Skip to main content

Readings@Seksan's January 2008.

This month's edition of Readings was special because it was its third birthday since Bernice Chauly started the first session at NoBlackTie.

First to read was Shih-Li Kow, reading the title story in Silverfish's latest short story compilation, News From Home.

Then Tunku Halim took the mic and read a story from The Gravedigger's Kiss and Other Stories. Notice how he looks creepy in the photo below. Look at how Sharon Bakar shivers at his very presence! (And he wasn't even wearing his fedora!)

Bernice Chauly read several poems from her latest book, Book of Sins, which incidentally was launched at the same event.

During the break, Sharon and Bernice blew the candles on the birthday cake. Happy Birthday, Readings! Lepas itu, kita makan kek sesama diri!

After the break, Chuah Kok Yee proceeded to read his version of "The Three Little Pigs" which was also published in News From Home.

Chuah Guat Eng read excerpts from three of her short stories, which are featured in her also newly released book, The Old House and Other Stories. One of the things that clued me in that I was listening to a very experienced writer was the way she read. Very impressive! I look forward to reading her book, which I have now added to my TBR pile.

The final reader of the day was Gerald Chuah who shared with the audience his love for the Rocky movie series and his undoubtedly Rocky-like moments on getting his book In the Eye of the Tiger published. In the Eye of the Tiger sounds interesting; it seems to be a sort of a self-help book which gleans inspirational life lessons from Sylvester Stallone's movies. I found the cover a little odd though, but I guess it fits with the book's theme?

And this is Tunku Halim in a fedora! Argh! Scary!

Also! Who is that strapping young man in that yellow shirt? Swoon!

More pics in my flickr.

Comments

  1. Hi Ted, thank you for the review of my talk, and the great "frontal" pix. You and your readers can download the first chapter of IN THE EYE OF THE TIGER at www.stallonism.com.
    Thank you for your support.

    Gerald
    gchuah@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Gerald, thanks for dropping by! I'll add a link to my sidebar to help you out. Good luck with your book!

    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...