Currently I am reading this interesting book Uncle Tom's Cabin (I proudly did purchase this one) which I surprisingly have shed tears in certain chapters. The book's about slavery, cruelty and human rights and you get the idea. (Ellie's in line to borrow this book if you were thinking of asking for it)
The other stuff I read, are well quite random depending on which lobby or cafe I am in and what books/mags they stock and I can get my hands on. Which is why I like my library. So many books, rambang mata when want to borrow. But I must say out of every five books I borrow I think I only had time to read ONE. Yes just one. After all the time and energy wasted to carry it from the library to Setia Jaya KTM station and from Subang Jaya KTM back to home. Anyhow, I am gonna miss my library when I graduate soon. Bwahahah. Wonder if I can still pretend to go in as a student.
These are some of my favourite places to read for FREE:
Cafes: Banyak banyak magazine. BUT bad thing is most of these cafes don't update their magazines. But NewsWeek is usually there... and a feature from a month ago is well, still worth a read right? Important up-to-date news can be gathered from free The Sun anyways.
Which is why I like the next place
My hair salon: Very up-todate magazines . BUT all are gossip tabloids hahah. After each hairy visit, I know more about which Hollywood goddess had a catfight, changed boyfriends or is going to jail, which seems to be quite a trend.
Bookstores: I frequent MPH since I live nearby one, they're stupid plastic wrappings make it a little harder to read the books since you got to ask for assistance to rip of the plastic for you to 'review' the book. SO heading to the magazine rack is the next best thing. I don't mind paying for women's mags like CLEO and such but Gossip Tabloids at RM 20 plus are crazy. Plus we should not support crazy paparazis and save the RM 20s for other things, like clothes and the odd 'charity' salesman with pens and bookmarks. To satisfy my Hollywood gossip hunger though, I will stand together with other freeloaders and read the magazine off the shelf :P
Office lobbies: Tasteful lobbies have good stuff. Coffee table books and such. Lousy ones who obviously don't believe in having their guests well occupied while they wait should seriously consider what kind of image they are sending out. Tattered travel magazines from two years ago? Puh-leez. Reminds me of my dentist who keeps decade old, grimy, soiled magazines with missing covers and ham-choy pages. I had an interview the other day and the waiting area had a few but highly interesting reads, so much so that I couldn't concentrate on rehearsing my interview preparations. I picked up one with news photography from around the world. Can't remember the title, but most of the pictures were of political conflict and battle. I remember one picture very well. It was taken after a blast and this man's body was hanging over a railing with half of his abdomen blown away. You could actually see the bits of his flesh and bone in the picture. It's hard to imagine in certain places this is the day-to-day reality. In Malaysia, we're fortunate that most of our personal crisis involves us puncturing our car tyres or missing a 70% sale.
So reading is indeed expensive, especially if u have fickle tastes and don't finish a whole book like me. But by making use of good opportunities, kita bolehlah mengamalkan budaya membaca.