Readiscovery

What I've read and discovered

  • Joseph Conrad and Singapore newspapers

    I was pleasantly surprised to see the Straits Times mentioned in Joseph Conrad’s first novel, Almayer’s Folly. It’s at the beginning of Chapter 4: That year, towards the breaking up of the south-west monsoon, disquieting rumours reached Sambir. Captain Ford, coming up to Almayer’s house for an evening’s chat, brought…

    1–2 minutes

  • Milton and the mind

    It’s the birthday of John Milton (December 9, 1608 – November 8, 1674). I hardly read him but can’t forget these lines from Paradise Lost, Book The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n.

    1–2 minutes

  • The Launch Pad: The Y Combinator story

    Do you use Reddit, Scribd, Disqus, Dropbox? All these popular internet services were funded by Y Combinator. Based in Mountain View, California, it provides seed money, advice and connections to start-ups.

    1–2 minutes

  • Chulia Kampong, Singapore

    Looking at Chulia Street off Raffles Place and Boat Quay now, no one would know what it was like before. Chulia Kampong, unlike Kampong Glam, has vanished from the map of Singapore. So I was intrigued by the description given by the Indian writer Amitav Ghosh in his novel, River…

    1–2 minutes

  • William Blake and C.S. Lewis

    Going through The Writer’s Almanac, I found yesterday happened to be the birthday of William Blake (Nov 28, 1757, London – August 12, 1827, London).  So here is a poem by him I read on The Literature Network:

    1–2 minutes

  • Cuppa and other words first used by P.G. Wodehouse

    When you think of P.G. Wodehouse, you think of pigs, aunts, potty earls and dapper younger brothers, unflappable omniscient butlers, goofy young men and irresistible young women – and a language that’s absolutely unique, peppered with words and phrases as funny  and bizarre as the situations the characters get into.…

    1–2 minutes

  • Four Quartets on T.S. Eliot’s birthday

    Today is the birthday of T.S. Eliot (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965). I dipped into The Four Quartets and was immediately captivated by the opening lines of the first poem, Burnt Norton: Time present and time pastAre both perhaps present in time futureAnd time future contained in time…

    2–3 minutes

  • The Great Gatsby and the American dream

    The Writer’s Almanac reminded me that yesterday was the birth anniversary of F. Scott Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940). So, of course, I had to dip into The Great Gatsby. Fortunately, you can read The Great Gatsby online for free. Now what’s the first thing that comes…

    1–2 minutes

  • Ulysses and Crossing the Bar on Tennyson’s birthday

    Today is the birthday of Lord Alfred Tennyson (August 6, 1809 – October 6,1892). He’s one of the most popular poets in the English language, and was one of the last poets to sell as many books as a novelist. At his peak, he was one of the most famous…

    1–2 minutes

  • A love poem with shades of Donne

    I read this love poem a few days ago on The Writer’s Almanac run by Garrison Keillor and it reminded me of John Donne. It is witty and playful like Donne’s love poems.

    1–2 minutes