Confessions of an Old Boy by Kam Raslan

A Review

Title: Confessions of an Old Boy - The Dato' Hamid Adventures
Author: Kam Raslan
Price: RM 32.00

Go get this book!

This is a hilarious memoir of a retired civil servant, born and bred with colonial mindset. Dato Hamid recounts episodes of his long and blessed life through a series of short adventures.

He reminisces finding true love in ‘Dato in Love’ - the irony of this chapter is a-ma-zing. Dato then reflects on his young and dumb days (don’t we all have this black episode in life!) in ‘Beat Generation’.

Dato Hamid muses over his brief sojourn into making pocket money the civil servant way in ‘Ariff and Capitalism’. This is not one of my favorite adventures, possibly because it is less humorous and more real.

Then there’s the Dato’s foray into murder and mystery in ‘Murder in Parit Chindai’. I love this adventure, it’s a great suspense story made impossibly droll with the Dato’s distinct character deficiencies. Dato Hamid deserves the anti-hero of the year award for his spineless passivity in this mystery.



There are a few other adventures in this hysterical collection. Pick up the book in your local bookstore and read the first few pages – I guarantee you will most probably buy the book after that. Oh, and did I mention that Dato Hamid is purely fictional? You’ll never guess otherwise.

How much you enjoy this book will be proportionate to how truly Malaysian* you are.

Read Teddy's review here.
Read Sharon's review here.

* does not apply to Mat Rempits and its-my-duty-to-protest-against-Lina-Joy types, of course. Of course!

Towards 100 Books : 52 !

I've added four books to my previous book count, bringing the number of books read this year to a total of 52. That's the halfway mark crossed, on the journey to 100 books. Hurrah!

1) Disgrace J.M.Coetzee
2) A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian Marina Lewycka
3) The Color Purple Alice Walker
4) More Work for the Undertaker Margery Allingham

Chinua Achebe Honoured

Shortly after posting a review on Chinua Achebe's Thing Fall Apart, I read that the authour was honoured with this year's Man Booker International Prize.

Read Sharon's write-up on the honour here.

501 Must Reads gets another thumbs-up

I thought I might be the only one harping about 501 Must-Read Books, but here's another fan! He's got a much snazzier photo and a better write-up too.

... tidy books.

Excerpt from Margery Allingham's More Work for the Undertaker.

"The rest was books, not one of them dusty and dog-eared. They filled the walls and side tables and the tops of cabinets, overflowing into heaps in corners and on chairs.
Yet it was the tidiest living-room in Charlie Luke's wide experience."

Now that would be a book-lover's paradise. I can't seem to keep my books in sterling condition, they insist on yellowing at the exposed top. And dusty, too.

501 Must Reads : Modern Fiction, Q1

Here's the first quarter of the recommended reading list for Modern Fiction, from 501 Must-Read Books.

Works published after 1900 qualify for Modern Fiction, those before are categorized Classic Fiction. A few authors who lived (and wrote) across the century boundary have books on both list.

Modern Fiction, Quarter1

1) Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe*
2) Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands Jorge Amado
3) Le Grande Meaulnes Alan-Fourneir
4) Take A Girl Like You Kingsley Amis
5) Winesburg, Ohio Sherwood Anderson

6) Surfacing Margaret Atwood*
7) The New York Trilogy Paul Aster
8) Tales of Odessa Isaak Babel
9) Giovanni's Room James Baldwin
10) The Sweet Hereafter Russell Banks

11) The Regeneration Trilogy Pat Barker
12) Herzog Saul Bellow
13) Ficciones Jorge Luis Borges
14) Nadja Andre Breton
15) The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov*

16) The Naked Lunch Willian Burroughs
17) Possession A. S. Byatt
18) If On a Winter's Night a Traveller Italo Calvino
19) The Outsider Albert Camus
20) Auto da Fe Elias Caneti

21) Oscar and Lucinda Peter Carey
22) The Kingdom of This World Alejo Carpentier
23) The Bloody Chamber Angela Carter
24) What We Talk about When We Talk about Love Raymond Carver
25) The Horse's Mouth Joyce Carey

26) Journey to the End of The Night Louis-Ferdinand Celine
27) Soldiers of Salamis Javier Cercas
28) The Stories of John Cheever John Cheever
29) Disgrace J. M. Coetzee*
30) Cheri Colette

31) Victory Joseph Conrad
32) A House and its Head Ivy Compton-Burnett
33) Fifth Business William Robertson Davies
34) Captain Corelli's Mandolin Louis de Bernieres
35) Underworld Don Delillo

* read

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

A Review

Title: Things Fall Apart
Author: Chinua Achebe
Edition: Penguin Read RED



Things Fall Apart is a beautifully told tale.

