Trading Stories

I decided to join a book swapping club over at a website called MeetUp. They had one meeting yesterday, but it was not their first. It was my first and some of the people I met seemed to be new too. The theme was Mystery Book, which meant all participants needed to bring a wrapped up book with a few words on the wrapping paper that described it.

We met at Tanuki Raw at Kapok, near Bugis. I had never been there before and found the signs to be confusing. The place is located in an alley in the middle of one building, but there was no signs around the door so I had to go in and ask if I was at the right place. The organiser of the MeetUp texted my, saying he and another was sitting at the long table. I joined them and ordered something from the menu - Duck Confit Herumetto. It was described as seasoned pulled duck confit, avocado, tomato, onions and lettuce stuffed inside house-made crunchy taco shells made of seaweed. It sounded so good and almost made for me! I imagined creamy tacos, freshly made with guacamole at the bottom. Instead I got this:

I did not even bother to take a good photo of it. I thought it was going to be a full meal with real taco shells but made from seaweed. These were seaweed, yes, but they were so tiny! It costed S$13, but they did not include tax in the menu price so I had to pay S$15 in the end. I had ordered one of the cheaper items on the menu and it was not enough to be called a dinner. Though I have to say that they were pretty tasty! At least I had not ordered anything to drink and only drank lukewarm water.

I brought two books for the book swapping. One was Song of the Sea by Jane Dolby, which was the first book that I never finished. Hopefully someone will have a better time reading it. My Mystery Book was The Echoes of Love by Hannah Fielding (I wrote a separate review of it for the blog). I used five words to describe it and did not say much else about it. The words were:

• Romance
• Italy
• History
• Blue
• Secrets

Of course I put blue there as a mystery clue as well and you will only know what I mean by reading the book (or reading my reviews, I speak about the blue issue a lot). The group however put the two last words together and tried to figure out what I meant by blue secrets. I did not even bother to correct them.

We put all books on the table and each and every one of us explained what they were about. There was one person who had not wrapped a book, so it was a bit of a struggle with the mystery swapping. Who would be left without a mystery book? He came with Is It Really Too Much To Ask? (The World According to Clarkson #5) (which he said was his "wrapped book") and I thought I would give it to John. Nobody else seemed to want it. In fact one person was very aggressive about it and could not even stand to see his face on the cover. I thought she was a bit too much. She kept saying that she did not like him without thinking twice about anybody else's opinion. I do not know much about Jeremy Clarkson, apart from his two television shows, which is why I thought this book would be interesting.

We picked our Mystery Books and I took one as well since the one I already had was not wrapped. On the wrapping paper of the one I picked up it said Singapore-themed... Buildings are structures that create space for dreams. The lady who had brought it explained it would probably interest someone who liked architecture and Singapore. That appealed to me, I really love buildings and Singapore has so many interesting ones. Inside the package was Dream Storeys by Clara Chow and the synopsis is very intriguing.

What if you could dream up any building you like?
A mall self-destructs. A tree house for orphans and old folks is torn apart by an act of mercy. The Singapore Flyer becomes a political prison. The nine tales in this collection examines an alternative Singaporean landscape, taking you into inventive, evocative new territory.

Two people had brought more than two books and they too needed to be handed out. By that point everyone had two books, one chosen and one mystery. I added a book to my pile and asked the others to pick another one for themselves. A headache was building up and I really wanted to leave. The other books was taken and I ended up switching the one I had taken as my third. From that trade I got Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield. I excused myself and rose from the chair to head home. I had gotten what I had come for and now my head was really hurting, but before I left I was asked if I wanted the last book. Nobody else seemed to want it and I had already proclaimed it was my last choice (since I did not want to miss out on the other books). It had been on and off my to-read-list over a couple of years, but I finally got it for free and without a proper exchange so I thought I might as well read it. I came to the meeting with two books and left with four. The last book was Bridget Jones's Diary.

I was satisfied with the books I came home with and very pleased to get ride of two books I did not like. It was forty minutes until I would be home so I called John and asked if he could make me a simple dinner. By the time I came through the door my head was throbbing but I had a fresh salad waiting for me. Such a kind man I have. My headache did not subside and I was in bed by ten o'clock.