Readiscovery

What I've read and discovered

  • Fox and Rebus: Right good Rankin

    I just finished reading Standing In Another Man’s Grave. It’s the most interesting book Ian Rankin has written in recent years.John Rebus makes a comeback in this whodunnit and faces Malcolm Fox, the hero of Rankin’s two previous books, whose job is to nail dirty cops.That’s what makes it so…

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  • Lee Kuan Yew on America

    Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister, is celebrating his 90th birthday today. I like to read his books and speeches because he can be so perceptive. In his latest book, One Man’s View of the World, he rightly praises America for its resilience and dynamism.

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  • A handshake with Josephine Teo

    We saw Singapore’s senior minister of state for transport and finance, Josephine Teo, today. She came and shook hands with us. My wife and I were sitting at the Bishan Park this evening. We watched families gather outside the McDonald’s restaurant. Little children held colourful lanterns in the dark.

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  • Elmore Leonard: Out of sight, not out of mind

    One of my favourite crime writers died this week. Elmore Leonard died on August 20 after suffering a stroke.  He was 87.

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  • Straits Times began with call for press freedom

    The Straits Times is marking its 168th anniversary today with a cornucopia of gifts. Lucky readers stand to win among other things a trip for two to London while another lucky pair will go to Munich to test-drive the latest BMW. The birthday bash behoves a golden goose of a…

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  • EB White on writing

    Today is the birthday of EB White (July 11, 1899 – October 1, 1985), reminds the Writer’s Almanac. Earlier this month, I posted an entry quoting the writer William Zinsser’s homage to White in his book, On Writing Well. The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr and EB White…

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  • Unleashing the subconscious and overcoming the writer’s block

    I have been reading Can I Change Your Mind? The Craft and Art of Persuasive Writing by Lindsay Camp, a copywriter. He writes about the need for “unleashing the subconscious”. He writes: “I want to expand a bit on the role played by the non-rational mind in making writing come…

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  • Rewriting: A 20th century phenomenon

    The essence of writing is rewriting, says William Zinsser in his book, On Writing Well. With the arrival of the word processor, he says: “Two opposite things happened: good writers got better and bad writers got worse. Good writers welcomed the gift of being able to fuss endlessly with their…

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  • Fourth of July: This Land Is Your Land, Leaves of Grass

    Today is the Fourth of July: US Independence Day. So here’s one of the most beautiful songs about America: This Land Is Your Land, by Woody Guthrie. Here it is sung by Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen. I just discovered that the Fourth of July was also the day Walt…

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  • William Zinsser: On Writing Well

    I admire people who write fast and don’t have to think and rewrite like me. So I was surprised to read that even a writer and teacher like William Zinsser thought writing wasn’t easy. Here is what he says in his book, On Writing Well:

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