By Ken Hickson for The Art of Travel
2 January 2022
Books have been important for our mental health – even our survival – over the last 365 days. Let alone our literary nourishment.
I think I can honestly say I’ve received, bought, opened, read, reviewed and/or shared, at least one book every day of this past year. So I was determined to end the year – and get off to a good start in the New Year – by writing about books.
While my life revolves around words – putting them in their rightful place! – for some reason numbers keep cropping up, too. So what follows, I hope, will explain the headline numbers.
So let’s begin with the very important part of the process of producing, promoting, buying and selling books. Here’s ten items of interest which came to my attention, mostly by reading the local newspaper, in print! Or by way of book events in which I was somehow involved.
- Needless to say, I was surprised and disturbed to read the other day about Turkey and its serious problems relating to book publishing/printing, and the selling and buying of books. The Straits Times headline read “Economic crisis in Turkey spells disaster for book industry”, but I also found a video news report from DW (Germany), which sets out the story. First, I was thinking that censorship had something to do with it. I was then horrified to learn that the supply chain disruptions of 2021 had not only raised the price of pulp and paper, but led to Turkey’s paper mills shutting down. Thereby depriving printers and publishers of the necessary materials needed to make books.
- A more heartening book story came my way – also first in the Straits Times – about “Selling used books to help schools in Nepal”. Randall Chong was inspired on a trip to the Himalayas to set up Books Beyond Borders, which sells second hand books, donated in Singapore, to raise funds for the education of Nepalese children. I’ve already checked out the website and started going through my book collection to see what I can readily part with. You should, too.
- Great to hear directly from Edmund Wee – and read in the newspaper – that Huggs Epigram Coffee Bookshop will re-open in the first week of 2022. Good that he’s been able to keep supplying Singapore published books at a physical “pop-up” outlet in Beach Road for a few months before he returns to Maxwell Road. Look forward to more book events now, which is what earned a lot of early kudos for Huggs Epigram. Remember the packed night for PN Balji’s Reluctant Editor launch? And then there was Pico Iyer’s visit to talk about his Raffles Hotel book.
- Guilty Pleasures? Great that Singapore Writers Festival went ahead last year (3 – 14 November), albeit in a hybrid form, which meant far too few live sessions and too few opportunities to meet real authors face-to-face and buy books. But we made the most of it. Did you see my preview in The Art of Travel when I interviewed Pooja Nansi, the Festival Director about the theme and the challenges? It’s here if you missed it. Read below about one of the author’s I unearthed at SWF and his book Mist Bound. And I won’t forget the Magic Book Bus. Excellent idea which I stepped up and into more than once. Photo above by courtesy of Closetful of Books.
- Which reminds us of bookstores which seems to be struggling to hold their own. Times at Plaza Singapura– one of the few remaining of what was once a big chain – where I’ve happily found what I was looking for a few times this year. I joined the book club where I get very good discount deals. All helps when you can’t stop acquiring books.
- And then there was the very public “fiasco” this year past – another word for “an overblown big fuss” – over Kenny Leck and Books Actually. Here’s a link to one of Olivia Ho’s early reports in the Straits Times. Kenny was someone who did more to promote local writing and reading – by effectively publishing and marketing books – than almost anyone else I can think of in recent years. I’ve visited Books Actually a lot and bought quite a few books there, even since Kenny closed the real store and went online. Book promotion par excellence. I hope the staff who’ve inherited the store can do half as good a job as Kenny did. I used to get daily news from Books Actually, but nothing for a long time.
- Went along to one of many bookstores in Bras Basah Road to see if I could find at least one book by Wilbur Smith, the prolific South African author, who sadly passed away on 13 November 2021. I met the author a few years ago when he visited and spoke at a book event in Australia. While I had a signed copy of River God in my possession once, it went the way of other books from my “free lending library”. Anyway, I did manage to get two of his hefty tomes, Monsoon and The Quest. More to read in 2022.
