The Reader...

Waves after waves of bargain hunters flanking the bookfest (http://www.bookfestmalaysia.com/), I was one of them. The sight of all these knowledge thirsty, insatiably inquisitive minds excited me, as I took in the scent of fresh wood engraved with the wisdom of ages. Well, more like chemical bleach blended with polymeric ink, secured by synthetic glue.

If people prefer organic food grown all- naturally, would organic book be a hit? Papyrus, ink extracted from cuttlefish, hemp binder, sound nice, probably not so economical.

And what would people pay to read? Sizing up the booths, it was crystal that fiction triumphed over non- fiction by a broad margin. If Reader Digest knew their true stories were not pulling its weight, they won't need to file for bankruptcy. Who needs truth, if truth was boring?

Fiction is more appealing emotionally, comprises of romance, comedy, action, horror, adventure, all cooked up in a dramatic play. Selling like hot cakes are Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer, almost like Harry Potter a few years back. It seemed many imposters tried to ride the success of said author, by adopting names like Stephanie Meir and the likes. Publication is steep competition.

On the other hand, non- fiction offers self- help, stripe-down business and professional skills, travel guides, hobbies, and most of all, how to get rich. When ‘Rich’ is in the title, the book sells. There is ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ by Robert Kiyosaki, if you haven’t read it, you are probably poor. Anyway I believe it contributed to the US financial crisis triggered by real property bubbles, by igniting the buying spree. This year’s hit, ironically, was ‘Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do!’ I have a feeling similar titles are going to top the chart for quite some time.

Seriously, these titles are so prominent the government should consider integrating them into textbooks. Royalty is not cheap, but surely educators/ textbooks editors can work around that. High school could have a class on ‘7 Habits of Very Efficient People’, another class on ‘Women are from Jupiter, Men are from Saturn’, another lecture on ‘Who moved my Dodol.’ That way no infringement suit could be filed.

Reading is a zero- interactive activity, where hard- core readers get names like geek, nerd, egghead, and bookworm. They are considered self- absorbed, anti- social, or even a parasite, even though their knowledge was sharp like a sword hidden in sheath. A reader, was never romantic.

This changed with the released of multi- award winning movie, The Reader in 2008. The implication of reading is romantic, could bring more people to read, and enjoy reading to their other half. Except that their other half is more often than not literate. Reading to another person is interactive, try with various genres for variable results. Think bedtime stories, imagine adult bedtime stories.

While at the bookfest, I was looking for ‘The Universe in a Nutshell’ by Stephen Hawkings. It wasn’t in ‘General Interest’, not found under ‘Academic’, and I got totally lost in ‘Literature’. Turning to a sales assistant for assistance, I was lead to ‘Travel’... (⁻o⁻ |||)