1. Reading, quite a lot.
Especially since it's the holidays, and because I found a tip-top library that's (surprise) actually convenient and pretty cozy.
Fiction:
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath.
Finally. Great, as expected.
Howard's End, EM Forester [project guttenberg]
Also quite lovely (and the parent of this quote that is now an occasional reminder for myself).
If you want to read this, you can actually get it, quite legally, online.
Freedom, Jonathan Franzen.
Borrowed this from the library. Gave up after 3 pages because his writing style is so frustrating.
The Jeeves and Wooster stuff. [Project Guttenberg]
Absolutely spiffy, this! PG Wodehouse uses English so playfully, so beautifully. It flows effortlessly, and they're just joyful pieces of work.
Salmon of Doubt, Douglas Adams.
Yes, he of the brilliant quote about deadlines. I suspected he was brilliant (from my dalliance with Stephen Fry's stuff) but didn't know the what I was getting myself into until I started reading anything written by him.
And by God, was it a religious experience. Douglas Adams is incredibly funny, while managing at the same time to be incredibly original, incredibly intelligent, and incredibly brilliant (quite a feat, don't you think?). Even after about a month, the book is still with me (it's a library book whose borrowing period I keep extending). I'm being exceedingly selfish by depriving another of a Douglasian balm in their (possible) time of need, but this book is so comforting in any time of self-doubt/self-loathing.
(by the way, he's the author of the Hitchhikers' Guide series. Don't dismiss them as being silly science fiction nonsense, you wouldn't even notice they're science fiction, because they're quite, quite brilliant. Here's a taste of his writings.)
Non-fiction:
Representations of the Intellectual, Edward Said.
Probably not up your alley, but it was inspiring, for me.
A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson.
Another booty from Mecca (the library, in laymen-speak). Tired of knowing nothing about the sciences? This is the book for you. Bill Bryson, he of the many books on different topics, condensed it for beginners, and it manages to be quite interesting, and occasionally funny. It's nowhere near satisfying if you wish to delve deeper into, say, the Big Bang theory that's explained there, but it's a good introduction that gets you acquainted with the sciences. I spent many hours on this, figuring out the Big Bang theory and things like the theory of relativity.
Inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations, Adam Smith. [Project Guttenberg]
The book that probably started the study of Economics. Similarly fun as above, if you idea of fun is many hours spent figuring out theories by yourself, which mine happens to be.
2. Epic journey from Penang to Taiping and back.
And of course, a journey like that involves lots of food, mostly heavenly.
Top class fried kuey tiao - Gurney Drive, the stall with the noticeable queue. The one at Penang Road where they sell their famous cendol, scrubs up pretty well too.
Heong Peng (Tambun biscuits) - defo Him Heang. Him Heang is better than Ghee Heang, says my palate. And I have a rather discerning palate.
Assam Laksa - We had the Ayer Itam one, reportedly the best in Penang. I didn't like it much - too bitter, somehow.
Seafood numerous times. Teluk Kumbar (Penang), the salted egg crabs are heavenly. And I had the best grilled stingray ever in an unsuspecting nook in Taiping!
3. Lastly (I'm running out of steam here) Jeeves and Wooster, the series.
Have you known Stephen Fry/Hugh Laurie to star in anything mediocre on screen? I haven't (though I heard their Alfresco was embarrassingly awful), and they do not disappoint in this 20-year old tv screen incarnation of Jeeves and Wooster. Stephen Fry is spot-on in his interpretation of Jeeves. If you only know Hugh Laurie from House, try watching a clip of these back-to-back with an episode of House. It's quite disorienting - same man, 20 year age gap, different accents, and playing quite different characters. In Jeeves and Wooster he's a loveable, yet feeble-minded aristocrat.
Both characters are transmuted perfectly on screen, with impeccable acting. The script manages to convey Wodehouse perfectly onto screen, too.
Of course, it is also very funny.
Here's the first episode. Stick on at least till the second one if you don't like the first, it gets better:
4. I'm also slightly involved in a voters' education programme, too. But more on that in another post, because it's much too interesting to be meshed up and forgotten amidst all these messy narrations about things that I've been doing; and this post is getting far too long, even for me.
(pls post strongly-worded comments about the food bit, if you have any. Thanks.)
(food recommendations would be welcomed with an online hug, too.)
Inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations, Adam Smith. [Project Guttenberg]
The book that probably started the study of Economics. Similarly fun as above, if you idea of fun is many hours spent figuring out theories by yourself, which mine happens to be.
2. Epic journey from Penang to Taiping and back.
And of course, a journey like that involves lots of food, mostly heavenly.
Top class fried kuey tiao - Gurney Drive, the stall with the noticeable queue. The one at Penang Road where they sell their famous cendol, scrubs up pretty well too.
Heong Peng (Tambun biscuits) - defo Him Heang. Him Heang is better than Ghee Heang, says my palate. And I have a rather discerning palate.
Assam Laksa - We had the Ayer Itam one, reportedly the best in Penang. I didn't like it much - too bitter, somehow.
Seafood numerous times. Teluk Kumbar (Penang), the salted egg crabs are heavenly. And I had the best grilled stingray ever in an unsuspecting nook in Taiping!
3. Lastly (I'm running out of steam here) Jeeves and Wooster, the series.
Have you known Stephen Fry/Hugh Laurie to star in anything mediocre on screen? I haven't (though I heard their Alfresco was embarrassingly awful), and they do not disappoint in this 20-year old tv screen incarnation of Jeeves and Wooster. Stephen Fry is spot-on in his interpretation of Jeeves. If you only know Hugh Laurie from House, try watching a clip of these back-to-back with an episode of House. It's quite disorienting - same man, 20 year age gap, different accents, and playing quite different characters. In Jeeves and Wooster he's a loveable, yet feeble-minded aristocrat.
Both characters are transmuted perfectly on screen, with impeccable acting. The script manages to convey Wodehouse perfectly onto screen, too.
Of course, it is also very funny.
Here's the first episode. Stick on at least till the second one if you don't like the first, it gets better:
4. I'm also slightly involved in a voters' education programme, too. But more on that in another post, because it's much too interesting to be meshed up and forgotten amidst all these messy narrations about things that I've been doing; and this post is getting far too long, even for me.
(pls post strongly-worded comments about the food bit, if you have any. Thanks.)
(food recommendations would be welcomed with an online hug, too.)
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