How to Flourish: What We Learnt from Read! Fest 2023’s Key Titles
If you could steer how you move with the world, where would you go? Who would you want beside you?
READ! Fest 2023 explores the concept of “Flourish”, inviting readers to examine what it means to flourish as an individual and as a community.
Here are some significant insights from this year’s selection of READ! Fest’s featured titles that provide some food for thought. What resonates with us? How do we build stronger relationships with the people around us and the spaces we inhabit in order to truly thrive?
Each of these titles is accompanied by a reading pack that contains recommendations for similar titles, fun activities to do and other ways you can continue to engage with the book’s ideas in real life. We look forward to seeing you at our READ! Fest programmes, but if you’re unable to attend, we hope these packs can help convey the excitement for the theme.
Talking Is the First Step to Healing
In her memoir, therapist Lori Gottlieb recounts a difficult time in her personal life while working with four patients.
Each of her patients is going through a different major life crisis — cancer, alcoholism, a breakup and a loss of meaning in life. However, beneath these differences, they are actually echoes of each other — after all, everyone has their own reasons for needing to speak to a professional.
In Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed, she explores therapy both as a professional and as a patient and confronts the doubts that prevent us from becoming better versions of ourselves.
More importantly, Gottlieb demystifies what goes on behind closed doors in a mental health setting — a therapist can ask the right questions, frame the situation in a non-biased manner to help you uncover possibilities, directions and answers through your voice and conversations.
But they can only do so if you take the first step in speaking to them.
Get the book here: Physical Copy, eBook
Download the reading pack here.
Make the Wet Market Your Friend
In Wet Market to Table, Singaporean chef Pamelia Chia explores how wet markets function as social hubs where people come together to shop, chat, and exchange cooking tips.
Moreover, shopping at wet markets cultivates a deeper appreciation for a group of people that keep our world moving: food producers.
When we get a glimpse into the world of farmers, fishmongers and other food producers, we see how much value there is in their work — and we also understand how important this sense of connection is.
In this increasingly fast-paced and disconnected world, how do we build and sustain our connections to each other? How do our interactions contribute to our sense of belonging?
By highlighting the hard work and tireless dedication that goes into producing these ingredients, Chia’s book encourages us not only to value these sources of food but also to support local, sustainable food businesses.
Get the book here: Physical Copy
Download the reading pack here.
Little Actions and Their Big Impacts
In the ecological crisis of our time, each of our individual actions can be significant.
Written by Rewriting Extinction, a collective consisting of iconic names from activists Jane Goddall and Yoko Ono to actors Taika Waititi and Cara Delevigne, The Most Important Comic Book on Earth serves as a powerful reminder of the impact that human actions have on the natural world, and the urgent need to take action to address these issues.
While the challenges we face may seem overwhelming, this book emphasises the importance of collective action and shows us how our seemingly small actions can make a big difference.
When we make choices that support sustainable practices, such as reducing fast-fashion choices, minimising food wastage and supporting conservation efforts, we are playing a role in protecting our planet and the multitude of species that live on it.
Get the book here: Physical Copy, eBook
Download the reading pack here.
Tender Company in a Complex Life
The protagonist of Elizabeth Strout’s novel, Oh William, has a complex web of relationships which includes her recently-deceased husband, her ex-husband, their two grown daughters and other members of their blended family.
The novel explores the ways in which these connections can be both supportive and challenging. It also delves into the ghosts of the protagonist’s past that she can’t shake off, even as she is in her 60s — memories of her own fraught relationship with her parents, growing up in poverty and her life as university student.
The key takeaway from the novel is that these connections require effort, acceptance and empathy to thrive — enriching not only our relationships with others, but also with ourselves.
Get the book here: Physical Copy, eBook, Audiobook
Download the reading pack here.
Reimagine the Status Quo
In Beneath the Rug: Uncovering Singapore’s Social Impact Sector, a writer recounts an anecdote about a piece of advice given to him as a child by his father: If someone begs you for money, offer them food instead of giving them money — just in case they take your money and waste it on cigarettes.
Later as an adult, the writer wonders about the assumption that the less-privileged will use their money on vice. Many times, such assumptions lead us to certain conclusions about others in society without thinking critically about their predications and capabilities.
This book encourages us to take the first step towards making a difference by considering the limiting beliefs we might have towards others different from us, challenge those stereotypes, consider the ways we can reframe our questions and our mindsets.
Get the book here: Physical Copy
Download the reading pack here.
Reclaim Past Connections in a Busy World
In our modern society, work and sleep take up a huge part of our daily lives. The remaining five hours in the day are unceremoniously shuffled into the broad category of “leisure”, encompassing exercising and socialising — though half of this is usually spent on watching television.
Communicating with a friend takes an average of just 39 minutes, yet it only takes place on weekends.
Billy Baker researches and contemplates male friendships in We Need to Hang Out: A Memoir of Making Friends, writing about loneliness in middle-age in a frank manner with the warmth of a wise and humorous friend.
We learn that it’s okay to be vulnerable and reach out to say hello to an old friend, even if we haven’t seen them in years.
By opening up to others and allowing ourselves to be seen, we can deepen our relationships and create meaningful connections. Who knows if the other person is feeling the same loneliness too, and is simply waiting for a candid confession or for someone else to open up first?
Get the book here: Physical Copy, Audiobook
Download the reading pack here.
READ! Fest 2023 runs from 23 June to 16 July 2023. The event will host a series of panels, talks and workshops, each related to one of twelve featured titles.
To register for the programmes or get more information, visit our site here.
Text by
Joey Chin
National Library Board
