Bibliophobia...!

Read, Read, Read Some More

2012-02-01T20:37:00.003+08:00

Hey, it's fill- um, reading list time. I've been loaned a couple of books for perusal, and given a list of new and upcoming books to pick for review. And here are my selections from that pool, in no particular order: The Natural Richard La Ruina HarperOne (February 2012) 224 pages (hardcover) Non-fiction ISBN: 978-0-062-08978-6 The Mirage Naguib Mahfouz Anchor (February 2012) 480 pages Fiction

News: Post-CNY, Book Bans and E-Publishing Hijinks

2012-01-30T22:12:00.000+08:00

This year's Chinese New Year holidays saw me totally disconnected from the Internet, but perpetually plugged into the food and learning channels on Astro B.yond. Didn't drive home by myself, so I hitched a ride with an uncle and got snared in that awful five-plus-hour traffic jam at the Tanjung Malim rest stop. The snarl in human and vehicular traffic combined the Saturday balik kampung rush

Sweeping, Colourful Yarn

2012-01-29T12:00:00.074+08:00

It took a while, but it's finally out: the review of Luis Alberto Urrea's Queen of America. I was bummed at first to learn that it was another of those "sequel novels" but it turned out all right, even without reading the first book. The way I wrote about the descriptions of food in the novel is a reference to the author's vivid, evocative storytelling, not about the topic. This is not a food

News: John Ling's Blasphemy and Apple's E-Ducation

2012-01-20T21:22:00.002+08:00

...Relax, it's not what you think John Ling did. Congratulations to John, whose latest (e-)book, The Blasphemer, is making waves at Amazon. I've skimmed through it. This pulse-pounding thriller, set in the backdrop of rising Islamic militancy, revolves around the fires stoked by an author and his book - shades of Salman Rushdie, but the main character is said to be based on Taslima Nasrin. Short

The Source, Revealed

2012-01-17T00:02:00.006+08:00

When I consulted am ENT specialist for the first time in years about my allergic rhinitis, I paid over RM250 for some overpriced medication - and advice to do nothing. My tormentor(s), revealed. At long, long lastWell, almost. All I needed to do was

News: E-Book Explosions and Indie Icons

2012-01-16T20:55:00.000+08:00

No time to write extensively on some topics! Several books are being (re)published and I've had to read the softcopies. And I haven't been sleeping well, either. As I'd previously reported, Tunku Halim's stories are being republished electronically. I'd just had a chunk of 44 Cemetary Road dropped into my mailbox, which I've had to psyche myself up to edit - that's how disturbing the stuff is.

News: Bookstore Buzz and Tolkien's Nobel Miss

2012-01-09T21:54:00.000+08:00

Lots of stuff last week from Publishers Weekly. Some interesting news bites include the closing of feminist US bookstore True Colors in Minnesota next month. Said to be the oldest independent feminist bookstore in North America, it was opened 40 years ago elsewhere as Amazon Bookstore - and later got into a trademark tussle with Bezos's behemoth. Decade-old indie bookstore The Ivy Bookshop in

Tight Civet, Fighting Mongoose

2012-01-07T19:17:00.002+08:00

We all had a good laugh at the Defence Ministry's "tight Malay civets", "mongoose fights", eye-poking clothes and "skirts with exquisite" - not to mention (George W) "Bush's jacket". But it's more than just the standard of English. A mongoose (left) and a civet. Try wearing these two. Photos not mine. For one, I would think that the employee dress code for a ministry or firm is not meant for

Who's Coffee And Why Is (S)he In Love?

2012-01-04T23:29:00.000+08:00

On Jalan Sri Hartamas 1, en route to Publika at Solaris Dutamas, you may have noticed a sign outside Eastern Nursery just after an overpass. It sounds like and odd declaration of love. Who the hell's Coffee and why is (s)he in love? Actually, it's just an odd name for a coffee bar tucked away in the nursery. Experience tells me good brews are to be had in places like this. Unfortunately, on

News: Publishers, Privacy and Memoirs

2012-01-02T16:23:00.000+08:00

This list is a bit late, but my thought processes are borked and I can't think straight enough to write coherently. Print On Demand: A collaborative and real-time history of Occupy Wall Street, written by those who were there. Now, history is written by its characters, not historians. Community appeal saves a second-hand book shop in the UK. Maybe there's hope out there. An all-women comic

