Literary musings

Some time back I mentioned that I would occasionally talk about books. I loooove books! When I'm feeling down, all I have to do is walk into a bookshop, preferably Borders, but in a crunch, any shop will do, and smell the new books around me, and I instantly perk up! I have bought more books than I can read in the next 5 years, and keep buying more every month....

I was talking with friends about books that have changed my life and was surprised by some of their answers. Some said that they can't remember ANY book that has had that effect on them, while others said that books are not that important to them to say "ah, this book has changed my life". Amazingly, no one even thought of citing their main religious book, be it the Bible, the Koran or whatever, as a book that had changed his/her life.

I am wondering whether I am an oddity, or maybe I have used the wrong word in describing significant books? Maybe I actually meant books that have changed my way of looking at things? But again, no. I really have read books that have changed my life, in terms of my way of living, my way of thinking, my beliefs about myself and the world around me. Off hand, of course the Bible is at the top of the list, followed by "I know this much is true", "The Diary of Anne Frank", "Eternity in their hearts", "Through Gates of Splendor", "Shadow of the Almighty", "The Hiding Place", "Borrowed Time", "Becoming a Man", "Long Walk to Freedom", "The Rape of Nanking", "Life and Death in Shanghai", and some of the books on the Holocaust. I could go on and on, but these are the books I will remember for as long as I live and I remain lucid! Each of them taught me different things, each of them inspired me.

To me, the power and the beauty of the written word, as opposed to reading about stuff in magazines or on-line, is the timelessness and the timeliness of the message, regardless of when the words were actually written. Words have the power of putting ideas, dreams and visions in the minds of the reader, words that hopefully will lead to action and change, either in the person or in society. Ultimately, I hope that most writers write with that goal and that wish in mind, that they can move someone, anyone, many "ones".

Finally, maybe that's why I write a blog, and keep it going. The wish to share in the history of the written word, words that will live on in cyberspace even after I am no longer writing or maybe, no longer living. Grandiose? Maybe. Still, I can dream, right?

I know this much is true

Yeah, yeah, have been MIA again. Apologies all around. Guess have been too busy in my real life to have time to update my cyber life! I do spend a lot of time THINKING about what I'd like to blog about....topics range from complaining about the dearth of cute guys in my life, neverending work, the latest movies I have seen, to fugly people who walk around in the most disgusting outfits imaginable! Or talking about my latest exotic escapade--a weekend retreat to wild and wacky Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!

Then I decided to start an occasional series on books that I like. I LOVE to read. As a young child, my aunt, who was then a teacher, would borrow stacks of books from her school library, dump them in my lap, and tell me "Heather, READ!" She explained to me when I was grown up that as a child, I would keep asking people to read to me and she decided that it would be easier for her and the other adults in my life if I took up reading myself. Well, I've been hooked ever since then. I remember as a child, I would go out with at least 3 books in my bag. The book I was currently reading, the book I'll read next, and a book "just in case" I got bored of the first two books! When I travelled overseas, my luggage would be filled with books--my story books, and the assessment books my kiasu mom would insist on me bringing to do along the way! Clothes never meant anything to me then. Nowadays, my luggage is filled with clothes and toiletries necessary to preserve my youthful beauty (ahem!), but I'll still bring a few books along with me on each vacation, just in case....

Anyway, I've decided to start off by talking about one of the most powerful books I have read in my life--Wally Lamb's "I know this much is true". Even the title is haunting in its evocative power....simple yet infinitely profound. Who amongst us can say those words with such force, such conviction? The plot is simple enough...it is about a man whose identical twin brother has schizophrenia. All of us "in the business" would immediately realize that the protagonist is also at risk of developing mental illness. Indeed, Dominick lives with the fear that he would develop the same condition, and his brother is both his closest friend and the personification of his greatest fear. He loves his brother, but is also burdened by him and the knowledge that his parents expect him to look after his brother. His fear and the pain of having a brother who is mentally ill causes him to lose his way, and the novel describes how he gains redemption ultimately.

I don't know anything about Wally Lamb, but reading the book, I was struck by the insight, empathy and deep understanding that he shows towards both the schizophrenic brother and the brother who lives under the shadow of schizophrenia. It was almost as if he had personal experience of the condition. This is not a book that you would read in a hurry. I remember taking about a week of continuous reading to finish the book the first time I read it, savouring each page. When I reached the last page, I felt as if I was a different person, as if I have grown an inch, mentally, through experiencing what Lamb's characters have experienced. I have revisited the book, and this sense remained after my second reading. This is truly a great book, and one that I highly recommend.