tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-120317242011-07-28T20:00:35.486+08:00Good readers "should notice and fondle details" - NabokovLeon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.comBlogger1641100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-58371824102947994082010-09-02T17:13:00.001+08:002010-09-02T17:13:17.529+08:00

I'm using Blogaway on my Android (phone ) to enter this.  It's just a first time test run. See how it works.

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-53131128310727504242010-08-09T17:56:00.000+08:002010-08-09T17:56:16.369+08:00

This morning I got an email from Asia Writes that my poem was nominated for Asia Writes' Best of the Net 2010 Nominations (Poetry). Asia Writes asked Lee Upton,author of several books of poetry and literary criticism and currently the Writer-in-Residence at Lafayette College, to pick the best. Nicholas Wong is also in the list.

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-90177274876346114832010-03-04T11:10:00.000+08:002010-03-04T11:10:12.043+08:00

Little Hands Clapping by Dan Rhodes My rating: 5 of 5 stars I was waiting to get my hands on this novel for ages, ie, when I first read about it sometime last year. I had a very nice surprise when I collected my copy at Kino. It cost ten pounds but it was a hardback, and with 20% off, a great bargain, as well. I love reading ebooks, but if this book came out as an ebook and were selling at

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-81018221281983936922010-02-12T13:23:00.002+08:002010-02-12T13:23:59.583+08:00

Afterlife by Sean O'Brien My rating: 4 of 5 stars A bit of a slow start at the beginning. But that's only because O'Brien is building the suspense to the climax. After that the story of a group of university and art students, particularly four, three of whom were aspiring poets, Martin Stone, his girfriend Susie, Alex and his girlfriend Jane. It is a story of when these four having a stoned

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-57250303610522217642010-01-28T11:28:00.002+08:002010-01-28T14:24:44.398+08:00

The Road by Cormac McCarthy My rating: 5 of 5 stars When this book first came out, four years back, there was quite a bit of hoo-ha over it, not in the US or even the UK, but here in Malaysia. This was after it won a few prestigious awards, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction in 2006, and then a year later the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Malaysians then started to take notice of

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-8140496340974780272010-01-21T13:09:00.000+08:002010-01-21T13:09:13.604+08:00

Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín My rating: 4 of 5 stars After the very high-brow literary writing of The Master, the style here is very different, more prosaic. The style reflects the way Eilis feels about travelling from her little Irish town, where she practically knows every inhabitant, to Brooklyn, in New York, where she's inundated with humanity of every colour and creed. She's going to the

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-71472661664800913312010-01-10T10:39:00.000+08:002010-01-10T10:39:52.846+08:00

We Are All Made of Glue by Marina Lewycka My rating: 5 of 5 stars I think Marina Lewycka has surpassed herself this time with We Are All Made of Glue. I’ve never enjoyed myself so much reading any novel, until this one. What I really mean is I’ve never laughed so much and at the same time flipped pages at the same time. Georgie Sinclair has just broken up with her hunky husband Rip. He’s

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-87455364435735304082010-01-04T13:47:00.000+08:002010-01-04T13:47:27.946+08:00

Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer My rating: 2 of 5 stars After all the hype about this book, what with its winning some awards in Britain, and being touted as a very funny novel, I must say it rather disappoints me – but just a little. If I compare this funny novel to, say, the one I’m reading right now, Marina Lewycka’s We Are All Made of Glue, I can’t say I was laughing as

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-72657851249780927822010-01-01T11:22:00.002+08:002010-01-01T11:22:43.761+08:00

The Hidden by Tobias Hill My rating: 3 of 5 stars At first I approached Tobias Hill’s The Hidden as a literary piece of fiction, as I was mindful of the fact that he is a poet. So, you can expect him to write like one, meaning some of his sentences are rich in images, just the right formula of ‘Don’t tell, show’. And show, he does, opening up a historical vista to ancient Sparta. Ben Mercer

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-41967398020530566812009-12-28T15:04:00.000+08:002009-12-28T15:04:06.051+08:00

Adrift on the Nile by Naguib Mahfouz My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is my first venture or introduction to writings from the middle east, specifically Egypt. So I approached it with some prejudice, inevitably because so far I’ve only read fiction from the West and a couple from the East, most from Japan. After successfully reading past the first chapter, I was surprised to actually begin

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-60341809297141199692009-12-12T13:49:00.000+08:002009-12-12T13:49:11.229+08:00

What Becomes by A.L. Kennedy My rating: 5 of 5 stars After Indelible Acts, Kennedy’s collection from 2002 and her first one, with that long title starting with Night Geometry, this new one, What Becomes, continues her inimical style of writing. She doesn’t subscribe to the type of writing which is taught in most writing schools or classes: simple, to the point, edited to the essentials only,

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-28522213593347356492009-12-03T09:54:00.000+08:002009-12-03T09:54:50.236+08:00

The Bradshaw Variations by Rachel Cusk My rating: 5 of 5 stars Apparently some people deem Rachel Rusk too clever in her books. I get that, somewhat, in her past work, like In the Fold. In that one she brandishes here cleverness with long sentences and very, very long conversations. Here, in her new work, she has tempered such lengthiness, somewhat. Sentences are still long, but for the

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-59576424037680528272009-11-30T13:13:00.000+08:002009-11-30T13:13:49.020+08:00

Stone's Fall by Iain Pears My rating: 4 of 5 stars Stone’s Fall is a historical novel, no doubt. The atmosphere and scenes are steeped in the 19th century – even the language, if I may assert. In essence, though, this novel is a thriller; and one of the best I’ve ever read, even if I ever read one only occasionally. It has all the usual elements of that genre: intrigue, espionage, sex.

