About Mee

I’m a book-nerd programmer, born and raised in Indonesia, migrated to and turned Australian in my teens, and have been living in London since 2011. I love to learn and experience new things, some of these I find by reading.

I’m working in visual effects industry and previously worked in games for many years, so I’m also into movies and games, including graphic novels apart from all-text books. But really, what I love, is story. I love stories told in any kind of medium, though book was my first love and will always reserve that special spot in my heart. I love words and am amazed at their power to evoke so much out of thin air.

About this blog

Bookie Mee started in October 2007. I work full time 9 hours a day with a couple of hours commuting, so my reading and blogging time is limited. I would (try to) never apologize for any lack of online existence, because no matter how important this space and its connections are for me, I need to keep my real life priority straight for my sanity. That probably sounds obvious, but when you’re involved as much as I am in this lovely, rewarding, yet time consuming, book blogging community, you can easily get carried away. This whole blogging thing is for fun, and I have to remind myself for it at times.

About review books

I welcome review books, but I don’t make promises about reviewing them and when. I only accept books that I genuinely have interest in, so those books will be mentioned in one of my posts at least once. I only do a full review post when I have read the book back to back. I’m very grateful about the offers of books by publishers and authors, but understand that I just can’t possibly get to them all. The mind wants but the time does not allow. This is true especially for me, who is a slow reader.

You can think of me like a book fairy. I love books and I recommend and lend books to people in real life. Sometimes the books that I can’t get to, I can pass on to other people. You can see it like planting seeds if you will. The book talk goes on. (I am also on Goodreads quite regularly.)

These days I enjoy reading on my Kindle, so I would welcome electronic copies, though I’d love physical copies too if you can provide any. The exception to this is probably graphic novels. My Kindle is the old grey and white, so it wouldn’t work well with graphic novels.

I’m generally interested in literary fiction, world literature, and graphic novels. I don’t read thriller or young adults in general, though you can try me if you like.

To get a better idea of my reading taste, here’s the list of my favorite novels in no particular order:
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, Waiting by Ha Jin.

Favorite authors:
Oscar Wilde, Jeffrey Eugenides, Shaun Tan, Haruki Murakami, Truman Capote, Marjane Satrapi, Lewis Carroll, Amy Tan, Kazuo Ishiguro.

Favorite non-fiction books:
Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson, Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick, Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Maus by Art Spiegelman, Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus

To get a taste of my writing style, please check my most visited book reviews:

Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

Sideshow – Event Coverage

I welcome any invitation for event coverage: anything book related, like exhibition, author event, author or book themed activities, movies/theatres/musicals based on books (or not based on books), even iPad/iPhone apps, or anything you can think of. Try me! I do expect complementary tickets or materials in return as a courtesy. I’ve got a few emails in the past asking me to help them promote their events/things without anything to provide me with – Isn’t that a bit rude?!

I currently live in London, so naturally prefer something in London. I wouldn’t mind traveling outside of London if the thing really interests me. To get a sense of what I’ve covered so far you can check out the following:

London

“We are Proud to Present…” at Bush Theatre
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time at Apollo Theatre
War Horse at New London Theatre
The Doctor’s Dilemma at London National Theatre
Everything Else Happened – Play Based on the Stories by Jonathan Safran Foer
Writing Britain Exhibition at the British Library
The TV Book Club 2012
Gormenghast Theatre at Covent Garden

Sydney

Shaun Tan and Neil Gaiman at Sydney Opera House
Wicked the Musical
Sydney Writers’ Festival 2009 (Part 2 | Part 3)

Contact Mee

I welcome any talk about books. Don’t be shy. We might make the best bookish friends!

Email: mee@meexia.com