Tuesday, October 27, 2009

So What Have You Been Reading?

I'm off to the Publishing Symposium at the Singapore Writers festival and most probably away from this blog till Friday. Expect some updates after that of stuff I hope will be particularly relevant to local writers.

So while I'm gone, this is your space. What have you read recently? Any good?

Non-fiction and short stories are still my reads of choice at the moment. I finished Madness : A Bipolar Life by Marya Hornbacher very moving memoir of life with the illness - very well written, often harrowing but ultimately hopeful. A must-read if you know people who are bipolar and a book to put beside Kay Redfield Jamison's An Unquiet Mind. (I found my very cheap copy at Big Bookshop, and you can read excerpts from the book here.)

I read most of Gerrie Lim's In Lust We Trust : Adventures in Adult Cinema, at the hairdressers yesterday. Quite an eye-popping read (How does a nice Singaporean boy get mixed up in this? What actually goes on behind the scenes at the filming of porno movies - well aren't you also curious?), insightful and intelligent. (Bought by copy from Times bookstore.)

And now I'm toying with what to put in my bag to take to Singapore. Might give Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book a chance since it's almost halloween.

18 comments:

Syigim said...

recently found out that ang lee is making 'life of pi' the movie. so i'm re-reading it again. still as engaging!

pls review neil gaiman's 'the graveyard book' when ur done. sounds interesting.. :)

Syaliza Abdul Rahman said...

1.Books Lovers' Appreciation Society by various authors.

2. The Adultery Diet by Eva Cassady


:o)

Oxymoron said...

In the Hot Zone by Kevin Sites.

Dingodingo said...

Mark Haddon's "The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time" and some online diary of schizophrenics for some research.

mel said...

1. Everything is Illuminated (Jonathan Safran Foer)
2. Suite Francaise (audio book) (Irene Nemirovsky)
3. The Story of Lucy Gault (William Trevor)
4. The Master (Colm Toibin)

BioPeach said...

I am doing a little seasonal reading.

1. The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
2. The Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
3. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman by Carol F. Karlsen

Oxymoron said...

Also, Infantry Aces by Franz Kurowski.

ryan said...

1.Say You're One Of Them by Uwem Akpan
2.PS, I Love You by Cecelia Ahern
3.Secret Of Face Reading by Joey Yap

Borneo Expat Writer said...

Thought Forces by Prentice Mulford (he's referenced in The Secret), and The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren -- was staying with some friends in Singapore found it among a stack of books and next thing I know...I seriously need to get back to some fiction...

max k said...

1. The Umbrella Man by Roald Dahl
2. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Austen and Grahame-Smith :D

composer said...

*fluff alert*

Longing by Beverly Lewis (just had to see what the fuss was about Amish romances)

The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

-Jen

Unknown said...

1. Mark Haddon's "A Spot of Bother"
2. Motivational books to keep the spirit up!

About Jessie said...

How to Get Rich by Felix Denis...the UK Publishing Titan

Christine said...

Oh, cool! I'm in the middle of "To Know Where I'm Coming From", which is the second book by Johann S. Lee, who wrote Singapore's first gay novel, "Peculiar Chris".

I wonder if he'll be at the Festival? Would so like to meet him...

Unknown said...

slurping up:

1. the little book by selden awards (which i can only describe as a historical-fantasy novel that has its funny AND disturbing moments)
2. moab is my washpot by stephen fry (a memoir by, i think, the most intelligent, wittiest man in british comedy)

Anna Gustafsson Chen said...

1. Death of a living Buddha by Tangka

2. Today I wouldn't like to meet myself by Herta Müller

3. The lost symbol by Dan Brown

Syaliza Abdul Rahman said...

1. Happiness in Hard Times by Andrew Matthews

2. The Gap Year for Grown Ups by Annie Sanders

3. Losing It by Valerie Bertinelli

ビビ said...

Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Never liked her books but for some reason picked up this one because of its link to the Mahabharata.