight tinge of excitement as I digested the details. I remember making a point to visit the sale even though I live more than 120km away. The long, long line of cars as they queued to find parking space. The huge convention hall filled to the brim with THOUSANDS of books. I didn't know where to start. Where to look. People were carting away or walking around with their arms full of books. Some were pulling trolleys and those wheelie luggage bags you see at airports. When I picked up a few books to check the prices, I clearly remember being FLOORED. What? RM5 for a brand new hardcover? Never!!!! RM6 or RM8 for a book which usually retails at RM30 at any store in Malaysia? I remember having palpitations due to excitement. Ok, so maybe the selection wasn't exactly what you would find at Kinokuniya but with thousands of books and rock bottom prices, I definitely found books worth buying. Nothing to complain about really. 

My BBW loot for 2014. 

By mid 2013, the Big Bad Wolf had taken the books on a road trip to major states in the Peninsular and Malacca's sale was held at the Melaka International Trade Centre (MITC). So close to my then office. Yay! I think I went at least 3 times and was able to browse at leisure compared to the my first frenzied, mad, crazy grab at Mines. 

When December 2013 came about, I didn't even bother going to Mines as I knew they would come to Malacca in good time. They did and it just ended last week. I went twice and my loot is smaller compared to the other sales but it doesn't matter because I only bought stuff which I think was worth it and not just because it was cheap. More importantly, they are books which I feel I would really like to read. 

Cook books by Nigella and Jamie which are a fraction of the original prices

BBW (as it is called today) has successfully branded itself, if you ask me. There is organised online and print media advertising and you can see that trained media people are behind their popularity and strategic marketing. If people used to complain that books for young children (picture, reference and stories) were too expensive, they certainly aren't at BBW sales. Mothers and fathers were carting books for their young ones by the hundreds and home libraries have expanded so much that kids are saying there is no need to visit the library because there are more than enough books to read at home. That's wonderful in my opinion because I do agree that books are terribly expensive in Malaysia. True that incomes have risen over the years but the average household still cannot afford to go to a bookshop and splurge on a book buying spree anytime they feel like it. 

So here's a big THANK YOU to the Big Bad Wolf team who have made book owning and reading more popular and accessible and a reality to Malaysians from all walks of life. It is said that the average Malaysian reads only 2 books a year but with BBW on the scene, hopefully this number will increase slowly. As an observation, I think most BBW customers are mostly urbanites as they have the means and the transport. Perhaps it is about time the authorities like government backed youth and family organisations recognised the significance of BBW sales and attempt to bring the rural dwellers to the convention centres and raise awareness about the importance of owning and investing in books. Rural children should not be left behind and be asked to depend on the often poorly-stocked county libraries. A home library is one of the simple joys of childhood.   

Hardcover reference books for kids. From RM10-15 each!

THE VIEW FROM SATURDAY

THE VIEW FROM SATURDAY

by

E.L. KONIGSBURG

If I remember correctly, this was the first book by E.L. Konigsburg which I read. After that I was hooked and immediately felt like going out to buy her books. Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy to find her books in local bookstores at that time so what I have today is from online stores and from Kinokuniya in Kuala Lumpur.

My copy of The View from Saturday

This book was a gift from my cousin, Lilaine, who had bought it from a used bookshop in K.L. Before that, I had never heard of E.L. Konigsburg. The year was 2002. I am very glad she made this introduction. To date, I have collected 12 titles.

The View from Saturday is about 4 children, Noah, Nadia, Ethan and Julian. They call themselves “The Souls”. All 4 are quite like kindred spirits (a term conveniently borrowed from “Anne of Green Gables”) and attend 6^th grade in the same school. The story starts with The Souls representing their school at the Academic Bowl. Their team is the youngest, the others being 7^th and 8^th graders but they still manage to answer the questions based on their past experiences which are narrated individually in subsequent chapters. So the chapters go to and fro between the questions posed at the Academic Bowl and the stories each child narrates. To me, this is part of the book’s charm and succeeds in keeping the reader’s attention.

Even though this is classified as children’s fiction and I was already a full grown adult when I read it, there were lots of little nuggets of information which I found interesting. Yes, we never ever stop learning, even from children’s stories.

For example, in Noah’s story, these were the interesting bits:-

What a B & B letter is

What a retirement village in the USA is like

How to correctly fill a fountain pen (6 steps!)

A dental hygienist is a “profession” by itself (I have never heard of people describing themselves as a “dental hygienist” in Malaysia)

§  

     One of my favourite lines was “The ballpoint pen has been the single biggest factor in the decline of Western Civilization. It makes the written word cheap, fast and totally without character.” – Tillie Nachman

Nadia’s story is titled “Nadia tells of turtle love” and is my favourite one among all. Along the way, we find out that Nadia is related through marriage to Noah and that her parents are divorced. My favourite parts are about the turtles themselves and how turtle conservation is managed and organised in Florida. In Malaysia, we have sea turtles coming on land to lay eggs too but over the years their numbers have dwindled drastically due to ignorance and sporadic conservation efforts. So, this part is special to me. Nadia’s father initially feels nervous and awkward as he doesn’t know what to do with her when she comes to spend part of her holidays with him after the divorce. Nadia on her part, feels resentful for certain changes in her life and also that she has had to move to another state with her mom. In a way, she blames it on her grandfather’s new wife, Margaret, who also happens to be Ethan’s grandmother (a fact which she doesn’t discover till much later and which makes her mad!). But when the new turtle hatchlings are threatened due to a storm, Nadia puts aside her resentment and does her part in saving them after her grandfather’s makes a special plea. During that course, Nadia comes to terms with her new custody arrangement between her parents and accepts the reality of commuting in the coming years.

