2025 Read & Heard

 Not really in the mood to read, tbh, so... 

1. Huda Fahmy - Huda F Are You?

2024 Read and Heard

1.  Suresh and Adam - Kopi Thiam Since 1988
2. Pussypedia: A Comprehensive Guide
3. Kam Raslan - Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato' Hamid Adventures
4. Daniel Mok - A Mokumentary Collection: Ais Kosong Kurang Manis
5. Nixon Siow - Like a Bo$$: Crazy Rich Guy
6. Pepper Lim - The Modern Nyonya
7. The Woke Salaryman - Crash Course on Capitalism & Money: Lessons from the World's Most Expensive City
8. Hayley Morris - Me vs. Brain: An Overthinker's Guide to Life (ePub)
9. Dr Anjali Mahto - The Skincare Bible: Your No-Nonsense Guide to Great Skin (ePub)
10. Erica Eng - Fried Rice
11. Dr Selina Dang - SCAM
12. Dean Burnett - Why Your Parents Are Driving You Up the Wall And What to Do About It

2023 Read and Heard

1. Fashionary - The Hidden Facts of Fashion
2. Asiapac Culture - Origins of Chinese Art and Craft
3. Heidi Shamsuddin - Nusantara: A Sea of Tales
4. Ernest Ng - If Malaysia was Anime: CovidBall-Z #6, Jika Malaysia Sebuah Anime: PRU-15, If Malaysia was Anime: CovidBall-Z #7, If Malaysia was Anime: CovidBall-Z #8, If Malaysia was Anime: CovidBall-Z #9
5. Syarifah Nadhirah - Recalling Forgotten Tastes: Of illustrated edible plants, food and memories
6. Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Griffin McElroy - Everybody Has a Podcast (except you): A How-to Guide from the First Family of Podcasting
7. Tim Burton - The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories
8. Jian Goh - Once Upon a Miao 4 
9. The Worst-Case Scenario Handbook:Paranormal

2022 Read & Heard

Bought a lot of books, just haven't been in the mood to flip through 'em. 

1. Rachel Feltman - Been There, Done That: A Rousing History of Sex (ePub)
2. Suffian Hakim - Harris bin Potter and the Stoned Philosopher 
   
3. Thom Yorke & Stanley Donwood - Fear Stalks the Land! A Commonplace Book
4. Chaz Hutton - A Sticky Note Guide to Life: Bite-Sized Observations You Didn't Know You Needed
5. Debbie Tung - Everything is OK
6. Dayana Wong - Penang Makan: Heritage Street Food Recipes
7. Calm: The Magic of Sleep - A Bedside Companion

2021 Read & Heard

1. Boey - When I Was A Kid , 2, 3, 4
2. True Singapore Ghost Stories 26
3. Ernest Ng - If Malaysia was Anime: Covidball Z 2, 3, 4, 5
4. James Kochalka - American Elf 1999 (eBook)
5. Debbie Tung - Happily Ever After & Everything in Between 
6. The Malay Tale of The Pig King
7. Danny Lim - Wanted: Botak Chin
8. Josh Clark, Chuck Bryant with Nils Parker - Stuff You Should Know: An Incomplete Compendium of Mostly Interesting Things (eBook)
9. Fishball - My Giant Geek Boyfriend
10. Lee Chee Chew - Fun Size Singapore Tidbits

2020 Read and Heard

You would think that in this pandemic, one would have extra time to read...? 

1. Revenge: The Secret Origin of Emily Thorne
2. Ernest Ng - Bro, don't like that la, bro #3: The Brofessionals, If Malaysia Was Anime: Covidball Z
3. The Oatmeal - The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances, Why My Cat is More Impressive than Your Baby
4. Becky Simpson - The Roommate Book: Sharing Lives & Slapping Fives
5. Katie Vaz - The Escape Manual for Introverts (ePub)
6. Craig Ferguson - Riding the Elephant: Riding the Elephant: A Memoir of Altercations, Humiliations, Hallucinations & Observations (ePub)
7. Caitlin Doughty - Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals about Death (ePub)
8. Liana Finck - Excuse Me: Cartoons, Complaints, and Notes to Self
9. Colin Jost - A Very Punchable Face: A Memoir (ePub)
10. Jeffrey Brown - Cats are Weird and More Observations (ePub), Kids are Weird: And Other Observations from Parenthood (ePub)
11. @trouteyes with Moose Allain - Last Night a Bidet Drenched My Wife...and other misheard lyrics (ePub)
12. Paula Poundstone - The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness (ePub)
13. Adam Dachis, Erica Elson - The Awkward Human Survival Guide: How to Handle Life's Most Uncomfortable Situations (ePub)
14. Emmet Truxes - You Look Better Online: Your Life in 150 Unfiltered Cartoons (ePub)
15. Jorge Cham - Chapter 5: Adventures in Thesisland 
16. Nathan W Pyle - Stranger Planet
17. Sarah Graley, Stef Purenins - Cute! An Our Super Adventure Comic Collection (PDF)
18. Hidayah Amin - Kuih: From Apam to Wajik - A Pictorial Guide to Malay Desserts
19. Huda Fahmy - Yes, I'm Hot in This: The Hilarious Truth about Life in a Hijab

