Celebrity Life

Anyone who relishes in the life of excess and extravagance (and gleefully privy to all the first world problems that come with it) won’t be strangers to works by Kevin Kwan, which started with the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy.

The bestselling series was later adapted into the 2018 film, applauded for bringing Asian representation on a monumental scale to Hollywood. His latest novel, Sex and Vanity, was picked up for a feature film presentation by Sony Pictures — just a week after it hit shelves in June.

Sex and Vanity has been named a breezy update to E. M. Forster’s A Room with a View for 2020. The plot places the lens on Lucie Churchill, a biracial protagonist who, on top of a lifetime of contending with racial microaggressions, is torn with two love interests: The WASP-y fiancé of her family’s dreams or George Zao, a former flame she now can’t stand.

[caption id="attachment_212332" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Kevin Kwan. (Image: Raen Badua)[/caption]

Kwan has no doubt been keeping busy: Amidst a drama series in development at Amazon with STX Entertainment and numerous film and TV projects in the works, he recently spoke at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, hosted at the Asia Society.

We caught up with the author ahead of his session at the festival on 14 November, and asked him to fill us in on his latest novel, what he got up to during lockdown, and his own take on the world of luxury going forward.

(Main and featured image: Raen Badua)

The post Author Kevin Kwan Talks ‘Sex and Vanity’, Lockdown and Luxury appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Reading fiction in 2020 was an act of defiance—of turning our attention away from the catastrophes playing out around us to engage in a quiet, imaginative act. And the year’s best fiction offered many paths toward greater understanding and meaningful escape. Whether in the tumultuous halls of power in Tudor England with The Mirror &…

Barack Obama knows how to tell a good story. He published his first memoir, Dreams from My Father, about his upbringing as the son of a Kansas-born mother and Kenyan father, at the age of 33. He entered the national political stage at the 2004 Democratic National Convention with a rousing speech on the promise…

Fifteen tomes that are great to read, look at and show off.

Fifteen tomes that are great to read, look at and show off.

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Our compilation of the best self-improvement books will help you centre yourself and realign your goals.

The feeling of getting lost in a book is incomparable — not even a binge-worthy TV show comes close to the peace, quiet and grasping power of literature.

Self-improvement is a genre of reads on rise, more so in the recent years end especially right now when the circumstances of 2020 have forced us to take a long, hard look at ourselves and how we want to live our lives to truly be happy. It’s a journey, and a good next step forward is to escape (ironically inwards) with books that people have praised for helping them reshape their outlook on life. These are our favourites of the best self-improvement books today.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck : A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson

With a title immediately gripping, the New York Times Bestseller is a modern day self-help guide with all the cuss words, good jokes, and cold hard truths. Mark Manson, who also blogs, believes the key to life is living without trying to be happy or positive all the time. The author believes in embracing the mediocracy of human nature and the world itself while defining what matters, and who matters, to drive your everyday choices. As he not-so-subtly puts it, there are only so many things we can chose to truly care about and this books help you define yours — and why some of those “cares” are the reason for any feelings of being stuck or unfulfilled.

Get it here

When Things Fall Apart : Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chödrön

Pema Chödrön is a very well respected American Tibetan Buddhist, ordained nun, former acharya of Shambhala Buddhism and disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. In this book, Pema collects all the lessons and insight gained from softening through hard times in life, touching on the hardest experiences we all have like death and other losses. Her advice draws from Buddhist wisdomswhile including personal stories of her hardships, and how she uses the teachings to transform. The book is now released with a cover for it’s 20th-anniversary edition.

Get it here

Oprah Winfrey The Wisdom Of Sundays – Life-Changing Insights From Super Soul Conversations With Oprah

Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday is a spiritual-themed series you can thankfully also catch on YouTube. Each episode is — as Oprah puts it — an aha moment. This book is a collection of all the biggest aha moments of the three-time Emmy Award-winning show, organised into ten different topics or branches of spirituality. These insights come from guests includes Tony Robbins, Arianna Huffington, Eckhart Tolle, Thich Nhat Hahn, and Elizabeth Gilbert. There are also accompanying photographs and a personal essay by Oprah herself.

Get it here

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

To know where we’re going, we have to know where we came from — and what a lot we can learn our own biological engineering. The no.1 international bestseller is the work of renowned historian, Yuval Noah Harari, who explores the way our history throughout existence has shaped how we function as a human race. All the data forces us to look ahead at the possibilities for evolution of human kind, and within ourselves.

Get it here

Untamed by Glennon Doyle

This is a book for women who’ve clung so tightly (without even realising) to the ideas of womanhood: what being a “good” mother, partner, sister, friend or colleague looks, and how we should feel in these roles. If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “Wasn’t it all supposed to be more beautiful than this?”…. are you in for a ride. Glennon Doyle was already a best-selling author of a book about her “happily ever after” with a husband and kids after overcoming her addiction to alcohol and bulimia. The more she learns what it is to be brave, the more she is inched towards her true self and her “knowing”, ultimately finding out what it means to be living courageously and authentically.

Get it here

This story first appeared on Prestige Malaysia

The post These Self-Improvement Books Will Change Your Life appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Baby Sumo will set you back a cool $1,500.

In an entertainment world dominated by movies, Youtube and social media, it is amazing to see that the world’s best selling authors have been able [...]

The post Richest Authors of All Time appeared first on Most Expensive Thing.

The record was previously held by another copy of the same book that sold for $6.1 million in 2001.