The latest issue of Quill is yours for free if you flash your MPH card, and a mere RM8 if not.It's crammed with so much good stuff I don't know where to begin.
I loved Eric Forbes' article on the short story, chock full of excellent reading recommendations which I would love to see the bookstore promoting! He also gives sterling advice about how to submit your manuscript.
It's a Long way to the Floor author David Byck explains about how he got started. Tan Twan Eng talks about the writing of The Gift of Rain, and FireWife author Tinling Choong (who will be visiting Malaysia in July) is interviewed at length.
Dina Zaman and Tunku Halim debate about whether you would take a look at the book a person reads before you decide to get married to them. Pragmatists both. (I think books are windows to the soul ... should have thought twice when I found only war stories on my beloved's bookshelves!)
The Ambassador for Mexico, H.E. Alfredo Perez-Bravo reveals his love for Octavio Paz, Marques, Vargos Llosa and Carlos Fuentes (good for him!) and talks about Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose as the ultimate airport novel (CSI Medieval Italy!).
There's a long interview with Farish Noor, and Dr. Faridah Manaf writes a very interesting piece about gender, race and nationalism in post-colonial Malaysia. Am most impressed that the Malay word for post-colonial is pascakolonial, which I will now slip into conversation with the gardener.
Yours truly writes about why Writers Need Friends which I dedicate to my scribbling running mates. (Saras, Mercy, Soo Choon, Leah - you're famous now!). My pics of the Night of the Living Text event are in there too.
But as I told you, my article on book banning ironically got censored out.
That doesn't surprise when the PM himself graces the cover, holding the book of tributes for his wife Datin Paduka Seri Endon who died of cancer in October 2005. The book A Bouquet of Jasmines. (Yes, "jasmines" with an "s"! - a big fat grammar blooper in the title!) was launched at a grand gala evening where everyone who is anyone wore pink and drank pink drinks (think Barbie!).
(Sorry, sorry ... I don't know where such cynicism comes from.)
AAaaah, must get someone to bring this back to London, jasmine with s or not. and sharon, i envy you! i cant even pronounce pascakolonial, is it pascha or paska?
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely gonna get my copy of this magazine. Sounds like a definite keeper, this one!
ReplyDeleteAm particularly looking forward to read Forbes' article and the interview with Farish Noor.
i was practising saying it all the way to bangsar in the cat, kak teh.
ReplyDeletei favour the second pronunciation but then i really don't know and iot's best to ask a literary buff.
eternal wanderer - yes it is a keeper. and well done to mph for making the effort
ooohh...i'm so going to MPH to get my copy. ;o)
ReplyDeleteyep, cats are also my preferred mode of travel. but you know, sometimes it takes ages to wait for one. but the comfy plush seats are the best thing. plus, they get you there on time, all the time.
ReplyDelete(if you don't know what i'm talking about, get yourself a DVD of My Neighbour Totoro. then, Sharon, you'd know you weren't too far off from the truth!)
what sweet revenge, the jasmine blooper ... hahaha rox
ReplyDeletevisitor - ?????
ReplyDeleteanon - don't want revenge, want people to get their english right!
"Bangsar in the cat" makes a good title for some kind of nostalgic look at someone's childhood.
ReplyDelete"They say you can always take the cat out of Bangsar, but you can never take Bangsar out of the cat. For as long as I can remember, it has always been Bangsar in the cat."
Maybe it's because I'm not a KL/PJ girl - but what is "Bangsar in the cat"?
ReplyDeleteIn "My Neighbour Totoro" by Miyazaki of Spirited Away there is a giant cat bus who picks up the lost little girl - big cheshire cat type all furry on the inside! He is larger than life and leaps across the countryside.Then fades away when he is no longer needed to help.
cat was my typo instead of "car"
ReplyDeleteand to think i was wondering what chet and the visitor had been smoking
glad i stimulated your funky imaginations though
Haha! Am relieved did not miss strange Malaysian in-talk reference, thus rendering me that little bit more clueless. :)
ReplyDeleteerm, Msiagirl, i was trying to avoid giving away spoilers for the movie. but thanks for clearing that up anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe Visitor (Blogger wont let me sign in with my old account)
On checking
ReplyDeletehttp://www.reference.com/search?r=13&q=Jasmine
One type of jasmine - a particular species.