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-68415163279080183522009-11-17T15:46:00.000+08:002009-11-17T15:46:04.181+08:00

The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds My rating: 5 of 5 stars Adam Foulds’s first book of fiction The Truth About These Strange Times garnered very favorable reviews, and won the Betty Trask Award 2007. This second one, The Quickening Maze is just as successful, even more so when it got shortlisted for the Booker. It is a historical fiction, just like his other shortlisted Booker candidate

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-2653888560421560442009-10-30T09:01:00.000+08:002009-10-30T09:01:40.369+08:00

The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam I’ve been a fan of Jane Gardam’s writing ever since I came upon her early books in the British Council Library, like God on the Rocks. I found her stories very moving and her writing very accessible and well-wrought. I still do, especially now, with her latest novel, The Man in the Wooden Hat. She has reprised her most successful character since Faith

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-77431018490447855462009-10-28T09:02:00.002+08:002009-10-28T09:12:08.604+08:00

The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker My rating: 5 of 5 stars In The Anthologist American writer Nicholson Baker writes about my hobby horse, poetry. He waxes throughout his new novel about meter and beats. Not all the time, of course. There has to be a story in there somewhere, or it’ll be merely a teaching text for poetry. However, the main character, one Paul Chowder (like the milky

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-55821179124879006572009-10-24T11:31:00.000+08:002009-10-24T11:31:08.642+08:00

The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville Kate Grenville’s book The Secret River was shortlisted for the Booker in 2006, but I haven’t yet read it. The Lieutenant is my first encounter with Grenville’s work. That’s because I’m wary of historical fiction. However, after Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall I’ve become more accepting of this genre, especially when it sometimes meld over with literature, the hard

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-50265614324015591222009-10-21T16:17:00.001+08:002009-10-21T16:18:50.164+08:00

I'm going to remember Bobby during the good times, when he was so alive. Bobby was (I nearly wrote is) really an accident. How so? In human terms, that would mean he was born out of wedlock, etc, love child.  He looked quite like his daddy, the same kind of marking.  His mother is feral. She is one of the daughters of Bobby's granny, Mimi. Bobby somehow managed to avoid being nearly drowned in

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-55229187103371027322009-10-21T10:34:00.002+08:002009-10-21T10:37:58.747+08:00

My beautiful boy died in his sleep last night. He was not well for less than two days back.  At first I thought it was just a minor stomach ache.  Then the second day, he became lethargic.  I thought, like my other cats, he would rally and be back into form by a few days. Yesterday he lay the whole day next to his bowl of water, but he wasn't drinking from it any more. I still didn't think

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-8373430171996474562009-10-18T08:40:00.002+08:002009-10-18T08:43:03.544+08:00

Alfred and Emily by Doris Lessing My rating: 4 of 5 stars Is it a novel, that is, fiction? Is it non-fiction, a twin biography of her parents? In fact Alfred & Emily is both. It is kept in the fiction shelves, among other true works of that genre, in the National Library (KL); the librarians presume it to be this. The first half of the book reads just like fiction. It tells the story of

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-30575534189696475502009-10-11T09:56:00.006+08:002009-10-11T13:11:49.624+08:00

My Driver by Maggie Gee In this new novel of Maggie we meet Mary Tendo, of old, quite a character, from her last work, My Housekeeper. Mary was, then, the housekeeper of Vanessa, an English writer of middling success. Now, in this story she’s back in her own country, in Uganda. She’s still a housekeeper, but of a different kind, somewhat elevated, in fact. She works for an international

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-74964767377563954752009-09-12T10:25:00.000+08:002009-09-12T10:25:00.487+08:00

The Road Home by Rose Tremain I’m into the first three pages of the book, and I’ve begun to feel, very heavily, for Lev. An Eastern European, he is going to England, to do any kind of work. His wife has died, and his daughter needs essentials, like clothes and shoes; well, everything, as Lev says, “England is my hope”. He thinks “the English were lucky”, and that it is now his time to be

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-24964315056067588932009-09-04T11:16:00.003+08:002009-09-04T13:01:43.673+08:00

Wolf Hall by Hilary MantelMy rating: 5 of 5 starsAt first I’m a little ambivalent about Wolf Hall, notwithstanding all the rave reviews Hilary Mantel is getting for her 600-odd-page historical novel about Thomas Cromwell. The thing is, the way she uses ‘he’ – just that alone – for Cromwell, even when there is another male character present. This can be a bit troublesome, when you take a break

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-7755852629133136062009-09-02T10:19:00.002+08:002009-09-02T10:21:27.777+08:00

The Deportees and other stories by Roddy Doyle-How’s things?-GrandLike the immigrants and the sons and daughters of such people in Ireland in the book, they are apprised of this slang, now.Also, like the illegal immigrant in the story I Understand I might even say ‘fuck that’, as he does when his bus goes past without stopping. He gets the approval of the natives, who approve, telling him, ‘

