The State of the Affair

I’m usually a serial monogamist – when it comes to reading¹. That is, I usually pick one book, and one book alone, and only read it, and it alone. When I finish it I might sometimes pause to recover from the all-too-brief nature of the relationship we just had, then invariably I pick another book, and it starts again. It is usually very rare for me to read more than one book, say two books, at a time. I try to give my full attention to the sole book of the moment. So how come I am reading not one, not even two, but six books at once at the moment?

I don’t know how it happened. I blame it on the fact that I’ve been finding some great titles in the library and the local op shop lately. I enjoy going off and choosing books I can take home for free or for really cheap. On Friday I picked up six novels for $11 – Zadie Smith’s The Autograph Man, A.S. Byatt’s Possession, Arthur Hailey’s Hotel, Kazuo Ishiguro’s When We Were Orphans, and Patrick O’Brian’s The Far Side of the World.

I think LibraryThing has also had something to do with it – cataloguing my books has made me really aware of what we have around the house, and what I haven’t read (lots! In fact I probably don’t really need to go to the library or buy more books, but that’s another issue).

So, at the moment, I am reading:

1. Judas Unchained, by Peter F Hamilton. It’s a mega sci-fi extravaganza – mega because it’s a 948 page trade paperback. The second part of the Commonwealth Saga, which began with Pandora’s Star. It’s got everything a science fiction fan could want – worm holes, faster than light space ships, sentient artificial intelligence, aliens with incomprehensible motivations, political intrigue and the odd sexual fling.
2. Fistful of Colours, by Suchen Christine Lim. The cover says: “The Singapore of today and yesterday converge… a multi-layered reflection of what it means to be Singaporean”. The main character reflects on her family history, and her friends’ family histories. So far, am enjoying it more than A Bit of Earth, but I’ll review it properly when I finish.
3. Buih by Azizi Hj. Abdullah. A Malay language novel. The title means ‘Bubble’. The blurb: “Hidup ini memang bingung. Sebingung fikirannya yang melaut melepasi angkasa dan merentangi benua. Dia sendiri tidak tahu apa yang diingininya kerana tiga wajah sering datang siling berganti. Mampukah dia menganyam wajah-wajah itu umpama buih yang berapungan…” (“Life is indeed bewildering. As bewildering as her thoughts that were as wide as the sea escaping space and spanning continents. She herself didn’t know what she wanted because the three faces frequently appeared one after another. Would she be able to weave the faces, like floating bubbles…”) This was a quick translation so any Malaysian readers are welcome to point out any shortcomings. Now why didn’t I read the blurb when I borrowed the book? I think I was suckered in by the front cover, which enticed me with the line “She was only a passenger of the night…” (Dia hanyalah seorang penumpang malam…). At least if it was … well… lascivious, it might be more interesting – instead it’s all about the angst of this woman who has developed an obsession for her late husband’s boss after the boss helps her when her husband dies in an accident. I might give up on this one soon.
4. The soul brothers and Sister Lou by Kristin Hunter. This is one of mine which I have not read until now. A young adult novel. The author’s surname has changed on later editions to Lattany.
5. 血色炼狱 Xue se lian yu (‘Bloody Purgatory’?) by龙升 Long Sheng. About one man’s experience of the Cultural Revolution. On the cover: 为一个民族还原一页历史，为一群生灵还原一壁浮雕 . “Returning a page of history to a nation, returning a piece of sculpture to a people” (Or something like that – the first bit makes sense, the second… corrections welcome!) It’s easy enough to read (surprisingly), but I wish my Chinese language reading speed was faster. (Cultural Revolution poster from Stefan Landsberger’s great Chinese propaganda posters site.)
6. Getting Things Done by David Allen. Reading this one in the hope of overcoming my chronic procrastination, but, true to form, I’ve read the first section of the book which is the theory side, and am now stalled at the beginning of the second section, which is where you get the actual how to’s.

There you have it, the current state of my lifelong affair with books. Looking at the six current titles, I can’t say why I’ve stuck to the one-book-at-a-time regimen for so long!

¹Definitely a serial monogamist in relationships, too!

Categories: books, reading, literature, procrastination, relaxation