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Books you read when travelling

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Post time 25-1-2005 11:57 PM | Show all posts |Read mode
While on train , bus or airplane on long journeys...you'll see people reading  , yes,  even here in Malaysia which is notorious for people not reading anything apart from  silly gossipy  magazines ..you'll notice a few rapt in their paperbacks....and I'm obsessed by the need to know what these people are reading... it's kind of like trying to peek into people's souls in a way... I have this urge to come up to the reader and flip the cover to know what the title is...

But more often than not I feel dissapointed when I finally get to glimpse the title as in most cases the books are just long version of silly gossipy magazines...most of the books are those formulaic and saccharine romances  or thrillers....not that I have anything against these authors... they are some of the most clever people and they know they can make loads and loads of money by giving more of the same to silly uncritical readers...people like John Grisham, Stephen King, Danielle Steel  the late Barbara Cartland...these people know what they are doing are not art..but just feeding people  macdonalds in words....

Hardly anybody seems to read real books...but sometimes you do meet people reading some unexpected books...I once saw this beautiful lady reading William Boyd's "Stars and Bars"...Boyd isn't exactly Doestoevky of course but he's one of the better popular novelists...Over the years I've read several of his books and I have the following in my collection : Good Man in Africa (1981) An Ice-Cream War (1982) Brazzaville Beach(1990)
The Destiny of Natalie 'X' and Other Stories (1995) and Armadillo (1998). The girl I mentioned above  was in Dover though,  so perhaps not very suprising to find people reading good books here..in England I mean....though judging from the top 20 books in major papers like the Times or The Guardian quickly show that even English people mostly read rubbish...

Back here, quite recently I was with this engineer friend on a flight and I noticed he was reading a thick book with a bown paper cover. Now here's someone reading an interesting book! I thought,  porn  may be..a brave man to read porn on a plane I thought....he's more interesting than I originally thought...I thought...I asked him what he's reading but he kind of refused to say much...I waited till he nodded off and flipped the inside cover..and lo and behold! he's reading Harry Potter!!!..but sensible enough to cover the cover page with brown paper......

Anyway, for me whenever I'm travelling I usually bring several books...at least one fiction and one non fiction..If I go overseas lonely planet is a must of course...On my most recent Trip to Cambodia in December I brought with me Bill Bryson's Sunburned Country..a quite hilarious travel book on Australia and a Vonnegut paperback.

I'm looking forward to my next travel which is in two weeks' time to London and what I'm really looking forward to is on the way back...I'll fly to Moscow and spend a couple of days there and than take a 6 day trans-siberian train journey to Beijing...I'll have plenty of times to kill and need to start thinking which books to bring...I'm thinking of bringing several volumes of GRANTA, may be Marmaduke Pikthall's translation "The Glorius Quran"  and the highly interesting book about Jews and anti-semitism that I'm currently reading ..."CHUTZPAH" by Alan M. Dershowitz. An interesting comment by one reviewer in Amazon.com has this to say about Jews:

The essential question is... Are his people persecuted because they are obnoxious or are they obnoxious because they are persecuted?
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Post time 26-1-2005 03:34 AM | Show all posts
currently taking Malay Dilemma everywhere and trying to finish it ASAP bila tah nak abis ... isk
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m_vaughn This user has been deleted
Post time 26-1-2005 09:43 AM | Show all posts
sekarang ni tengah baca islam hadhari dari ustz ashaari... nak tau jugak pandangan dia pasal islam hadhari ni... baru balik dari kampung raya...travel dengan train... baca buku itu lah...
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Post time 26-1-2005 11:05 AM | Show all posts
hi greenbottle..
well.. i'm one of those that you can categorise as the 'silly uncritical reader'.. what can i say, I enjoyed light reading.. especially when travelling.. may be you enjoyed good books, well..most people don't... so.. please, if you want to brag about good books that you enjoyed.. just tell..share opinion.. there's no need to insult other readers...
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Shimmy This user has been deleted
Post time 26-1-2005 11:19 AM | Show all posts
bila travelling, tengah tunggu flight misalnya, baca buku serius memang tak boleh, takkan kosentrate.. so i will bring with me fiction books.. last travel balik hometown dulu, baca citer Heidi, clasik nyer citer hehehe
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 Author| Post time 26-1-2005 11:50 AM | Show all posts
Dear periwinkle (nice nick...)

