Yes, we’re giving you another round of book recommendations (catch Nicole’s article on our editorial team’s favourite reads here). After stumbling on a video on YouTube where this girl decided to send direct messages to royal princes to ask them on dates (this cracked me up), I decided to do my own rendition. This time, I sent direct messages on Instagram to Singapore’s very own theatre practitioners and asked them for some book recommendations.
Going into it, I wasn’t expecting any replies. But, I’ve gotten replies from some of theatre’s top names in Singapore:
Dick Lee
Singaporean singer-songwriter, playwright, and film director extraordinaire Dick Lee is well known among Singaporeans as the man behind the nation’s beloved National Day song “Home”, performed by songstress Kit Chan and “Our Singapore”, the 2015 theme song sung by Singaporean Chinese pop idol JJ Lin.
Apart from writing hit songs, he has also written some of Singapore’s most iconic musicals including Beauty World, Fried Rice Paradise, and Forbidden City. Practically hailed as a home -grown icon, you can imagine my delight when I found out that he replied to my message.
“I only read murder mysteries”
– Dick Lee
That was quite an interesting piece of information for me as he was so well-versed at writing such catchy tunes. He chose to recommend The Good Son, a novel by Jeong You-jeong. He then went on to note that the book is in the Squid Game realm. Regarded as South-Korea’s top mystery and crime writers, readers are in for a treat. This psychological thriller touches on familial relationships, murder, memory loss, and the mind. Gear up, because you’re in for a turbulent ride.
Get this book at Kinokuniya, Times Bookstores, or through your preferred platform.
Hossan Leong
One of Singapore’s most recognised entertainers, he wears many hats – stage and screen actor, television host, radio deejay, and comedian – becoming a household name in Singapore’s theatre industry. He is also the delightful host of local television game show We Are Singaporeans.
Currently in the midst of directing a concert, he recommended The Little Prince, the French classic written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Some passages of the text will also be narrated by himself at the concert (The Little Prince – A Musical Journey).
“It’s actually rather philosophical and there are parts like wow!”
– Hossan Leong
The narrator of the novel, an airplane pilot, meets a young prince in the Sahara desert who tells him of his travels to the various planets in space. This splendid telling of life’s observations, adults, and human nature is sure to keep you hooked.
Get this book at Kinokuniya, Times Bookstores, or through your preferred platform.
Cheryl Chitty Tan
Musical actress Cheryl Chitty Tan is best known for the role of Yehenara in Dick Lee’s hit musical Forbidden City. Other notable stage roles she starred in include Ivy Chan in Beauty World, Mimi in Mama White Snake (Wild Rice), and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Singapore Repertory Theatre).
She conveniently replied within the hour of my sending of the question. She recommended three books that popped up in her head as recents things that blew her mind. The first book was Think Again by Adam Grant.
“Think again is about why it’s beneficial to generally think you might be wrong, how we change our mindsets and others. It’s a balm in current times.”
– Cheryl Chitty Tan
She had just finished Maskerade by Terry Pratchett on her quest to re-read the entire Discworld fantasy book series.
“Maskerade is my favourite Pratchett book and anyone in musical theatre or opera will probably like it.”
– Cheryl Chitty Tan
Zealot by Reza Aslan was her last recommendation. She grew up Catholic and has come across various issues surrounding religion.
“I inhaled this book, it’s about what we know about Jesus historically, the context of Romans in Jerusalem and how this church grew. I kind of found it comforting because I’ve always wondered about the disconnect between someone’s actions and someone’s mythology. It’s super interesting.”
– Cheryl Chitty Tan
Ending the conversation smoothly, she also threw in two of her favourite local books: Impractical Uses of Cake by Jo-Ann Yeoh and The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye by Sonny Liew.
Find all her recommended books at Kinokuniya, or through your preferred platform.
Adrian Pang
Having spent eight years working as an actor in the UK, he established Pangdemonium, a homegrown theatre company which has since staged numerous musicals including Urinetown: The Musical (2019). The company is set to stage a play, The Mother, a telling tale of mental illness.
A well-versed actor himself, he has starred in various local productions including The LKY Musical, Boeing Boeing, and Forbidden City. He recommended a classic, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
“It is a really beautiful book, lyrical, emotive, funny, insightful, enlightening, devastating, with so many timeless lessons to learn from it.”
– Adrian Pang
Penned by American author Harper Lee, the book contains a telling tale of racism and prejudice that has now become a classic in American modern literature (I’m sure literature students have picked it up at least once).
Get this book at Kinokuniya, Times Bookstores, or through your preferred platform.
Julie Wee
Before her theatre debut, you would probably recognise her as Dewi in Channel 5’s sit-drama Moulmein High (2001). After graduating from The Victorian College of the Arts Drama School (VCA) in Melbourne, she went on to star in many local theatre productions including The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar (Singapore Repertory Theatre), Normal (Checkpoint Theatre), and Hotel (Wild Rice).
She very kindly recommended four very exciting books:
The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini is situated in the turbulent events – the fall of the Afghan monarchy at the hands of the Soviet invasion to the rise of the Taliban regime. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee follows the events following a Korean family’s move to Japan, where they are subjected to racism, stereotyping, and prejudice that came with being a Korean in 20th-century Japan. The Hours by Michael Cunningham, a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1999 became a screen adaptation starring Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and Julianne Moore. Winning the Oscar in 2002. The book is written in a ‘stream of consciousness’ style involving three generations of women. The last book recommended, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, is a heavy one. From the reviews on goodreads, be ready for a puddle of tears and months of sadness as you follow the lives of four friends in New York City from college to middle-aged adulthood.
When asked which aspects of these books caught her eye, she had this to say:
“They’re just so well written. The world of the stories are so immersive and expand over a lifetime that when you finish the book, you feel like you actually know the characters.”
– Julie Wee
Find all her recommended books at Kinokuniya, or through your preferred platform.