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-60294401318921436922009-08-29T16:23:00.002+08:002009-08-29T16:25:22.247+08:00

The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda GrantMy rating: 4 of 5 starsNear the ending of the book, Miranda tells us “The clothes you wear are a metamorphosis. They change you from the outside in.”All throughout the book The Clothes On Their Backs, clothes play a big part in the story of Miranda, daughter of Hungarian Jewish immigrants, and, specifically, niece of the notorious slum lord of 60s London

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-40612239226248313152009-08-24T13:53:00.002+08:002009-08-24T14:02:11.239+08:00

What Is the What by Dave EggersOne time, in my pre-teens, playing hide-and-seek I crawled under a bed. There, among the dust motes and other objects thrown under it, I found a book. It had illustrations, and not the kind little boys should be exposed to. And I’m not talking about porn. There were some pictures of bodies piled up hide in Nazi concentration camps. This little boy read the book's

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-29107560725904400172009-08-14T10:07:00.002+08:002009-08-14T10:09:24.424+08:00

Solo by Rana DasguptaIn Dana Dasgupta’s first book Tokyo Cancelled passengers are stranded in Tokyo. Having nothing to do, they tell each other stories. However, they have a tenuous connection to each other, or the passengers: each has his own stand-alone story. This makes the book more a collection of stories than a novel. But in Solo, Dana’s new book, the stories seem just as tenuous, but

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-66809920056402583242009-08-10T14:20:00.002+08:002009-08-10T14:22:17.983+08:00

The Gum Thief: A Novel by Douglas CouplandMy rating: 4 of 5 starsThe last Douglas Coupland book I read was Jpod, which I enjoyed tremendously because it was very funny. Coupland's next book after this is The Gum Thief.The Gum Thief is built upon missives as the narrative, like those 16th or 17th century novels. Which is a little odd, or old-fashioned, for a novel these days, with the internet

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-48822024334959417912009-08-05T13:17:00.001+08:002009-08-05T13:18:27.091+08:00

Being Emily by Anne DonovanBeing Emily is all about one Scots girl, Fiona, who is obsessed with Emily Bronte. Fiona has been living the normal life, with mum, da, lezzie aunt, brother Patrick (later gay Patric)and the two terrible twins, until mum suddenly died at childbirth and Fiona's life takes a turn for the worse.Da breaks down, takes to drinking. One day he nearly burns all alive in their

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-886132955152302072009-07-30T13:24:00.001+08:002009-07-30T13:26:00.802+08:00

The Accidental Woman by Jonathan CoeMy rating: 4 of 5 starsA very short book, so a novella, really, unlike Coe's immense 'What a Carve Up'. Very, very funny, even if the main character, Maria, is dead boring, if in real life. But in this book, Coe has another character, an omnipresent omni-everything narrator, telling us, right in our face, what is happening to Maria, in a very personal and

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-74120107463822875942009-07-07T08:58:00.003+08:002009-07-07T09:21:46.554+08:00

Another lovely sentence, found, last night, in The Children's Book:Philip is learning, for the first time, how to ride a bicycle.Philip set off and fell off and set off and fell off and set off and pedalled half-way round the clearing, and fell off, and set off and rode, a little wobbly, right round the clearing. This time, when Byatt uses the "and this ... and that ..." construction, she misses

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-90400756902011221662009-07-05T10:19:00.006+08:002009-07-05T13:08:23.021+08:00

Just started reading A S Byatt's Children's Book late last night, for my review for Starmag this month. A couple of pages on, and I found a gem of a sentence. It put me in mind of the alliterative sentences I came across in Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse:The whole of the thick stem was wrought of fantastic foliage, amongst which men and monsters, centaurs and monkeys, writhed, grinned,

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-71235953415712111432009-07-05T08:07:00.002+08:002009-07-05T08:10:16.466+08:00

OnenessBy Leon WingHe’s fit - he won,And flips a full fifty-oneTo his feet and feelsHis nose on his toes,Wondering if this isA one-time feat, notA wont, a oneness if heStill wants once won

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-71342211168332986582009-07-02T08:24:00.004+08:002009-07-02T08:50:32.593+08:00

Quite an interesting argument gone on in Fiction Desk over Edward Hogan's use of the present tense in his award-winning novel Blackmoor.The blogger there has issues with writers using the present tense, saying they often utilise it in long sentences. Hogan, however, redeems himself somewhat by not doing that, but he loses it with bits of his prose when he exhorts the reader to look at something,

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-35135829948879063372009-06-29T08:30:00.004+08:002009-06-29T08:35:24.466+08:00

2666 by Roberto BolañoMy reviewAccording to Reiter, the main character in Book Five, the last book, “Semblance was an occupying force of reality”. This is how a reader should approach Bolaño’s immense 2666, which comprises five books in all. As with the faux reality in most writings, from literary to chick lit, to crime, for instance, the reader expects to read dialogue that is encompassed

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-23256427743235320992009-06-09T10:51:00.003+08:002009-06-09T10:55:57.235+08:00

Beijing Coma by Ma Jian My review From the first page on, life literally flashes by the protagonist. He is told: ‘This is a clear sign that now on you’re going to have to take life seriously.’Dai Wei, a Beijing University student, has been shot in the head in the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. The story proper begins as the narrator switches to Dai Wei, now in a coma.We journey with Wei,

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-836674612337454182009-06-02T09:09:00.003+08:002009-06-02T09:18:51.123+08:00

It's here, or rather there, in the UK and US only.But, still, it's nice to know there is another one. (Drool, drool)It looks like an iPod-dy e-reader, only 7.2 by 4.6 by 0.4 inches, comes in a few colours. It even has a little wheelie (well, not really) control on the right bottom corner.One thing that's not a plus for me is it only reads PDF and text files.

