I've been living in Singapore for almost 4 months now. Hard to believe, really. I quite like it here. That may sound a little cool, but trust me, coming from me that's a ringing endorsement. I'm a low-key person and I tend not to be be super-enthusiastic about things.
I'm still not a 100% sure about the direction I want this blog to take. Is it a personal blog or is it about reading and writing? I don't know, but at this point it seems to be a bit of both. I guess I need to get serious about it if I want it to be anything.
For this post I think I shall talk about my first love, which is, of course, books. I came to Singapore with only a few books and now, after 4 months, I have over 70 books in my possession. How, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. In a minute.
I thought I would have a hard time getting hold of second-hand books in Singapore so I decided to join a library. Then I saw on the library website that they were have a book-sale, so I dragged my boyfriend there. All books $2! Who could refuse? I was impressed to see no less than 3 Peter Carey books for sale, so I snapped them all up, along with an Isabelle Allende and a couple of others.
After that I met a fantastic chick from Austin, Texas, called Emma. Her boyfriend works with mine (as all my Singaporean friends' partners do). Emma told me about a place in Singapore called Bras Basah, which has a lot of second-hand bookshops. So off to Bras Basah we trotted.
I did find some good books, including Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver (who at that point I had inexplicably not read), but they were quite expensive for second-hand, some of them being close to $20. I read the Barbara Kingsolver and it was rather good. The story wasn't the most enthralling, although it was still solid, but the prose was lyrical and lovely. I knew at once that I would like her writing.
You may recall from an earlier post that I bought her bestseller, The Poisonwood Bible, before I left, and then promptly lost it. Emma recommended it highly so, after finally joining the library, I borrowed it. I loved it. So beautifully written and well done; she really found a clear voice for her characters. Although the book head-hops between five different characters, there is never a point where you think, which character is this again? You always know which character is speaking because their voices are so clear and resonant. That takes some serious skill, people. She had me bawling like a baby at one point, more than I think I've ever cried while reading a book (and I was in public at the time, so a little embarrassed).
A few weeks ago we had some boxes shipped over from Melbourne, containing all Neil's art/animation books and about 50 books for me -- some mine and some my dad's. I have a habit of buying books (mostly second-hand) and then not getting around to reading them for whatever reason. Or reading part of them but not finishing them. So I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to finally read all those books that I hadn't gotten around to yet.
So that explains why I now have over 70 books here with me, although I brought little else from home apart from clothes. We may not have any pots and pans, but damn it, we've got books!
Also, Emma and I swapped a few, and I just finished reading a fabulous book that she lent me called Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. It was part mystery, part family drama, and all good. It was extremely well written, vivid and engaging, and I couldn't put it down. Almost all the characters in the book have experienced some kind of terrible loss and I could feel their grief and the sense of hopelessness. One passage that really stuck with me was this, from a man who is still utterly consumed by grief 10 years after the loss of his daughter:
"When Theo returned along St. Andrews Street the girl with the custard-yellow hair was no longer there and he worried that she might never be there again. Because that was how it happened: one moment you were there, laughing, talking, breathing, and the next you were gone. Forever. And there wasn't even a shape left in the world where you'd been, neither the trace of a smile nor the whisper of a word. Just nothing."
I wish I could write like that. I'm intrigued to read Atkinson's other books now, but I'll guess they'll have to wait until I've gotten through the other 70 odd. I've recently promised myself I'm going to read at least a book a week (which I really should've been doing already). Since I read Case Histories in 3 days, I've technically fulfilled my quota for this week, but I'm going to start another one anyway. Not sure what it will be yet, as I'm a little spoiled for choice, but I'll keep you posted!
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