When I was younger, I had the most wonderful neighbours (they’ve since moved out of Singapore). One day, my friend suggested we gather round in a circle, dim the lights, and use a torchlight to read East aloud. It was a magical experience and still colours the way I view the book. East is a… Read More Rereading: East by Edith Pattou
I’ve read The Screwtape Letters a long time ago, so I was pretty surprised to find out that there’s a (very short) sequel: Screwtape Proposes a Toast. Of course, I bought this. Screwtape Proposes a Toast is a collection of essays by C.S. Lewis, put together by him shortly before its death. It opens with… Read More Book Review: Screwtape Proposes a Toast by C.S. Lewis
I’d wager that almost everyone has heard (and maybe tried) of milk tea. You may even be in the habit of adding a splash of milk and a spoonful of sugar in your tea. But how did these habits come about, given that tea in China is drunk straight? In The Tale of Tea, George… Read More UniversiTEA: Why do we drink tea with milk and sugar?
I posted about rereading Lola Rose on Instagram in May and someone messaged to tell me that The Suitcase Kid was their favourite Jacqueline Wilson book. It sounded really familiar (I might have read it in Primary School?) so obviously I had to hunt down a copy and read/reread it. The Suitcase Kid is about… Read More Book Review: The Suitcase Kid by Jacqueline Wilson
This Kickstarter book had me at “Sherlock Holmes meets Cthulhu”. While I haven’t read the Solar Pons stories or been able to find August Derleth in the library, which means I went into this collection unfamiliar with the main characters, I still enjoyed this short story collection very much. A little bit of backstory: August… Read More Kickstarter Book Review: The Necronomicon of Solar Pons edited by Derrick Belanger
Last Saturday, I met a geisha online!! This would be my second time meeting a geisha (first being the Kimono competition in Kyoto) and my first time meeting a Hakone geisha. As a quick background, Geisha (or Geigi) can be found in the following prefectures [1]: Kyoto : Kamihichiken Geigi (上七軒芸妓)、Gion Koubu Geigi (祇園甲部芸妓)、Gion Higashi Geigi (祇園東芸妓)、Pontochou… Read More I met a Geisha online and you can too!
Last year, William Wan (Gen Sec of the Singapore Kindness Movement) came to my Church to preach and he mentioned his books. I bought a copy after the sermon and kind of left it to the side. The thought of ageing and death isn’t very pleasant, after all. But since I reread Being Mortal recently,… Read More Book Review: Through the Valley by William Wan
I’m done with the longest book on tea that I have ever read! The Tale of Tea by George van Driem is a whopping 864 pages and chock-full of information. To commemorate reading this book, I filmed my first ever video review (note: I made a mistake and said that Lu Yu belonged to the… Read More Tea Book Review: The Tale of Tea by George van Driem
“So I believe in heart’s oaths. They are the ones we should live by – for what life is worth living, with a stifled heart? None, that I know of.” One of my friends recommended Corrag to me and wow, this was beautiful! I picked up the book because it’s about the Glencoe Massacre, which… Read More Book Review: Corrag by Susan Fletcher
As Singapore continues to open up as part of Phase 2 of the circuit breaker exit, it’s pretty clear that we’re exiting our version of the lockdown. I made pretty good progress on my existing teas during the lockdown so I thought it was time for a Sipdown post! Here’s what I managed to finish:… Read More Lockdown Sipdown