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-78285136073399142312009-05-26T09:05:00.000+08:002009-05-26T09:06:22.448+08:00

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-89988356454590593172009-05-22T13:09:00.006+08:002009-05-22T13:16:32.022+08:00

Writers are now getting younger and younger.  And I'm not talking about teenagers.Nine-year-old Spanish Manuel Alguacil has published Thok, the Vain Dragon. Well, it's not a novel, or even a novella, at just 36 pages. He claimed to have been inspired by Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter series of books.Now, I must rest, I feel so tired ... and so old ...

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-21490450672622812332009-05-16T12:31:00.005+08:002009-05-16T12:38:08.234+08:00

No, not those made from real penguins.I love this chair.  Wish I could purchase it, but its £69.95 each.  Have a browse at the other models.  The backs of each have a reproduction of a classic Penguin cover.This is the way to sit on a book!

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-20477441153170012052009-05-09T08:54:00.004+08:002009-05-09T09:00:08.710+08:00

Brit poet Felix Dennis recites a poem about poor little piggies locked up for swine fluThis little piggyThis little piggy caught a virusThis little piggy's bleary eyedThis little piggy has swine fluThis little piggy has diedAnd this little piggy went wee wee wee wee.You lock us up, it's such a dirty trickWe never see the sunIt's barbaric.You ought to let us out and do it quickAnd then we'd never

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-59094406553648989792009-05-07T08:06:00.003+08:002009-05-07T08:11:03.403+08:00

Amazon has just released a bigger-screen Kindle, called Kindle DX, in the US, of course, where else. So we Malaysians here never got to experience the first Kindle, and probably never will this new one. Anyway, just for drooling sake, you can read all about it here.

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-81084751333683604892009-04-24T08:20:00.006+08:002009-04-29T11:40:37.486+08:00

The Expresso Book Machine has opened for business in London.No liquids coming out of this one - it's books!! It prints over 100 pages a minute, clamps them together, binds, guillotines and finally spews the finished book out.  Time names it among one of the best inventions of the year.Right now the machine is printing only past-copyright works, like most of the classics you find in Project

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-77236777269053928992009-04-22T09:14:00.004+08:002009-04-22T09:21:16.418+08:00

It's Earth Day today!!To save some trees, instead of reading from their pulped bodies to make the paper in your print book, go read a ebook for once.Get one from hundreds - all legal - in this site.

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-55469850089159447832009-04-20T12:49:00.004+08:002009-04-20T12:57:23.824+08:00

What a novel (I have to use this pun) way to promote your book.John Wray, whom I read before, from a short piece in Granta's Best of young American Novelists 2, boarded an L train heading to Brooklyn, and read, through a megaphone, excerpts from his new book, Lowboy.

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-16951337888261078002009-04-03T09:27:00.003+08:002009-04-03T09:46:59.830+08:00

There's a rumour going round the Web that iTunes would be selling ebooks, for Apple's iPhone, naturally.An April Fool's joke, this one, when any kind of out of the ordinary news on that particular day  should be, rightly, taken with a bit of salt?It is true, now, that the iPhone has been gaining popularity over the Kindle and Sony Reader for reading ebooks.  Apparently some publishers have

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-84022130074346165872009-03-30T14:00:00.002+08:002009-03-30T14:05:12.315+08:00

The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom My review rating: 5 of 5 starsYou might assume from the title that a novel about some missing library books is not a strong premise for drawing readers. The first chapter, though, belies the fun that is about to start following it. Our unlikely hero is an overweight Jewish Englishman, also an Irishman via his father, with a country for a first name.

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-45224973340466297522009-03-12T09:39:00.003+08:002009-03-12T09:56:44.561+08:00

UK's charity which promotes reading, Booktrust, has just installed Patrick Ness as its writer in residence - virtually.Ness won a children's book award recently, the 2008 Booktrust Teenage Prize, for The Knife of Never Letting Go.Here's how Ness puts it, as Booktrust's first-ever online writer in residence, rather self-effacingly: "It’s an online writer-in-residency, so it’s not like I’m getting

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-29997697386723321302009-02-25T09:28:00.005+08:002009-02-25T09:39:01.463+08:00

Earlier on I posted that A L Kennedy blogged for New Stateman.  I have been a bit dissappointed with the irregularity of her postings.  Her last posting is still about the Queen's elastoplast dress - and that was ages ago, back in January 5.However, luckily she has started blogging for The Guardian.  The Guardian says she'd be posting fortnightly.  So, let's wait and see if she gives us a new

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-21623342119239102692009-02-10T09:33:00.002+08:002009-02-10T09:37:45.828+08:00

