The World of Tai Tai

Sabah beckons me with the highly-motivating writing workshops organized by SPARKS.I did not miss the opportunity to attend the third workshop. In the four-hour session, the writings of all participants were shown on a whiteboard through an LCD projector. Robert Raymer, guest speaker for the workshop, went through all of them and gave us his valuable, insightful feedback. I felt honoured to have my stories critiqued and edited by Robert Raymer. He advised me to ease up the use of adjectives and adverbs because they punctuate the flow of reading. He also pointed out some inappropriate vocabulary of mine, which gave negative connotations. In addition, the writer told me to avoid making redundancies and unnecessary reports like 'I could see' and 'I could hear'. He brought home to me the fact that a good story is one which concentrates on specific details and a systematic plot development. A story replete with over-the-top vocabulary and voids of information turn...

The following are the top 100 books listed by the BBC 1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien 2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen 3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman 4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams 5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling 6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee 7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne 8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell 9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis 10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë 11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller 12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë 13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks 14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier 15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger 16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame 17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens 18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott 19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres 20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy 21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell 22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling 23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of S...

Thomas Hardy's The Mayor Of Casterbridge(very touching, beautiful prose) Anne Frank's 'The Diary Of A Young Girl'(very moving) D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers(a haunting and sensual tale, beautiful prose) Jean M. Auel's The Clan Of Cave Bear(An engrossing read)

The crowds at the Sunday bazaar begin to thin away with the decline of the sun towards the upper end of the riverside town.Kassim has just finished eating the rice given by Mak Minah, a generous lady who runs an economy rice stall at the bazaar. Licking the leftover gravy off his lips, he sits on a curb beside the bus stand with an intent look at the slowed-down transactions between vendors and customers. The vendors begin to pack up their stalls while the customers are in haste to go home. He never comes to the bazaar when it is thick with people. He makes his usual appearance at the bazaar around 5.00pm. He always sits in the same spot, biding his time and waiting for an opportunity to collect unsold, wilted vegetables. "Come on here, Pak, I have some vegetables for you!" A Chinese vendor named Wong hollers, while beckoning him over with a wave of the hand. A grateful smile is etched on Kassim's sagging, wrinkled face. He props himself up on his walking stick from the...