LITERATURE SEARCH CONTINUES FOR THE SECOND DAY

Talking to two youngsters at Karangkraf cashier's counter who told me that they like to read love novels that are full of `feelings'

Today I moved up to the second floor of the PWTC to continue searching for relevant literatures. As expected, books on this floor are more serious books, much more in line with my intellectual taste as compared to those on the ground floor yesterday. I spent quite sometime at Gerakbudaya Enterprise's booth which sells critical books such as from Strategic Information and Research Development Centre (SIRD), Zed Press and Monthly Review at reasonable prices. For instance, a book by Linda Tuhiwai Smith entitled Decolonizing Methodologies - Research and Indigenous Peoples which I have came across at Blackwell's in Oxford last year but did not purchase it because it was too costly, is sold at RM10! So is The Post-Development Reader edited by Rahnema and Bawtree and the hard-covered Punishment in Islamic Law - An Enquiry into the Hudud Bill of Kelantan by Mohamad Hashim Kamali, both sold at RM20.

Another booth which I like most is the Dar Al Wahi Publication's booth, the subsidiary of A.S. Nordeen. Most of the books here are in English, but reprinted from foreign published versions for Malaysian market. I bought, among others, Islam and Modernism by Charles C. Adams, Principles of Evidence in Islam by Anwarullah, Non-Muslims Under Shari'ah by Abdur Rahman I. Doi, and Islamic Political System in the Modern Age by M. Ahmed.

However, I came to know today that such a taste of mine is not relatively shared my many. Apart from the popular Islamic-based books and novels, two other categories that are liked most by substantial number of visitors to the Fair are motivational books and cartoons. So a tv news told us shortly before I went to the PWTC.

The books I bought today

The books 'Akif bought, including another two books by Hilal Asyraf entitled Langit Ilahi and Kembara Hamba Mencari Cahaya, as well as two books for his elder sister A`firah entitled Shopaholic Abroad by Sophie Kinsella and The Gift by Cecelia Ahern