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He has mined that mixture of rich imagination and real life and produced yet another detailed (very detailed) narrative about how a Chinese immigrant settles in the United States with wife and a son in tow.

Of course, the author does not believe in using broad brush strokes to paint his tale, but fills it with lots of details, be it about the “refund or money back” guarantee policies in American supermarkets to the hassles of  getting a place in school for his son in a neighbourhood close to their place.

Each prose and paragraph packs in so much information that at times, the reader does have to take a break to breathe and make sense of what has been written.

He dedicates the novel to his wife and son and there are a lot of semi-autobiographical details in the novel which, perhaps, mirrors his own personal experience and life in the United States.

Much has been mentioned and written about the immigrant life in America but I doubt there has been much that has been written with such sensible detail and understanding of what it really makes to be in a different culture and country; straddling between both worlds, the one left behind and the one adopted.

~ Contributed by Michael Chin

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Post your comments, or email to HBeditor@nlb.gov.sg

Lie down in darkness
by William Styron
New York : Vintage Books, 1992.
Call No.: STY

Throw in religion, alcoholism, sexual intemperateness – and you get a literary dish of a dysfunctional American family living in the early 20th century.

“Lie down in darkness” relates the story of Milton Loftis, a philandering middle-of-the-road lawyer who can’t resist the bottle; Helen, his wife who lives life in extremis when it comes to religion and moral rectitude; Peyton, the Loftis’ younger daughter who is Helen’s bête noire and a free spirit when it comes to alcohol and sex; and Maudie, the handicapped older daughter whom Helen loves dearly (sympathy?).

The story starts off with Milton, his lover, Dolly; house-help Ella and some undertakers on a journey to collect the body of Peyton who has committed suicide, for interment. The first few pages of the book are quite tepid but the action picks up once Styron used the stream-of-consciousness method to tell the story. Through a series of incidents, he fleshed out the reason for Peyton taking her own life.

The book is edged with an undercurrent of tension, and there’s not a single character who is likeable. Milton grates with his excessive drinking and weakness of character – and his invidious love for Peyton proves to be the spark that lit Helen’s dislike for Peyton and the gradual disintegration of the family. Helen is an angry woman whose emotional turbulence and caprices make her very unlikeable inspite of the wrongs done to her by Milton i.e. adultery. Peyton is profligate and rebellious, and her emotional battles with Helen set her spinning to ruin.

In the end, Peyton kills herself in the end after realising that she cannot truly love – she has married Harry, a Jew, because she needed him and not loved him – hence her dalliances with a couple of other men. The last 80 odd pages of the book are a monologue of Perry’s thoughts as she recounts her last moments.

This book is dark and doesn’t make for a happy and easy reading. But if you like beautiful language and a compelling storyline, then “Lie down in darkness” will probably recline well on your literary pillow.

Dear friends,
This month’s book is from Simon Tay’s latest fiction “City of small blessings”.  The details:

Date/Time:  4.00pm, Friday  24 April
Venue:  Bukit Batok Public Library
Facilitator:  Ms Chen Wee
Title/Author/ Call number:  “City of small blessings” by Simon Tay.
Call no.:   SING  TAY

About the book:  A Singaporean retires, migrates and then returns. But, he slowly finds, there is no simple return to the place called home. Once a well known public figure who contributed to his country, he is now outside the rush of workdays, on the fringe of a city he barely recognizes, distanced from his wife and son, even as he loves them.

A letter comes from the government and he begins a journey. In the present, he must face the new men of authority. In the past, he must confront old sacrifices and struggles. He regrets. He loves. He cycles and discovers.
(Taken from the book’s backcover)

About the author:

Simon SC Tay LLM (Harvard) LLB Hons (NUS) is a teacher and activist and focuses on international and public law, especially on environmental issues in Asia. He has published in leading law and other academic journals in the USA, Canada, Australia and Europe and, in 2001, edited the work, “Reinventing ASEAN”. In addition to his scholarly work, he concurrently chairs the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, an independent think-tank, and the National Environmental Agency (from 2002 to 2008), the government authority tasked to foster environmental protection and sustainability.

