With only 300 publishers from 14 countries, Riyadh Book Fair was nothing compared to other book fairs in the region such as Bahrain’s Book Fair, especially that the organizers labeled it as an “International” event. The publishers came mainly from Arab World plus some other countries, and for the first time in years, there was one Iraqi publisher.

Some books, such as the Saudi minister of labour Ghazi Al-Gosaibi’s novel Abu-Shallakh Al-Bermai, went out of stock very quickly, while many, many other books will return home with the same dust they came with.

The extremist Islamists were present in the book fair by plenty of publishers, but I did not dare to go and look at their area. Mainly because I’m not interested in reading titles about how the rest of the world will be burnt in hell, and basically because I was wearing my beloved Italian jeans.

I could not get the banned books I told you about, but I purchased another new banned book by the same author. The name of the book is Min Huna Yabda At-Taghier (Change Starts from Here). I knew it is banned because the salesperson was hiding it, and when I took it he did not write down the name of the book in the invoice, and instead he wrote “Special Offer”!

In addition to that, I purchased four other books; Mudun Takul Al-Ushb (Cities That Eat Grass) by Abdu Khal, Awwal Al-Jasad Akher Al-Bahr (The Beginning of the Body, the End of the Sea) by Adoneece, Al-Qaroura (The Bottle) by Yousef Al-Muhaimeed, and last but not least, the Arabic edition of Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser.

If you missed this fair, you didn’t miss much. But It was something nice to break the daily routine of this boring university. However, because no important authors attended, and no new books released, one could say the book fair itself was boring!

During the first conference of the Saudi intelligentsia organized by the ministry of culture, the Saudi minister of labour Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, who is also a great writer, criticized the censorship system in the country, especially all kinds of censorship on books. Dr. Al-Gosaibi said this whole system of censorship in the Internet era is pathetic!

Dr. Al-Gosaibi, who was talking in the presence of the minister of culture, said that he does not only mean the ministry of culture, but also about the unofficial censorship which is bigger and more dangerous.

Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi is the former Saudi ambassador to the U.K., and some of his books are banned here in Saudi Arabia.

The latest way to show off your patriotism here in the Kingdom is to put a sticker resembles the Saudi flag on the rear window of your car. Some people would go further and add a picture of King Fahad or Prince Abdullah.

I can understand this feeling of patriotism for some people after the last terrorist attacks that was taking place here. However, I don’t think the best way to express your love to your country is by using your car. It looks cheap and showoffish more than anything! In fact, some lads say they only use it to go faster through the annoying checkpoints!

While I was on train today, a man with a long beard and a short thobe (read: Islamist) sat next to me. I felt there was something wrong. The man was holding Al-Hayat newspaper. It is weird to see such a man holding a newspaper that is considered “liberal” (or “secular” in their language). The Islamists even call it “Al-Mamat” which means death, instead of its real name, which means life.

After few minutes, I saw the man ripping off most of the last page of the newspaper, which was occupied by a large picture of model on the catwalk during a fashion show! He ripped it off, made it into a ball, and threw it away! Now, it feels right!

I just wished we could get rid of our problems this easy!

Islam is a great religion. Some Muslims are misunderstanding what this great religion is all about.

Some people here in Riyadh think they are practicing Islam in the correct way. I think they are extremists. They don’t know that, they know and deny it; I don’t care.

They think you are a true Muslim if you just do things their way. They will tell you to put on a short thobe and grow a long beard, because they think a Muslim should looks this way. What I know is that Islam is about what’s in your heart, and what you believe in. Islam never tells you to judge people by their clothes.

Here in Riyadh, you will be forced to pray, and all shops are forced to close their doors during the prayer time, whether you like it or not, and no matter you are Muslim or not. When prayer time comes, everybody should disappears. What I know, the Holy Quran says the good things are clear, and the bad things are clear, and there is no obligation in this religion.

What harm could occur if shops remain open during prayer time? They think nobody will pray! Can you believe this?! Let me just say a true Muslim would pray no matter what happens.

I know I’ve been pretty harsh on Saudis in the past months. This is just because I want Saudi Arabia to become a better country. So, believe me when I say I will pay credit when credit is due. After all, it is good to see anything good, besides oil, comes out of this country.

Two Saudi brothers started a company that uses the SMS technology to provide other companies with feedback from their customers. The idea sparkled in the minds of the Halwani brothers after a horrible service they got by a lazy waiter at a restaurant and there was nobody to complain to (I suppose they wrote it down on a piece of tissue!).

This new service will ensure the customer’s voice is reaching the customer service managers directly. In addition, the companies will be able to get rid of the suggestions boxes and all the works related to them (collecting, filtering, etc.).

When the STC offered the SMS for the first time here, it was HOT! HOT! HOT! Now, I rarely receive any fuNy or QT msgs! And as usual, we are years behind others. Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries left with no MMS services available. I can hear someone says “Why would you need MMS when camera phones are banned?” I know, and please don’t ask me about Wi-Fi spots… “What? Why-Fi? What the hell are you talking about?!”

I promised to review some books I’ve ordered, and here it comes. I finished reading The Weblog Handbook by Rebecca Blood few weeks ago, and I don’t know why it took me all that time to write this.

If you’ve been blogging for awhile (say six months), this book may not be the right choice for you. It is an ideal book for beginners and those who plan to start a blog but don’t know what to do and how to do it. For people like me who learned blogging by trial and error, this book could also be useful, but not as much as it could be for new bloggers.

It was a good reading, though. Rebecca Blood has a good style of writing and you won’t feel bored while you read this short book. I think this book could be a good gift for someone you think have the gift of writing and could make a good blogger.

I’m reading We’ve Got Blog now. I’ll write about it later.