Read Local

I re-started posting on this blog just over a year ago, to list the books I read in 2022 that weren't for the book club. This post is to list (non-exhaustive) the local books I read in 2023.

In late 2022, I started re-reading The Resident Tourist and completed reading the rest of the series in 2023. In late 2023, I laughed and chortled while reading Bricks in the Wall.

At the start of 2023, Ethos Books published Not Without Us: Perspectives on Disability and Inclusion in Singapore. The book features a contribution from Runninghour buddy Tan Siew Ling. In 2023, I attended two NLB events for the book. On 28 February, the Nature Book Club conducted a discussion on the similarities of nature and persons with disabilities (PWDs), in the local context. On 21 July, I visited the newly opened Punggol Regional Library to attend the discussion about inclusion in the workplace for PWDs.

In 2020, I took a free copy of Dharma's Chariot at Bishan Library and never read it 😛 When I attended the SingLit Book Club Squat for Tradition, Sit for Modernity event on 20 April with the writer Cultural Medallion recipient Chia Joo Ming in attendance, I took the other two One Story titles home. Then I finally read all 3 short stories in 2023.

I'd previously saw My Love Is Blind displayed at library@orchard and I finally read it in 2023. As mentioned in the afterword, the author wrote about many places in post-war Singapore which still exist now. Which is amazing considering the pace of development since then.

Since I'm a sucker for comics and award winners, reading the Winner of Book of the Year and Best Literary Work at the 2023 Singapore Book Awards, Work-Life Balance: Malevolent Managers and Folkloric Freelancers was a no-brainer 😁 

On 11 November I attended the Book Event for Becoming Margaret Leng Tan at Esplanade Concourse. I bought a copy of the book then and there cos Margaret Tan & the author Low Lai Chow were signing copies of the book 😊

Year-end Review

 

 

I'm so pleased to end the year with Runninghour X'mas 🎄 morning hike. We met at Fort Canning MRT station next to where Liang Court used to be and walked along the Singapore River & Alexandra Canal to the new Margaret Drive Food Centre, next to Queenstown MRT station.

I didn't attend the Saturday morning run at Punggol Waterway Park in July as I was attending the SkillsFuture certified course by Runninghour.

On the next day I went to Singapore Turf Club to attend the Tandem Bike Trial. When I was a teenager who couldn't cycle, I sat on the back of a tandem bike once. I'm v chuffed to try out being a tandem bike captain for the 1st time with Samantha Teo as my buddy on 16 July 🚲

After Saturday morning run at Labrador Park (the Bukit Chermin boardwalk had been closed since late last year and only re-opened after July this year), I went to East Coast Park in the evening to attend the Appreciation BBQ session for Guides initiated by Magdelene & Michael J. I can't remember when was the last time I attended a BBQ at East Coast Park 🏖 As I strolled along the pathway, I wished I was rollerblading 😎

We returned to Labrador Nature Reserve for Sunday morning hike in October. We took the MRT train to Haw Par Villa (the original plan was to walk & end the hike there), another place I haven't been to in ages 🐯

Another Saturday that I started & ended with Runninghour was 4th November when I attended Saturday morning run at Dairy Farm Nature Park & Purple Parade at Suntec City in the evening.

This year I only attended Saturday morning run at Bishan Park once in July. I missed the November one cos I worked late the Friday nite before.

In November, Runninghour co-founder John See Toh conducted a workshop for guides at his new BGA Inclusive Gym at Bishan so I missed the Stadium Saturday morning run on the same day. One of the guides Steven Lim managed to attend both!

I had cough & cold in December so I missed the Lavender Saturday morning run which was the 1st day that the nearby North Bridge Road Market & Food Centre re-opened after 3 months renovation.

Book Club Streak Broken

After reading 18 books in a row (& attending the same number of physical meetups) for the book club, I didn't read 2 of the books for this year. I usually don't attend the meetup if I didn't read the book. This year I ended up missing 3 meetups cos was away last month for the last meetup of the year even though I read the book (On The Road by Jack Kerouac).

I only ever read physical copies of books which I usually borrow from the library. I managed to borrow Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih (June) from Uma who'd suggested it last year for book club. I decide that I'm not gonna buy anymore books this year after buying spree in the past 3 years (I bought alot of books for book club). So I didn't read the books in August & October this year cos the physical books aren't available to borrow at local libraries.

V chuffed that 2 of the books this year were my suggestions: The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper (July) & To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (September). Rachel (Book Club organiser) kindly held a watch party at her apartment on National Day for the 1992 film adaptation of The Last of the Mohicans (Director: Michael Mann | Lead Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis). Also v pleased to attend the watch party & make the acquaintance of giant Golden Retriever dog that Rachel was dog-sitting.

This year I read 2 books from previous book club meetups:

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (May 2019) & I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (June 2020).

Naturally, I re-watched the 2019 film adaptation of Little Women (Director/Screenplay Adaptation: Greta Gerwig | Lead Actor: Saoirse Ronan) on library dvd after reading the Little Women book. Twas my 1st time to re-watch it after watching it at the cinema in February 2020 with a group of fellow book club members - I co-organised the watch party with Rachel & was in charge of buying the tickets in advance.