He has advised international and regional governments and spoken at many international meetings, including the World Economic Forum (Davos). He previously initiated the Singapore Volunteers Overseas, the country’s equivalent of the Peace Corps. He is also an award winning author of stories and poems.
(Source:  www.spp.nus.edu.sg/Faculty_Tay_Seong_Chee_Simon.aspx)

Visit Simon Tay’s blog at:  cityofsmallblessings.blogspot.com/

Recycle Your Reading – Used books become new reads at the Book Exchange! 

Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2009
Time: 10.30am to 6pm
Venue: The Plaza, National Library Building,100 Victoria Street

3 easy steps to exchange your used books for new reads:

1. Bring your used books to any Public Library from 11 to 24 April, 11am to 8pm. On 25 April, used books are accepted only at the National Library Building.
2. Drop off your used books and get a book exchange coupon indicating one-for-one exchange for the books accepted.
3. Bring your coupon to The Plaza, National Library Building, on 25 April to redeem for used books dropped off by other book lovers.

Terms and Conditions:

1. Each person can exchange up to a maximum of 30 used books. There is no age limit for participation.
2. We accept children’s and adults’ fiction and non-fiction books (eg. cookbooks, travel guides and romance novels) in any of the four official languages. We also accept used library books bought from previous Library Book Sales. Textbooks, magazines and audio-visual materials will not be accepted.
3. Used books for exchange should be in relatively good physical condition.
4. Only coupons issued with a Book Exchange stamp are valid. Please check your coupons carefully after they are issued to you.
5. Coupons issued are transferable. You may pass them on to your family members or friends to help you redeem.
6. Lost coupons are not replaceable. You are advised to keep your coupons properly till the event on 25 April.
7. Plastic/carrier bags and delivery service will not be provided on Sat, 25 April. You are advised to bring your own carrier bags and/or arrange for transportation of books redeemed.

For enquiries, please call NLB Helpdesk at 6332 3255 or email: helpdesk@nlb.gov.sg

Note: NLB reserves the right to change the terms and conditions at any time.

Dear friends,

We are discussing Anita Desai’s book “Fasting, Feasting”.

The details:

Date/Time:  4.00pm,  Friday 27 March 2009
Venue:  The Activity Room, Bukit Batok Public Library
Facilitator:  Ms Hasanah Sodhi
Author:  Anita Desai
Title:  Fasting, Feasting.

Call no.:   DES
About the book:

Short-listed for the 1999 Booker Prize, Desai’s stunning new novel looks gently but without sentimentality at an Indian family that, despite Western influence, is bound by Eastern traditions. As Desai’s title implies, the novel is divided into two parts.

At the heart of Part One, set in India, is Uma, the eldest of three children, the overprotected daughter who finds herself starved for a life. Plain, myopic and perhaps dim, Uma gives up school and marriage, finding herself in her 40s looking after her demanding if well-meaning parents. Uma’s younger, prettier sister marries quickly to escape the same fate, but seems dissatisfied. Although the family is “quite capable of putting on a progressive, Westernized front,” it’s clear that privileges are still reserved for boys. When her brother, Arun, is born, Uma is expected to abandon her education at the convent school to take care of him. It is Arun, the ostensibly privileged son, smothered by his father’s expectations, who is the focus of the second part of the novel. The summer after his freshman year at the University of Massachusetts, Arun stays with the Pattons, an only-too-recognizable American family.

While Desai paints a nuanced and delicate portrait of Uma’s family, here the writer broadens her brush strokes, starkly contrasting the Pattons’ surfeit of food and material comforts with the domestic routine of the Indian household. Indeed, Desai is so adept at portraying Americans through Indian eyes that the Pattons remain as inscrutable to the reader as they are to Arun. But Arun himself, as he picks his way through a minefield of puzzling American customs, becomes a more sympathetic character, and his final act in the novel suggests both how far he has come and how much he has lost. Although Desai takes a risk in shifting from the endearing Uma to Arun, she has much to say in this graceful, supple novel about the inability of the families in either culture to nurture their children.

