41. Dari Penjara Ke Tampuk Kuasa, at Annexe

reading while: attending arts event

Spotted while I was leaving the event, this soft-spoken philosophy lecturer reads two or three books a month, and says he's partial to Plato. We had a brief chat about this blog, why I stubbornly keep it up, and the reading habits of our country (or lack of), and other frustrations. I'm glad I caught him.

PS: how tasty is this new X-Large photo feature in Blogger? I love it. Will post photos only in X-Large size from now.

30. Transmission, Berjaya Times Square, Oct 18

This is going to be a rather narcissistic book spot: myself, & Hari Kunzru's Transmission, at Berjaya Times Square mall. Here's the story:

I tagged along with a loved one to queue up for a limited edition pair of kicks. Since I'm not a sneaker fanatic all I can remember is that it had something to do with Melbourne? Anyway. We had to wait quite a while and the crowd piled up. I didn't even realize someone was taking photos. Yesterday the same loved one messaged me asking is it possible to spot yourself on readkl? I was like "heh?" and he said he found a photo of me reading in the STREEThing forums. I'll make a small exception here only because posting has been very slow lately, and I didn't stage the photo.

I did however take a photo of the cover on my blog at the time I started reading it:

So whoever took this, leave a comment, and I'll credit you :) Here's the forum link again where the original photo was found.

29. The Messenger, in Pudu

reading while: being early for church choir practice

I became a contributor to this blog this very day. To start off the adventure, I thought I'd see if I can spot any readers during lunch time in OneUtama ... no such luck. Those in the old wing were too busy with the Jusco Sale and the new wing was rather empty. Every person I did catch seated on benches was intently staring into their cellphones. Have you got a book in there?

So much for the first day of being a readkl.blogspot.com contributor, I thought.

But all is not lost.

I did not expect it but in the evening, I was at church to attend choir practice. Still early, one of my friends trudged in, plonked herself on a pew and fished out a book!

There, my first one on my first day:





She was reading Daniel Silva's The Messenger. She told me the book is pretty good. I have not been much in the spy thriller genre lately. I must check it out the next time I am at the bookstore.

19. The Da Vinci Code at Central Market Annexe

reading while: at an arts event

Was waiting to perform at Merdeka Cafe, for the Art For Grabs bazaar, when I spotted this woman in the audience reading in between sets.

It's the first time she's reading it, because she's already seen the movie and wanted to compare. She's a lecturer of art and design, so the art in the novel really interests her. The book is hers and she is a Grisham addict.

PS: forgot to add, I wanted to ask her if she could write a novel based on any piece of art, which would it be, because by then I had to go prep for performance. So let's leave it an open question:

Which piece of art would you write a novel around/about?

16. Into Thin Air at KL Sentral

This is my friend who sat beside me for a good more than 15 minutes for the Reading While Waiting Project. He was on the way to another appointment but then called me up, and said he'd join us first.

Perhaps, reading the book in his hand contributed to the last minutes adventurousness? :-) Metaphorically, I do think reading does open up the mind to unlimited adventures.

15. Read While Waiting Project, KL Sentral, Aug 23

I couldn't attend the Read While Waiting Project, and Uzair also had undisclosed difficulties. But amazingly enough, we have a few anonymous email contributions for this blog! Sorry I'm not using all of them, since I prefer photos where what they're reading is clearer. As for photos of the general flashmob, they're a Google search away. I have my own opinions on flashmobs here in Malaysia but I won't go into that. However, I do think reading while waiting is the only way to wait. And to be a sport, here is one general photo. Just one ok!


Here's a submitted write-up of the event:

Random Alphabets organised another event that brought people of Kuala Lumpur together to do the same thing for specified time at specified location. This time, they brought a book and read it for fifteen minutes (or at least pretend to read) at KL Central.

Some were already reading before 3PM (the time they're supposed to start) and the rest were lingering around. At 3PM the people near KFC got together and sat in a circle to read their books. The patrons ignored their chicken for a moment to figure out what was happening. Meanwhile, those between the KTM entrances stood still and began to read their books. Sharon Bakar and Marina Mahathir were spotted in the crowd as well.

Read While Waiting Project was done for a good cause and it was a great way to create awareness but let us not stop there. We don't have to wait for another random flash mob to pick up a book again.

- Anon.

And here's a submitted entry, readkl style!

She's an events coordinator, reading Lady Friday by Garth Nix while waiting for the Read While Waiting Project to kick off. She was disappointed that not many came to KL Sentral to join the cause. Perhaps she was comparing it to the previous event (KL Freeze) also by Random Alphabets which attracted hundreds of KLlites to participate.

- Submitted by Anonymous Ah Chong.

And here are a few books people chose to bring to the flashmob (the ones I could make out, at least):

1. Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder (lovely author. My favourite book of his is Solitaire Mystery)
2. Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus by John Gray
3. The Rape Of Nanking by Iris Chang
4. a book in Chinese which I can't make out
5. When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris, which I mentioned in my previous post!

Thanks to the anonymous submissions (although I wouldn't be surprised if it was just one person, hmm) and hello to the new contributors I just approved! Can't wait to see who and which book you spot next.