I’d like to wish every reader a wonderful Islamic and secular New Year! May 2009/1430 bring us more peace and happiness.
As for those new year’s resolutions, I’m planning on upgrading my library with more books on gender studies with a postcolonialist slant and Malay novels (because you can never have enough books), but paradoxically, I also intend to spend less (on other stuff). Among other things, I’d like to be a serious student again, wake up earlier, eat healthier, call my Dad more often, and finally, stop regretting about my past failures.
Do you have resolutions for 2009?
Alicia Izharuddin 
Happy New Year Cycads!
If I were trapped on a deserted island and could only have one novel by a Malay author, what would you recommend?
Happy new year, Salaam!
Depending on whether you’re happy with isolation, ‘Salam Maria’ by Fatimah Busu is a good one, but it hasn’t been translated into English yet. There is of course Indonesian writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s tales of political awakening in his very emotional Buru quartet, written in a penal colony on the island of Buru (which in Malay means ‘hunt’ or ‘hunting’).
Selamat menyambut tahun baru, semoga makin lestari mengulas buku. Buku yang akan dihantar itu saya sedang prosesnya. Insyallah dalam bulan Januari ini, buku akan sampai kpd sdri.
Terima kasih.