Episode 1055: More Local Books!

The symbolism of this series of Torchwood just keeps getting more and more overt, if that's even possible. Come on, Gwen's whole speech in the hospital? Tell me that wasn't on some level about the cuts the UK is facing. One thing though: is it absolutely necessary for Jack to get in some sort of gay joke each week, just for the sake of it? It's getting a bit, well, predictable. Anyway, I managed to exchange my books for locally published stuff in the end, so while I didn't get any member's discount, at least I wasn't entirely wasting money either, since outside of Singapore, it's pretty much impossible to find Singaporean books. I did finish Telltale: Eleven Stories in the end, and can safely pronounce it an excellent anthology. The stories are recognisably Singaporean, yet they aren't parochial in their outlook, which is what sometimes frustrates me with local literature, especially from earlier generations of writers. I recognise that to some extent, I only have the luxury of saying something like that because I grew up in the 1990s. Still, I think for a country's literature to begin looking beyond its own shores is a heartening sign of maturity. I've always found it odd that Singapore, so plugged into the anglophone world in other aspects, should lag in gaining recognition in this regard, especially since we do have excellent writers.