So ok, that's really a clickbait title. It was actually what my daughter told me, haha. And yes, she did read 104 books in 2024, double the targeted 52 titles (her achievement last year). So, well done Tia!
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| Tia's first book of 2024 |
But papa's not too shabby either lah. Don't have the exact figure, but what's more interesting really was the unexpected themes and trajectory of my reading list!
It began after I decided to work on a new book (it's loong overdue, I know). What's it about? Well, the idea came when I first started writing my BM Gen-X column for getaran back in 2021. After a few instalments, I thought, "Hey, this would be a very nifty book. It's sooo me, and I have so much to share about growing up in the 70s-90s, and the pop culture from those truly memorable decades!"
And so I shared the idea with my publisher in early 2024, and he bought it! Phew... And while the stories that I've shared in my getaran columns have been really personal stuff, I still needed to do extensive research to jog my memory for the fresh new essays and ensure that the factual stuff was accurate.
So I started looking out for what's relevant for a Gen-Xer like me. I continued reading Chuck Klosterman's 'The Nineties' that I bought the year before and when I googled, "90s pop culture", this book by a local author, 'The End Of The Nineteen Nineties' popped up. Add to Cart. Buy!
Both reads took me down memory lane, and then some. My thirst for anything and everything 90s then led me to search for these local gems from that decade, featuring 3 of our most brilliant English writers ever, Karim Raslan, Allahyarham Salleh Ben Joned, and Allahyarham Rehman Rashid.
I had read some of Karim and Salleh's columns in papers and magazines, and I had also read parts of Rehman's magnum opus, 'A Malaysian Journey' before, but reading them now again was refreshingly revelatory. The 90s was an interesting time for me personally; I spent half of the decade as an undergraduate, while the other half saw me entering the work force, where I dove straight into the serious business of the judiciary. Reading these books brought back tons of good memories and gave me new perspectives on important events that happened during the decade that impacted me directly and indirectly.
And oh, it was quite an adventure looking for these classics. Salleh's 'As I Please' though was the most special as it was a signed copy! (and the most costly lah at RM125, haha.)
But wait, there's more! While visiting an ex-colleague's new office in Taman Tun, I saw this on his bookshelf and instantly borrowed it. More good writing from the 90s, score!
And of course there was also this one by Sathnam Sanghera that I picked up at Hatchards in King's Cross, London back in March 2024 which I rate as my favourite read of the year (although it's actually a 2021 book).
Also bought these two classics, but I 'read' them using audiobooks. Cos there's nothing like a little Plato while you're doing some kettlebell swings. Haha.
The hardest thing I read though was this one that I picked up at the Amcorp flea market in PJ. Seriously, I was burning with rage at every page, recounting the disgraceful events that deeply scarred the judiciary back in the late 80s.
But along with my regular reads, including a couple of text books for my BA Islamic Studies course, 2024 was indeed a book-tastic year for me!
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