Many types of jasmines - many species.
A bouquet of (mixed species) jasmines or,
A bouquet of (one species) jasmine.
So both can be right. It depends on the context.
Rox (Abroad)
yes rox ... nicely researched ... but it's so just unlikely that one would have a bouquet of all different kinds of jamines (what more here where only 1 or 2 varieties grow) .... what would be the point? (incidentally, any white flower with a nice smell gets dubbed jasmine here by the plant nurseries even when it actually isn't)
ReplyDeletethe title sounds ... odd
and come to think of it jasmine doesn't make much of a bouquet anyway ... flowers fade fast and it's just too woody to look nice.
this reminds me of the curious old case about pancakes.
ReplyDeleteThe Visitor
*LOL* visitor - same area of grammar
ReplyDeleteam i such a picky pedant these days? or am i entitled to the slightly higher moral ground?
hahaha! I like the comments here. Sharon, yr typos in comment boxes are as good as mine! Sometimes when i go back looking at what I have commented, I just couldnt understand how and why i never checked. Mine is legendary.
ReplyDeletebut I agree with chet that Bangsar in the Cat makes a good title for a book. - a chicklit kind.
and Visitor, hahahaha! how can i forget the pancakes!
Yep, I totally agree with you Sharon. As far as I know there is only one species of jasmine, white or yellow, used in bouquets in Malaysia. I would use "A Bouquet of Jasmine" as it would be a more appropriate Malaysian title. By the way, do they have pink jasmine in Malaysia? These days you can get flowers in all kinds of ridiculous colours in Europe. I received a bright orange poinsettia for Christmas last year! Rox (Abroad)
ReplyDeleteand it's always jasmine with something else isn't it? jasmine and roses ...
ReplyDeleteno haven't seen any strange coloured jasmine on sale (haven't seen any jasmine on sale!) ... or poinsettias
Jasmine tea?
ReplyDeleteor jasmines tea?
ReplyDeleteJasmines teas?
ReplyDeleteA bouquet of red roses?
ReplyDeleteAm thoroughly confused now ... Is it jasmine instead of jasmines cos the flowers are small and can be referred to collectively?
-Jen
sorry to confuse you jen. i was larking around. (chet's fault!) it should be a bouquet of jasmine (here uncountable noun and jasmine tea. we do says a bouquet of roses (countable noun) but not jasmines unless we are emphasising that we have more than one kind gathered there.
ReplyDeleteYah, yah, blame me. I've been blamed for worse, so it's okay.
ReplyDeleteAnd Sharon the English rose ... I mean teacher (or rosy teacher) ... kicks in at 5:16 in the morning!
BTW, I wasn't larking around - there really is such a tea called jasmine tea:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tenren.com/jasmine.html
jasmine tea i know and drink chet
ReplyDeletehad insomnia this morning was awake at 4. this is why i need afternoon naps.
u drink chet, and still haven't choked yet?
ReplyDeleteSorry, what exactly is wrong with "A bouquet of jasmines" ? you wouldn't say "A bouquet of rose" so why would you say "a bouquet of jasmine" ? :D
ReplyDeleteputting me english teacher hat on, this i would say is the why of it:
ReplyDeletesome flowers are countable when bunched e.g roses, carnations, lilies. the single-stalkedness is emphasised.
others e.g baby's breath, peacock, lilac, and jasmine have so many tiny flowers that they are considered uncountable and the mass of them is emphasised
Thanks Sharon! :)
ReplyDelete-Jen