Some Pieces Fall In Place

2011-12-31T00:31:00.001+08:00

Coming down from a long Christmas weekend of doing mostly nothing, I realise that it has come to a point where I can go for a month-long holiday and, upon returning to work, find myself not feeling refreshed. Bad sleeping habits might be a factor. I wasn't sure how to respond to this post that filled the gaps in my pro-indie bookstore article. And I couldn't put a finger on what I'd felt as I

Another Red Future, Imagined

2011-12-30T12:00:00.011+08:00

Probably my last book review for 2011. I not sure if I can call The Fat Years a "thriller", though. And so ends another year. Red future Hegemony and hope in an ascendant China first published in The Star, 30 December 2011 With a tagline like "The notorious thriller they banned in China", a critique of China's ruling Communist Party is what you'd expect in these pages. But it's not exactly

News: Institute d'Egypt, Indie Bookstores and The 99¢ Question

2011-12-25T22:55:00.001+08:00

Sinus acting up, and out of fresh saline for irrigation. I had something written and stuff to write as well, but ah, what the heck... Rudolph's red nose might also be a symptom of a sinus problem. Caught between between protesters and Egypt's military, the Institute d'Egypt, the research centre set up by Napoleon Bonaparte when the French invaded in the late 18th century, caught fire when both

Me, Bookstore Snob? ...Yes

2011-12-20T20:19:00.001+08:00

This came about several days late, mainly because I was wondering if I could word the whole thing better. I'm still wondering about it now. Why send this to TMI? Well, thought I'd give it a shot. I've included a couple of other links related to the story that I forgot about in the text below. The Internet reacted a lot faster than I thought to the Slate article. Happy to be a bookstore snob

News: Hitchens, Manjoo and More Bad Books

2011-12-18T21:46:00.000+08:00

Great Gutenberg, lots of news this week. Perhaps the biggest one is the passing of Christopher Hitchens, the combative, well-known atheist writer and journalist. Expect these to become popular in the coming days His last book, Mortality, will be out

MPH Quill Issue 32, Oct-Dec 2011 - At Last

2011-12-14T00:14:00.003+08:00

Frankly, this should be called the MPH Quill December issue. But at least it's - oh dear printing press gods, finally! - out. Flipped through the pages of a copy yesterday morning. In 6 August, the governor of Texas led a 30,000-strong prayer

News: Amazon, Freebie Freezes and Clumsy Prose

2011-12-11T23:56:00.005+08:00

Amazon being accused of more and more predatory tactics. Is it time to Occupy Amazon? Publisher William Morrow attaches provisos to review copies of books given to book bloggers. "Message is essentially: if you don't review enough of the books we send you, in the timeframe we want you to, you're out," tweets Rebecca Schinsky, a.k.a. @bookladysblog. The beginning of the end of book blogger

Saving JFK

2011-12-09T12:00:00.004+08:00

"Hot book!" they said, so I chiselled the review out of my glacial writer's block. But my speed record for reviewing David Sedaris's Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk - two days after reading - is still unbroken. And likely to remain that way. I was initially worried that I wouldn't be able to appreciate the book due to my shallow understanding of Stephen King's body of work. The last - and only other -

Can't Handle The Rock-Hard Truths?

2011-12-09T00:31:00.004+08:00

Yesterday, news broke about a list of books labelled haram by the Department of Islamic Development (Jakim). Among those were Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going (Straits Times Press) and Faisal Tehrani's Sebongkah Batu di Kuala Berang (PTS Litera Utama Sdn Bhd). A simple request from a cancer patient - to know what she had - grew from a journal into a compelling

Like This! David Kirkpatrick's The Facebook Effect

2011-12-02T12:00:00.010+08:00

I pounded this out rather quickly, but because the book was old (published last year), I wasn't sure if they would use it. ...I do sound a bit "optimistic" about Facebook in the review, don't I? I know about Facebook's attitudes towards user data

News: A Review, And An MPH Quill Update

2011-12-02T00:02:00.002+08:00

So I've been talking about food places a bit more. Books may be what this blog's (mostly) about, but food has always been my number one. Some news bites before normal programming resumes: In the Parents Corner of The Star Online, a review of Wee Su May's Nine Little People Who Lived in a Chest. A real review, not something like my publicity piece on the book. "Dark themes"? "Unsettling for a

Return To Joy Café

2011-12-01T00:03:00.002+08:00

Has it been three years since I wrote about this place? The astonishment isn't just because of the swift passage of time. What became a quiet Chinese café with a limited menu is now a restaurant with more offerings and a few home-made off-the-shelf items. Something that tasted like meat floss is actually dehydrated shiitake mushroom. A dark mushroom sauce with a hearty, meaty flavour rivals

Will Little Bookstores Be Big Again?

