New from Marshall Cavendish
One of the perks of having a book blog is that publishers and authors actually give you copies of books - often with quite overwhelming generosity. I am sorry to be slow about blogging recent additions to my bookshelves and plan to do better. Meanwhile, here are some new reads from Marshall Cavendish, well deser

A Hooker Unmasks, A Diva Retires, and A Poet Appropriates
Really, my apologies for not being a very good blogger over the last week or two. I'm not sure what's happened to me, but I seem to be more easily distractible than usual. (I just spent 20 minutes getting distracted by this nice blog while looking to see if I had spelt the word right!).This being the case, I offer you some quick links to stories that have caught my eye over the last week or two and hope you enjoy them :

November Readings
“Readings”Catch our next monthly writers event:Date: 28th October, 2009Time: 3.30pmPlace: 67, Jalan Tempinis 1, Lucky Garden, Bangsar, KL. The readers for this month are :Sui-Jim HoJustin SantiagoCheryl LeongSteve OhKata.MataPang Khee TeikAdmission free and everyone very welcome. Please pass on the invitation to anyone else you think might be interested. (For enquiries contact Sharon 017-2644956, sharonbakar@yahoo.com)

Another Year of Bad Sex
Maybe Neil Gaiman got it succinctly right on Twitter a few hours ago :Just read the Guardian Bad Sex Award contenders ... I may never write a sex scene ever again. O Roth. O Banville. Argh.Yes, it's that time of

Colum McCann Takes NBA Fiction Prize
The National Book Award winners were announced November 18 during a ceremony in New York City. These are probably the major US awards after the Pulitzer Prize, and there are several categories.The prize for fiction went to Irish author Colum McCann for