“The following places in New York State are associated with women famous in American history. I shall name the place; you are required to tell me why it is important and name the woman associated with that place. ……The place names are Seneca Falls, Homer, Rochester and Auburn”

“Ethan Potter would know all four parts. Yes, yes, yes and yes.”

Ethan Explains the B and B Inn is Ethan Potter’s story and that enables him to answer the question posed at the Academic Bowl.   

Ok, I won’t go into further details on Ethan and Julian’s story because that would be a spoiler for anyone who hasn’t read the book yet. Suffice to say, with the supporting characters of Mrs. Eva Olinski (their paraplegic teacher) and Mr. Singh (Julian’s father), this book, to quote the review of the Publisher’s Weekly on the jacket is “Glowing with humour and dusted with magic”.

I also appreciate the last 2 pages of the book where the writer sets out the Fifteen Questions with Thirty Six Answers. These were the questions posed at the Academic Bowl. In case you are wondering about the answers to Ethan’s questions, here they are:-  

Seneca Falls

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Called the first women’s rights convention here in 1848.

Homer

Amelia Jenks Bloomer

Was born here, was editor of LILY, a paper devoted to women’s rights and temperance. She wore a short skirt and full trousers whenever she lectured, and they became known as the Bloomer costume or bloomers.

Rochester

Susan B. Anthony

Led a group of women to the polls here in 1872 to test the right of women to vote. She was arrested, tried and sentenced to a fine.

Auburn

Harriet Tubman

One of the most successful conductors of the underground railroad, she lived here for many years.

To find out more about E.L. Konigsburg, check out this link from wikipedia here

THE VILLAGE BY THE SEA

THE VILLAGE BY THE SEA

 by 

Anita Desai

The Village by the Sea is a book I have read numerous times and will continue to re-read. My copy is a hardcover which is still in mint condition save for yellow age spots which is common enough. I am careful with my books when I read them and I never like to crack the spine which will spoil the binding or turn pages roughly. In that sense, I am anal about what I call “respecting the book”. When I open the title page, it says A Village by the Sea – An Indian Family Story. My name is handwritten on the same page with the date of acquisition (19th October 1997) purchased at MPH, 1Utama, Kuala Lumpur.

At the back, the price tag is still clear. RM13.90 for a hardcover. What a bargain. Sadly, after that era, the price of books went up astronomically. Today, a book like this would cost perhaps between RM30 to RM40.

Like many enduring books featuring children, there is a common mistake to label this as “children’s fiction” or a book which is only fit for children. By today’s standards, it wouldn’t even be under “Young Adult” fiction. The theme and the message is appealing to readers of any age whether young or old, in my opinion.

If you go to Wikipedia, you will see that this book won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize in 1983. Now, I don’t read a book just because it has won a prize. In this case, it is clear why Anita Desai won the prize. Her style of writing, the storyline, the plot…..it goes far beyond an entertaining read. The story certainly stayed with me after I finished it.

Basically, the story is about a pair of siblings, Lila and Hari. Life in an Indian village is tough and with parents who cannot care for them and the family, they are forced to take on adult roles. Luckily, there are some kindly adult characters who go out of their way to make life bearable despite their own troubles living in a remote fishing village (Thul) and an over populated city like Bombay. I am not going to write a summary of the plot here because it is already available on Wikipedia.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THIS BOOK

This was my first Anita Desai book and since I have always had a soft spot for Asian writers, it didn’t take much to convince me to buy it at the bookshop. More rare is an Asian writer who features children prominently in the plot.

I can relate to Indian culture. Here in Malaysia, we aren’t strangers to Indian culture so it’s always nice to read a story about something you are familiar with. This includes the clothes, the language and the food, among others.

The Universal message of hope and perseverance and determination to overcome the odds makes me identify strongly with the book and its characters. The characters don’t high and sigh and weep helplessly about their predicaments. They get up and get on with life the best that they can!

It is a book which is in my Comfort Reading Category. Once in awhile, I turn back to the old stories which I first read when my life was much simpler and carefree.

No violence. No drugs. No depravity. No sexual assault, battery or rape. Need I say more? The newspapers and internet are already full of such stories if I want a slice of today’s world.

The writer’s vivid descriptions of the village of Thul and the city of Bombay which is told in simple vocabulary yet richly descriptive. Since I have never been to India, this makes me want to visit Bombay someday. I dislike the way some Asian writers tend to write with all the bombastic words and complicated flowery sentences so as to show their prowess in the English language.

WOULD I READ IT AGAIN?

Most definitely YES!!! (Said with much enthusiasm even after having read it say, 6 to 7 times since I bought it).

NOTABLE or FAVOURITES QUOTES/EXCERPTS

Chapter 11

Hari said, “Mr. Panwallah, you celebrate Coconut Day and Diwali and yet you are not a Hindu, are you? I thought you are a Parsee and celebrate only the Parsee festivals.”

“Oh no, no, no boy,” cried Mr Panwallah comically. “What would the fun of that? And why should I miss the fun of all the Hindu and Muslim festivals?  No, no, I believe in sharing everything, enjoying everything. That is why I have so much fun, eh? No gloom for me, eh?”

(Note : for someone like me who lives in Malaysia, this paragraph carries a lot of meaning).

STAR RATING

5/5