2011-11-27T21:34:00.000+08:00

What comes to mind when you hear of an author opening a bookstore? "Oh he's just going to sell his books or his friends' books," some might say. That might be a bit too cynical of a thing to say about Parnassus Books, the little independent bookstore author Ann Patchett (The Patron Saint of Liars (1992), Bel Canto (2001), State of Wonder (2011)) opened with Karen Hayes, a publishing veteran who

D'bento's D'ebut

2011-11-23T20:50:00.006+08:00

Though small, the interior is cozy. Bamboo screens and a door curtain separate a private nook from the main dining area. The chairs are cheap plastic and the tables feel recently varnished. Kitaro's calming compositions are temporarily drowned by the rumbling of a passing train. Not quite private dining nook at D'Bento Sushi Eyes closed and ears attuned to the music and ambient sounds of

His Monday Musings

2011-11-21T23:59:00.001+08:00

About a year back, I chauffeured a writer to the Tunku Abdul Rahman Memorial for an assignment. The visit was an eye-opener and it took me back to my History classes in primary school. That was when I first heard about Tunku's Looking Back. Back then, I didn't even have a clue that I'd be working with books in the future, or that I'd have a chance to read that book - twice - as part of the

Here Comes A King

2011-11-19T13:42:00.001+08:00

Not long after Queen of America landed on my desk, I was offered a couple more, both by big names. Not a chance in hell, I thought. Too big, too popular. Hence, too-tight deadline. There's probably a line of people who'd want to do these - let them

Pardon My English

2011-11-18T19:07:00.001+08:00

So it's final: PPSMI or its Malay-language mouthful Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik Dalam Bahasa Inggeris (the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English) will be discontinued. The policy was considered a failure in its goal to foster use of wider, better mastery of the English language among students. Fingers were pointed everywhere, but it's generally agreed

Assassin of Secrets: A Plagiarism

2011-11-15T23:02:00.002+08:00

A new book published early this month received rave reviews. Kirkus said, "Containing elements of the 007 and Jason Bourne sagas, Graham Greene's insular spy novels, William Gibson's cyber thrillers, TV’s Burn Notice and Mad magazine’s classic Spy

Why I Like My Job

2011-11-14T23:48:00.001+08:00

Something is coming your way in December, i.e. next month. May I present: Luis Alberto Urrea's "...at turns heartbreaking, uplifting, and riotously funny" Queen of America, which confirms the author as a "writer of the first rank." Got a copy to

Under The Pear Tree

2011-11-13T12:00:00.009+08:00

Nope, no long preamble for this. Not much I can add to the review, either. The covers, though... Under the pear tree There are exotic characters, tropical settings, intrigues and conflicts galore in these re-issues of the works of an author from a little-written about community. first published in The Star, 13 November 2011 This book made me angry a few times. Well-written? Sure. Evocative? Yes. A good story? Definitely. But the cover fooled me into thinking this was a "happy" book. Its overall tone was sombre. It was sobering. Hard. Unforgiving. Real.

Logomania: Phate, Phortune and Phrases

2011-11-08T21:07:00.001+08:00

Ellen Whyte's lexicon of common phrases was released without much fanfare in 2009. The textbook-like appearance fitted its premise, but belies the interesting and sometimes humorous turn of phrase in the descriptions and origins of commonly used English phrases and examples of their usage. The release of what can be considered the next book in the Logomania series presents another kind of

A Servant Of Sarawak

2011-11-04T23:36:00.002+08:00

Among the heroes and other personalities who served the country in the days before and after independence were some orang putih who have grown to love Tanah Melayu and made it their second home. Like the bloke who wrote this memoir. What a

Another Pile Of Books

2011-11-02T23:31:00.000+08:00

On Monday, all the full-time editors made a trip to the book distribution arm of the company for books. I never knew the third floor of the complex had a warehouse. Walking past boxes of The Da Vinci Code and other assorted books, we arrived at the office, an air-conditioned enclave partitioned from the warehouse area. Something tells me I won't have to go far to get some review copies. It

"Subsidies" Is Spelled With A "Die"

2011-11-01T21:42:00.001+08:00

November already? Which means I've been with this outfit for a whole year. But it's little cause for celebration. This morning on the radio, news of "independent" power producers (IPPs) crying havoc over depleting gas supplies and the possibility of sourcing gas elsewhere at five times the price. Then, the following: The government has allocated RM15.9bil for petrol and diesel subsidies this

