Readiscovery

What I've read and discovered

  • 9/11 in poems and stories

    Today is September 11. The day two planes hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists flew into the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center, bringing them down in flames, killing nearly 3,000 people 13 years ago. I still remember the shock and horror of seeing it happen on television. After the…

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  • Love poems by Brian Patten

    I am reading Brian Patten again – after years. I first read his poems in a Penguin paperback called The Mersey Sound. It was an anthology of poems by three Liverpool poets – Patten, Adrian Henri and Roger McGough. It was one of my favourite books and I have written…

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  • David and Goliath

    We Shall Overcome is one of the greatest civil rights songs. And it is true: some do overcome great odds. But they have to be different – not only courageous and tenacious but also unconventional, as Malcolm Gladwell points out in his book, David and Goliath.  Underdogs, Misfits and the…

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  • The Beatles and Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hour rule

    Today is the birthday of Malcolm Gladwell. He is 51 today. I have been reading David and Goliath, but my favourite is Outliers because of the chapter headed The 10,000-Hour, which begins with the epigraph, “In Hamburg, we had to play for eight hours.”  That’s a quote from John Lennon,…

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  • The poems of John Betjeman

    Today is the birthday of Sir John Betjeman, a 20th century poet who actually wrote in verse. Not free verse but lines that rhymed. Betjeman (August 28, 1906 – May 19, 1984) was popular in his time. His Collected Poems, published in 1958, has sold over two and a quarter…

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  • Ogden Nash: Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker

    During his lifetime, Ogden Nash was the most widely known, appreciated, and imitated American creator of light verse, a reputation that has continued after his death, says the Poetry Foundation. Among other memorable verses he wrote: Reflexions on Ice-BreakingCandyis dandyBut liquoris quicker

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  • Updike’s last poems

    Reading about Robin Williams’ death, I wanted to read what writers wrote in their last days, in their illness or old age, when they knew they were about to die. That is how I came across these poems by my favourite writer, John Updike.

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  • The love that dared not speak its name

    Having returned to Singapore only last week after a long time, I have been catching up with the news. And one of the stories I have been following is the furore over two gay-themed books removed from the children’s section of the National Library. I love the library and am…

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  • Big Island, great show

    Singapore sure knows how to party. The spectacular National Day parade at Marina Bay yesterday dazzled the eyes, warmed the heart and unfolded like a Hollywood blockbuster that had elements of Disney, Star Wars and Broadway musicals spliced together to lay on the mother of all shows.

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  • Beautiful Singapore

    Back in Singapore after a long time, I have been humming The Green, Green Grass of Home. The difference is the song is about a man in a prison who is dreaming of home while here I am in my beloved Singapore. And just in time for National Day, a…

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