- I’m a big fan of Straits Times writer Rohit Brijnath, who normally covers sporting subjects, but every week or so he produces something far more thought-provoking, like his latest headlined Learning, living in bookshops. I have the excellent eight-page feature in the Life section (dated 12 December 2021) in my hands, but see if you can get hold of it, in print or online.
- The same paper devoted two pages to Lovely Libraries by Chantal Sagan, who usually gets a lot of space to report on local design, arts and crafts. The home library of Meira Chand was included, as she obviously needs a lot of shelf space even for her own works. She is one of Singapore’s best writers and I do have a couple of her books in my not-so-impressive home library.
- The one book launch I remember best from 2021 was the award-winning event for “Celebrating Forty Years of Transforming Lives”. If you missed it, see the May report by Floyd Cowan in Asian Journeys. Thanks to Loupe Design, Lions Home for the Elders and Marina Bay Sands, the first ever book launch at the specially-designed Hybrid Broadcast Studio, won three Marketing Event Awards, given out in November by Marketing Interactive Magazine at the ShangriLa Hotel. Pictured (below) are designers Donovan Tan and Amanda Ting, with yours truly, who just happened to be author and publisher of the book. To see the e-book go to Lions Home.
Then there’s my selection of the best books I’ve encountered and/or rediscovered, read and/or reviewed, in 2021:
Number 1. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox & the Horse by Charlie Mackesy (HarperOne). I was first attracted to its cover and thought – mistakenly – that it was produced for children. When I picked it up at Times Bookstore – when it was on the Straits Times bestseller list – I was quickly convinced that it is for all ages. As the author/artist says himself, it’s for everyone “whether you are eighty or eight”. I bought the book first to send to grandsons in Australia. But so impressed was I with the well-chosen words and the exquisitely executed drawings – some in colour – that I’ve gone back to Times for more. We’re not only recommending it to all our friends and family abroad, we’ve given it as a present to the lovely Singapore family who hosted us for a Christmas dinner.
Number 2. Rewriting My Happily Ever After by Dr Ranjani Rao (Story Artesan Press). “One would think it’s not so easy to write a memoir of divorce and discovery, but Ranjani Rao has done it with grace, sensitivity and honesty.” That’s what I said in my review of the book in The Art of Travel. Read all about it and get the book for yourself, whatever that state of your marriage! It’s also appeared on Asian Books Blog.
Number 3. A Promised Land by Barack Obama (Crown 2020). I ordered this book well in advance from Books Actually and it’s been a slow, if purposeful, read. It’s not designed to be a quick, light read. It’s so heavy in weight – 772 pages with hard cover – so I’ve been using it as part of my physio-prescribed exercises for many months! Not heavy-going reading-wise, even though President Obama does go into great detail on his campaigning and running the White House. (Also reviewed in The Art of Travel.) He’s very good with words and it’s a great companion book to go along with his 1995 book Dreams from my Father, which I also thoroughly enjoyed.
Number 4. Mist Bound by Daryl Kho (Penguin Books). This was one of four books launched at the Singapore Writers Festival, which I attended and/or met the authors. While I’ve read this important book, it’s yet to get the full review it deserves from me in The Art of Travel and Asian Books Blog. Still to come. But I think it truly deserves to be among my ten favoured reads of 2021. While it’s written mainly for children so they can understand more about death and dementia – hence the sub-title “how to glue back grandpa” – it’s told in such an engaging fashion that all ages should dip into it. Supernatural, yes. Fairy tales, maybe. But Daryl writes like a seasoned storyteller. So now he’s well and truly qualified at that. Put this down as one of Singapore’s best books of 2021. Go to Times Reads for more.
Number 5. Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador). While it’s all about a fascinating café in Tokyo where you can take a particular seat and go back in time – or Back to the Future, if you like – I also learnt there’s a real-life Japanese event called the Tanabata Festival, which seems to be all about worshipping bamboo and paper. There is fact in fiction! Reviewed by The Art of Travel.
