Episode 670: Local Writing...

Headed to BooksActually today with Ben Woon, so that I could use up my $70-for-$100 Vouchies coupon. Ended up buying completely different stuff from what I'd intended to. Basically, no Nabokov novels. I ended up buying a lot of local literature, but it was all stuff I know I'll definitely enjoy, e.g. Alfian Sa'at's plays, Felix Cheong and Yong Shu Hoong's poetry, and an anthology of Merlion poems. Even found a copy of Clive Barker's latest novel, Mister B. Gone, in an edition that shelves nicely with the reissues Harper has been doing. Or it would have shelved nicely, if I hadn't returned all of them before coming back to Singapore. (Well, I'm going to order them all again once I'm back in the UK.) I also bought A Field Guide To Surreal Botany, which I'd read about in the newspapers a long time ago and thought was interesting, so consider it a semi-impulsive buy. There's also a huge number of issues of Singa at the store, which I'm tempted to start buying, just to get a sense of the historical sweep of local literature. It'd look a bit weird though, if I just picked up this huge number of issues and brought them to the counter. Incidentally, Kenny recognises me (we're Facebook friends), which sort of surprised me, but was quite nice as well. Will probably make another trip back before the end of my vacation.