When the 51st Grammy showed Katy Perry sing, yesterday.They butchered her song, 'I Kissed a Girl', throughout her performance, muting off 'girl'.If any viewer was new to Katy Perry or her song, he might have been guessing: Was she saying "I kissed her ass?"Well, that word is one of many our censors here have get to grips with in their oh-so-tough job, so that our telly viewers won't fall by the

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-35270668260281009552009-01-17T11:13:00.004+08:002009-01-17T11:20:24.334+08:00

My first posting for 2009. Long overdue? Not really, when it's only minutes away when I read this, some very helpful advice on how to practise writing poetry, from Poetry Foundation:Here's the gist of the 5 ways:1) Write everyday. 2) Learn poems you love. 3) Cultivate silence. 4) Embrace revision. 5) Practice gratitude. Go to Mystery & Birds: 5 Ways to Practice Poetry for the full text.

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-60088524635581395672008-12-22T09:41:00.004+08:002008-12-22T09:48:49.324+08:00

My Literary Career So Farby Adrian MitchellAs I prowled through ParenthesesI met an Robin and a OwlMy Grammarboots they thrilledlike beesMy Vowelhat did gladly growlTis my delight each Friedegg NightTo chomp a Verbal SandwichScots Consonants light up my PantsAnd marinade my Heart in LanguageAlphabet Soup was all my joy!From Dreadfast up to WinnertimeI swam, a naked PushkinboyUp wodka vaterfalls

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-77212329132534749232008-12-20T13:10:00.005+08:002008-12-20T13:21:20.603+08:00

Just received issue 104, which is supposed to be in UK book stores next year, in January, according to Guardian. However, I didn't get 103.  The subscriptions dept hasn't replied me yet: probably it's Xmas holiday already in London.  So, I won't be expecting any response till January.Come January, promised Granta, on the last page of 104, subscribers would be able to access all the past 100-plus

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-59575493797894767052008-12-15T09:15:00.009+08:002008-12-15T09:40:14.915+08:00

Just because Blur is coming back as a group, and doing a reunion gig, doesn't mean The Smiths would follow suit, does it?According to UK paper Telegraph, further, according to its rival paper Daily Mirror, it's a high possibility:"The very fact that they are talking again is the most hopeful thing in years," said an unnamed music industry source quoted by the Daily Mirror."A lot of people think

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-36353146497615507712008-12-11T09:38:00.006+08:002008-12-11T09:51:30.369+08:00

I really couldn't believe it when I heard that a games company is bundling a hundred ebook Classics into its Nintendo DS machine.And, it's always the Japanese who are doing this kind of thing, preempting the West and America.  Strange thing here is they are doing this literacy promotion to benefit the Europeans initially, and with mostly English - read British - books and plays.The installed

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-5882711639939414092008-12-05T10:44:00.004+08:002008-12-05T10:58:44.782+08:00

Apparently A L Kennedy, the prize-winning Scots author of Day, blogs, for New Statesman.She can be quite funny (a quality carried over to her blog writing from her stand-up comedy?).  Go read her latest posting, in which she thinks her "usual role as Temporary Village Idiot", in front of her creative writing class in Warwick University. She assumes a few of them are afraid of her, and that her

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-23458865199398198332008-11-26T10:56:00.002+08:002008-11-26T11:00:32.665+08:00

If you love cats, as I do, you'll enjoy - and lol - laugh-out-loud - over the pics of really, really funny cats: lolcats.net

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-70968856966757267622008-11-11T09:33:00.007+08:002008-11-11T09:45:44.124+08:00

I bought Andrew Davidson's The Gargoyle, from Kino, the Canongate edition. Much cheaper than the US hardback, and very much prettier with the black edges.If you want to know more about the book and the author click here.Here's the trailer, from his website:Here's another, a much better - or interesting - one, with the author telling us what his book is all about:

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-49114374529483650582008-10-30T12:47:00.003+08:002008-10-30T13:03:07.140+08:00

Google is set to start a service where, instead of downloading music, like with iTunes, you download books, ebooks, that is.An agreement to realise this is in the works with Google and key players in the US book industry.How this works to benefit authors is : Whatever amount the downloader pays via the Net to Google's iTunes-like new site, 63% (Google pocketing 37%) will be passed on to the Book

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-9051074163025390042008-10-24T14:54:00.006+08:002008-10-24T15:07:56.169+08:00

According to Forbes, "It's official: The iPhone is more popular than Amazon.com's Kindle. And not just in the obvious categories like listening to music, browsing the Web or the other applications where Kindle barely competes. Now, the iPhone is also muscling into Amazon's home turf: reading books."Apparently a new ebook reader, Stanza, downloadable free from Apple App Store, if you own an iPhone

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-3644941550062150062008-10-04T12:34:00.009+08:002008-10-04T12:54:18.777+08:00

When I just - last week - received the very very very late GRANTA 102, I checked in GRANTA online that the 103 issue is already out.And this 102 is only the replacement copy. The one first sent out from UK never made an appearance at my doorstep.I'm anticipating a long long long wait of 4 months - or never - for this new copy to drop into my mail box. If never I have to go through all this

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-83522951113779189092008-10-02T13:09:00.007+08:002008-10-02T13:34:50.914+08:00