2019 Read and Heard

My tally: 12. Admittedly, a bit the sad.

1. Debbie Tung - Quiet Girl in a Noisy World: An Introvert's Story
2. Jorge Cham - Piled Higher and Deeper - Chapter 4: Academic Stimulus Package
3. Lee Su Kim, Stephen J Hall - Manglish: Malaysian English at Its Wackiest! 
4. Brian Gordon - Fowl Language: Welcome to Parenting
5. Nixon Siow - Like That Also Can, Ah? Win Liao Lo!
6. J&Y Productions - The Potato Couple: Memories of You & Me
7. Jian Goh - Once Upon a Miao 3: Even More Stories from the Other Side of Malaysia
8. Antoni Porowski - Antoni in the Kitchen (ePub)
9. Ali Wong - Dear Girls: Intimate tales, Untold Secrets and Advice for Living Your Best Life (ePub)
10. Fa Abdul - So Fa So Good: Life is not all that complicated!
11. Nathan W. Pyle - NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette, Strange Planet

2018 Read and Heard

1. Roz Chast - Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? (ePub)
2. Erika Moen - Oh Joy, Sex Toy Vol. 3 and 4 (PDF)
3. Jahabar Sadiq - Kandaqstan: The Empire of Taste, The Melting Pot of Flavours 
4. Alfian Sa'at - Malay Sketches 
5. Felix Cheong - Singapore Siu Dai, Singapore Siu Dai 2
6. Kate Beaton - Step Aside, Pops: A Hark! A Vagrant Collection
7. Andy Riley - Dawn of the Bunny Suicides
8. Gurmit Singh - What Was I Thinking? 
9. Philippa Gregory - The Last Tudor (PDF)
10. Jim Gaffigan - Dad is Fat (PDF)
11. Sarah Graley, Stef Purenins - Our Super Adventure: Video Games and Pizza Parties (PDF)
12. Fashionary - Fashionpedia: The Visual Dictionary of Fashion Design
13. Erika Moen - Drawn to Sex: The Basics (PDF)
14. Mr Kiasu - Everything Also First Class
15. Queer Eye : Love Yourself, Love Your Life (ePub)
16. Hilly Janes - Latte or Cappuccino?: 125 Decisions That Will Change Your Life
17. Trish Witkowski - Paper Folding Templates for Print Design: Formats, Techniques and Design
18. Jordan Spence - Cocktail Infographics: A Simple Guide to Creating 200 of the World's Best Cocktails

2017 Read and Heard

1. Kate Beaton - Hark! A Vagrant
2. Sam Hepburn - Welcome to Agency X
3. Lat - Town Boy, Forever Lat
4. Gemma Correll - The Secret Diary of Tiddles, Aged 3 3/4
5. Jennifer Cargiulo - Diary of an Expat in Singapore
6. Alton Brown - EveryDayCook (epub)
7. Alison Bechdel - Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama, The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For (CBZ)
8. Russell Lee - TSGS 25
9. Dana Thomas - Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster (epub)
10. Philippa Gregory - Three Sisters, Three Queens (epub)
11. Sonny Liew - The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (PDF)
12. Sarah Andersen - Adulthood is a Myth (PDF)
13. Judd Apatow - Sick in the Head: Conversations about Life and Comedy (ePub)
14. Terry Gross - All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists (ePub)
15. Marc Maron - Attempting Normal (ePub)
16. Jian Goh - Once Upon A Miao 2
17. Nixon Siow - Like That Also Cannot, Ah?
18. Eila Mell - Project Runway: The Show That Changed Fashion
19. Johnny Lau - Mr Kiasu: Everything Also Like Real
20. The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up : A Magical Story (CBZ)
21. Evangeline Neo - Eva, Kopi and Matcha 2.0
22. Niki Cheong - Growing Up in KL: 10 Years of The Bangsar Boy
23. Jit Murad Plays
24. Daniel Kibblesmith, Sam Weiner - How to Win at Everything: Even Things You Can't or Shouldn't Try to Win At

2016 Read and Heard

Total read this year: 23. Could be better, I admit.