Plotting Marriage With Eugenides

2011-10-30T12:00:00.010+08:00

Weeks ago, I jumped the gun at a quasi-review of this book. I wasn't impressed with it the first time around. A colleague's e-mail prompted another go at it. Though my overall verdict on the book hasn't changed, the book wasn't as bad as I first thought. I'd only punched this out and submitted it several days ago. Didn't expect it to be out so quickly. Love and marriage Do they go together

MPH Quill Oct-Dec 2011 Delayed

2011-10-29T23:15:00.000+08:00

This quarter's MPH Quill (October - December 2011) has been delayed. Things were held up by about a fortnight after resources were temporarily diverted elsewhere. While the issue was being put together, the editor went on her much-needed Deepavali break. I'd guess that it would be another week before the whole issue has been put to bed, which means it would only be out around the middle of

Party Pooper Party

2011-10-29T17:21:00.001+08:00

With protests like this cropping up so predictably, it wouldn't surprise me to hear foreigners saying that Malaysians don't know how to have a good time. Laying aside all the usual arguments pro- and con- Elton, there are several reasons why I think the objections to this concert are irrelevant. First, the venue: it's the Arena of Stars in Genting. Second, tickets for that concert are priced

It's Just Piling Up

2011-10-24T23:57:00.001+08:00

I really shouldn't be doing this, but the compulsion to is strong. If I delay any further, it'll only grow stronger. The need to "update" viewers. I'd just completed a second round of edits for a rather tricky manuscript, but nothing like what

What Happened Last Week

2011-10-16T15:11:00.000+08:00

...Nothing much. A doozy of a week saw me doing some heavy editing and finishing off a three-book review - finally! The latter left me so relaxed I didn't feel like doing more than the usual for the rest of the week. But I'm hoping things will pick

Big Bad Wolf Eated Me

2011-10-09T23:10:00.002+08:00

My first time, and it was not gentle. This year, they held the sale at Hall A, the Agricultural Exposition Park in Serdang, within the sprawling grounds of Universiti Putra Malaysia. It was a bit hard to get to from Puchong, with a bit of a crawl and bottleneck en route. Got a bit lost too. I'd parked a bit farther down the hall, which was located up a hill. A five-minute hike from my car to

Lost In This Plot

2011-10-04T21:39:00.016+08:00

The term "marriage plot" categorises a storyline that typically centres on the courtship between a man and a woman and the obstacles faced by the potential couple on their way to the altar. The Wikipedia says it became a popular source of

Weekend Wrap-Up

2011-10-02T23:42:00.000+08:00

Had I not slept the whole afternoon away yesterday and repeatedly fling angry, vaguely bird-shaped creatures into wood and concrete structures on screen, I could, perhaps, have made more out of the weekend. I believe I could have: Fleshed out a couple of book reviews and wrote one more. Ironed my clothes sooner. Cleared out my storeroom a bit. Got rid of the old desktop tower CPU and CRT monitor

Jacob Black Won't Be Here

2011-09-30T00:54:00.002+08:00

And nor will Taylor Lautner, despite the given moniker. But do make your way to the address below for what is said to be the the biggest book sale in the country. Big Bad Wolf Book Sale Hall A, MAEPS Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang Kuala Lumpur 07 to 16 October, 2011 From 10am to 9pm View Larger Map Arguably, 1.5 million books at discounts of 75% to 95% is something to huff and puff

A Week To Remember

2011-09-29T00:45:00.001+08:00

This week is Banned Books Week? Shame on me for not noticing. Could it just be some mental fatigue on my part, the blasé-ness of living for so long in a country where the media is controlled and policed, to the point where everyone starts to self-censor their opinions? No, I'm not Singaporean. But thanks for asking. Banned Books Week, says Molly Raphael, President of the American Library

Jungle Juju

2011-09-28T00:03:00.002+08:00

In 2010, The Bomoh's Apprentice by gwailo expat Geoffrey S Walker was quietly published. Until the manuscript for its sequel hit my table, I had no clue it would become a series. What I thought was the usual jungle tale with magic, folklore and indigenous cultures... wasn't. Working with this manuscript had been fun. So far, I'd never written so much author correspondence as I did on this

