I have a terrible habit of reading books then forgetting what they’re about… Goal this year is to read at least 10 books and document quick thoughts about each one! (Academic reads for school don’t count.) Updating this list as I go.
December 2023
(These don’t count but were all great reads)
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages by Trenton Lee Stewart
MBS is one of my favourite book series EVER and I recently found out there’s a fourth book where the kids are all older and navigating growing up. So much nostalgia and always such clever puzzles.
The Great Reclamation by Rachel Heng
LOVED THIS ONE!!! Finished it in one sitting which is rare for me. Follows the journey of a kampong boy through Singapore’s modernisation period. Heng covers so much ground: colonialism, romance, familial ties, development, and the ecological and cultural costs of ‘progress’. When nation and nature collide…
Let’s Give It Up for Gimme Lao! by Sebastian Sim
Fun and funny read. Another piece that covers Singapore’s modern history from 1965 to the 2010s. The author takes aim at Singapore’s one-party politics, Christian megachurches, and LGBTQ+ discrimination.
2024
(Count starts here!)
Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro (January)
Predictable and somewhat cheesy plot, but I still found myself rooting for each of the main characters. Very heavy themes: guilt, grief, loneliness, family. Agree with some reviews that Shapiro heavily favours sentimentality over character development.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (March)
A book about the Holocaust. The main character Lale Sokolov is a Slovakian Jew who works as a Tätowierer at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps. There, he falls in love with another prisoner Gita Furman and goes to length to smuggle letters, extra rations, and other provisions to her and her friends. Based on a true story but with quite a bit of dramatic license.
Think Again by Adam Grant (March)
Finally got round to reading this in full! Adam Grant is an organisational psychologist who has gained quite the following on social media with his bite-sized quotes on emotional intelligence, leadership, etc. I quite enjoy his podcast (Work Life) but to be honest I didn’t really enjoy this book.
His core argument: we must be more open to the possibility of evolving our beliefs. Humility over pride, doubt over certainty, curiosity over closure. Things I agreed with: be open-minded; seek differing views to escape echo chambers; it’s okay to be uncertain; offer your argument while giving people the autonomy to make their own choices. But I also think there are situations where it’s okay—in fact, necessary—to firmly stand up for what we believe in. The whole notion of ‘it’s too complex’ is precisely the kind of argument that is used to perpetuate crises like the ongoing genocide in Gaza. I’m not quite sure how to reconcile Grant’s emphasis on the value of doubt in such situations where there is a strong moral element at play. Though I take Grant’s point that rethinking isn’t about being nice and agreeable; it’s about fostering respect, trust, and being open to learning.
I also wasn’t convinced by some of the case studies Grant used, e.g. why Apple was so successful or why certain space missions failed. There can be a lot of hindsight bias in retelling these stories and I’m sceptical about pinpointing success or failure to one factor (i.e. ‘they failed to challenge their assumptions’).
Grant’s writing is engaging and easy to follow—but the book gets pretty repetitive and you can get the same insights from his social media. If you’re interested in further exploring his work, I’d highly recommend his NYT article on ‘languishing’ that went viral during the Covid-19 pandemic.
What They Forgot to Teach You at School by The School of Life (March)
Inspiring title but unfortunately fell short for me. It’s quick and simplistic, and if you’ve read authors like Brené Brown you might find it quite repetitive. The authors subscribe to a form of optimistic nihilism: the universe is meaningless so you are free to build your own meaning. Finished it in one sitting!
Read summary here.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (May)
Heartwarming and wholesome – or, if you’re in the wrong mood for it, sappy and shallow… I enjoyed it on the whole! The story is set in a whimsical fantasy world. An uptight, by the book caseworker from the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth is assigned to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where he gets to know six children with magical powers who are viewed by society as misfits. At its core, this is a story about withholding judgement, tolerance, love, and belonging. The characters are easy to love, and I found myself rooting for them from the start.
MAJOR CAVEAT: In an interview, Klune said he drew inspiration for the book from the Canadian Sixties Scoop, which is when over 20,000 Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families and put into residential schools. To take that horrible, traumatic history and turn it into a fantasy novel… definitely colours my view of the book now.
Kate Yeo 
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