Number 6. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Canongate Books). This might well be the first of his books I’ve attempted, but now there will be more. This is an amazing story and while this library is definitely out-of-this-world, he produces some amazing characters and situations. I ordered this from Book Depository many months’ ago and due to a postal address error, it took a long time to arrive. But it was well worth the wait. Read more in my review here.
Number 7. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (Harper Collins). The title attracted me first. As some of you may be aware, I tore my Achilles tendon more than a year ago, so the word has been very much on my mind, as has the myth – or legend – around the Greek god/man and his one big weakness. It’s been on the bestseller lists for a while, so I thought I better acquire it for more insight into Achilles, as my classical Greek education was severely lacking. Madeline Miller turns out to be an excellent creator of historical fiction. Considering this is her first novel, it puts her ahead of many others who have attempted this genre, but end up wallowing in muddy (or muddled) historical detail. She comes close to my favourite author of historical fiction, Geraldine Brooks, who’s book on King David, The Silver Chord, could well have influenced Ms Miller.
Number 8. Shakespearean by Robert McCrum (Picador). I’m only half way through this, but I have the urge to tell all other Shakespeare lovers, to get it. Just ask Anthony at Booktique for any book you want and he’ll get it for you, as he did for me with this treasure trove on what it is to be Shakespearean. If you think you know enough already about the Bard, his plays and poetry, think again. You’ll collect a lot more insight and gems here, plus learn something about the Shakespeare Club, of which the author is a select member. Maybe we should start a club of Shakespeare lovers in Singapore.
Number 9. In One Breath by Sanjay C. Kuttan (Partridge). I’ve written a lot about Sanjay and his poetry recently – see Poetry in Parenthesis in the latest issue of The Art of Travel – so there’s not a lot more I can say accept that Sanjay deserves recognition as a “writer of worth”. As with his first book of poetry, Sanjay doesn’t avoid controversial subjects. His pithy poetry tackles, among other subjects: abuse, 9/ll, George Floyd, dormitories, suicidal, depression and lockdown. When my friend, Professor Kirpal Singh – poet extraordinary himself and literary critic – speaks so highly of Sanjay’s work and agrees to put some wise words of wisdom as an introduction to his latest work, I sit up and take notice. Kirpal describes Sanjay’s pseudohaiku in the book as “a glorious success of the written word”.
Number 10. The Man Who Listens by Taylor Caldwell (Collins, 1960). I found this in one of my crammed bookshelves. It’s been there a while. It has my mother’s name inside the cover. I recall reading it years ago, so I decided to delve into this intriguing story again. While it obviously has religious overtones – my mother was a devout Christain – I found it to be a breath of fresh air in these dark pandemic-drenched days. Listening is something we all need to devote more effort to, and we certainly need to avail ourselves of good listeners. We hear there’s been an rapid increase in mental health issues everywhere this last year or two and probably much of it could be relieved (or released) if there was someone, somewhere who would listen to our woes. Where we could be listened to. Without judgement. With empathy. Whether a real human listener – or a spiritual presence – or just a safe and comfortable place where we can quietly speak our mind. Because as this book clearly tells us, by sharing our troubles to a listening ear, we can often come up with the solutions. Note: When searching for this book online today, you’ll find it on Amazon and Abebooks, but you’ll also come across The Listener by the same author, with a more politically-correct title!
What to look forward to for 2022? Here’s one for starters:
“Horse” by Geraldine Brooks (Viking Penguin Random House). “A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history”. That’s what we get from the publisher. We have to hold off for a few more months for this long-awaited book by the best-selling author of Year of Wonders, People of the Book and March – until June 2022, I’m told – but read what I had to say about it mid-2021 in a preview in The Art of Travel. Of course, you can order it in advance from any of your usual book sources, but I’m still hoping I’ll get a review copy in the post. Go here for more about Horse.
Happy reading, writing and collecting in 2022.