The Misanthrope's Job Survival Manual

2011-09-26T20:56:00.001+08:00

During a trying time in my old job, I was browsing at a bookstore and came upon this book. On the cover, a stick figure was kicking a water cooler above the big bold title, "I Hate People!" It spoke to my heart. I picked it up, believing it held some answers to my predicament at the time. Penned by Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon, I Hate People!: Kick Loose from the Overbearing and

Bedtime Stories From The Dead Of Night

2011-09-24T00:11:00.002+08:00

One of the first manuscripts I had to look at was this collection of short, disturbingly creepy stories by Julya Oui. It's publication was stalled for months for one reason or another. What a relief it was when we finally passed the manuscript to

"It Must Never To Laugh Of The Unhappies"

2011-09-21T20:06:00.005+08:00

Long before I dipped my toes into cyberspace, my journey into the strange, amazing and wonderful world was through books: encyclopaedias and those voluminous I-didn't-know-that books. The Internet has made this indulgence much easier; it was

Teacher In The Interior

2011-09-20T22:28:00.002+08:00

Is the term "blook" still in use today? Because that's what is coming to all major bookstores. New Malaysian maths teacher Muhamad Hafiz Ismail is posted to his first school: Kampung Kenang Primary School, in a remote Temiar community in the

How I'm Learning to Stop Worrying and Love the Typo

2011-09-19T21:39:00.003+08:00

Low sugar levels, low caffeine levels, hunger, sticky fingers, butterfingers, stuck or wonky keyboards or just plain inattention. These are some of the causes of typos, among the most dreaded enemies of editors and proofreaders. As we all learned after hearing about the shifty situation regarding a romance novel, the right kind of typo in the exact location can have a devastating effect. As an

MPH Warehouse Sale 2011

2011-09-14T23:42:00.000+08:00

I paid a visit to the warehouse downstairs from the office today. I had no idea the place was big. And stacked with books and other printed stuff. For the next few days, some of those books will be sold. Yes, it's that warehouse sale.

Ten Years Ago Today...

2011-09-12T00:01:00.033+08:00

...I was getting off the bus at the Taman Tun Dr Ismail bus stop, just after the traffic lights. My workplace was just a couple of minutes away by foot. That's the only detail I remember with clarity. I'm not sure anymore whether it was the 11th or the 12th. The front page of The Star looked different. It was spread out over two pages, and on it was the image of one of the burning New York

Moore Trouble Ahead

2011-09-10T00:27:00.008+08:00

When I first read Stupid White Men, I thought, well, this is refreshing. But my interest in Michael Moore cooled somewhat after flipping through some of his subsequent books. I stopped reading Counterpunch years ago because of similar feelings, though Moore's leftist Kool-Aid is less toxic; haven't they heard about the chill pill? Big, black, heavy

Another Stupid CSS Experiment

2011-09-04T23:21:00.000+08:00

Whatever possessed me to go and drag these home with me during the long, long weekend? Boredom and bravado, mostly. Never a good combination. The Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer Lucy Weston Gallery Books (2011) 304 pages Fiction ISBN: 978-1-4391-9033-3 The Facebook Effect David Kirkpatrick Virgin Books (2010) 374 pages Non-fiction ISBN: 978-0-7535-2275-2 State of Wonder Ann

Not Quite Paradise

2011-08-28T12:00:00.015+08:00

Overall, pleased with this, as I'd taken several days to draft and finalise it. The title for this post was the original title of the piece; who knows why it was changed. Nor was the standfirst, shown below, used for the final versions. Perhaps I'm not obliged to provide either, but from my brief stint in journalism, both can be hard to come up with. The review copy was not the one the

Too Much Information

2011-08-26T12:00:00.021+08:00

Now that this review is out, here's a bit more information. The Democratic Republic of the Congo in Central Africa was formerly known as the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Congo-Léopoldville, Congo-Kinshasa and Zaire (1971-1997). It's not to be confused with the Republic of the Congo aka the Congo Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Little Congo or simply the Congo, another state in Central Africa.

