Pinterest for book lovers

I've stumbled across this new thing called Pinterest, and I was thinking tis such a cool tool for me to pin all the book covers that I like. I know, I know, that's so nerdy, but what to do, I am one of those folks who sometimes buy a hard copy cause the cover looks good.

I especially love the designs the publishers chose for gracing chic lits. It makes the world feel so bubble-gummy. I also love the illustrations on Terry Pratchett books and the graphics they put in fantasy titles.

Will have to wait for the invite though, as Pinterest only lets those invited in. Hmm, though at first this might sound a bit snobbish (other stuff like Flickr or Facebook or Twitter lets everyone who's anyone sign up...) I didn't get turned off somehow. My guess is the service became too popular too soon (fastest growing sites ever), so the people have to deal with a lot of back-end stuff to make the experience consistent for users...? Or I could be wrong.

I'll wait and give it a try anyway. I also plan to pin the places I've been to, the movies I've seen, the best photo I've taken and the deco ideas I love.

Who can afford to buy Readers' Digest nowadays?

Magazines - we all have to pick one of them up from time to time. Be it busting some time before your turn with the dentist or using it to whack the cockroach from under the sink, yeah, da zines can be of many use.

A good magazine can take you places. I remember growing up in Terengganu back in the 80s, my mom's government quarter was filled with Readers' Digest. Back then the mag was thicker, its covers not as flashy and the price.. the price! Oh how it has rose over the years.

I loved this magazine because there's a lot of pages a kid can appreciate. The 'Laughter, The Best Medicine' page, for example always comes with nice illustration and one-liners, of which it would take my mom eons to explain.

The other page I like is the last feature story in the magazine, where my mom would tell me what perils some good folks had to go through, and most of the time, after a couple of pages, the picture of all of them looking happy having came out of dire straits will be there.

Don't you just love happy endings? The only sad part about this entry is: Today when I passed by a copy of the magazine in the store, the price tag attached to it made me squirm.

How I love to buy it and have my kid grow up with it as I did. But with my ciput (small) gaji, I'd have to be frugal about things.

I walked away without it.

Now that I've reached my destination, I'm beginning to regret that decision.

Have you ever read a website?

I spent two days just going through the installations at Lux in Arcana - The Vatican Secret Archives Reveal Itself. I have to thank Dan Brown for triggering my interest in Vatican-related things, since reading his novels I found myself more keen to dig up world history.

I know, I know, you ask why get excited just over a website about an exhibition, right? But I liked the fact that the website is very informative, and it doesn't bore you. Mind you, it is facts and well, artifacts.

See I got acquainted with names like Mozart, Marie Antoinette, Napolean Bonaparte and Abraham Lincoln through movies and music, rather than books, so it was quite enlightening to see the entries on the website - each post made me realise that all these names are real people who lived once and their lives are still talked about till today.

Reading up on the background information on items on exhibition, especially on Knights of Templars, really made me wanna go there and see these stored for centuries articles myself. Wish I could afford it!

Still trying to finish...

... The World is Flat 2.0.

I heard tis a great book, a good read especially for folks who are in the tech industry and those who wants insights regarding trends and business models that apply in the online world.

But.

But.. I just could not finish it. I've loaned the book, which I only own cause Yahoo! gave it to me (that's another story to tell), and they've returned the book to me, and now it is on loan to yet another colleague.

I could not get through the second chapter. I'm stuck there. Since two years ago.

I was hospitalised, and the book was brought to me from home and that's when I first ventured into reading it. The first chapter was impressive. It contained all the names familiar to me (having been in the tech industry then for over 7 years) and I remember some of the milestones mentioned by the author. You know... Silicon Valley, the dotcom bubble, the outsourcing of experts, the emergence of new Silicon Valleys... One of the older doctors who came to check on me was impressed that I'm reading the book.

Now for the love of spaghetti I truly can not remember what the next chapter was all about.

So today, I brought the book in my bag, and I shall give it a read once again. Wish me luck!