Love to get up very early and read in my favourite chair on the verandah while the sun comes up - drink copious amounts of tea and eat breakfast slowly page by page with smudges of yoghurt or jam between the lines.
Promiscuous reader. Love to read in cafes ... especially after the gym when I feel I've deserved it.
Favourite reading spots - Elly's Table at Centerpoint (excellent coffee); Coffee Bean at BSC (though I hate drinking from those silly glasses); Starbucks at Bangsar Village; Chinos on the Park; Delicious (most comfortable with all those lovely cushions!) and Basque Lane in 1 Utama. Need sunlight and the open air, good coffee, decent food.
All of these are also favourite writing haunts too - depends on how the mood takes me. I seem to read a lot when i'm not writing and write a lot when I'm not reading. I'm fickle. Go through phases.
Always read when I eat. (As a forensic examination of any of my books would show.)
Always read in the loo. Usually magazines or poetry or books with very short chapters. Need to fix up library shelves in there.
Have given up reading in the bath. (It is possible to get special bathbooks with waterproof pages though ...)
Have books in different rooms of the house and can't seem to pass them by without at least a little read. Coffee table books usually on some local theme in the lounge. Cookbooks in the kitchen. Inspirational stuff about self-actualisation, poetry, psychology by my bed. Naughty books stuffed into the back of a cupboard where the in-laws won't find them and get shocked that I have such an X-rated imagination. Writing books in my office (the back bedroom) dipped into as I prepare course materials. Books floor to ceiling in the room where we watch TV.
And always a book in my bag. Handbags chosen for bookholding capacity.
Read at odd moments. Check-out queues. On public transport. At immigration.
Can't understand how most people can tolerate the boredom of life without a dialogue with a book! Compare the voracious readers on the London Tube with the staring-into-spacers of the LRT, for example.
Don't read at night. Can't. Fastest acting soporific drug.
14 comments:
Hi sharon.I share the reading-in -the-loo in common with you.Yeah book Are indeed a person's best companions. Always fresh & keeping up with times, unlike most of the humans.
You seem to be an interesting person.I mean that.
Thanks Dizzy and nice to see you here.
Yep - books are often better than people. (She says cynically.)
An enlightening answer to my question, Sharon. Thanks for a lovely entry.
I too, don't manage books very well in the bath, preferring instead, a quick magazine with some wine or cuppa.
Still, I have learnt to balance my hardbacks very nicely even while clinging on precariously to a rail on the tube. That's what so lovely about Europe & Australia. Almost all the Brits or Aussies will be reading something, so you feel greatly encouraged.
However, I like both books and people in equal doses. Life is for living it up; with the greatest of its whipped-up passions and fun. So no complaints here! Thanks for a nice read.
You mentioned books with water-proof pages - that's interesting. Must be twice the price of normal books then.
Have you read books on a PDA or Pocket PC? Like those e-books you can download for free from Blackmask or Gutenburg, or purchase from Amazon or Penguin? I have a Pocket PC (PPC) with hundreds of ebooks, for reading in places I get stuck in for long periods,like for 4 hours in transit, in an airport at 4 in the morning. Most are classics downloaded for free, some bought from Amazon, and some I made into ebooks from library books.
No don't have a PDA. (I'm so low tech I don't even have a DVD player yet!)
I was talking to Chet last week about downloading e-books and had a play with her PDA. Think I will aim to get one.
Was just trying to find some bath books for adults on the internet anf failed. I'm sure i read about one some time ago ... There are lots of kids books for the bath to go with the rubber duckies.
Yep, I am one of those that have to have a book/newspaper with me wherever I go, even the loo in my office. Some of my colleagues might not want to read the books/newspaper I have read before :)
I can't imagine staring into space when commuting using LRT. I even surf the GPRS to read news on my phone when I'm stuck somewhere. Sad thing is the majority of the people in the LRT prefer to just stay idle. Always feel there is not enough time in the world to read. Wish more Malaysians would share the same sentiments as me.
Just had a thought reading this Princesse - maybe we should get the bookstores to sponsor reading on the LRT to get people into the habit. Be spotted reading a books and win a big prize! Or maybe they could hand out free short stories to everyone who rides the train. In London there was a great project called Poems on the Underground with poems replacing ads in the carriages. I made the acquaintance of a lot of new poems that way. A society of readerholics will never be created withour some thinking outside the box!
You can also write on the PDA, too. I did that while in Singapore recently. The MRT ride was long, and I got tired of reading, so I started writing a review of the concert I'd just been to the previous evening. When I got home to KL, I hotsynced it to my computer and didn't have to retype anything.
Sharon - I have an old black & white PDA you can try before you commit yourself to one. Want?
Yes, want Chet!!! Trouble is I know I will get addicted!
(just discovered your weblog a couple of days ago)
hehe, frankly i don't think it is any of my business what other people choose to do (or not do) in the LRT although i myself always have reading materials for the public transportations - the bus especially as they take too long!
BUT i love the idea of having something for everyone to read on the lrt - other than the ads of course (blehh to the MAS ads especially). pitching ideas and getting sponsorships from the big bookstores sound great, but how about a few small independent efforts?
one idea is to create small zines with suitable reading material - factors for example depending on length of ride. these could be left on the lrt for people to pick up to read (or do what they wish with them), ala the projects going on at foundart.org as an exmple. there could also be an accompanying website that documents the zines made and their distribution. readers could also log on and leave comments on what they've read.
how does that sound? i am game to create something like this - love reading, but i also make books. but alas, i suck at the writing part. anyway, do let me know (queenfisher@gmail.com)
I love your ideas! Yes, let's think about this crazy scheme. I'm game. It would need sponsorship though to work.
thanks for the super quick response! i shall think more about this and get back to you ;-)
i know what u mean, reading is like breathing to me too. When i go to the loo in relatives' houses, particularly for a long call, i would feel so suffocated bcoz i have nothing to read..so i end up reading the labels on toiletery bottles....
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