Happy as I am to go back home , as the moment of departure is closing in, I feel something ...sad, nervous, confused ? maybe all ...and more.
This is my last week here and will spend these days thinking and writing about what I liked about this place - my first love has to be the library !
I loved the libraries in Singapore - right from the buildings, the racks, the RFID-enabled books, the borrowing stations , the dropboxes, the online search catalog - everything so neat and so 'Singaporean'ly perfect !
Some books pending on my reading wish-list were taken care of :
To Kill a Mocking Bird - Harper Lee
Skipping Christmas - John Grisham
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
Also got a chance to read some renowned Indian writers like Vikram Seth, Amitav Ghosh, Jhumpa Lahiri, Satyajit Ray ... of whom the most impressive, for me , was surprisingly Rabindranath Tagore. Its a pity that pages and pages of writing and expressing donot succeed to touch your heart quite like Tagore's simple story-telling.
Then there was some classic sampling - the likes of Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, E.M.Forster, Graham Greene ...can't say I liked all of them.
And some non-fiction too :
'Notes from an even smaller island' by Neil Humphreys was a comical rendition of an expatriat's experience in S'pore, I could relate to it for the most part.
'What a coincidence ...' by Susan Watkins was a rare find, was mesmerised by her (apparantly) real stories of coincidence.
'Freakonomics' by Steven D Levitt is in a different genre altogether, nevertheless made for interesting reading.
But the most moving was 'Tuesdays with Morrie' by Mitch Albom , read this book to understand how to reach out to people, to live life everyday and not just survive.
All in all, read around 20 books in 9 months ...thats an average of 2.2 books per month - don't get me wrong, am currently reading about statistics and so talking of averages, its quite good I suppose for someone who had almost quit reading the past two years.
5 comments:
2.2 books per month... good to see that.. Some really good books there. Any suggestions for the lesser mortals?
'Tuesdays with Morrie' is a must read for sentimental fools ;)
but since you are a hard-core MBA, I suggest 'Freakonomics' if you haven't already read it.
For light reading there's always John Grisham - Missing Christmas will make you laugh, and Broker will make you rush to the last page in a hurry.
If I go on, this may turn out to be another (boring) blog entry ...so thats it for now.
Hi sowmya,
Great to see ur blogs here.Hope u remember me from RV(bus stop etc).
Nice to see that you are all settled now.Just wanted to say Hi & Wish u Happi New Year!!!
Im amazed at your literary profile.Way to go!!
Keep in touch,
Aseeya.
voracious u r!! i cant even imagine reading so many in 5 yrs!! wats the one u r reading now?
Wow that's one big list! How i wish i could sit and read like u did sowms. I want to add one more to your wish list though 'Complete works of Ruskin Bond' or short stories of RB. lemme know how you liked it :)
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