Skip to main content

The Taunt of MPH.

Last night was the final session in my creative writing course in MPH 1Utama. Before the session started I browsed the fiction shelves, and I was surprised to find Murakami's "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman" already available. And I, of course, didn't bring enough cash to buy the book!

A bit disappointed though. It's in trade paperback format, and that's a bit big to read on the LRT (but still possible). Hmmm.

Anyways, going back again tomorrow to pick it up, and perhaps a few other books too, like Paul Theroux's "Great Railway Bazaar" and Orhan Pamuk's "Istanbul". (Yes, I'm very much in a travel writing phase.)

Comments

  1. Wow, great to know that I've a pal who likes travel writing...

    I went to B B S warehouse sale for a fourth time (it'll be extended till 6th AUG) and you won't believe I got Mid-Life Confidential (Hodder & Stoughton) in hard cover for rm3 only. It's a collection of work by Dave Barry, Dave Marsh, Amy Tan, Stephen King, Tabitha King etc

    I love travel writing by Pico Iyer, Dave Barry, Bill Bryson, Don George, Anne Lammott and those writing for Traveller's Tales series(but quite costly...each above rm60)

    Hey, you got any good books on travel writing, can share comments here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. For RM3?!? Wow! What a find... that truly was lucky! I'm envious.

    I'm embarassed to admit that I've barely begun to dip my toes into travel writing... I've read some Bill Brysons, and even then, msotly his non-travel works. Other than that not much really.

    I'm not sure what sparked off this travel writing phase I'm beginning, but I think it was a VS Naipaul excerpt from Among the Believers. I've just bought Bruce Chatwin's In Patagonia and I'll be starting that after I'm done with my current three-book reading list. Sorry I can't recommend any yet, I'm still so new in this genre! :D I shall try the authors you have recommended though.

    BTW, you may be interested to know that Kinokuniya will be having a 20% discount promotion on travelogues this August when you buy another book. Shall post more about this later.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

REVIEW: Confessions of an Old Boy by Kam Raslan

Kam Raslan's right. In the preface for his new book, Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato' Hamid Adventures he writes that we've known Dato' Hamid all our lives. Seeing as my own dad is an old boy of MCKK, the people I get to meet when he drags me to an Old Boy function and the people he tells me of, reflect the characters found in Kam's book. It really does feel like I've known Dato' Hamid all my life. Dato' Hamid is a civil servant of the Tunku Abdul Rahman generation. He is the sort of person you rarely see nowadays, a fine example of the anachronistic Malay. This generation, groomed in the ways of the colonial British would be out of place not just in 21st century Malaysia, but in Britain too. And yet, Dato' Hamid, in all his snobbishness and patronising ways, is essentially a Malaysian. Without people like him, our country would probably never exist at all. At least not like we know it now. I'm glad that Kam Raslan decided to capture this ...

Lesson: Commemorative Covers are Lame.

Well, I got the first day cover that commemorates the 35th anniversary of the establishment diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Except that it's not a first day cover, it's a commemorative cover, which is a slightly different beast. I guess I should read the news article properly next time! The difference between the two is that first day covers are specially-designed envelopes stuck on with specially-designed stamps, and marked with a specially-designed postmark. A commemorative cover is a specially-designed envelope... and that's it. All in all, it's an unremarkable affair, especially if you're used to well-designed first day covers (not that Malaysian first day covers are well-designed... but I digress). Oh sure, a commemorative cover has a stamp printed right on to it but that's just like an overglorified aerogramme. Lame. On the whole, what a disappointment. I haven't been collecting first day cover...

REVIEW: Pinball, 1973 by Haruki Murakami.

UPDATE: My Wind/Pinball review can be found here . ISBN: n/a Publisher: n/a Paperback: 160 pages In Murakami fan circles, simply owning a copy of Pinball, 1973 is a mark of hardcore-ness. Like Hear the Wind Sing before it, Haruki Murakami does not allow English translations of Pinball, 1973 to be published outside of Japan. Back in the 80s, Alfred Birnbaum translated it into English and Kodansha published it as a novel for Japanese students who wanted to improve their English. While the English edition of Hear the Wind Sing continues to be reprinted and sold in Japan (and available for a moderate sum via eBay, see my review ), Kodansha stopped its reprint runs of the English edition of Pinball, 1973 and has now become a collector's item, fetching vast amounts of money on auction sites and reseller stores. Last time I checked, the cheapest copy went for USD$2500. Of course, Murakami addicts or the curious can always download a less than legal PDF of the book, painst...