1. The Nut Graph - Found in Malaysia, Volume 1, 2
2. Alexandra Robbins: Pledged - The Secret Life of Sororities
3. Pierre Ostrowski, Gwen Penner - It's All Chinese to Me:  An Overview of Culture & Etiquette in China 
4. David Haviland - Why You Should Store Your Farts in a Jar & Other Oddballs or Gross Maladies, Afflictions, Remedies and "Cures"
5. Jill Smokler - Motherhood Comes Naturally (And Other Vicious Lies)
6. Nixon Siow - Like That Also CAN, ah? #Problemseverywhere
7. Michael Chuah - Office Survival
8. Ernest Ng - Bro, Don't Like That La Bro: My Bad Bromance
9. J&Y Productions: The Potato Couple
10. Arianna Huffington - The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time (ePub)
11. Joel Stein - Man Made: A Stupid Quest for Masculinity (aud)
12. Evangeline Neo - Eva Goes Solo
13. Gene Luen Yang - Boxers & Saints
14. Dr Michael Breus - The Power of When (ePub)
15. Trevor Noah - Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (ePub)
16. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt - The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science (ePub)
17. Gemma Correll - The Worrier's Guide to Life
18. Reza Farazmand - Poorly Drawn Lines: Good Ideas and Amazing Stories
19. Nigel Holmes - Lonely Planet's Instant Planet: A Visual Guide to the Skills You've Always Wanted
20. Kathy Griffin - Celebrity Run-Ins: My A-Z Index (ePub)
21. Yasmine Surovec - Cat vs Human: Another Dose of Catnip
22. Real Simple Solutions: Tricks, Wisdom, and Easy Ideas to Simplify Every Day

2015 Read and Heard

1. Alan Cumming - Not My Father's Son (ePub)
2. Abby Denson - Cool Japan Guide: Fun in the Land of Manga, Lucky Cats and Ramen (PDF)
3. Tim Leong - Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to the Comic Book Universe (PDF)
4. Best of Singapore Erotica
5. Bill Amend - The Best of FoxTrot, Foxtrot: Assembled with Care
6. Rupert Fawcett - Off the Leash: The Secret Life of Dogs
7. The Book of Jezebel: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Lady Things (ePub)
8. Robert Mankoff - How About Never--Is Never Good for You?: My Life in Cartoons (ePub)
9. Dan Bucatinsky - Does This Baby Make Me Look Straight? Confessions of a Gay Dad
10. Mimi Mashud - Kuala Terengganu in 7 Days, Beijing in 5 Days
11. Simon Doonan - Gay Men Don't Get Fat
12. Jon Ronson - So You've Been Publicly Shamed (ePub)
13. Kristen Schaal, Rich Blomquist - The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex (ePub)
14. Maz Jobrani - I'm Not a Terrorist, But I've Played One On TV: Memoirs of a Middle Eastern Funny Man (ebook)
15. Russell Peters - Call Me Russell (PDF)
16. Dan Pashman - Eat More Better: How to Make Every Bite More Delicious (ePub)
17. Steven D Levitt, Stephen J Dubner - When to Rob a Bank: ...And 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants (ePub)
18. Adam Pash, Gina Trapani - Lifehacker: The Guide to Working Smarter, Faster and Better (ePub)
19. Alison Bechdel - Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (PDF)
20. Aziz Ansari, Eric Klinenberg - Modern Romance (ePub)
21. Nixon Siow - Like that also CAN, ah?
22. Simon Tofield - Simon's Cat, Simon's Cat: Beyond the Fence, Simon's Cat in Kitten Chaos
23. Roger Dahl - Comic Japan: Best of Zero Gravity
24. Neil Humphreys - Saving a Sexier Island: Notes from an Old Singapore
25. Randall Munroe - What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions (ePub, audio)
26. Harper Lee - Go Set A Watchman (ePub)
27. Terry Deary - Horrible Histories: Measly Middle Ages
28. Cyanide & Happiness: I'm Giving You the Finger
29. Vera Brosgol - Anya's Ghost
30. Lucy Knisley - Relish: My Life in the Kitchen
31. Kelly Carlin - A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up with George (ePub)
32. The Nib - Eat More Comics: The Best of The Nib (PDF)
33. Jian Goh - Once Upon a Miao: Stories from the Other Side of Malaysia
34. Philippa Gregory - The Taming of the Queen (ePub)
35. David Rees - How to Sharpen Pencils: A Practical & Theoretical Treatise on the Artisanal Craft of Pencil Sharpening for Writers, Artists, Contractors, Flange Turners, Anglesmiths, & Civil Servants (ePub)
36. True Singapore Ghost Stories #24