Our facilitator Hasanah has prepared some quesstions for us to ponder over:

1. What is the significance of the title”Fasting and Feasting” ? How does it apply to the two families?
What are the differences and similarities between the Indian and American families?
2. Consider the theme of freedom in regards to the two main characters; Uma and Arun.
3. In what ways does spirituality enter the novel? Eg: What does Uma’s experience at or in the sacred river signify?
4. What does Uma seek in the convent school, her relationship with Mira-masi and in her Christmas & Bangle collection?
5. Discuss Arun’s character in relation to his struggle to remain anonymous and detached from the Potters and society.

With best regards

Soon Huat
Librarian
Adults and Young People’s Services
Bukit Batok Public Library

HAPPENIN’ . programmes + events

Masterclass Talk: What is a transpacific arts collective?

Join award-winning Canadian poet, Ray Hsu, as he reads his poems and shares his insights into how we can forge a collective under the banner of the arts.
In his talk, he will address how individual writers and artists can benefit from collective approaches to the arts.

Accompanied by artistic collaborator, Julian Wang, as a fellow discussant, Ray will also touch on other issues like:
- How do arts collectives collectively pose challenges to prevailing models of artists as individuals who compete for prestige and resources?
- What new creative horizon is produced by artistic exchange across the Pacific?
- What does artistic exchange share with other kinds of exchange and how does it differ?

Bio of speaker:

Ray Hsu is a founding member of Axis of Culture, a transpacific arts forum. He is also the author of Anthropy, which won the 2005 League of Canadian Poets’ Gerald Lampert Award for best first book and was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry. While completing his PhD in English Literature, he taught in a US prison for almost three years and co-founded with incarcerated writers the award-winning Prison Writing Workshop as well as an essay-writing programme. He was recently featured on the television documentary series, Heart of a Poet. He now teaches creative writing at the University of British Columbia.

Date & Time: Wednesday, March 11, 7pm – 9pm
Venue: Central Public Library (Multipurpose Room), National Library Board, 100 Victoria Street, Basement
Admission: Free

This event is organised as part of National Arts Council’s Mentor Access Project and supported by Elephant & Coral PenCo Pte Ltd and National Library Board.

Library confidential: oddballs, geeks, and gangstas in the public library
Don Borchett
London: Virgin, 2007
Call No. : 027.4092 BOR 

The strange truth about the public library – that’s the subject for Don Borchett’s first book. It offers a peek into a weird and sometimes dark world, where you would least expect the outrageous. He writes about librarians falling in love and keeping it a secret, crazy library patrons and people returning soiled books.

Borchert was an assistant librarian in the Californian Public Library for 10 years and his book jumps on the bandwagon of exposés from industry insiders, similar to Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential” and Toby Young’s “How to lose friends and alienate people” (recently made into a movie). Writing from the frontline, his personal experiences and observations challenge the stereotypes of librarians as introverts with tight hair buns in tortoise-shell glasses, shushing noisy people.

While hilarious, this memoir has a tinge of sadness, as it touches on social issues like drug awareness and latchkey children.

“One day as I was escorting him to the front door, I asked him why he didn’t just go home.

“Mom doesn’t get there until about six-thirty,” he said.

“Don’t you have a key?”

“Hah. Right. No. My stepfather says if I want a key, I should get my own place. Sometimes I get there and his car is out front, he’s inside, and he won’t even answer the door. He’s a jerk pretty much.”

Damn this stupid kid, I thought. He is no longer two-dimensional.”

People who count the public library as a favourite haunt will surely find this an unusual and enjoyable read.