This is the first time I've laid eyes upon Time Out Kuala Lumpur, not in print but in the web. A diehard fan of Kinokuniya, especially the KL branch, I zoomed straight into this link.To my amusement I found this little write-up:'Big, bright bookshop with a huge selection of books with sections dedicated to various topics. The upper level is specifically for art and design along with a cozy cafe

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-42817372480031330132008-09-28T07:49:00.005+08:002008-09-28T08:04:31.598+08:00

Last night I was watching BBC's reality show The Real ..., about Milan, when the bottom of the screen ran the breaking news of Paul Newman dead at 83 from cancer. This morning I found this in my post. The thing is this poem was written 2 years back, as an elegy, which becomes so germane to this now:This Is Not an Elegyby Catherine PierceAt sixteen, I was illegal and brilliant,my fingernails

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-54459333920048367672008-09-27T12:56:00.003+08:002008-09-27T13:25:18.270+08:00

Toby Litt's next novel is going to be a sci-fi.  Going to be called, simply, Journey into Space, its title is a natural progession into alphabet J, from the title of his present book, I Play the Drums in a Band Called Okay.Why sci-fi, one'd ask? (Why not? Jeanette Winterson wrote one for her last novel, called Stone Gods, which I enjoyed tremendously because she still stuck to her imitable way

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-14670229778704979282008-09-15T08:21:00.010+08:002008-09-16T09:43:17.506+08:00

From The New York Times, yesterday:"David Foster Wallace, whose darkly ironic novels, essays and short stories garnered him a large following and made him one of the most influential writers of his generation, was found dead in his California home on Friday, after apparently committing suicide, the authorities said.Mr. Wallace, 46, best known for his sprawling 1,079-page novel “Infinite Jest,”

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-42390246522212937482008-09-10T08:32:00.005+08:002008-09-10T08:53:13.291+08:00

This is so very funny. I laugh, but, really, it's all done in absolute English-stiff-upper-lip seriousness.It seems in Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital the doors of the toilets would display poems. And, on the palatable side of this, they would also display as poetry menu on the tables of the hospital's restaurant. The hospital is calling this Poetry Treatment, started this 5th of the

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-3664967339299016482008-08-28T10:55:00.008+08:002008-08-28T11:37:17.931+08:00

God forbid, Michael Jackson is going to put to music the poems of 18th century Scottish poet Robert Burns. It's going to be a collaborative effort with I'm A Celebrity contestant David Gest. He and Jackson wanted to write a musical about Burns's life, at first. He is reported to have said that Burns was their favorite poet; which was why they wanted to do the project.The only poem I know that

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-58508091412981624602008-08-26T10:14:00.007+08:002008-08-26T10:24:54.290+08:00

Gaze by Leon Wing - Upload a Document to Scribd Read this document on Scribd: Gaze by Leon Wing Click on the top right-hand section, to see the whole screen

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-25284434762303024132008-08-24T08:59:00.001+08:002008-08-24T09:00:36.157+08:00

Someone else (besides me) has written poems on his phone.Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal of India wrote his book of poems on his Blackberry. I Witness, subtitled ‘Partial Observations’, is out in India from Roli BooksAccording to Sindh Today, he says: "‘With the enormous experience one has gone through, words find their own way. The cell phone was a handy gadget, a dream come true."

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-90111149153488709172008-08-23T12:43:00.006+08:002008-08-23T13:00:57.500+08:00

It's about time the West emulates Japan on reading from other than a book.I'm talking about reading from a phone, not text or emails, but stories, just as the Japanese have already been doing with their mobile phone novels or keitai shosetsu. From my last post you'd realise I have been doing just that with my Nokia - I'm turning Japanese, I really think so, sings an 80s song.A Brit audio book

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-24027048464502852732008-08-21T11:24:00.006+08:002008-08-21T12:40:41.681+08:00

I really enjoy reading from my Nokia phone these days. I would connect to my Gmail for the phone. Especially since I have been getting short fiction delivered to my mail box daily (well, almost), from a site http://www.everydayfiction.com/.If I don't or cannot connect using my phone (credits low or no more) I usually cut and paste the stories into Word, after retrieving them in my gmail from my

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-53858608970674901462008-08-09T12:34:00.002+08:002008-08-09T12:41:01.272+08:00

I started a new site, for writers and poets to showcase their work.Right now there are 3 works online, the first and earliest from me, to get the ball rolling, then Ted Mahsun's and, this morning, Yusuf Martin's.

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-82286759483602837202008-08-05T10:16:00.004+08:002008-08-13T16:21:14.675+08:00

Soon.Kate Atkinson's new book of that title is already out in the UK. Hopefully Kino will bring some copies in shortly.Meantime, enjoy watching her talk about how she writes her book. In the video she says she doesn't write to any particular genre, and doesn't want to be boxed in this way. She doesn't plot nor plan her characters.Update: 13 Aug: I just went and bought Atkinson's new book,

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-88899405887882389862008-08-02T09:39:00.005+08:002008-08-07T14:52:19.518+08:00

Amri Rohayat's new issue of Elarti:2 is out now.I have, I think (haven't got a copy yet) three pieces in it, an essay,a poem and a short story.Go to Puisi-poesy to read an extract of the essay on poetry appreciation.