I'm sorry if you feel that way about my posting...never mean to brag or insult anybody..but who am I to judge ? I read for pleasure basically..and sometimes fluffy stuff don't give me much pleasure anymore...

But thanks to those that respond...I do love to know what you all read while travelling and why??
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Post time 26-1-2005 06:12 PM | Show all posts
kalau travel suka baca magazine je... rasanyer tak boleh nak baca dalam plane ke train.. pening pala ahh
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Post time 26-1-2005 06:14 PM | Show all posts
Originally posted by Greenbottle3 at 26/1/05 11:50 AM:
Dear periwinkle (nice nick...)

I'm sorry if you feel that way about my posting...never mean to brag or insult anybody..but who am I to judge ? I read for pleasure basically..and sometimes fluffy ...

:ah:u're just giving ur strong opinion, that's all:bgrin:

:malu'm guilty on charge of the crimes mentioned above....shud I throw myself off a cliff or sumthin'?:cak:

when travelling, we tend to like doing light reading...mostly women, I think...coz I do think men like to read heavy stuff...no matter where...
I'm not being sexist or what:cool:

my pea-sized brain is too small 4 much heavier stuff, I think:gila:

ps. what other stuffs wud u recommend 4 reading...:hmm:
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Post time 27-1-2005 09:55 AM | Show all posts
hi greenbottle..
no harm's done.. back to the topic..I'm not travelling much lately, but if I travel I would love to bring anything by Julia Quinn or Sophie Kinsella.. the stories are really funny and enjoyable...

I would love to try good books someday.. don't know when..may be you can give reviews and recommendation..I don't usually buy or read books without any recommendation.. right now I'm so much into historicals.. it's good that now kino has dedicated shelves for the category...
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RasaCinta This user has been deleted
Post time 27-1-2005 01:30 PM | Show all posts
hmm...i used to read john gray's books

now i usually pick those by F. Batmanghelidj
n other health related stuff.

not forgetting books by patti berg..which i've lost a couple of them in the hotel room..

i enjoy doing crossword puzzles actually :lol
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Post time 27-1-2005 05:23 PM | Show all posts
Chic Lit!Funny books!
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Post time 29-1-2005 11:23 AM | Show all posts
when travelling, I always have with me my lonely planet book, then depending on the no. of days of travel, will bring at least 1 book for every 2 days, I can read in a moving car, train or bus, which exasperate my hubby, so sometimes tu I can finish 1 book while travelling. My choice of litt. is chic litt/funny stuff (by the pool), romance (while travelling) and one non-fiction (on politics). More often than not I will leave the books at the hotel unless those good for keeps. The reason why coz I always head for the hotel's library when vacationing so, if I leave the books probably it will benefit other people like me.
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RasaCinta This user has been deleted
Post time 29-1-2005 02:52 PM | Show all posts


got a book i keep safely in my bag..
namanya lonely planet survival kit - Indonesia

it's great!!
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 Author| Post time 29-1-2005 06:52 PM | Show all posts
yaneng...

That's a good thing you did about leaving your books in hotel libraries (some hotels/resorts do have these ya!)...

I'm the opposite. I just can't throw away my books...I must confess...I've stolen some bibles and Buddhist books from hotels... (I know they won't mind and in fact they will be glad some people do read these books) ...

Ms serigala...err Seribulan...

One advice that I always follow is never completely trust recommendations from anybody. Book reviews ...especially by fellow writers can be a good guidance but even so don't take them wholeheartedly...