~ By Elizabeth Lee, National Library Board

Would you like to send us your contribution?
Post your comments, or email to HBeditor@nlb.gov.sg

Dear Friends,

Fresh from the recent announcement of the Singapore Literature Prize 2008 (English category), poet Ng Yi-Sheng has graciously accepted our invitation to join us in February’s book discussion.  The details:

Date/time:  4.00pm, Friday 27 February
Venure:  The Activity Room, Bukit Batok Public Library
Author/Title:  Mr Ng Yi-Sheng.  “Last Boy”.  Call no.  SING  S821 NG
Facilitator:  Ms Clara Chua

About the author:

Ng Yi-Sheng (b.1980) is a poet, playwright, journalist and freelance writer.  He has published four books, including a novelisation of the movie “Eating Air”, the best-selling non-fiction book, “SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century” and the poetry collection “last boy”, which won the 2008 Singapore Literature Prize.

His dramatic work ranges from musical comedies to experimental performances as part of the interdisciplinary arts group V.I.S.T.A Lab.  Additionally, he models for art classes and practises capoeira.  He blogs at <http://lastboy.blogspot.com>.

About the book:
“Ng Yi-sheng’s writing is always good for a romp through the enticing playground of language… but don’t forget to stand aside, catch your breath, and observe the soul-ground on which Last Boy plays.”
- Lee Tzu Pheng

“This whimsical collection evinces fascinating sleights of hand in its metaphoric associations. Ng distinguishes himself with a wide-ranging erudition and cultural acumen, invoking the arcana of every field from mythology to mathematics, literature to kinesiology, to make his subtle observations about the intricacies of urban culture and the nature of contemporary relationships. Wit and irony abound, as the poet displays his dexterity in word-play, whether this assumes the form of puns, alliteration, exploration of semantics and etymology, or
the sheer delight that comes from wildly original conjugations of imagery and conceits. In each, the leitmotifs take dazzling flight before landing on an epiphanic coda. Read and be bowled over.”

- Dr K K Seet

If you are interested in participating, please email Soon Huat at Soon_Huat_KWEH@nlb.gov.sg.

Uglies
by  Scott Westerfeld.
New York : Simon Pulse, 2005.
Call No.: Y WES

Uglies was a book that was recommended to me more than once and when I picked it up, I was not disappointed. It is not just a well thought through book, it is also a page turner that would make a non-reading teenager sit through the whole read – that is how good it is.

Welcome to the world of the beautiful… and the ugly. Thankfully, ugliness is only temporary. At 16 years of age, everyone goes through an operation which will turn them into the perfect looking human figure. It is a mandatory operation that everyone has to go through because in the past, people have fought over skin colour, looks, jealousy, envy and all manner of bad things that came about because of how people look. This society of the future has come up with the perfect solution – make everyone beautiful so they never have to fight over looks again. There is even a standards committee so that countries all over the world would not deviate too much from the accepted norm. Difference is discouraged.

Tally just can’t wait to be pretty so that she can move from ugly ville to pretty town where the girls and boys party every day and every week. Tally’s friend, Shay, however, does not want to be pretty. Shay thinks being pretty makes you stupid and cannot understand why everyone would want to be pretty anyway. The night before their operation, Shay runs away to join a camp of refuges, people like her who run away to escape the operation. She runs away to a refuge camp called Smoke, a place that the authorities have been trying to find in order to bring back their runaways.

On the day of her operation, Tally finds herself given an ultimatum–bring Shay back or be ugly for the rest of her life (yes… the ultimate curse – to be ugly). Tally follows Shay’s riddle directions and makes her way to Smoke where she discovers a whole village of refuges. She also realises that if she activates the homing device she carries, she will destroy the livelihood of the whole village and if she chooses not to do it, she will never be able to go back home and be pretty.

As she struggles with the decision, she learns about the way of life in Smoke and meets the founders of the village, an elderly couple who used to be surgeons in pretty town. They share with her a terrible secret about the operation, something that makes Tally’s blood run cold. Will tally activate the device and go home or will she choose to remain in Smoke? And just what is the terrible truth about the operation?

A powerful book that explores the trappings of an image conscious society. Highly recommended (for teens especially).

