The Free Reader Gamer

一what's worth my time and yours as well (hopefully).

  • What is Free Reading/Gaming?
  • Free Reading
    • How to Start Free Reading
    • How to Find the Right Read
  • Free Gaming
    • Introducing The Gaming Experience Index (GEI)
    • Everything and Anything Hearthstone
    • Chinese RPG Showcase: Scar of Sky – Xuan-Yuan Sword
  • Featured
  • Free Reader’s Essentials
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  • 中文區

A Tapestry of a Novel in the best sense of the word—Dear Edward

June 20, 2019 by Robin Chan

“Tapestry” is not a word I trust in a book blurb, no matter who has written it. Yet, 336 pages later and a month of carrying the book around every day, I have to concede—Dear Edward is a most fascinating tapestry of a book. My distrust in the word lies simply in that it tells […]

Filed Under: Featured - Reading, Free Reader's Essentials, Latest Featured, Uncategorized Tagged With: advancedreadercopy, annnapolitano, characterdriven, dearedward, lifeaffirming, literaryfiction, matteroftheheart, multiplenarratives, novels, tragedy, uplifting

There is Something Heroic about Being a Bookseller—The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

June 30, 2018 by Robin Chan

“Hey A.J.,”she calls. “There is something kind of heroic about being a bookseller.” When we first meet A.J Fikry, the recently widowed owner of the only bookshop on Alice Island, there seems nothing particularly heroic about him. He’s an irritable drunk who thinks he and his bookshop are probably too good for the island dwellers […]

Filed Under: Also Trending, Featured - Reading, Free Reader's Essentials Tagged With: books on books, bookseller, character-driven, fiction, Gabrielle Zevin, literary fiction, novel, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

We Are an Ever-Connected Nervous Mess, But There is Hope—Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig

June 27, 2018 by Robin Chan

Notes on An Nervous Planet, the latest non-fiction from beloved British novelist Matt Haig, is an important book. Important not in the usual sense in this genre (self-development/self-help/personal growth, pick your name) that it makes you feel better after reading it. Feeling better feels good but it may not—often—be actually good for you. It is […]

Filed Under: Featured - Reading, Latest Featured Tagged With: addiction, anxiety, book reivews, by an author I love, free reading, how to stop time, Matt Haig, social media, The Free Reader's Essentials, the humans

The Second Young Adult Book I Have Read and Haven’t Forgotten Since—All the Bright Places

March 24, 2018 by Robin Chan

Let’s continue with the second one of my unforgettable Young Adult books: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. I am very grateful I followed my instinct to buy this book in the bookshop I worked in after repeated inquiries from some very eager teen readers. At first, we didn’t carry it and I couldn’t help but order […]

Filed Under: Featured - Reading, Have a Taste Tagged With: all the bright places, books about america, characterisation, dual narratives, indiana state, jennifer niven, novels, tribute to books, unforgettable books, young adult

Four Novels I Would Recommend to Anyone, AnyTime

February 20, 2018 by Robin Chan

So normally I believe that there is no absolute good or bad when it comes to recommending books; a good book for me might just be a mediocre one for you, and vice versa.  But there are a few novels I have read and enjoyed so much that I would recommend them to anyone, anytime. In […]

Filed Under: Featured - Reading, Free Reader's Essentials Tagged With: Ernest Cline, Haruki Murakami, Matt Haig, Norwegian Wood, ready player one, south of the border west of the sun, the humans, The Storied Life of AJ Fikry

Why Real Books (still) Matter, or On Remembering How You First Read

January 16, 2017 by Robin Chan

Of all the cool things—and believe me, there are many— I love about Ready Player One, or rather, about the fascinating world depicted in this recent blockbuster sci-fi  by Ernest Cline every geek in the universe comes to love, one particular passage stands out: It didn’t take me long to discover that the OASIS was also […]

Filed Under: Featured - Reading Tagged With: bertrand russell, happiness, non-fiction, philosophy, physical books, reading, self-help book

Archaic Self-help on Getting Rich: A Review of The Richest Man in Babylon

January 28, 2016 by Robin Chan

If you are like me-a 20-something who just starts working but have no idea where to start on the road to financial freedom, look no further-The Richest Man in Babylon offers tips, rules, , as well as concrete advice, and above all hope. If you don’t mind the archaic-style English (Ten years ago when I stood at the gates […]

Filed Under: Featured - Reading, Free Reader's Essentials, Free Reading Tagged With: classic reading, personal finance, self-help book, storytelling

How Reading can be Delicious: 4 Types of Reads Everyone Needs

December 31, 2015 by Robin Chan

The other day I got an Ask to Answer, aka A2A on Quora: How can I start tolerating books? I thought long and hard-about whether I should write an answer or not. Does the phrase tolerating books indicate the person asking is a lost cause beyond saving? I did write an answer (as you may guess). And I am glad I […]

Filed Under: Featured - Reading, Free Reader's Essentials, Free Reading, Latest Featured Tagged With: free reading, reading classification, reading motivation, start reading

How I Quit “Good” Reading and Started Free Reading

December 22, 2015 by Robin Chan

Only You Can Decide Somewhere along the way, a reader will ask himself/herself: “How do I get better at reading?” I have asked, too and was fortunate enough to find my own answer-a bit too hard a way. The motivation to improve is certainly a good thing, but in terms of reading, it can get […]

Filed Under: Featured - Reading, Free Reading, How to Start Free Reading Tagged With: free reading, reading for pleasure, reading methodology, reading per se

What a Kindle Kindles— What You Should Know About Reading

December 15, 2015 by Robin Chan

My Paperwhite the first day unboxed What a Kindle Kindles Why would anyone want a Amazon Kindle—a gadget that enable you to do nothing but reading? Well, I do. And I am confident there are many out there like me. Because the Kindle kindles. Refound Interest in Books For one, it kindles my refound interest […]

Filed Under: Featured, Featured - Reading, Free Reading

About the Blogger

My name is Robin Chan. I currently work as a book buyer for an independently owned English bookseller in Hong Kong. In general, I enjoy my work—getting to know all the new books, restocking the old ones I consider good books, curating lists and catalogs and writing about them and getting paid for all that. But it’s not possible to talk about all your personal favorites if you don’t own the business. So here I am, this is my personal business about everything I love in reading, and yes—you see it already—gaming. I started gaming pretty young and I am proud to say that I still thoroughly enjoy exploring new worlds and characters and narratives which sometimes in their own unique ways surpass the ways books interact with you, and of course, it’s the same for books the other way round. And this is where I explore the interactions of my two favorite mediums.

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Recent Posts

  • Then and Again, I Say Yes—Ask Again, Yes July 17, 2019
  • 重回中文閱讀的懷抱—吳明益《複眼人》 July 1, 2019
  • A Tapestry of a Novel in the best sense of the word—Dear Edward June 20, 2019
  • Normal People Shows that Being Normal is Abnormally Hard September 6, 2018
  • An Enthralling Adventure into the Lost Civilization of Bugs—A Review of Hollow Knight July 1, 2018

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