Weekend Reading List

DJ, because I once said I was more a Buddhist than anything else, gave me two Buddhist books as gifts, and they are both by erstwhile glamour girl Jamie Khoo. One is a picture book If Not Now When? (bamboo groves, bicycles leaning on old buildings, children smiling, that sort of pictures) filled with adages to live by, as taught by Tsem Tulku Rinpoche. It's edited by Ms Khoo. The other one is a sort of autobiography titled Call Me Paris, and features the author on its cover (very eye-catching: you should look it up). It's written chick-lit style (shopping, cute boyfriend, sunny holidays, posh friends) and as it unfolds, seemed to be about her dharmic journey, and about her gorgeous guru. There are many, many passages given over to how movie star-handsome he is, how atheletic his stride, how winsome his laugh, how intense his gaze, how he was a model and quite often how he speaks perfect American English. One does begin to wonder why this is considered impressive, but this is neither here nor there.
It's pure gush and one begins to wonder how Ms Khoo could have been a newspaper reporter before her work at the buddhist center because her writing is surely more enthusiastic than effective. It's well intentioned, however (both the writing and the gifting), so Ommm...EJ gave me his latest Men's Uno and the launch issue of Hero, which I blogged about many moons ago. The latter has all of five ads and one does begin to look at it with nostalgia already. I was lucky that I had the Financial Times's Life & Times with me for my delayed flight, which contained stuff I found entertaining (and so well-written):

A longish feature written by Daphne Guiness about why she bought up the entire collection of Isabella Blow's fashion and photographs.

A quarter-page on the feminine clothes in the last men's collections.

A review of our very own Marina Bay Sands Resort.

Nigel Andrews on Isabelle Huppert and Graham Greene.

A study of Sally Mann's controversial photographs.

A piece on the overuse of the word "icon". (Can't agree more).

Master Painting Week (Only in London, I tell you).

At least 20 book reviews.

More ranting from aunty Tyler Brule.

A food column on cherries.

My fave food writer Fuchsia Dunlop reviews a Shanghai restaurant.

Older models like Stephanie Seymour.

Burberry's new beauty line.

And more. (Theatre, profiles, wine, gardening).

In just 20 pages. Can one ask for anything more for weekend reading? So what are you reading today?