Sharing is Caring

A few weeks ago, I loaned my book, 'Does My Head Look Big in This?' to a friend in college. After she has finished reading it, she passed it to another friend, and that friend passed it to another, and another and another.

By the time it reached the ?th person, I got to know that a section of the book had fallen out.I was crestfallen... It was after all, a book that I adore.

Some time later, I read what Paulo Coelho has to say about books and libraries (in his book, Like the Flowing River - Thoughts and Reflections).

He said that despite of his love for reading, he doesn't own a lot of books. He only keeps his favourites ones and donates the rest to public libraries or gives them to other people.

He believes that "a book has its own journey to make, and should not be condemned to being stuck on a shelf".

He also says that he loves it when, "at a book signing, a reader comes up to [him] clutching a battered copy of one of [his] books that has been passed from friend to friend dozens of times".

After thinking about it, I now subscribe to his point of view. I would rather have my books become battered through much sharing than to have them looking brand new, on the shelf.

Sharing is Caring.

X X X

The book is about Amal, a Palestinian-Australian Muslim girl. She decides to wear the hijab "full-time". The book details the reactions she got from her classmates. The book also deals with issues like
* the stereotypes people have of minority groups,
* the common perception that Muslim women are "oppressed",
* culture vs. religion,
* etc.

The book is actually for young adults but older readers will enjoy it as well.

The author, Randa Abdel-Fattah (an Australian-Muslim herself), has another book entitled '10 Things I Hate about Me'.

*Image taken from Amazon.com