Weekend Reading List: Yours and Mine

I had a long discussion with J about the interesting long feature in Saturday's Straits Times about sex education in Singapore. It's pretty interesting to hear her views, as J is a teacher, as well as a devout Christian. I'm pleased to hear that, at least in her school, what I think are the two most crucial categories on this topic are routinely covered: The legal aspects (age of consent, rape, etc) as well as the medical aspects (STDs, etc). My view is that schools should not confuse the debate by bringing in religion and morals. They should simply stick to the facts. R does not read the papers, 'Actually, I've stopped buying mainstream broadsheets for a while now; I only read them online
I'm hoping that R is reading the Tash Aw book The Harmony Silk Factory that I gave him that night we visited his cosy Tanglin Halt flat, the book that KO said he couldn't read because it was too boring, and which I finished in two sittings. People are so hard to please. I find I'm always giving books to people who won't read them. Maybe the solution is to not give books. HHH messaged me: "W is out. I must tell you the W layout is not nice! I bought it before I headed out to Sentosa, and I flipped through it immediately u know! I just cannot wait."
BG said that he saw Princess Caroline (below) at Kinokuniya when he was shopping for books this afternoon.BG: "She's here to support her daughter Charlotte Casiraghi for YOG. Not bluffing. Only I know it's her. She's dressed very European and looks shabby, so you will like. She is dressed like you would to meet Vincent the drycleaner. I bought Sacred Hearts (Sarah Dunant) about noble nuns in 1570 Ferrara. Another one called Rossetti Letter (Christi Phillips) about a courtesan in Renaissance Venice, am I not classic?"As for myself, I plowed methodically through Vogue (HHH made me buy it, quite against my better judgement), all 668 pages of it. It's like a very heavy brochure for the Vogue event Fashion Night Out and 'stories' promoting this shopping festival keeps cropping up, in every section, every few pages. The Halle Berry cover story is unutterably dull and she says lots of sanctimonious rubbish. On the cover (by Mario Testino) she looks very smug, like she just booked a masseur for 3pm. Two fashion spreads are interesting: Peter Lindbergh's Checks and The City about plaids and tweeds shot on the streets in NYC, and Raymond Meier's Monsters Inc on fur bags and boots. I read the short piece written by HRH Prince of Wales (about recycling wool) and the fluff piece (it seemed mostly about her riding habit by Gucci) on Charlotte Casiraghi.And then I'm thinking who I can give it to already; I certainly don't want to keep it.