No place for a bookworm to read

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A Saudi writer, Mohammed Al Rottayan, offered this advice in one of his books:

You can tour the world without getting out of your house! You can be acquainted with famous figures without seeing them! You can posses a time machine and travel to all time ... even though such a device does not exist! You can feel the frost of Moscow, smell the flowers of Amsterdam! You can do all these things and more, through one process: reading. Those who do not read ... do not grasp the beauty of life. Let there always be a new book awaiting you next to your bed.

Such soothing words!

One of the many joys of my life is getting home after work and reading my book in my favorite spot in the backyard. When I start reading, I get so engrossed that I forget my surroundings. I have only the world I step into.

My favorite genres are those about cultures, comparative religions, psychology, politics and philosophy. I don't like reading romance novels because they give me false hope about love and life.

The only romantic novel I read was by Paulo Coelho – By the River Peidra I Sat Down and Wept. I can summarise the story in one sentence, although the book has about 180 pages. "So this hot guy meets this hot girl, and after overcoming so many obstacles they are together."

The end. I like Coelho's writing, but I did not care for this particular book.

During a recent family gathering, I was telling my sisters about the lack of public libraries for book lovers and students. This country gives birth to shopping malls every year (at times, every month), I said. As usual, their reaction was: "Please hush her up".

I am aware that even in this day and age, not many Arabs are inclined toward reading  because Arabs are known as people of the ear, rather than people of the book. We have an oral tradition of storytelling. Like the Arabic language scholar Michael Zwettler once said: "In the ancient times, when writing was scarcely used, memory and oral transmission was exercised and strengthened to a degree now almost unknown". Even today, many Arabs fit that description.

Nonetheless, I have come across many people who have this eagerness to spout out about their latest read. The dilemma book lovers face is that not many others understand their attachment to books and characters. Usually such people end up talking to themselves about their good read, thus being their own best friend, like myself. Am I making any sense?

I have this strong urge to share what I read with more book fan club.

A few days ago, a friend of mine was asking if there were any public libraries where she could study quietly. A mother of two, my friend is pursuing her Master's in Dubai and is finding it difficult to study around her children.

Even though the growing numbers of malls helps the tourism industry thrive, there are also community needs to be met. One of these needs is more public libraries.

Malls have become like mini buses – there is one on every corner.  Soon, Yas Mall is going to open its doors and it is doubtful there will be a reading room in it.

When I went to the Galleria Mall for the first time, I was impressed by the large, well-embellished shops with cafes. Meanwhile, I was shocked at the large dead spaces that weren't used more efficiently. We are living in an era where reading is being replaced with the latest technology and audio books.

I was wondering since shopping malls have recently added bucket loads of entertainment in one place, why not incorporate a public library? This way, while families are shopping or watching a movie, the bookworms can reap the joy of reading.