Skip to main content

My Sunday.

Went to Xeus's talk at MPH MidValley yesterday. Finally got to meet Lydia Teh and Yvonne Lee, and along with Xeus, we chatted a bit before Xeus started her talk. It was great meeting you guys!

Xeus talked about the ways of making money from writing (query newspaper and magazine editors because they're always up for interesting stories or features for their lifestyle or expertise sections), her experience writing Dark City (took her two months to finish the first draft), and what she has in store for the future (a children's book, of which a synopsis is available on her blog).

I also got for myself a copy of Diane Setterfield's Thirteenth Tale, which is absolutely amazing. I wasn't planning on reading this just yet, but while I was waiting for Xeus's talk to begin, I read the first page... and well, I couldn't stop reading it. Have had to ditch Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies aside for now 'cause I've been totally sucked in.

The book is a love-letter to books and reading; the protaganist is the daughter of an antiquarian bookstore owner, and she's an amateur biographer who admits to a preference of talking with dead people by reading the books written by them. Throw in a prolific writer with a mysterious past - "the Dickens of our time" - and is famous for publishing a much-publicised book called "Thirteen Tales" but strangely contains only twelve, and have her request the protaganist to interview her out of the blue. That's the premise of The Thirteenth Tale.

Setterfield's prose just grabs you and you just want to go along for the ride and not wanting it to stop... and... well, you get the picture. The book's just good.

Check out the official website, or the Amazon page.

Comments

  1. Thanks for coming, Ted! Just waiting for your book launch. BTW, after that, we went to Payless too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So I hear from Yvonne! Haha... heard she picked up some good books. How bout you? Or you scared no space in the house? :p

    ReplyDelete
  3. No space in the house :) But I asked the others to get The Horse Whisperer and The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood :)

    After that they all came over to my house, and I begged them to help me get rid of my stuff too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello Ted - I believe you will enjoy reading Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale (2006). I absolutely enjoyed it. It is one of those books which you will enjoy reading the second time. Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Eric. It is certainly an unputdownable book. I'm usually a slow reader but I've zoomed through the first three chapters in what usually takes me a few days!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ted..I will get this book!Eliza.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great! Hope you like it!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

HOWTO: Get Rid of Silverfish

The bane of every book collecting person: the Silverfish. DUN DUN DUNNNNN!!! How to get rid of them? If one book has been infected, place it inside an air-tight plastic bag along with some silica gel desiccant. The silica gel is important to get rid of moisture, because you will now place the sealed plastic bag with the book in it inside the freezer. Leave it in there for a couple of days so that those bugs catch their death of cold. If you're feeling particularly paranoid, (like I usually am) feel free to leave the plastic bag in there for a week. If they're not dead, then you might likely have an infestation of zombie silverfish , which is out of the scope of this blogpost. But what if a whole colony of silverfish decided to invade your whole bookcase? Then you have to make sure you're ready for war. Place a generous amount of silica gel (or if you can find it, diatomaceous earth) behind your books at the back of the shelves so that moisture levels remain low.

An Ipoh Ghost Story.

When I was growing up in Ipoh in the 90s, the only good bookshops around were Mubaruk's, which specialised in textbooks (and still does), and Novelhut, the second-hand bookstore that used to be in Yik Foong (and maybe still is there, but I haven't checked in years since I prefer going to their Ipoh Parade outlet when I'm in town). There was also a pretty good bookstore in the Parkson Grand in Ipoh Parade which could have been a Berita outlet, but I don't remember. This was in the days before they expanded Ipoh Parade into what it is today. (And temporarily causing the Convent school next door to consider moving.) I recall this because I was thinking of when exactly I started reading "serious" fiction, trying to pinpoint the years when I moved from young adult/fantasy/sci-fi books into non-genre fiction. I still can't remember, but it brought back memories of a book I bought from a short-lived bookshop in Old Town. Mum had brought me there, because she must