Calling For Weird Things

2011-08-25T20:48:00.009+08:00

Jen Campbell, who blogs at This is Not the Six-word Novel, is calling booksellers all over for weird things they've heard their customers say for her book, Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops. “Did I leave my bicycle in here?”What began as a single post about said topic eventually grew into a series. Weeks ago, Campbell accumulated enough weird things for a book. The latest edition will be

Rise Of The "Raviews"

2011-08-23T22:47:00.003+08:00

Today, let me introduce a made-up word: "raview". This portmanteau of "rave" and "review" is the only way to describe the US$5 "reviews" that might be offered by a web site mentioned in the New York Times. They are everywhere. They are, it seems, cheap. And they are virtually indistinguishable from "truthful" reviews. A related article offers some tips on spotting potential fake reviews,

Seashore Searching

2011-08-22T23:28:00.007+08:00

Certain events that took place in the past two weeks drove me to search Youtube for an old song. "Forever", sung by Japanese actor Takashi Sorimachi and Richie Sambora, was the opening theme for the 1997 Japanese drama series Beach Boys. The only nice

MPH Quill, MPH 105th Anniversary Issue

2011-08-18T21:11:00.001+08:00

In this special issue of MPH Quill, some author interviews. Cover of the 105th

Fasting Month Fracas

2011-08-13T13:44:00.002+08:00

Many years back, I'd been eating something when two Malay boys walked past. It was the fasting month, so one of them went, "Oh dear, he's eating in front of me!" Of course I was traumatised by that. I still remember it, even though it happened in the 80s. If you're reading this, Mohd Ishak, from Francis Light Primary School (1), Penang, mohon maaf. To this day I feel a bit self-conscious when

Coffee Craving

2011-08-03T23:00:00.001+08:00

I woke up from a daydream one day and thought, "I think I'll read some books about coffee." Though a favourite beverage, my love for coffee never went beyond theory or the basic stuff I'd whip up in my kitchen which would reduce real coffee lovers to tears. However

MPH Quill Issue 31, Jul-Sep 2011

2011-07-12T00:03:00.006+08:00

Heaps of stories and good stuff coming your way in the latest issue of Quill. New books. Book news. And what is perhaps the longest letter to the editor ever received. Among the highlights: Eric Forbes talks to Tan Twan Eng, author of The Gift of Rain and Dave Nuku of The Biggest Loser Asia about their favourite books and writers and thoughts on e-books. Interviews with Tan Twan Eng (left) and

End Of An Empire?

2011-07-10T23:30:00.000+08:00

Less than two years ago, I read a copy of Inside Rupert's Brain by Paul R La Monica. At the time, the News of the World phone-tapping scandal tarred but didn't sink the paper. Even then, Murdoch's empire was fraying around the edges. What a difference a couple of years makes. Today, on 10 July 2011, the 168-year-old News of the World publishes its last edition. The phone-tapping scandal turned

Portuguese Pleasures

2011-07-09T12:00:00.005+08:00

Written weeks ago, this review of popular, well-reviewed Cristang Restaurant is finally out in the papers. On the day of the Big Yellow Rally. What timing. However, I feel I have to clarify and point out a few things which were in the original copy: The chef's name is Gerald G (as in Gordon) Oei, not C; the "devils on horseback" dish is described twice; a "noodle incident" about "crossed wires"

Secret Service

2011-07-08T12:00:00.005+08:00

I had originally intended to blog the review of this book I got from Monsoon. Then, when visiting the editorial staff at the paper, I opened my big mouth. But perhaps it's better I did. As an account of the days before and after the Japanese occupation of Malaya, this book is a slice of history. While I don't know how much of a difference the review will make, I felt the paper was a better

Born To Run

2011-07-07T21:38:00.006+08:00

Timothy Malcolm Smith is creative whiz at London ad agency Cream. He's friendly, charitable, deeply spiritual, philosophical, good with the ladies, and keeps virtually no vices. He doesn't pray to Christ, he chats with Him, calling him "Jezza" or "Jez". Did I mention he's also his ad agency's creative genius? There's this British coffee franchise, Common Grounds, which is older than penicillin,

Booty

2011-07-05T14:45:00.004+08:00

...or how my reading list is getting longer. I picked up three books by Singaporean Eurasian novelist Rex Shelley (1930-2009) that have been reissued by Marshall Cavendish: People of the Pear Tree (1993), Island in the Centre (1995) and A River of Roses (1998), I'd also rescued several other books from non-review obscurity - because I'm kind of biblio-masochistic that way. Books "rescued" on

The Writing Room Gets Crowded

2011-07-02T20:57:00.003+08:00

Unbound, a new crowd-funded publishing company that gets readers involved the writing of books, was unveiled at this year's Hay Festival, the an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, the famous town of books in the Welsh county of Powys. Unbound, the new face of crowd-funded publishingOn the web site, each author's page has an extract from their book and a video pitch of their book

Paper People

2011-06-30T21:08:00.002+08:00

I decided to get Tom Rachman's The Imperfectionists at the advertised 20 per cent discount. The sales assistant mentioned a "coupon", but turns out all I had to do was to surrender that section of the newspaper in exchange for the price cut. At a discounted price of RM48 it was still expensive, never mind the "bonus" interview featuring Rachman and Malcolm Gladwell and accolades such as the New

"Eet Ees NOT Too SOHLTEE!"

