tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post5173998149829349869..comments2024-01-06T00:28:45.062+08:00Comments on Bibliobibuli: Giving the Mundane its Beautiful Duebibliobibulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456636355933524132noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-36673810993080989172009-02-01T11:21:00.000+08:002009-02-01T11:21:00.000+08:00BEW -LOL... yea! Malaysians can be exotic. On some...BEW -<BR/><BR/>LOL... yea! Malaysians can be exotic. On some forums, they appear to speak English, but I have absolutely no idea what they mean. They talk about entertainers I've never heard of, places I've never heard of, been and done things I'd never think of doing, and they live here, same as me :)<BR/><BR/>weird :)<BR/><BR/>I haven't been to that many other countries, but is there a lot of favoritism there as well?<BR/><BR/>Is there such a thing as an objective human?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-22001634425563493082009-01-31T19:41:00.000+08:002009-01-31T19:41:00.000+08:00Oh, hearty congrats on the success of the workshop...Oh, hearty congrats on the success of the workshop, BEW! Excellent.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for buying my book. And I do write what I want. Always.<BR/><BR/>-- PreetaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-76436346208099759322009-01-31T17:58:00.000+08:002009-01-31T17:58:00.000+08:00France was pretty exotic when I was there. I'm su...France was pretty exotic when I was there. I'm sure it hasn't changed all that much. Some people can be bored anywhere. Others are excited no matter where they are. Yeah, it's all in the mind; it's what we make it, and what we choose to see and to write about.<BR/><BR/>Preeta write what you want and I just bought your book as a reward for my MPH workshop (had 36 people who managed to squeeze in and otherts had to be turned away!)<BR/>Sharon recommended it back in July so I've had my eye on it for a while, so now I got it. Now I'm looking forward to reading it. Is it true Malaysia is exotic? For me, yes, but for Malaysians? It's home, but it also depends on who you are. Everywhere is exotic if we choose to make it as such, and as writers we can; it's all a matter of the details and description that we choose to use (and not use)...So for 2009, let's all be exotic and make our lives even more exotic!Borneo Expat Writerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15657806224924444058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-80880197846546901402009-01-31T17:53:00.000+08:002009-01-31T17:53:00.000+08:00Preeta -I feel sure he might have sold more had he...Preeta -<BR/><BR/>I feel sure he might have sold more had he written "A Year in Perlis" :)<BR/><BR/>Yes, let's email him shall we ? :) <BR/><BR/>Damyanti -<BR/><BR/>From this end of the world maybe. Just as life here.. anyway Yusuf Martin (saw your articles :)) is probably right about the exoticness of anything.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-52712216474772572262009-01-31T14:09:00.000+08:002009-01-31T14:09:00.000+08:00France seems pretty exotic from where I'm looking ...France seems pretty exotic from where I'm looking :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04283371140346602856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-52891902988596817852009-01-31T08:14:00.000+08:002009-01-31T08:14:00.000+08:00Indeed, Yusuf.Oh really, Anonymous? Wonder why Pe...Indeed, Yusuf.<BR/><BR/>Oh really, Anonymous? Wonder why Peter Mayle's books have sold so many copies, then, if what people *really* want to read about is Malaysia and that's why I write about it. In the interest of empirical enquiry, Peter Mayle should write a new book called "A Year in Perlis." Then we'll compare sales, and see which one readers find more intriguing.<BR/><BR/>-- PreetaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-1761922925782278082009-01-31T07:00:00.000+08:002009-01-31T07:00:00.000+08:00Preeta the exotic is very much in the mind of the ...Preeta the exotic is very much in the mind of the beholder. The Other is exotic in its difference to the I.Martin Bradleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02383493547993782756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-8586434090325663092009-01-30T22:35:00.000+08:002009-01-30T22:35:00.000+08:00Preeta -France does not appear an exotic location ...Preeta -<BR/><BR/>France does not appear an exotic location to most :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-32559276354635402642009-01-30T07:47:00.000+08:002009-01-30T07:47:00.000+08:00My own writing has much to thank John Updike for.H...My own writing has much to thank John Updike for.<BR/><BR/>He will be missed.<BR/><BR/>Witches of Eastwick is just incredible - the book that is.Martin Bradleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02383493547993782756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-53796542400450521642009-01-29T19:39:00.000+08:002009-01-29T19:39:00.000+08:00Anonymous -- are you trying to tell me that you kn...Anonymous -- are you trying to tell me that you know me better than I know myself? :-)<BR/><BR/>I know "something" about lots of places, and there are plenty of "exotic" stories I could tell. Being the only non-white person for miles in rural France is a pretty exotic tale, too, but I'm not planning to write about it.<BR/><BR/>-- PreetaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-10959960591911399732009-01-29T16:23:00.000+08:002009-01-29T16:23:00.000+08:00love the poem, Rajan. thanks so much for posting ...love the poem, Rajan. thanks so much for posting it. it's so true, isn't it? i felt the same thing when my mum died ... the world doesn't mourn the elderly passing on anywhere near as it does the young, yet each death IS as huge.bibliobibulihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16456636355933524132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-20077038849244224502009-01-29T15:48:00.000+08:002009-01-29T15:48:00.000+08:00Isn't this exactly like Shakespeare's "tomorrow, a...Isn't this exactly like Shakespeare's "tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" speech?