It may have been a while since my last bookspotting post (no excuses here), but I have been keeping track. Each time I see someone reading on the train or in a coffee shop while I'm writing, I note it in a document on my phone. To get you up to speed: I've seen school kids reading The Last Olympian, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I've spotted textbooks on psychology, math and English. Fellow commuters have been reading Girl with a Dragon Tattoo and My Sister's Keeper. I saw a girl with a Kindle and a boy reading Frindle. I have one note on my phone that simply says north, and to be honest I have no idea what book that's referring to. Just yesterday I saw a man reading Thinking Fast and Slow while he rode an escalator in Central station--not an hour after I'd downloaded the same book on my Kindle. I spotted The Alchemists on the train and Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats in Mong Kok station. In short, reading is alive and well in Hong Kong.
For my part, I've been binging on apocalyptic fiction in preparation for National Novel Writing Month. As a direct result, I now find myself buying extra gallons of water at the grocery store and assessing my neighborhood for possible fortified locations. I have decent visibility from our apartment and there's only one entrance to the building. However, the best spot has to be the old police complex on Hollywood Road. In the event of zombies, look for me there ;).
My Nano novel will be a prequel to the series I started last year. It doesn't have any zombies. The series takes place sixteen years after the apocalyptic event, so the prequel will happen right in the middle of the disaster. Oh, and the whole thing is set at sea! I'm really enjoying the research process and looking forward to meeting up with fellow HK-based writers.
What are you reading? How about the people around you? Are you doing Nanowrimo this year?
