Canadian Bookspotting

I'm back in HK after spending the Chinese New Year holiday in Canada. I've learned to ski, more or less successfully. It was scarier than I thought it would be. I don't mind speed in roller coasters and airplanes; you always know that someone is in control. In skiing, you are the person controlling your movements, but you also have to give up a certain degree of control to go faster. It was hard. By the end of the trip I was handling the blue slopes and having fun, but I also learned a thing or two about my limits.

I've also been reminded what it's like to be around bitterly cold weather. Some days it was -20 degrees Celsius up on the mountain! I got acquainted with a few choice coffee shops in Whistler Village on the coldest days.

Interestingly, I didn't see that many people reading books in Whistler, but they also weren't playing on their phones like everyone does in HK. For the most part, people in the cafes chatted with each other and read the paper. It was kinda sweet.

The airport was a different story, however. Here's my bookspotting tally for Vancouver International:

-a woman reading a Sandra Brown novel

-a man reading a John Grisham novel (I think it was The Testament)

-a woman reading Rushdie's Midnight's Children

-a kid reading a Kindle in a bright orange plastic cover

-two Chinese women reading Chinese paperbacks (waiting for the HK flight, naturally)

-a Chinese man reading a Chinese hardback

I also read a lot on this holiday. I got through Dust by Hugh Howey (awesome), The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon (memorable, intriguing), Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis (surprisingly good), and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (one of the books I spot most often in HK, incidentally). I also started Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver and it's every bit as good as you'd expect. She's a master.

Recently, I was fortunate enough to be interviewed on the Artist Think blog as a Creative Spirit. I talk a bit about my writing projects, inspirations, and how I define creativity, just in case you're interested :).

What did you do for Chinese New Year? What are people reading in your towns and airports lately?