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-81295452123508776212008-08-01T10:52:00.004+08:002008-08-01T10:59:27.838+08:00

Found this blog with information and serious interviews with today's poets, mostly American. It has a rather quirky name: http://menoftheweb.blogspot.com/ What does theblog name make you think it is about, first time seeing it?

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-64652771719310031752008-07-30T09:08:00.003+08:002008-08-07T14:48:59.021+08:00

My review of Ma Jian's Beijing Coma was up in Starmag's monthly read. Read it online here.

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-49779109862180850442008-07-29T10:13:00.007+08:002008-08-08T11:07:29.616+08:00

Carrie walking down the steps of the New York Library, with some booksLast night I watched Sex and the City. In one scene, when they were snug in bed, with their bedtime reads, Mr Big asked Carrie, "Are you the last person in New York to take a book out from the library?" (or something to that effect if my memory serves me well - which doesn't sometimes - age, age!)I feel like that sometimes,

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-21904785693405269512008-07-27T09:30:00.004+08:002008-07-27T09:43:47.152+08:00

Last evening at dinner with Sharon, Chet, Eric Forbes, Robert Rayner and Eugene, after the readings at Seksan, at a Thai restaurant, I broached the Sony Reader. Most of us were quite enthusiastic about it. It'll be selling in the UK for 199 pounds, probably about 1200 to 1400 ringgit here, where is quite reasonable and not too expensive, we think. Perhaps MPH could be persuaded to bring a few

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-52736567545718533822008-07-23T11:07:00.002+08:002008-07-23T11:16:34.771+08:00

According to the Observer last Sunday, Joanna Lumley ‘attacked contemporary poetry, dismissing “so much” of it as maddeningly obscure and, at worst, self-indulgent. At the other extreme, she argued that less demanding poetry risked becoming humdrum and commonplace.’For her ‘It is a rare modern poem that achieves the balance between being challenging and accessible.’One Ian McMillan, who could be

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-31250609418638530192008-07-04T10:11:00.004+08:002008-08-07T14:40:19.179+08:00

May ScoreBy Leon WingThe buff on his calendar is swagging by this May score.It cannot stay, even withOil of Ulay.The bags under thefive’s and eight’s are packed.Where does one gofrom hisstory?Closer to the six’s and seven’s,When he leavesfour everhigh above the ground © Leon Wing

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-27133475713282062312008-06-14T10:21:00.004+08:002008-08-07T14:43:52.255+08:00

The do's and don't of poetry:'There are steps that we can take to improve, the most important being that we should read our poetry aloud to hear it in a more objective fashion than silently inside our heads. Otherwise, our glaring errors are skated over by our self-conscious psyches. We should also read more of other people's poetry (aloud, of course) - and it should be good poetry, which doesn't

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-91618922625723827792008-05-31T11:01:00.004+08:002008-06-01T09:10:16.666+08:00

I had a lovely surprise when I went to collect Alasdair's Gray's new hardback Old Men in Love on Thursday night at Kino. Alasdair wrote his name in biro on the blue front fly leaf. He must have pressed the pen nip down very hard. The page beneath has a clear imprint of his signature.Incidentally, the book is bound and printed in Italy by L.E.G.O., who might be the same Legoprint, who also does

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-29636241047968966052008-05-23T13:00:00.003+08:002008-05-23T13:07:10.956+08:00

Time for some updates, after soooo loooong -- My article about the KL Alternative Book Fair appeared in the Reads pages of Starmag, on 18th May. You can read it online, as well.- End of the month, Amri's bilingual literary mag would be out. I have an essay, a poem and a short story in it somehere.- recently received my Granta 100, after I waited for a few months and the subs dept kindly DHL me

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-74667793978888348692008-04-02T14:43:00.002+08:002008-08-07T14:46:03.732+08:00

Droop Tripby Leon WingI'm not tripping anyway anywhere so why have Ipacked bagsunder my eyes

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-49056214203330297612008-03-30T10:53:00.005+08:002008-08-08T11:38:54.692+08:00

Toby Litt's last novel Hospital won Second Prize in the V&A Illustration Awards 2007.One Paul Hornschemeier (in association with Nathan Burton and Toby Litt) replied to Toby's request for an illustrator for the book. He's the graphic novelist for the 'Forlorn Funnies' series of graphic novels and comics. He's also done graphic work for CNN and Life.Paul's final graphics was based on Toby's own

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-87567239419570442452008-03-24T08:32:00.002+08:002008-03-24T08:34:46.940+08:00

Here are a few pics taken at the March 08 readings at Seksan Gallery, Bangsar. Afraid I missed taking any of Wenan Poon; arrived late cause of the heavy downpour that afternoon.

