Problem
How do you deal with death?
Answer
Religions give different answers. Catherine Lim, brought up in Malaysia, now living in Singapore, is in her Seventies. She says she reads obituaries and has thought about the inevitability of death which comes to all. She has investigated religions and different views and reached her own conclusions.
She started speaking sitting in a red chair. Last time I saw her she was resplendent in royal blue. This time she wore yellow which was equally becoming, flattering her slim figure.
She was soon leaping out of her chair to address the audience.
She told a room of fans and book lovers about how she reached the her new book, An Equal Joy. If I may summarise, she feels at one with the universe, sees everything from the stars int he key to civilisations such as the Romans and Greeks to plants and animals and humans going through cycles of birth and death and feels that death should be approached not with fear but like the rest of life, with equal joy.
It was not all doom and gloom disguised as stoicism, resignation, feeling at one with the universe, call it what you will. Catherine also entertained us with stories about her joy in words.
My favourite story is about how she went to teach a class of recalcitrant boys. The lesson started her saying she would answer any question. The first boy stood up and said one word, a four letter word.
Catherine Lim retorted, "Now you have told us your name, what is your question?"
That's a handy piece of repartee for teachers and public speakers and stand up comedians. Performers frequently ask for suggestions of what to say to respond to rude remarks. Now you know the answer.
She also said that her favourite review of one of her books was one word: Unputdownable.
After the entertaining talk, Catherine was signing books for buyers.
Canapés and Conversation
I had not known what to expect at the book launch. In London sometimes you get a glass of alcohol but no food. Here the situation was reversed. The catering was after the talk by Catherine. They served savouries; also and desserts of wonderful small portions of nutty solid cake. I was also not displeased by the highly coloured jelly-like sweets. I looked around and asked for water and discovered that water and coffee and tea were on tap at the end of the buffet table.
Tips
Her other books were also on sale but at the end of the evening they had sold out of her popular books of short stories.
The moral is, check out which books are available and buy early at a book launch.
Catherine Lim's books include:
Fiction
Short Stories
The Howling Silence tales of the Dead & Their Return
Novels
The Serpent's Tooth (1982)
The Bondmaid (1995)
The Teardrop Story Woman
Catherine is very forthright, outspoken, memorable.
She has a blog.
https://www.facebook.com/Catherine-Lim-212250305461144/
See a write up of her life on Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Lim
Fast Facts
Venue of the launch: The Blue Room, The Arts House, Old Parliament Lane, Singapore 179429.
Angela Lansbury, author and speaker.
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