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A Guy's Moleskine Notebook

Thoughts and reflections on works of fiction and literature. Pondering of life through pictures and words. Babbling about gay rights. Travelogues and anecdotes.

  • [1] Annie Proulx: Brokeback Mountain
  • [2] Arthur Golden: Memoirs of a Geisha
  • [3] Yu Hua: To Live
  • [4] Alan Hollinghurst: The Line of Beauty
  • [5] Colm Toibin: The Master
  • [6] Carlos Ruiz Zafon: The Shadow of the Wind
  • [7] William James: The Varieties of Religious Experience
  • [8] Charles Higham: The Civilization of Angkor
  • [9] Graham Greene: A Burnt-Out Case
  • [10] Dai Sijie: Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch
  • [11] Alan Hollinghurst: The Swimming-Pool Library
  • [12] Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita
  • [13] Colm Toibin: The Blackwater Lightship
  • [14] Alan Hollinghurst: The Folding Star
  • [15] Ross King: Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling
  • [16] Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Brothers Karamazov
  • [17] Jonathan Franzen: The Corrections
  • [18] Colm Toibin: The Story of the Night
  • [19] John Banville: Shroud
  • [20] Leo Tolstoy: Resurrection
  • [21] Peter Hessler: River Town, Two Years on the Yangtze
  • [22] Ian McEwan: The Atonement
  • [24] Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Love in the Time of Cholera
  • [25] Ignacio Padilla: Shadow without a Name
  • [26] Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose
  • [27] Richard Russo: Straight Man
  • [28] Fyodor Dostoevsky: Notes from Underground
  • [29] Alan Hollinghurst: The Spell
  • [30] Hermann Broch: The Death of Virgil
  • [31] James Baldwin: Giovanni's Room
  • [32] Ken Kesey: One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
  • [33] Xingjian Gao: One Man's Bible
  • [34] C. Jay Cox: Latter Days
  • [35] Harper Lee: To Kill A Mockingbird
  • [36] William Shakespeare: The Taming of the Shrew
  • [37] Daniel A. Helminiak: What The Bible Really Says about Homosexuality
  • [38] James Baldwin: Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone
  • [39] Kenji Yoshino: Covering - The Hidden Assault of Civil Rights
  • [40] Italo Calvino: If, On a Winter's Night A Traveler
  • [41] Arthur Phillips: The Egyptologist
  • [42] George Orwell: 1984
  • [43] Michael Warner: The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and Ethics of Queer Life
  • [44] Andrew Sullivan: Virtually Normal
  • [45] Henry James: The Wings of the Dove
  • [46] Jose Saramago: Blindness
  • [47] Umberto Eco: The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
  • [48] Dan Brown: Da Vinci Code
  • [49] Kazuo Ishiguro: Never Let Me Go
  • [50] Ken Follett: The Pillars of Earth
  • [51] Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace
  • [52] Michael Thomas Ford: Alec Baldwin Doesn't Like Me
  • [53] Jonathan Franzen: How To Be Alone
  • [54] Jonathan Lethem: The Fortress of Solitude
  • [55] Matthew Pearl: The Dante Club
  • [56] Zadie Smith: White Teeth
  • [57] Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Double
  • [58] Jose Saramago: The Double
  • [59] Andrew Holleran: Dancer from the Dance
  • [60] Heinrich von Kleist: The Marquise of O & Other Stories
  • [61] Andrew Holleran: In September, the Light Changes
  • [62] Tom Perrotta: Little Children
  • October 10, 2006

     

    On The Threshold to Paradise

    I'm due at the airport to drop off the checked bags at 10 pm tonight. Despite the inevitable dread of air travel these days, with tightened security, longer lines, and the dull prospect of a 14+ hours flight, online check-in mitigates some of the hassle. Auto check-in is such a cool idea through which I can even pick my own seat for all the flights in my itinerary. That means no more badgering (and bribing, just kidding) the ground agents for aisle seats. All I need is to punch in my passport number, confirmation code and contact info. This will spare me from the long line that will wrap around the check-in counter at the airport as I can bypass the queue and drop off my bags at the designated counter. What a relief!

    I travel very light since I will most likely sleep through half the flight. In my Timbuk2 I've got my iPod, the charger (thanks to Cathay Pacific for built-in electrical plug on the seat), a smaller personal toiletry tote, and a couple books:

    The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee
    The Marquise of O and Other Stories by Heinrich von Kleist

    and my Moleskine journal and a pen. Throughout the years of traveling I have developed this pet peeve of people who tirelessly and inconsiderately rummaged through their bags stored away in the overhead bin. Why do people fly with so much crap when all they have got is a mere 32 inches of space?

    I'm ready. I'll throw in some pictures and anecdotes from time to time whenever I have access. See you all in 5 weeks. Take care.

    10 Comments:

    Blogger Greg said...

    Enjoy your trip! I still need another week to recover from my time away.

    10/10/2006 10:29 AM  
    Blogger digital t-square said...

    Have a great time. I 'd like to get to Asia sometime soon, but won't traveling for a while due to commitments here. Take lots of pics!

    10/10/2006 12:06 PM  
    Blogger Robert said...

    5 WEEKS!! Good grief! Will I even recognize you when you get back!! :-) Be sure to blog whenever you get a chance, I'm sure you'll have withdrawal! ahaha!

    Take great care of yourself while you're away. Your readers will miss you!!! See you soon Matt!

    10/12/2006 7:42 AM  
    Blogger mattviews said...

    I'm here in Hong Kong for my cousin's wedding--yes Robert, 5 weeks. I'll check in from time to time with latest pictures.

    10/13/2006 4:01 AM  
    Blogger matty said...

    I hope you're having a great time and I want you to teach me how to pack!!!!

    10/13/2006 5:56 PM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    You Got away before I could return you call! It's waiting for you. Enjoy your trip and remember 150 Page.

    10/14/2006 8:05 AM  
    Blogger mattviews said...

    Hi all!!!!! I'm organizing and uploading pictures of the wedding in Hong Kong--hopefully I'll get a chance to post some of them here.

    Off to Kuala Lumpur, Malysia and Langkawi...

    10/17/2006 6:00 AM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Stumbled upon your blog while searching for some information on Hollinghurst's
    'Dancer From the Dance' (which I started reading last night). Love your site.
    I've read some of the books on your list and have more that I haven't yet read.
    I will check back and read more of your reviews. Enjoy your trip to asia - I'd
    love to visit asia myself some day.

    (This message comes from cyberspace - Calgary, Alberta, Canada - currently an
    I.T. person in a high tech company, previously a classical musician, who knows
    what's next).

    regards,
    Alan

    10/17/2006 6:18 AM  
    Blogger matty said...

    Are you having fun?

    How is that estate of yours?

    10/20/2006 3:56 PM  
    Blogger Tony said...

    I am so envious Matt...I had a blast in Orlando but I want to be on a beach laying in a hammock too, watching the sunset and sipping on some luscious tropical drink. Boohooo!!!

    10/23/2006 11:39 AM  

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