It feels like the weeks are short but the months are even shorter because I am NOT prepared for August. It’s been a very hectic July for me and I’m not sure if I’ve fully collected all my thoughts but I’m here to try and do a round-up of the month! What I’m Reading As… Read More July 2024 in Review
I am being haunted by memories of Japan. One minute, I’m in the MRT – the Singapore train system – on my way home and the next minute, I’m on the Chuo line in Tokyo. It’s a bright sunny summer morning and I’m out with one of my language school friends. She’s dating a fellow-Singapore,… Read More A Primer on Japanese Aesthetics
I heard about this Korean mystery/thriller from a book podcast that I listen to and since it combined a murder mystery with books, I really, really wanted to read it. The only catch is that the book has not been translated into English – as far as I can find, it’s been translated into Japanese,… Read More Reading in Japanese: The Memory Bookstore by Chung Myung Seob
When I was in university, I read a lot of Japanese books – after all, it was mandatory since I was studying in Japanese. But after I graduated and moved back to Singapore, my exposure to the Japanese language dropped dramatically; I went back to reading and speaking and thinking in English. But sometime last… Read More My Happy Marriage: The Light Novels That Resparked Reading in Japanese
You may or may not have picked up on this, but I’m a fairly picky eater. Well, I’m a “potato is a vegetable” type of picky eater and that, coupled with an unusual lack of tolerance for spicy food (very unusual for a Singaporean), means that there are lots of things that are popular in… Read More Foods I Enjoyed in India
Kaikeyi has been on my TBR for ages but I’ve always put it off because I’ve not read the Ramayana and I wanted to read that first. But since I had a trip to India planned, I decided now was the time to read both books – and I did! For background, the Ramayana tells… Read More Book Review: Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel
What do you think about when you travel? If you’re like me, you’re probably just thinking about how to optimise your trip (for me, it’s finding a bookshop and a teashop no matter where so I can get a book and try some tea). But whenever I see articles about the problem of over-tourism or… Read More Book Review: The New Tourist by Paige McClanahan
I didn’t realise (or rather, had forgotten) that July was Jane Austen July when I picked up this book but look at what nice timing it was! The Jane Austen Writers’ Club was an impulse purchase made because the book promised to be about Austen and you know what? It seems to be more practical… Read More Book Review: The Jane Austen Writers’ Club by Rebecca Smith
This review is long overdue but I cannot miss reviewing a book about tea because… well it combines two of my favourite things. While I have read a few books on the history of tea and Britain, Putting the Tea in Britain is unique because it focuses on the contributions of the Scots. Starting with… Read More Tea Book Review: Putting the Tea in Britain by Les Wilson
“Peace at all costs” I can’t remember how I found this book (or why I decided to buy it) but no regrets because this was a long and intense story that was difficult to put down. Set eight years after the Battle of Hastings, The Year We Lived follows the story of two Anglo-Saxon siblings.… Read More Book Review: The Year We Lived by Virginia Crow
