48. Matilda at Bangsar Village, 2:30pm

Matilda is this man's third experience with Roald Dahl books. Since his first two books were purchased during the recent Roald Dahl pop-up-bookstore just downstairs late last year (The Witches & James and the Giant Peach, in that order), I'd say he's catching up pretty quickly. Working in HR, he reads management books on weekdays & fiction on the weekends. He loves a sense of humour in his books & sometimes a bit of magic. His all time favourite book is The Pencil, a bunch of non-fic short stories about teaching, though the name of the author escapes him at the moment.

46. Life of Pi, at The Cookie Cat Subang Jaya

He plans to major in linguistics although he doesn't read a lot. However, he reads magazines religiously, and makes a habit of actually reading books for assignments instead of reading summaries and study guides. Currently he's reading Life Of Pi by Yann Martel for an assignment. The laptop next to him is playing an audiobook version at the same time (what a great idea!). He likes to read indoors or in cosy environments like cafes, and his favourite book is Being Happy.

43. at dr. cafe, Solaris Mont Kiara

reading while: at a cafe

He's reading a book in Mandarin, and doesn't know how to translate the title into something I could type out (help?). It's a non-fiction book about a Japanese warrior. His reading habits are 'nonstop': once he's done with a book, he moves on to another immediately. James Clavell's Noble House is his favourite book, and he's also partial to Robert Ludlum.

35. The Reason Why She Moved To New York City, at KL Sentral

reading while: waiting for a friend to show up for lunch

The Reason Why She Moved To New York City is the English translation for this Japanese biography:

The author is a journalist, and this very sweet reader I spotted (also Japanese) loves biographies and journalist writing.


She reads several books like this, in both Japanese and English all the time as part of her anthropological research. When asked for favourites, she recommended Susan Sontag's writing because she respects Sontag's ideas and opinions.

34. You Can Reach The Top, at KL Sentral

reading while: waiting for lunch

Happy new year everyone! I was stuck in KL Sentral for a few hours yesterday and even though I didn't bring my camera, I thought I'd use my cameraphone and go readKL hunting for 2009. After combing every inch, floor, restaurant and back alley of KL Sentral during peak hour (that's a lot of walking), I still hadn't found anyone who had brought a book out to read.

After what felt like ages, I walked into Secret Recipe and spotted this reader:




She was reading You Can Reach The Top by Zig Zaglar, and was raving about how the book was laid out. She devours motivational books over all genres (although sometimes she reads horoscope books), sometimes up to 3 books a month. They encourage her to think outside the box, and learn to work with children.


She also likes Steven Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

33. A Game Of Thrones, Bangsar, 28 Nov

reading while: waiting for a friend

The last reader I bumped into for the year. He arrived a little too early so he is reading while waiting. His friend lent him this book, A Game Of Thrones by George R.R Martin. He's enjoying it just fine, and doesn't have a favourite book.

32. The Medium Is The Massage, at Desa Sri Hartamas

reading while: waiting for dinner

Bumped into a friend I haven't seen in months, reading while waiting for his dinner. Anyone who knows me would know the inside joke of why I love the title of the book he's reading:

It's an adaptation of a piece of work, a kind of collage documenting pictures, quotes, text inspired by one source. There were a lot of names on the cover so he ran me through them; McLuhan is the author, Fiore is the co-author, and Jerome Agel produced the book, but I'm not sure what that means. He keeps a separate house for his book library (very near to mine, thrillingly).

When I asked him what book he would like to make an adaptation of, he said Nabokov's Lolita. In fact, he's already started!

31. Neighbourhood Tales, at Starbucks KLCC

reading while: at Starbucks

I think this is the third reader caught reading at Starbucks KLCC. She was reading Dewi Anggraeni's Neighbourhood Tales.

27. The Rough Guide To Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, at KLCC

reading while: at Starbucks

It was 8am. The first time i've woke up this early in months. Trying to change my vampirism habit. Anyhow, around 10 I decided to head out to KLCC. Since my college is only 5 minutes away by cab I usualy go there on a regular basis for a bite or read. The place doesn't have much to offer if your a regular Malaysian who's seen the former tallest towers in the world and walked the pavements along the symphony fountain almost everyday. But for this 35 year old tourist from England, it has to much give.

I was having a drink at the outdoor Starbucks while reading when I spotted him. He was quite drawn into the book. Reading intently on various articles of the best tourist attractions and maps I suppose. At first I hesitated since it wasn't actually a novel or so. But still it was a book nonetheless. So I approached him and asked him for an interview. He was open enough to accept my invitation with a wide smile. He was reading "The Rough Guide To Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei" and just arrived yesterday. Quite the coincidence. Stated his reasons of coming being of pleasure. He was reading the book since he's pretty much lost around here. He found various places through it and had made lots of color indicated bookmarks in it. After a little small talk here and there I took my leave.

Oh by the way, the book that I was reading was "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. It's quite an interesting read. Just bought the book. I've heard reviews from my friend's saying it's very heart rending. Do check it out. And hei, this is actually my first post for this site. Thank you for reading. ;)

26. Asian Godfathers, at Mont Kiara

reading while: at a cafe

for the first time ever, i'm blogging from my phone! I spotted this guy while on a raya break. He's reading this book to study how Asian businessmen become so successful. It's part of his plan for world domination.



He only reads non-fiction these days. He dropped the habit of reading fiction about five years ago because he felt he couldn't relate to it enough.

Food for thought: Do your reading choices gravitate to one particular genre too? How differently do you relate to fiction vs. nonfiction? Feel free to answer in the comments!

24. The Science of Leonardo, at A&W Taman Jaya

reading while: eating

She is reading The Science of Leonardo by Fritjof Capra. She reads mostly mysteries and thrillers (especially books by Grisham, and Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code), as well as the occasional chick lit. While the book she is reading is about Leonardo Da Vinci, it focuses more on the science/physics during the renaissance era than Da Vinci's art. She says it's interesting because it explores his work as a scientist.

23. Last of the Wilds, at A&W Taman Jaya

reading while: at A&W after school

This is at an A&W branch, near the Taman Jaya LRT station. She is reading Trudi Canavan's Last of the Wilds, which is the second book of the Age of the Five trilogy. She is a fan of Trudi Canavan's, and have already read the Black Magician trilogy. She loves to read, and reads around 2 to 3 books a week.

18. Emma Brown, at KLCC

My friend was saving a table for us while I buy lunch. When I came back I found her reading Emma Brown by Clare Boylan. She bought this book at the Kinokuniya bargain buy promotion last week - how lucky!

She usually reads historical or horror novels, and had been a fan of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre since her school days. So she was happy to find this book, and was immediately drawn by the description on the back cover. She is just starting on the book, and says that she loves it already!

12. The Law Of Probability, at KLCC

I was about to walk straight back to the train station after lunch at KLCC, but I decided to take a little detour around the park and see if anyone was reading. This was the only guy I could find, in Starbucks.


Turns out he's Korean and is in town for a summit of some kind. He's reading a Korean book on the Law Of Probability, and he also likes to read economic books. I really like the cover.