2011-06-26T23:17:00.004+08:00

A long, long time ago in a Visa Card ad with a restaurant setting, Zhang Ziyi infuriated a chef with the complaint, "De sup is too saltee." The pissed-off chef yells his denial and set his kitchen staff on her. A re-enactment of the restaurant fight scene in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ensued. Though the place was trashed, Zhang emerged triumphant and hurled a Visa Card to a waiter - "for the

France Made Fun

2011-06-24T12:00:00.029+08:00

I had expected this to be out on in the Sunday Star's ReadsMonthly, not today. I wonder what will that section feature? Not much else I have to say about this review, other than it took me 2½ days to finish. With this, Stephen Clarke and Dan Simmons are now the authors whose works I've reviewed the most. Not sure if that's a good thing... . France made fun Sample these sharp and humorous

One Sick Fish

2011-06-23T22:54:00.002+08:00

When I was with Off The Edge, we received mail from a reader who noted the little "Consumer Price Index" slot we gave to Hotel Nikko, advertising its Chinese restaurant's Superior Shark's Fin with Golden Broth and Gold Foil (OTE, Jan 2009). He went on to express "surprise" that "one of the more enlightened publications in Malaysia" would promote, from the vibes I got, something so decadent and

Man On The Fringe

2011-06-20T22:43:00.004+08:00

In my brief stint at Off The Edge magazine, I'd had the privilege of interviewing and writing about people I'd never thought I meet and proofing the articles of some really high-powered personalities. The job had its moments but I only ever got to meet a handful of these people in person. The first time I saw Benjamin McKay was at the first Seksualiti Merdeka, in 2008. He was in a panel that

Buckets Fixes Melancholy

2011-06-18T23:28:00.004+08:00

Coming back from a wedding celebration, I got stuck in a traffic jam outside Dataran Sunway at Kota Damansara. On The Om Nom Show at BFM89.9 was artisanal ice cream entrepreneur Elaine Gunting. As the segment wrapped up, John Lim asked Elaine where her business was located. "We're located at Kota Damansara-" ...What? "That's where our factory is, The Strand," she continued. "We opened some

Review for Revenue?

2011-06-14T22:16:00.003+08:00

Carol Hoenig, a freelance writer and publishing consultant, asks whether one should pay to have books reviewed. She expresses guilt over not being able to review every book delivered to her, but stresses that priority must be given to her paying gigs. "The shame of it is that there are fewer places to have one's book reviewed, thanks to so many publications eliminating the position or having

Jolly Good Jaunt

2011-06-13T22:01:00.007+08:00

I had fun with these books, I really did. However, several minor details: The first paragraph was supposed to be the standfirst, and the first letters of "South Extension Amateur Theatrical Society" and "Delhi Institute for Rationalism and Education" were meant to be in bold, in case nobody gets the joke; the initials for both "organisations" spell "SEATS" (as in theatre seats) and "DIRE" (

Some Monthly Reads

2011-06-11T00:32:00.004+08:00

Some books slated for review in The Star arrived at my desk today, courtesy of the MPH book people. Mitchell Zuckoff's Lost in Shangri-La (left) and Chan Koonchung's The Fat Years Lost in Shangri-La A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II Mitchell Zuckoff Harper (2011) Non-fiction 384 pages ISBN: 978-0-06-209358-5 The Fat Years The

The Dulang Washer

2011-06-09T20:53:00.003+08:00

Working on this book was fun. That the story is probably one of the better ones we've received so far this year had something to do with it. At posting time, it's still with the printers, hence the cover photo. We intend to release it this August, but it might be in bookstores as early as next month. For a sneak peek at the novel's backstory, go here. The Dulang Washer is set in Malaya, in 1890

A Monsoon Blows In

2011-06-07T23:36:00.004+08:00

"This is a true story of 1930s Malaysia, of jungle operations, submarines and spies in WWII, and of the postwar Malayan Emergency, as experienced by an extraordinary man." Days ago, out of the blue, Monsoon Books offered me books to review or feature in the media. A package from them came last Friday, but I was not informed until yesterday evening. Malayan SpymasterMemoirs of a Rubber Planter,

A Subtle Degree Of Restraint

2011-06-06T23:01:00.005+08:00

At a series of creative writing workshops under the British Council Creative Cities programme, run with UK-based writer development organisation Spread The Word, participants looked to the energy and character of the city of Kuala Lumpur for inspiration. The stories in this collection are the results of those workshops. Creative Cities is a British Council project set up in 2008 and was

Look, Books!

