Speed Read

Today’s question: What do you think of speed-reading? Is it a good way to get through a lot of books, or does the speed-reader miss depth and nuance? Do you speed-read? Is some material better suited to speed-reading than others?
In ninth grade I took a study skills class in which I learned to speed read. [...]

Hyphen Magazine: Asian American Unabridged

I’m ashamed to have not heard of Hyphen Magazine sooner. Published out of the San Francisco bay area, which is gravitated with Asian Americans, Hyphen started from scratch with zero funding. Eighteen issues later, Hyphen has developed into a general publication that doesn’t flinch at covering serious issues, but also wouldn’t take itself too seriously. [...]

Mark the Spot

Today’s question: What items have you ever used as a bookmark? What is the most unusual item you’ve ever used or seen used?
Musing Mondays asked the same question back in February. I do not have a bookmark collection. I grab whatever is handy to use as bookmarks: receipts, scrap paper, movie ticket stub, bus transfer, [...]

Facebook’s Predominance over Blogs?

Recently I organize my blogroll and establish a tab at the top of the page. Upon checking all the links, several of them are dead. Bloggers have either started new blogs whose links I have yet to update or have withdrawn from the blogsphere altogether. Closer scrutiny reveals that a few people actually have switched [...]

Why Booking Through Thursday?

Today’s question: What’s your favorite part of Booking Through Thursday? Why do you participate (or not)?
For those who don’t know, Booking Through Thursday is a collective blogging prompt that takes place every Thursday. I first participated because the thought-provoking questions at BTT somehow lead to my writing of some editorial pieces for this blog. [...]

Normal Boys?

“He shut his eyes so tight that neon bleeds into the blackness. He doesn’t understand how this works. Larry and Jackson get naked and name their dicks, but when Larry sees him staring at “Freddy,” it’s a bad thing. He says a little prayer. God, give me a new life. This one isn’t working for [...]

Holiday Fares?

This week’s question: How does your reading (or your blogging) fare in the holiday months? Do you read more or less? Do you have to actively make time to read?
Blogging will not be affected and less intermittent during the holiday season this year because I won’t be taking a trip to my hometown, Hong Kong. [...]

Truly Chillaxing, and Bookish Palm Springs

 
Tortuga del Sol, Palm Springs, originally uploaded by moleskineboy.

I spent my birthday in Palm Springs the past weekend. Tortuga del Sol is a very quiet resort tugged away in the desert against the backdrop of the mountains. For a good amount of the stay we were the only guests who got to enjoy all [...]

Thankful Thursday

This week’s question: It’s Thanksgiving in the U.S.A. today, so I know at least some of you are going to be as busy with turkey and family as I will be, so this week’s question is a simple one: What books and authors are you particularly thankful for this year?
I don’t want to give away [...]

Serendipity in Reading

What fun it is when your current reading evokes the book you last finished, and somehow by serendipity creates a domino effect. The Year of Ice evokes Maurice in the way the character splendidly but also sadly describes how happiness in such forbidden love can only be found in sleep–a dream from which ones doesn’t [...]