Coincidentally this was just around the time publicity for Gerwig's upcoming Barbie film was reaching fever pitch for the cinematic release in July this year, debuting the same week as Christopher Nolan's film Oppenheimer.

In 2020 while watching Little Women in the cinema, I was thinking: "Gerwig is doing a Christopher Nolan!" Cos the film adaptation started in the middle of the book's story and the storyline went back & forth throughout the film. And we all know Nolan's signature non-linear storytelling techniques in Memento (2000) & The Prestige (2005).

Fun fact: I haven't watched Barbie or Oppenheimer 😜 I received email mailer that the newly opened Golden Village x The Projector at Orchard Cineleisure (GV x TP) has $3 Barbie screenings - dunno if I have any chance of watching that?

Chachambo: Taking Flight

 5 August 2023 1930h Victoria Theatre

ART:DIS celebrates their 30th anniversary this year with this full-length theatre production, written by persons with disabilities and performed by an inter-generational cast.

Chachambo: Taking Flight Programme Booklet

I've always enjoyed watching live performances so when a visually impaired runner at Runninghour told me that morning that he'd watched the afternoon performance the previous day and that he thought it was very good, I decided to book a ticket to watch it that night.

When I went to the website to buy the ticket, there were 5 seats left for that night! I bought the sole single seat left: Circle BB 30.

The last time I watched a performance at Victoria Theatre was September 2019 when the theatre company did an audience choice of 3 different Shakespeare plays. The performers started by asking the audience to vote for the play they wanted to watch and proceeded to enact the play of the night with lots of nifty costume & scenery changes.

Mid-year Review

 

 

I'm so pleased to start the year off with Runninghour Sunday morning hike at Rifle Range Nature Park (which opened late last year).

I didn't attend the Saturday morning run at Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park in January & March.

Twas my 1st time ever attending RH New Year Party (at Evans Lodge) - the theme this year was Sea/Beach 🐋🐟🐠🐢🐬🐙🐡

For the annual Burn Off The Bak Kwa Run at Jurong Lake Gardens this year, the weather held up till we finished our run and then it started to rain 😄

I didn't sign up for Saturday morning run at Stadium in February cos I'd signed up for an event at Glow Festival 2023 that afternoon which was cancelled just before the festival started. RH had received 10x Special Complimentary Tickets for the HIIT event (all events led by the instructor were cancelled, probably due to no-show).

In March, I went to Tampines Eco Green for the 1st time. We met at Sun Plaza Park next door and ran there on the Tampines Park Connector.

I went for the Tuesday night run at Stadium on 14 March to give RH buddy Leann her birthday present that day.

For the Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park run that I missed in March, Down Syndrome Association (Singapore) held a World Down Syndrome Day Community Walk & Carnival on the same day at that location.

I didn't sign up for the above Saturday morning run as I was taking part in the 10km run at Run For Light Singapore 2023 that evening at Punggol Waterway Park with RH folks. We took part in the 5km & 10km events.

I'm chuffed that I managed to attend 3 Sunday morning hikes in a row this year - we walked to HortPark & Kent Ridge Park from Labrador Park MRT Station in February and I was honoured to bring RH folks around my "neighbourhood" Singapore Botanic Gardens in March. Tis a pity I wasn't feeling well to attend the April hike at MacRitchie Reservoir Park.

In April I didn't attend the Saturday morning runs at Marina Bay Sands & Fort Canning Park as I went to Taiwan for Easter.

I missed the Saturday morning run at Bedok Reservoir Park in May when I went to Batu Pahat.

I've cycled on the Rail Corridor a few times by myself and I'm happy to run there for the 1st time together with RH folks in May.

We went to 2 different stadiums in March & May - Bukit Gombak Stadium & Toa Payoh Stadium respectively.

I used to attend the European Union Film Festival regularly in the previous decade. I'm very thankful for the opportunity to watch the closing film Campeones with RH folks at The Picturehouse on 31 May this year.

The American adaptation of the above 2018 Spanish film Champions was released in March this year.

Projector X: Picturehouse is a pop-up by The Projector since August last year after Cathay ceased their operations there. The Cathay Building (where The Picturehouse is located) is slated for re-development after the pop-up ends on 9 July this year.

Yesterday morning our Saturday morning run at Stadium coincided with the "Unlabelled Run" initiated by The New Charis Mission (TNCM).

Baby knits for James - Completed!

It only took me 1 quarter of 2023 to finally finish the beanie😀

Making connections

Last year when I was reading Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel, I was re-reading The Resident Tourist (Parts 2 & 3) at the same time.

Besides both titles being graphic memoirs, I noticed the following similarities in their books:

1) Both authors had lived in New York City so both of them drew various NYC neighbourhoods.

2) Both authors were in therapy and depicted their sessions with their respective therapists.

3) Both authors recalled and featured their vivid dreams.

 I just somehow gotta make connections as I plod along in life 😉