Arts...Travels...Writing

Inspired by a BookRiot tip, I've decided to start cataloguing the books I've just read. Unlike in years past, I would say that I've started the year right as far as catching up on reading is concerned (I am a certified book hoarder with shelves of books still waiting to be read!!!). I managed to read three in January...though I must say that not all of them have been pleasurable reads. I'll start with my favourite, one that I genuinely enjoyed reading, Icelandic Halldor Laxness's IndependentPeople, supposedly the masterpiece that secured him a Nobel Prize. Though vast in scope, what makes this book a stand-out for me is largely its remarkable protagonist, the supremely stoic Bjartur, a highly developed character like no other. As the book's introduction has captured well, Bjartur is that immortal literary character not unlike Jay Gatsby (The Great Gatsby) or Gregor Samsa (Kafka's Metamorphosis), a character that sticks with the reader, long after one has ...

Iceland. A place that was not originally in my bucket list (too far, too cold), but became interested in when I saw an advertisement in the National Arts Council’s newsletter for a writer's retreat. This got me surfing about the country, which is very often associated with the Aurora Borealis. A chance to see this phenomenon strengthened my resolve to attend the workshop, though at times I wavered especially when I was checking the flight options/durations and it became clearer to me how remote Iceland really is from Singapore! I (and my family) reached Iceland on a late afternoon in April. From the moment I disembarked the plane I could already feel that it is a country like no other. On the circular windows along the airport corridors, I could see quotes from famous Icelanders including Bjork's about the wide open space that is her country. But I was not paying much attention to the quotes as I was transfixed by the landscape beyond the glass windows - endl...