I'm going to contradict myself here...What I suggest you and anybody who live in Klang Valley is to go to BRITISH COUNCIL at jalan ampang... go and read weekend editions (Saturday & Sunday papers) especially the GUARDIAN and The TIMES...go read the book sections... These papers have some of the best writings on literary stuff... reading them make you feel ashamed reading our local NST or the STAR...let alone the malay papers...I sometimes go there too...so who knows we all can meet each other there...no that I'll ever reveal who I really am...

.
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Post time 29-1-2005 06:59 PM | Show all posts
juzz light reading cam mags or comics
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Post time 30-1-2005 12:42 AM | Show all posts
Travelling tu time bacer kalau dlm airplane la...
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m_vaughn This user has been deleted
Post time 1-2-2005 10:54 AM | Show all posts
Originally posted by seribulan at 26-1-2005 06:14 PM:

:ah:u're just giving ur strong opinion, that's all:bgrin:

:malu'm guilty on charge of the crimes mentioned above....shud I throw myself off a cliff or sumthin'?:cak:

when travelling, we t ...



:setuju: dengan kak seri... buku islam hadhari dengan politik malaysia tu saya baru aje try baca dan kebetulan masa tu saya nak travel balik kelantan... selalunya saya baca buku2 yang ringan aje...

saya selalu balik kampung dengan train, jadi saya akan pastikan saya ada paling kurang satu biji buku... kalo tak boleh beli, (ini kes kalo tak ada duit) saya sewa... kalo balik dgn train saya selalu beli tiket yang tempat tidur... itu yang paling besh... sambil baring sambil membaca...

kalo travel dengan kenderaan seperti bas atau kereta, saya surrender... mabuk laa... asyik rasa nak muntah aje kalo membaca...

berbalik pasal train, masa balik raya pose ari tu, saya tak dapat tiket tempat tidur. tiket habis... saya pulak memang ada bawak novel... sampai habis satu novel tu saya baca... tak tidur dibuatnya sampai sahur... bila dah habis baca, mata terkebil2 tak tau nak buat apa... dah la train sampai ke destinasi lambat...:bgrin: itulah antara pengalaman saya...

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Post time 1-2-2005 12:00 PM | Show all posts
Thanks Greenbottle,
Usually I will only leave behind books that I don't really enjoy and romance novels. I even found that even in small guesthouse in Ubud, Bali has a small library with books in every languages possible. Maybe books left behind by tourists travelling there and do not need the extra weight/space...
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Post time 2-9-2005 04:02 AM | Show all posts
bible... pun buku sastera jugak ya kira?
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 Author| Post time 2-9-2005 12:05 PM | Show all posts
Liesel;

Walapun saya Islam dan malah boleh di anggap extremis dalam beberapa sudut... saya suka baca buku2 ugama lain terutama bahai, buddha hindu dan kristian...

bagi saya (maaf kalau menyinggung perasaan bukan Islam) saya anggap bible salah satu cerita dongengan yang sangat menarik... saya anggap bible satu "great literature"....

Tak ada masa nak habiskan tapi saya suka New tastement (esp John) dan Book of Daniel, cerita2 dlm apocrypha kalau tak salah saya boleh tandingi Lord of the rings!!

Dan kitab2 dongeng Ramayana & mahabarata...kan ini semua sungguh menarik?
Waktu kecil2 dulu baca buku "Pendewa Lima"... ini pun di cedok dari dongengan hindu...

and of course , saya amat menyanjungi buddha...saya kadang2 terasa nak masuk experience jadi sami...tapi of course takut jadi skandal pulak...nanti orang kata saya masuk ugama buddha...   

ps :...baru beberapa hari lepas saya berkenalan dengan seorang sami buddha dari Myanma yang agak terpelajar... dia sedang ambil pHD di Sri Lanka... saya bercadang nak berkomunikasi dgn dia nak tau lebih lanjut pasal buddhism dari dia....

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