reading 3:31 pm
Addy said she hadn’t read Fred Vargas’ latest book yet, after she’d already lent it to me, so she guilt-tripped me into finishing it within 2.5 days even though I’d been wanting to save it for later.
Of course it was good – that doesn’t need to be said. More amazing is the fact that Addy stumbled upon Vargas quite by chance, while browsing in a bookstore. A more original and witty medieval archaelogist-turned-crime-fiction-writer does not exist.
reading 1:38 pm
Yukio Mishima’s short novel is disturbing – beautiful and cruel; intellectually elevated and rooted in physicality all at once. A 13-year-old boy idolises a sailor whom his widowed mother grows to love, but Ryuji betrays Noboru’s high-flown ideals when he decides to stay shore-bound. Noboru then presents the case to his “gang” – a group of twisted, intelligent classmates – whose leader devises the ultimate punishment for Ryuji.
The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea is a chilling portrait of Japanese society.
reading 6:06 pm
On Chesil Beach is an intricate miniature painting of a bygone era, a self-contained story caught in a snapshot. Ian McEwan doesn’t get too weighted down by his plotline here, because he doesn’t have much chance to be. As Edward and Florence approach each other on their wedding night, the details of their courtship are replayed against the background of the gentle Dorset coast… The most poignant thread though, lies in what happens to the frigid woman who finds no words to describe her reservations, but who is nonetheless able to shore up against small oases of pleasure in the midst of her panic.
reading 10:01 pm
Oh I do love Terry Pratchett, but not all of his books are equally good. When they’re good though, they make me shrivel up inside and die a little. Then I come back to life, feeling better than ever.
Small Gods is amazingly good, partly because my expectations weren’t that high in the first place – I thought nothing could really beat the City Watch books or Tiffany Aching series (my favourites).
A standalone Discworld novel, Small Gods is about the faith of one man in a tortoise (not actually a turtle, even if The Turtle Moves). It’s about keeping an entire library in one’s head (feeling it slosh about), the beginnings of Mutually Assured Destruction, evil, and as is usual with Pratchett, deftly played political games (both human and godly in nature).
reading 9:38 pm
Michael Chabon is a bit too clever again, as he was in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, which got old kind of of quickly for me. However, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is about Jews and I do like them in my literature. Jews in Alaska – even better!
The novel fell just short of being completely engaging as Chabon describes every single strand of nostril hair with loving indulgence. Also, while the story was supposed to be a homicide detective solving, well, a homicide (while juggling the weird vibes he’s getting from his ex-wife), the mystery was way too complex for my tiny brain on those early-morning train rides…
family and running and singapore 11:02 pm
Last night, Mom, Sis, Sis’ boyfriend and I went to the park downstairs in our ratty old t-shirts and shorts at 1.30AM. We were supporting random people at Singapore’s first midnight marathon.
We had two bunches of bananas. I thought that we would never manage to give all of them out. The bulk of the non-elite runners who came through between 2-2.15AM took them all. Mom was overjoyed.
Before the banana bonanza, we had seen the first marathoner run past, all limbs. A cyclist was puffing away in front of him, clearing his path for him and lighting the way. He was probably doing 18-19KM/hr.
Our hands hurt from the clapping, and we couldn’t think of many things to say to cheer them on – especially those who had slowed to a walk and looked awfully exhausted. But the good humour of some kept us going too. A selection of responses:-
“Don’t you guys have to sleep?”
“I LIVE HERE TOO!”
(in Chinese) “I have no ‘oil’ left…”
“Thanks for being here.”
“You look like my friend from JC!” (?!)
Mom got a few sweaty hi-fives, which she loved. I got a circle of mosquito bites around my ankle and finished half a bag of Sour Cream n Onion Ruffles (before the runners came – it might have been cruel otherwise). Sis got goosebumps from watching the first runner come by.
It was fun.