2011-06-06T00:00:00.020+08:00

...because my brain, like Odo the Changeling from Star Trek: TNG, is still reconstituting from the weekend and is unable to come up with snazzy titles. Last Friday, someone from books distributor Pansing dropped by. Earlier, we passed them a copy of a book we could not distribute for some reason or another, hoping they could. We received that copy today, but that book's status is still unclear.

Times Of Turmoil

2011-06-03T12:00:00.006+08:00

Some may complain about books that's clean, not exciting and all that. In short, boring. That was my very first impression of this collection. But I returned to it weeks later and was amazed at the shift in my perception. How many weeks later? I'm not sharing. As a result, I may have been... effusive in my praise of the book. But after rolling around in what passes for journalism these days,

Everyone Loves You When You're Dead

2011-05-29T12:00:00.145+08:00

It's been a long while since one of these showed up in the papers, but better late than never, I suppose. No surprise, given that the paper in question was undergoing a revamp at the time. When you've just submitted a book review, it's very hard to resist the temptation of reading what other reviewers at international papers think about the book. Look how John Crace's "Digested Reads" at The

Eight Treasures of The Dragon

2011-05-28T17:53:00.011+08:00

Things have been a bit slow in the publishing department, but the pace is picking up. A new book came off the presses on... Thursday (or was it Friday?), and a couple more will be out within a month or two. After Eight Jewels of the Phoenix and Eight Fortunes of the Qilin, comes the latest compilation of retold tales by Tutu Dutta-Yean, Eight Treasures of the Dragon. Cover for Eight Treasures

Vanishing Flavours

2011-05-14T11:32:00.002+08:00

"When pestle meets mortar, aromas are released, flavours blend and appetites are whetted. The pungent scent of freshly pounded spices mixes with the smell of burning charcoal in the kitchen, bringing the warmth and promise of a traditional home-cooked meal made with love." Shortly after my interview at MPH, I was given an assignment: Suggest the back cover text for what was then an upcoming

The Hantu, The Witch and The Sampan

2011-05-12T23:45:00.016+08:00

It was hinted that this series of junior readers' books on Dayak lore will be styled according to CS Lewis's Narnia Chronicles. Sceptical? Don't knock it till you read it. We sometimes are so enamoured of foreign culture, we neglect the possibility that our own backyard might have cultural threads that can be re-woven into something that's just as marketable. Cover for Miyah and the Forest

Once More, Reading Readings

2011-05-06T12:00:00.010+08:00

I don't know if there's a need to post this again, as there isn't much difference between the original post and the final published version, but this blog is supposed to be a showcase of most of my published stuff, so here it is. Besides, it includes a review for the book, which should've been published as an Amazon customer review - if the conditions for publishing one weren't so tight. Among

Wee's Wee People

2011-05-04T22:22:00.004+08:00

Once upon a time in an unnamed Enid Blytonesque Malaysian town near the sea, a little lady in her early teens called Sylvia lived with her eccentric, unconventional mom, Marjorie. Wee Su May's Nine Little People Who Lived in a Chest Adventures in Sylvia's life as the daughter of a single parent include enduring her mom's chatter, peculiar dress sense and occasional exotic culinary experiments

Stuff in HOMEDEC and MPH Quill

2011-05-01T17:17:00.000+08:00

Not many know that the MPH Group also publishes magazines, and that Quill isn't the only one. HOMEDEC, for instance, is an interior design and home living magazine. The My Cookbook assignment was originally intended for HOMEDEC, which only required details about the design concept, not the food. Since we didn't have a food magazine, the place's cuisine ended up in The Star. "Not a kopitiam",

Old Book, New Cover

2011-04-30T00:03:00.002+08:00

There is a book in the Tunku Abdul Rahman Memorial. A really huge book. In its pages is the abridged story of how Tunku and gang won our independence from the British. The pages, however, are not real. In all likelihood it is a Flash interface, projected on the static surface of a book-like construct that relies on motion-detecting sensors to let visitors interact with it. The interface takes