~ Contributed by Felicia Chan

Have you read these books? Do you have something else to recommend?
Post your comments, or send a longer book review to HBeditor@nlb.gov.sg

Case Histories
Kate Atkinson
2004, New York: Little, Brown and Company
Call No.: ATK -[MY]

I have not been inspired to do a proper review of an adult’s book since college, but this time I had to skip over all my recent children/young adult fantasy reads to laud Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories. I picked up the book on the most superficial premise: the cover caught my eye. That and the publishers have marketed it along with a byline from Stephen King, who reportedly named Case Histories as “The Best Mystery of the Decade”. When had Stephen King become a connoisseur of mysteries? I started on the book, expecting a whodunnit along the likes of Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers -British authors give me hope- and three hours later, I was reeling from one of the most powerful stories I had read in a while about the broken and the brittle, which just happens to feature a private investiogator, murder and missing persons.

The book starts with its namesake: case histories. Three short stories set out the setting, the place, the characters, the human emotions vested, and the complicated human relationships leading to three distinct cases: 1) a missing young girl; 2) a random attack and brutal murder of a young office worker and 3) a bloody murder within a household. These three chapters could have stood as short stories each in their own right, given the amount and richness of detail given to each character’ appearances, thoughts and desires, however minor they are in the scheme of things. From the outset, the writing was brilliant, as the reader rediscovers the wonders that is hidden in the adjective and the adverb, long disposed of in modern writing. Atkinson fleets in and out of each character, immersing the reader in the psyche of each of them in such an empathetic manner that you cannot help but feel strongly for them, even without knowing whether they are victims or perpetrators of the crimes. And this is before the story actually begins!

The story moves on quickly to introduce the protagonist, the private investigator, Jackson Brodie, who will now be involved in each of these cases. Brodie is a world-weary man, dreaming of retirement in France even as he struggles to maintain his relationship with his eight-year old daughter after a bitter divorce. Each of the cases begin to unravel slowly, as Brodie interacts with different people connected with the cases. The plot thickens in tandem in each of these three cases, and with every page, the reader asks: how are the cases related? How can you tell what has happened in the past from the list of characters in the present: an asexual woman and her sisters, a harlot and a nun, getting their lives together after their dogmatic mathematician father’s death; an obese lawyer struggling to love his daughter, a young teen who looks like a drug addict and yet loiters the street with a beautifully groomed dog; a young wife wary of her pregnancy and falling in love with a priest? Here, I thought Atkinson is absolutely genius – she moves seamlessly between past and present, in between three different cases, within the minds of different characters, all held together with a strong narrative voice and the sparse appearances of Brodie, and succeeds in not losing the reader along the way! To up the ante, she strings the reader to the solution to each of the cases, dropping the subtlest of hints within her use of words.

In the end, the three cases were retold from the third case first. A character study of one of the victims (and I include the families of the victims in this term, since they too suffered for the crime perpetrated) preceded a recount of the crime as it had happened. It was a good plot device, echoing the beginnings of the book, and thus drawing the reader to a closure. The actual crime ceases to matter after the reader is brought through the minds of the characters – the impact, the psychological aftermath are far, far larger than the act itself. On first account, the “solutions” to the cases come across as unexpected, shocking even, but I realise belatedly that had I been more sensitive to Atkinson’s descriptions of the characters, I would have picked up some of these clues already.

John Hobbes would have been proud: Atkinson had managed to embody every single word in his famous phrase in this book – this is a study of how “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short” human existence is. Unlike the end of Sherlock Holmes or Herbert Poirot mysteries, I had not walked away thinking, what brilliant mysteries, what brilliant crimes, how damn intelligent and how on earth did I not see that coming. Instead, I walk away from Case Histories mourning, having cared so deeply for the pains and sorrows of each individual character, whose lives were never the same again for the crimes; I walk away keenly aware of the fraility of human nature, and I walk away with another Atkinson book in hand.

~ Contributed by Dest

Would you like to send us your contribution?
Post your comments, or email to HBeditor@nlb.gov.sg