Writer Ning Cai aims to give away 50 books around S’pore by year’s end

SINGAPORE — Found a good book lately? Well, you might have if you were at Tan Tock Seng Hospital recently. Or at Kith Cafe, Paragon shopping mall, or that clock structure just outside Shaw Centre. Part of an initiative by writer Ning Cai, called #SG50books50days, the plan is to leave 50 books about Singapore or by Singaporean authors at 50 locations for anybody to pick up. Attached to each book is a small note with a message beginning with, “finders keepers” (just so you do not randomly take someone else’s book by mistake).

Ning leaves clues about where these books will be left on her Instagram account (https://instagram.com/magicbabening). There is also some correlation between the books and where she leaves them. Lee Geok Boi’s Asian Noodles was left at Food Street near Thai Express at Paragon, for example.

The main objective is to engage potential readers in picking up a book, “especially Sing Lit (Singapore literature) and start reading again”, said Ning, who partnered with online reading community Definitely Books for this passion project.

“I’ve always loved reading,” she said. “It’s beautiful how words can so powerfully suspend your sense of disbelief and lead you into realms filled with captivating characters with voices you distinctively hear inside your head and whose noble virtues you learn and hold dear. That intimate experience itself is a magic I’d love (to share with) the rest of the world.”

She added: “Our country has good writers who have published solid work, but not many Singaporeans give them a chance. So after speaking to like-minded friends, the idea for my book hunt was born.

“This is solely a passion project with the only bottom line being that it serves to inspire people to walk into a bookstore and rekindle a relationship with reading.”

The 50 titles are listed on her website (http://ningthing.com/2015/08/14/sg50books50days) and were picked by Ning and her friends at Definitely Books. The books are a mix of genres and include titles such as The Teenage Textbook by Adrian Tan, The Wit And Wisdom Of Lee Kuan Yew, the coffee-table book Images Of Singapore, Foreigners Behaving Badly by Balvinder Sandhu and The Adventures Of Mooty by Jessie Wee and Kwan Shan Mei, among others.

People who take the books are invited to connect online via Instagram, and that is about the only way Ning can actually track what happens to the books. Although Ning had originally conceived the idea to target Singaporeans, she said that it “doesn’t matter who takes the books”.

The first book for #SG50books50days, Marina Bay Sins, was picked up by a French tourist who was at Marina Bay Sands. “He left a wonderful message on my website thanking me for the great idea, as well as the book, which followed him all over Asia before going back (with him) to Paris,” said Ning.

Chef Terry Tan’s Stir-Fried And Not Shaken: A Nostalgic Trip Down Singapore’s Memory Lane was discovered by a National Serviceman at the Bedok marketplace; while Travellers’ Tales Of Old Singapore was picked up by another Singaporean at Clarke Quay. All the books will be given away before the year is out.

“Reading is an activity for everybody, and the individual reads will call out to the right people who are interested,” she said. “Knowing that my small efforts have already garnered some interest already feels like a success to me.”

The writer said she still has another 38 books to distribute. But if all goes well, she is “open to doing a second book hunt in the near future”.

“I’m not selling anything and have no expectations — only hope … that Singaporeans will enjoy the works of talented award-winning Singaporean (writers), support passionate book publishers, visit good bookstores and allow themselves to nourish their creativity and spirit with good reads,” Ning said.