Tag Archives: books
Down the Rabbit Hole Again with His Dark Materials
Something happens when I buy books that I’ve been looking forward to reading but have been holding off on buying for whatever reason — a TBR pile growing dangerously long, an awareness that once I fall down the rabbit hole of a truly absorbing book I tend to walk around the real world with a […]
We Must Stand Against Each and Every One, or Who Are We?
“The boy must die,” Bernard insisted. “Or the world dies with him. In horror beyond earthly imaginings. What is one boy against that?” “Everything,” Erin said. “Murdering a boy is an evil deed. Every evil act matters. Every single one. We must stand against each and every one, or who are we?” – Innocent Blood […]
Notes on ‘And The Mountains Echoed’ and ‘On The Noodle Road’
Well, friends (for so I choose to call you, despite a. not knowing if anyone reads my blog and b. not knowing who it is that reads my blog) I’m back from vacation and deep in the throes of post-travel blues. I think I managed to do quite decently by my reading list, finishing two […]
On Vacation Reading Lists
One of my favorite parts of traveling is and has always been what I call the administrative bits. Making packing lists, packing, preparing the contents of my purse, last minute buying of toiletries and essentials and best of all, the compiling of Books To Read In The Airplane And On Vacation. If all the capitalization […]
On My Love for Terry Pratchett
This is more of a note-to-self kind of post than anything else. A list of Terry Pratchett books I’ve read, a list of ones I haven’t and overall excitement about the one I’m going to read next after stumbling upon this amazingly well-written review. Read: The Colour of Magic Equal Rites Wyrd Sisters Guards! Guards! […]
Notes on The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo (Review)
I’m not sure how it is for other readers when they read books written by their fellow countrymen, but as a Malaysian Chinese, reading a book written by another Malaysian evokes a variety of complex feelings. As a writer, there is a certain amount of envy (goddammit I want to write The Great Malaysian Novel!), […]
On My Eternal Crush on Neil Gaiman. Also, The Ocean at the End of the Lane
I think we all know how I feel about Neil Gaiman here. I’ve made my feelings quite clear. He writes his books longhand, responds to his Twitter and Tumblr fans (and in a real way, not some half-assed ‘my PR person made me write this’ way), has wildly curly hair and loves his dog (and […]
On The Cider House Rules and Nostalgic Recollections of My Adolescence
Good night, you Princes of Maine, you Kings of New England. I’ve been reading The Cider House Rules. Or rather, re-reading it. Has this ever happened to you? You can’t remember actually reading a book, but as you read it becomes more and more familiar, as if this is a terrain you have crossed […]
Why I Started a Book Blog
In the summer of 2011, I received a Kindle as a birthday present. Now, to understand the impact that the Kindle made on my life, it’s necessary to know one pertinent fact: I live in Beijing. At the time, (conditions have since improved) my book sources were limited to pirated street-peddler copies of Barack Obama’s […]
So goodnight, dear void
There’s something bittersweet about reading a new book by a favorite author who has just died. It’s a bit like savoring the last cookie from a recipe no one knows how to make anymore — like Joey Tribbiani gobbling the last half-cookie from Phoebe’s grandmother’s fire-destroyed recipe. Except I’m not going to find a new […]
Buried Beneath All The Lies 