2014 Read and Heard

27 books. Average number, compared to previous years.

1. Mary Roach: Gulp - Adventures on the Alimentary Canal (aud)
2. Philippa Gregory - The Red Queen, The Kingmaker's Daughter, The White Princess, The King's Curse
3. Thomas Schumacher with Jeff Kurti - How Does the Show Go On? An Introduction to the Theater 
4. Chuck Palahniuk - Doomed (aud)
5. Ken Jennings - Because I Said So!: The Truth Behind the Myths, Tales, and Warnings Every Generation Passes Down to Its Kids (aud)
6. Chiang Siew Lee - Eng Seng's Dear Tua Ee
7. Michael Tonello - Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World's Most Coveted Handbag
8. Hafsah Md Ali - If Only Airports Could Talk
9. Steven Levitt, Stephen Dubner - Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain (aud)
10. Jim Gaffigan - Dad is Fat (aud)
11. Huzir Sulaiman - Collected Plays (1998 - 2012)
12. Joan Rivers - I Hate Everyone...Starting with Me (ebook)
13. Ernest Ng - Bro, Don't Like That La, Bro: Back to School
14. Dan Khoo & Tan Wai Kit - Bolehland: The Epic Journey of Two Guys in Malaysia
15. David Zinczenko with Matt Goulding - Drink This, Not That! Sip Your Way to a Flat Belly
16. Jeffrey Brown - Darth Vader and Son
17. Jean Teulé - The Suicide Shop (EPUB)
18. The Oatmeal - How to Tell If Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You, 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth (EPUB)
19. Jolie Kerr - My Boyfriend Barfed In My Handbag ... And Other Things You Can't Ask Martha (EPUB)
20. Gail Simmons - Talking With My Mouth Full: My Life as a Professional Eater (EPUB)
21. David Sedaris - Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls (aud)
22. Stephen Colbert - America Again: Re-becoming The Greatness We Never Weren't (aud)
23. Evangeline Neo - Eva, Kopi and Matcha

2013 Read and Heard

This is all I managed to squeeze in last year.

1. Penn Jillette - God, No! Signs You May Already Be An Atheist and Other Magical Tales (aud)
2. New Scientist - Does Anything Eat Wasps? And 101 Other Questions
3. Vernetta Lopez - Memoirs of a DJ: Life in Progress
4. Patton Oswalt - Zombie Spaceship Wasteland (aud)
5. Mental Floss presents In the Beginning: From Big Hair to the Big Bang, mental_floss presents a Mouthwatering Guide to the Origins of Everything
6. A. Parody - A Shite History of Nearly Everything
7. Matt Groening - Childhood is Hell
8. Reduced Shakespeare Company - The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (abridged)
9. What's the Difference? How to spot Back from Beethoven, Monet from Manet, woodchucks from groundhogs and 500 other tricks for E-Y viewing!
10. Stephen Chbosky - The Perks of Being a Wallflower (aud)
11. Richard Castle - Frozen Heat (aud)
12. Randall Munroe - xkcd: Volume 0 (PDF)
13. Hyacinthe Phypps/Edward Gorey - The Recently Deflowered Girl: The Right Thing to Say on Every Dubious Occasion
14. Winifred Gallagher - It's In the Bag: What Purses Reveal---and Conceal
15. Gene Luen Yang - American Born Chinese 
16. Edward Gorey - Amphigorey Again
17. The Handbook of Practical Spying
18. Dan Brown - Inferno (e-book)
19. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents EARTH (THE BOOK): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race
20. Paul Torday - Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
21. Ellen DeGeneres - Seriously... I'm Kidding
22. Singapore Sucks! (Compiled and Edited by Singa Crew)
23. Nicola Morgan - Blame My Brain: The Amazing Teenage Brain Revealed
24. Alfian Sa'at - Collected Plays One, Two
25. Patrick Teoh - Teohlogy
26. Anthony Bourdain - Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook
27. David Borgenicht, Joe Borgenicht - The Action Hero's Handbook
28. Steven Soderbergh - sex, lies, and videotape (Screenplay)
29. Malcolm Gladwell - David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants (aud)
30. Ernest Ng - Bro, Don't Like That La, Bro
31. Michael Powell - Forbidden Knowledge Travel: 101 Things Not Every Traveler Should Know How To Do
32. Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual
33. Terry Deary - Horrible Histories: Stormin' Normans
34. Dante - Divine Comedy (adapted by Seymour Chwast; graphic novel)