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-17404619866354721492008-01-27T09:40:00.000+08:002008-01-27T09:43:54.627+08:00

Here are the pics for the 3rd Anniversary Seksan Reading

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-7205892117261553872007-12-29T10:48:00.000+08:002007-12-29T10:54:04.365+08:00

So excited! Granta's 100th issue will have the following writers, and it'll be having poems, as well! Out early next month, so I'll be anxiously watching out for the postman.William Boyd, IntroductionJayne Anne Phillips, Solly and Lark Harold Pinter, PoemJames Fenton, On Buying a ClavichordCraig Raine, How Snow FallsHanif Kureishi, Something to Tell YouMario Vargas Llosa, Three Character

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-83932976171945113252007-11-26T14:36:00.001+08:002008-08-08T11:35:29.620+08:00

He can legitimately be called famous, now that he is longlisted in this year's Man Booker for his first book, The Gift of Rain. I bumped into Tan Twan Eng, also wandering around, like me, in Kino this morning, before 11:30 am. (Actually I was behind him - no, not stalking - just happened to recognise him.) He had just been to the Aussie High Comm. No, he wasn't going there on some book tour; it

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-83981088518085321062007-10-30T11:07:00.001+08:002008-08-08T11:35:56.802+08:00

At Tower Records, in KLCC, yesterday, I saw a DVD collection of ABBA hits having two price stickers. One was for a promotional price of RM39.90, from a local record distributor. Next to this was a sticker put on by the staff - for RM59.90. I ask you, this is blatant cheating!

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-32590776707449007652007-10-27T10:19:00.001+08:002007-10-27T10:32:05.279+08:00

In one episode of the BBC's Derren Brown he got some actor to pick a BMX bicycle for his (the actor's) birthday present. Derren deliberately prepared the actor for this subconcious act by placing all the right hints and wordings into his conversation. I find that this is exactly how good poets weave their own magic into their poems, by putting in the right wordings, rhymes, rhythms, meters and

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-72331346516879145152007-10-07T09:23:00.000+08:002007-10-07T09:25:37.670+08:00

Africa at the back of my houseIn Africa behind my housewild cats moan and drop their litteramong the lawless leaves.As Africa far out there heeds western winter promises,here among the jungle hours-old mothers predate prepared meals.I mind the growling mews, pushing the gate into this promised Edenwith eastern oblation.(early draft)© Leon Wing

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-26419299846362665632007-10-02T15:35:00.001+08:002008-08-08T11:36:41.809+08:00

From a previous posting (if anyone actually read it) I wrote that I bought Nicola Barker's Darkmans, at a little less than a hundred ringgit. Yesterday at Kino I saw new copies - the same edition - being offered for just RM69.90 and with a 20% off, to boot!I went to to find customer service to ask why my copy, which I bought not more than 3 weeks ago, was priced so high. The personnel, at first

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-66384985744198659202007-09-07T08:34:00.000+08:002007-09-07T09:43:47.268+08:00

The shortlist announced yesterday:Darkmans, by Nicola BarkerOn Chesil Beach, by Ian McEwanMister Pip, by Lloyd JonesAnimal's People, by Indra SinhaThe Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin HamidThe Gathering, by Anne EnrightI'm rather excited about Nicola Barker's Darkmans. Just collected the huge tome a few days back, from Kino, having ordered/booked it since June. The hardback is a hefty over-

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-65672059295456200722007-08-30T10:18:00.000+08:002007-08-30T10:23:20.242+08:00

I know, this is already past. The week I was going to upload the pics, the thunderstorm at the start of August wreaked havoc on my broadband, again, since a month back. And I had to call TMNET every day to complain, till after a week they sent a technician to check the port new my place. It's OK now but the connection still goes off once in a while. If it's on the speed is half or less than

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-43425583354751191002007-08-15T09:15:00.000+08:002007-08-15T10:15:50.150+08:00

I don't think I can do this, bring month-old kittens into SPCA, knowing they might have to be put down. It's too wrenching.Last weekend I found three kittens near the back of the house abused by some child spawn of the Devil. He - I should call him it - had poured water over them and thrown one into a filthy drain. I found it clinging to the side of the drain for dear life. I picked it up,

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-14513266091814828192007-08-08T08:37:00.000+08:002007-08-08T08:45:06.160+08:00

This is so happening! The Gift Of Rain by Tan Twan Eng (Myrmidon) is one of the books selected for this year's Booker longlist.The rest are:Darkmans by Nicola Barker (Fourth Estate)Self Help by Edward Docx (Picador)The Gift Of Rain by Tan Twan Eng (Myrmidon)The Gathering by Anne Enright (Jonathan Cape)The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (Hamish Hamilton)The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-81568249034635029192007-07-24T10:22:00.000+08:002007-07-24T10:44:19.494+08:00

If you want to go off your Kentucky Fried chicken go read the pages in Marina Lewycka's new novel, Two Caravans, in which the character Tomasz was duped into working in a chicken farm. You see from his POV the horrific conditions in which chickens were raised for the fast food and supermarket industries: crammed in a warehouse, with no space to move, just eat and grow fat for the final

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-226724343366560332007-07-10T13:07:00.001+08:002008-08-07T14:44:38.783+08:00

Got NW15 (New Writing 15) yesterday, from Kino, as per usual where I always go for my book-candies. Actually, I already booked it last month, right after finding out its release in UK, calling Kino and booking 2 other books besides, Maggie Gee's Blue and Nicola Barker's Darkmans.There, in Kino, strolling around, I thought I'd check to see if NW15 was on the shelves - and it was! And only one copy

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12031724.post-63352769470559177502007-07-07T09:29:00.001+08:002008-08-08T11:37:26.721+08:00

49-er’s past 249-er, past it, postage, still going, gettingthere, in time, feting life still here, this one herestill standing, passovered,passed the test oftime

Leon Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592130736448886164noreply@blogger.com0