Category Archives: Writing

Book Review: Michael Chabon’s Gentlemen of the Road

Michael Chabon is one of those names that I scan bookshelves for, all on the basis of one book: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. It was a big, substantial novel with ideas and history, whimsy and sadness, and … Continue reading

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R.I.P. Visual Library, hello Goodreads?

Through facebook I discovered the application ‘Visual Library’ and I really did like it. You typed in a book name, and it showed up on your screen where you could not only click that you’ve read it, or owned it, … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Emperor of Scent by Chandler Burr

A while back, I read an article in The Guardian about two perfume experts who fell in love and wrote a guide called ‘Perfumes: A-Z’. I made a mental note to buy the book sometime. I’m not passionate or well-versed … Continue reading

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Farewell, goofball.

I remember the same instinct from when J— died: if I could write it all down —the connections between the present and past, the mundane and grand, the private and public— maybe it would somehow make some sense. We knew … Continue reading

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A few writer friends

On my old website, I had a little list up of some writers that I was friends with at the time…Nice to see that most of the websites still live. In the meantime, I’ve made friends with many more writers … Continue reading

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Book Review: My Stroke of Insight

Many people are familiar with the TED (Technology Entertainment Design) talk given my Jill Bolte Taylor – a brain scientist who experienced a massive stroke in 1996. What made her experience unique was not only that she was experiencing what … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Slap

I heard the buzz about this book. It was making the rounds of all my friends and the reviews were positive. So, it was a good push for me to give Tsiolkas another try, I’d read “Jesus Man” and found … Continue reading

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Book Review: Mary Oliver, New and Selected Poems, Volume Two

  For someone who has written two books of poetry, I am, perhaps, not as regular a reader of poetry as I should be. I do not keep track of the many vibrant internet publications, nor read literary journals regularly. … Continue reading

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Book Review: Kyung Ran Jo’s Tongue

“Tongue” is Kyung Ran Jo’s first novel to be translated into English, but she’s the author of four short story collections, another novel and a collection of essays. The scuttlebutt on the book is that the author was a judge … Continue reading

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A book about me.

I admit to being an ego-surfer, which started somewhere around the time of my first books being published. So, at least I could have an excuse for entering “Andy Quan” into google to see how many hits came up, and … Continue reading

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