*(aud) - audio version

Bro Don't Like That La Bro #1: Here Come The Bros

I honestly have not been following the local webcomic Bro, Don't Like That La, Bro until someone on Facebook invited me to Like the Facebook page. 

I probably have heard about it aeons ago but it wasn't in my radar. Then it was announced that a print version of the webcomic was gonna be published. I picked up a copy at Popular this week for the heck of it... and because there was a 25% members discount. I like to support local authors if I can and if I don't have to pay full price while I'm at it, all the better. I also tend to collect regional comic compilations or literature when possible before they go out of print. 

Anyway, it's about a guy and his four "bros" and their (mis)adventures, which are (allegedly some parts?) true. The humour is not exactly family friendly (poop and pee pee jokes present), but if that doesn't apply to you (your age in the double digits and all that), then go nuts.

I was laughing my way through this and it's not something that happens to me a lot these days.

Just buy a copy already. Damn funny and also not too expensive, whether you are a Popular Bookstore member or not...

Vernetta Lopez's Memoirs of a DJ: Life in Progress

Totally forgot that I wanted to read Vernetta Lopez's Memoirs of a DJ: Life in Progress until I saw it at Times Bookstore when I was trying to figure out what to get with the birthday voucher (they're so mean - not only don't they send those out anymore, you had to go ONLINE to some weird URL and print it out yourself. WTF). Teohology is still too expensive for me personally.

So I'll keep it short: yes, you'll read about her life, Under One Roof and her other work-related things before and after, her first marriage (ex-husband and his current wife is named), her current husband, her radio DJ job...

If you're expecting a linear narrative, you're not gonna get it. Instead of a river flow, it's more like the beach where the waves go back and forth (in this case, time).

Bottom line: If you know who she is, go nuts. Otherwise, don't bother.

Penn Jillette's God No! Signs You May Already Be An Atheist and Other Magical Tales

Cover (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Started on the audiobook a week or two ago before the new year, but I finally finished the audio version of  Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller fame - I definitely would like to see their show in Vegas at some point)'s God No! Signs You May Already Be An Atheist and Other Magical Tales.

I read some of the other customer reviews (especially the 1- and 2-star reviews) on Amazon and I had to laugh a little at the people who thought it was actually about atheism in general and was disappointed. Erm, you're kidding me, right?

Didn't have my hopes up so much when I started it because I already knew what to expect going in. It was profane, swear-y, a bit rambly for something that's not yet 8 hours long. Yes, it's narrated by the author, so you get the full effect. It's also not for kids.

He doesn't just talk about his own atheism, but also stories about his past, his family, his career, and of course, Teller. Some of the stories sounded vaguely familiar to me (particularly the one about scalding his pee-pee on a hair dryer) probably because I had heard them elsewhere or something over the years  Others stories bring insight into his personal life, like why he and Teller work so well together this whole time (30-odd years) is because they're not BFFs when they're not working did concur with what was said about him on the Wikipedia page :P

I wouldn't necessarily have paid for the book, but it was an okay read; it's funny in the right places. If you're a fan, go nuts; if you're not, well... it's up to you. It's supposed to be a light romp of a read anyway.