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-86435451574250114302009-01-29T15:11:00.000+08:002009-01-29T15:11:00.000+08:00Will miss his essays. He was everywhere..Here's a ...Will miss his essays. He was everywhere..Here's a poem of his I saw in the Times. - rajan<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>Requiem<BR/>By JOHN UPDIKE<BR/><BR/>It came to me the other day:<BR/><BR/>Were I to die, no one would say, <BR/><BR/>“Oh, what a shame! So young, so full<BR/><BR/>Of promise — depths unplumbable!”<BR/><BR/>Instead, a shrug and tearless eyes<BR/><BR/>Will greet my overdue demise;<BR/><BR/>The wide response will be, I know, <BR/><BR/>“I thought he died a while ago.”<BR/><BR/>For life’s a shabby subterfuge,<BR/><BR/>And death is real, and dark, and huge.<BR/><BR/>The shock of it will register<BR/><BR/>Nowhere but where it will occur.<BR/><BR/>— JOHN UPDIKE<BR/><BR/>This poem is taken from John Updike’s forthcoming collection, “Endpoint and Other Poems.”Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-53194659904041302412009-01-29T14:52:00.000+08:002009-01-29T14:52:00.000+08:00he wrote a novel about a character who did though ...he wrote a novel about a character who did though Robert! <BR/><BR/>love that quote about being extraordinary in ordinariness. look at yiyun li's stories for another example of how the great writer illuminates the ordinariness we take for granted when we haven't got our writer's eyes on. (can't wait for her first novel which is out soon!!!)<BR/><BR/>preeta - thanks for picking out that quote too. my goodness but isn't he one of the most quotable authors on writing?bibliobibulihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16456636355933524132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-49576559459905472092009-01-29T14:44:00.000+08:002009-01-29T14:44:00.000+08:00I agree with Preeta, mostly what I've written abou...I agree with Preeta, mostly what I've written about (and little has been published as of yet, except by Sharon in Collateral Damage and also in SF5) is from my childhood or the landscape from my childhood neighborhoods (of which there were many!) back in America, and not here in "exotic" Malaysia.<BR/><BR/>But I strongly disagree with Anon about that last part. You may think the ordinary person is boring, but, oh, it's what you don't know or what they have been concealing in their so-called ordinariness! I remember a quote from I'm not sure who, but it goes like this: "It's extraordinary how extraordinary the ordinary person is." And there lies our stories, to dig past the ordinariness, the cliches, and get to the extraordinary. I look at my mother, an ordinary person on the surface and for the majority of her life, but oh, she had some extraordinary secrets from her past that haunt her to this day, and perhaps haunts me too. This is why I write. To capture, such stories.<BR/><BR/>The sad part about this is that now John Updike, who has been in the running for the last 20 or 30 years, will never win the Nobel.Borneo Expat Writerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15657806224924444058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-18562724928038085542009-01-29T14:14:00.000+08:002009-01-29T14:14:00.000+08:00Preeta -You write about Malaysia because you know ...Preeta -<BR/><BR/>You write about Malaysia because you know something about it, and because it's still exotic to a lot of people. I don't suppose where you stay right now is really fun to write about anyway. It's very penny lane-ish I would presume :P<BR/><BR/>There are songs about ordinary boring everyday life though, I wonder if someone could actually write a book about it.<BR/><BR/>He's right though, you look at people and immediately you know how their stories go. It gets boring.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-10759279119220033842009-01-28T18:30:00.000+08:002009-01-28T18:30:00.000+08:00My favourite part of the original NYT obituary (it...My favourite part of the original NYT obituary (it's been edited and this part no longer appears online) was this:<BR/><BR/>"I really don't think I'm alone among writers in caring about what they experienced in the first 18 years of their life," he told The Paris Review. "Nothing that happens to us after 20 is as free from self-consciousness, because by then we have the vocation to write," he continued. "At the point where you get your writerly vocation, you diminish your receptivity to experience."<BR/><BR/>Only because I can relate completely. I don't think *all* writers would agree with the quotation above, but it definitely matches up with my own experience. I think I need to steal it for the next person who asks me incredulously why I still write about Malaysia even though "you haven't lived there for so long," or the next person who suggests that I write about America/France/Burkina Faso/Patagonia. <BR/><BR/>-- PreetaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-35181800234277431892009-01-28T18:01:00.000+08:002009-01-28T18:01:00.000+08:00The New Yorker will not be the same again! He inva...The New Yorker will not be the same again! He invariably had a book review or story or poem in there. But perhaps he had completed a few more before his death, so we will continue to receive Tupac-like missives from beyond...Amir Muhammadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08144421497045270238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-32230956129312877192009-01-28T15:06:00.000+08:002009-01-28T15:06:00.000+08:00Let's pray for the repose of his soul. His body ma...Let's pray for the repose of his soul. His body may have died but his soul remains in his works.<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.essayontime.com/services/essay.html" REL="nofollow">essay</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com