The story, set in Africa, is about strong-willed Ibo warrior Okonkwo. The simple but powerful narrative easily sucks the reader into Okonkwo's world. We follow him through the motions of his daily life, his interaction with his clan members, his dealings with his family. We soak up the traditions of his people. We immerse ourselves in the culture and beliefs of his people. It is an interesting read, an insight into the life of others so different yet so same from us.

Then it gets more interesting. White people start coming into the life of Okonkwo and his people. White people start disrupting the life of Okonkwo and his clan. We read his anger and feel with him. We read his rage and feel with him. We see his… ah. Go read the book yourself.

I highly recommend this book. Read it for
1) its beautiful story.
2) its beautiful story-telling.
3) that extra window of awareness it will open in you.

... ignoring

Excerpt from Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

"We lived, as usual, by ignoring. Ignoring isn't the same as ignorance, you have to work at it."

Today's Buy: 2 June 07

@ MPH Mid Valley

More Work for the Undertaker
Margery Allingham
RM 35.90

The Color Purple
Alice Walker
RM 34.30



More Work for the Undertaker is a recommendation from 501 Must-Read Books : category Thrillers. I’ve not read any books in the Thrillers list, and admittedly I don’t read mystery as a matter of preference. Even growing up with my mother’s collection of Agatha Christie novels staring down from the bookshelves had no effect. I just didn’t do the type of stories from P.D.James and gang. Well, its time I started.

The Color Purple, I thought was also a recommendation from the same. But turns out it’s not (I must carry a list!!), I’ve most probably picked up this recommendation from Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust. I like this book for its pages, they’re just the way I like them: clear font, good spacing between words and lines, good page margins. Compare The Color Purple (below)



to Penguin Popular Classic standard page (this is the older brown version).



With a choice, won’t you pick the first one too?
Yes, I’m a sucker for presentation. ;-)

501 Must Reads

Prior to this brilliant find, I’ve picked up books to read based on trusted recommendations, cheap sales and (yes!) interesting book covers. I’ve tried using prize winners as a reading guide but it was a hard follow as the books tend to be dry and taxing.

And then, I found IT. My revered book-bible.

501 Must-Read Books (ISBN 978-0-7537-1343-3, by Bounty Books) is a wonderful find. This hardcover, full colour gloss paper tome is a collection of recommendations from a varied team of book-people (lecturers, writers, book-nuts).



The list is organized into categories: Children’s Fiction, Classic Fiction, History, Modern Fiction, Science Fiction, Thrillers, and Travel Writing. Each book gets a full page write up with a by-note on the author’s details and titles. Unlike other must-read list which tend to bias towards the list-makers favourite genre and authors, this list actually includes a lot of really good books.



When I first got my copy, I eagerly browsed the titles to tick off those I’ve read. The count - only 6 out of 501! Shameful.

A lot of the titles are familiar, but unfortunately unread. The Children’s Fiction section especially, I know the story of The Secret Garden, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Heidi and many more but I’ve read the simplified Ladybird version back in those days. Then there are those I’ve seen the cartoon / movie version; Dr Dolittle, Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, Pinocchio. And those that are popular characters yet I’ve never read the original; Winnie-the-Pooh, Pippi Longstocking, The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The list also includes recent good reads; Sophie’s World, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. And also very lovely stories I wouldn’t have picked up otherwise; Terry Prachett’s The Color of Magic, Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories.

Whew! And this is only the Children’s Fiction!

This book is my reading guide for now. I hope to be able to read all the books in 5 years time, but even might be aiming too high. So far I’ve upped the read count from the measly 6 to 57, mostly with books from Children’s Fiction. See my recently read list. I stick a nice little star for every book I read, for that little sense of accomplishment.



This book is a treat for any bibliophile. I got mine for RM59.90 form MPH, there’s a softcover (not paperback, just not hardcover) version in Border’s bargain bin.