2012 Read and Heard

1. Teach Yourself: Etiquette and Good Manners
2. Julie Powell - Cleaving: a Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession
3. The Explainer
4. Bernice Chauly - Growing Up with Ghosts
5. Hanley Chew - Hotel Tales
6. Steven Levitt, Stephen Dubner - Superfreakonomics (aud)
7. Cecil Adams - Return of the Straight Dope, The Straight Dope Tells All
8. Jessica Abel, Ira Glass -  Radio: An Illustrated Guide
9. Neil Humphreys - Return to a Sexy Island
10. Alison Weir - Innocent Traitor
11. Jorge Cham - Piled Higher and Deeper: A Graduate Student Comic Strip Collection, Chapter 2: Life is tough and then you graduate
12. Audrey Niffenegger - The Three Incestuous Sisters
13. Andy Riley - Loads More Lies to Tell Small Kids
14. Russell Lee - True Singapore Ghost Stories 22
15. Reed Martin, Austin Tichenor -  Reduced Shakespeare: The Attention-Impaired Reader's Guide to the World's Best Playwright
16. The Earth Works Group - 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save the Earth
17. Adam Carolla - Not Taco Bell Material (aud)
18. Larry Feign - Hongkongitis
19. Toby Young - How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
20. Tracy Quan - Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl
21. Luck: The Essential Guide
22. Benrik - This Book Will Change Your Life
23. Hagar the Horrible Chips Away, Hagar Tries Again
24. Neil Strauss - The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pick-up Artists 
25. Toby Clements - The Asti Spumante Code 
26. Roald Dahl - George's Marvellous Medicine
27. Lizzie Post - How Do You Work This Life Thing? Advice for the Newly Independent on Roommates, Jobs, Sex & Everything That Counts

Adam Carolla's Not Taco Bell Material

Found Adam Carolla's latest book on audio, Not Taco Bell Material on the interwebs and downloaded it. If you don't know who that is, Google it, though I suspect not that many people outside the US would know who he is, either. But in a pinch I would say he's like the American Jeremy Clarkson, in the sense that they're both car nuts that get paid to rave and rant about cars a lot.

If you're a podcast listener and already subscribed to the man's podcast for a while, I wouldn't spend  real money on the book unless it's on clearance or if you want to see the pictures in the book, go look at a bookstore and put it back on the shelf afters. It's basically a rehash of some of the things he's said over the years. I only listen to the podcast if he's got a guest on that I like - there's only so much kvetching that I can deal with.

I don't know if it's the particular file I got or something happened during the conversion process, but a couple of chapters came out weird sounding. Even then, it's only the abridged version :P

That said, if you're uncomfortable hearing foul language and about bodily functions and body parts (which was quite a lot, I realised), then no, don't bother :P

Reduced Shakespeare: The Attention-Impaired Reader's Guide to the World's Best Playwright

Cover via Amazon

So I found a hardcover copy of Reduced Shakespeare: The Attention-Impaired Reader's Guide to the World's Best Playwright at a warehouse sale recently. Got it because it's from the guys behind the Reduced Shakespeare Company. There's another book that I've been wanting to get, but it can always wait.

It's meant for people who watch Shakespeare productions but don't have the time or attention span to study the man's works in great detail or scholarship, which works fine for me. They literally just give you the main gist of his works, interspersed with stuff about his life and the usual conspiracy theories about who actually wrote them, etc. You'll need to sort fact from funny as you read this, so it's not for the impressionable or the gullible.

Audrey Niffenegger's The Three Incestuous Sisters

Went back to Amcorp Mall after a spell and of course, one had to go check out BookXcess.

One of my buys just happened to be the graphic novel by Audrey Niffenegger (she who wrote The Time Traveller's Wife) called The Three Incestuous Sisters which was going for RM 29.90. It was hardcover and hefty like a mofo. Before cracking it open, I had mentioned on the social media that the story would probably not be as titillating as the title. And I was right.

It reads like a children's book in that there were only a few sentences on every other page. Artwork (done by Niffenegger herself) is a little dark and possibly gothic, and as some say, Gorey-esque. The rest of the story is supposed to be filled in by the illustrations. But I wouldn't let kids read this.

This didn't take all that long to read - it probably took me less than 30 minutes. If you see this book unwrapped in a bookstore somewhere, read it there. Save yourself the money. Read The Time Traveller's Wife instead if you haven't: it's got a better love story, and I don't typically read romance novels and the ilk. Here's what I thought of it.