Did a shoot with Joe last weekend.. interesting results! I like. The direction: urban, gritty, raw. I think we managed to capture that :)

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?
I will read anything. Even shampoo bottles in the bathroom.

Amazon or brick-and-mortar Barnes & Noble or Borders?
Amazon for reviews, Borders or MPH to browse and buy. I can never walk out of either without buying something or at least finding something I promise myself I’d buy later.

Bookmark or dogear?
Bookmark - if you consider anything from Starbucks receipts to random business cards to flyers as one.

Alphabetized by author or alphabetized by title or random?
Mosty random - books sit on my shelf according to sizes mostly, unless they are a series.

Keep, throw away, or sell?
Keep. Which explains the massively over-burdened bookshelves in my house.

Keep dustjacket or toss it?
Keep.

Read with dustjacket or remove it?
Without. Having one on irritates me and I can’t focus on the book.

Short story or novel?
Novels.. with some exceptions. Like Roald Dahl and Kaz Cooke.

A Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology short stories by different authors)?
Collection. I find consecutive vastly varying styles a little displacing in one sitting.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?
When tired. I some times fall asleep on my books.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”?
Once upon a time

Buy or Borrow?
Buy.

New or used?
Both. Some of the best gems I’ve uncovered are from long afternoons in used book stores - and for a bargain too.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse?
Mostly browse, and sampling paras. But I’ve picked up a lot of books I like through recommendations and reviews.. only from reliable sources though ;)

Tidy ending or cliffhanger?
Both. Happy ever afters are a little too idealistic for cynical ol’ me.

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading?
Morning if I’m on a beach, otherwise I prefer to read at night when there is some peace and quiet.

Standalone or series?
Both.

Favorite series?
Some of them would be Terry Pratchett’s Bromeliad trilogy.. Joe Dever’s Legends of Lone Wolf (the novels).. David Edding’s The Malloreon (never read Belgariad)

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?
Probably Iain Bank - The Wasp Factory.. but it’s not that obscure.

Favorite books read last year?
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude

Favorite books of all time?
In no particular order, here are some recent ones: Ayn Rand - Atlas Shrugged, Gabriel Garcia Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude, JRR Tolkien - The Silmarillion, Nien Cheng - Life and Death in Shanghai, Camilla Morton - How to Walk in High Heels, Plato - Republic, Jhumpa Lahiri - Interpreter of Maladies, Loius de Bernieres - Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Anthony Bourdain - Kitchen Confidential, Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood

“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” ~Groucho Marx

Got my hands on a copy of Anthony Kiedis’ Scar Tissue (thanks, T). Been hearing all about this book and am looking forward to ploughing through it during Christmas break. Haven’t been reading much lately and I miss it. Want to stock up on some books soon, these days all I look at are magazines. Any good recommendations? My fave rebel chef Anthony Bourdain has come up with new material. Food and fiction are best digested together in my opinion, preferably over Sunday brunch at home or in a quiet café somewhere with a glass of white.

Been having a few discussions about books with various people lately. Started with an email from a friend telling me that he’s been doing a spot of reading lately, to mentioning an iconic book I’ve read, which sparked a short discussion and started me asking another friend for recommendations, which led to me checking out my bookshelf for strays that I may have unintentionally overlooked, and then just when I was looking through Whitcoull’s December book list, Scar Tissue landed on my desk. Oh, and last week dad made me read Kenneth Blanchard’s One Minute Manager. That was the first time he’s asked me to read anything! Just another one of life’s funny string of coincidences, eh.

Which got me to remembering that I’ve always wanted to start a virtual library (among many other things), listing out all the books I own. Never got round to that, and I don’t think I will any time soon. It’s the thought that counts I suppose.

Which reminds me, Tania babes, you’ve got my Jolie book! I’m holding your Kaz Cooke hostage in the meantime. LOL.

I wonder who has my copy Kitchen Confidential…

Absolutely love this picture Muna took of me in front of the LV store window in Hong Kong…

The lights bathed the street in a lush gold hue, and after staring at the light for a bit, everything turned a lovely tint of blue.

Taken on the day I got inked, hence it’s a little red. It’s quite small. Later I think I am going to add on more details to the tail.