Growing Up in Trengganu by Awang Goneng (RM 39.90)Growing Up in Trengganu started life as the blog of Awang Goneng (pen name for writer Wan A. Hulaimi) until it was found to be too good to exist only in cyberspace. Through a collection of memories retold in glorious colour, Awang Goneng evokes the pleasures of a kampung childhood for the benefit of new generations brought up in air-conditioned condominiums. Listen to the azan call to prayer from the surau of Haji Mat Kerinci, order satay with toast for breakfast, meet notables such as Tun Long the laundry man and Cik Wook Payong Locoh, whose umbrella turned inside out in a storm, and relive the pleasure of hearing the rain hammer down on a corrugated-iron roof while reading The Beano and eating kuih putu.
Sultans, sweetmeat sellers and shopkeepers all act as springboards as you meander through Trengganu history, and by the end of this book you will have painlessly mastered the 'Trengganuspeak' that foils even fellow Malaysians.
This is indeed a delightful book. I envy the ease of Awang Goneng's narrative. While I understand this is a personal record of life, even if it were fiction I could feel the idyllic yet meaningful existence it describes. Only in "Trengganu". Syabas!
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