Marina's Book

Ooops. One book I meant to publicise and forgot about till just is Marina Mahathir's latest book - 50 Days.

Marina is one of Malaysia's top socio-political bloggers, a longtime newspaper columnist, and an activist fighting the corner of HIV/AIDS sufferers.

For those of you from other places, she also happens to have one of the most famous daddies in the whole land, but is an amazingly down-to-earth person.

Here's the blurb about the book from ZI pulications :

50 Days is a heartwarming account by a daughter who keeps vigil over her father when he goes through his second bypass. The adored father being well known and well loved makes her task extremely delicate for she has to accommodate his well-wishers around the nation (and the world) by keeping them informed of his recovery without compromising her father’s need to rest and recuperate.

This book is based on Marina Mahathir’s blog, Rantings by MM , which became the touchstone for the Malaysian public concerning the progress of Tun Dr. Mahathir’s health in late 2007. With additional commentaries and personal notes included, the story of 50 Days unfolds like a journal and the reader is immersed with the happenings and intimate details of the day.

Tun Dr. Mahathir served as the Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years and his statesmanship continues to be recognised within and on a global scale. His daughter, Marina, is an accomplished writer, activist and blogger whose commentaries on social issues often reflect the collective conscience of the
people.

You can catch Marina's author appearances :

21 Feb 2009, Saturday
Borders - The Curve
Time: 3.00pm

22 Feb 2009, Sunday
Borders - The Gardens
Time: 3.00pm

28 Feb 2009, Saturday
MPH - Midvalley Megamall
Time: 3.00pm

Also on 28th she should be appearing also appearing at Readings@Seksan's. More on this later!

We Read While Waiting

Yes, went along to the Read While Waiting gather on Saturday at KL Sentral. I decided to take position by the Komuter Terminal and was reassured when I saw other subversives turning up with books. At 3pm sharp, we struck poses and began to read like living statues except for turning pages. My immediately neighbours were Marina Mahathir and Noraini Othman (below), so I was in good company. (Isn't that, ahem, a banned book in Marina's hand?)

I'm not sure if around us anyone noticed what we were doing since passers-by were probably more preoccupied with getting to their destinations. I got bumped by suitcases once or twice, but the worst thing that happened was when someone eating greasy french fries stood right next to me, chomping away.

Never mind, though, I managed to get totally transported by The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, especially as it looked as if Oscar might finally lose his virginity. (Fat chance!)

Another "neighbour", Wan Yian, was also totally engrossed in her book.

The much bigger crowd turned out to be upstairs outside KFC, and I think they made much more of a point.

Here's three more book lovers with their choices.

And a photo call with some of the readers after the event.

I had tea with organiser Zain afterwards while he was being interviewed by the press. The guy has so much enthusiasm that if you attached him by wires to the national grid, he could probably power a city the size of Ipoh.

Zain's photos are on Facebook.