Dina @ Borders The Curve
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The location of the reading probably helped with the attendance – right smack in the middle of the busiest part of the bookstore (entrance of the ground floor) so it was hard to miss. And there were repeated announcements from about an hour before (and probably a few days leading up to) the event, too. Kudos to Borders The Curve.
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For some reason, the front row had single sofa seaters while the other rows only had regular plastic foldable chairs – made it look like they were expecting some VIPs. The only “VIP” who sat in the front row throughout the reading was an old Chinese lady (see picture). It’s a wonder Dina kept a straight face throughout as she was facing the old lady all that time!
Dina read from the “Doubling Gods” chapter, making the audience laugh at various sections, including the one about verifying a chicken’s virginity, and then gasp at the end of the reading with the very last line “The place we visited did not exist.”
Following the reading came the Q&A time. Anything controversial? The only one I could think of was the elderly man ( “I am probably the same age group as your parents,” he began by saying) who commented that the title of the book was provocative, but then went on to call Dina intelligent but rebellious. I doubt he was looking for a fight; from the looks of it, he was a fan with his own copy of IAM inside a see-through plastic holder with zip (proud to show the world he owns a copy but at the same time eager to keep it clean and protected), which he later went up to ask Dina to autograph.
Other members of the audience who went up to ask their questions were mainly curious to know what her parents thought of her publishing the book, whether her Terengganu roots influenced her writing, and also whether she received any angry or hate emails.
In all, a good reading, if this close-up of a smiling Dina can be taken as a gauge of the overall mood.
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Oh yah – her next reading will be at Borders Berjaya Times Square on Saturday, 12 May 2007.
