Reading books since late March

I have read a few books since March. I recall that when Shanghai started lockdown in end of March, I started reading All Quiet on the Western Front, then in May I read How Steel was Tempered when I learned that my daughter's school required her to read the Chinese translation of this book. She read the Chinese version while I read on my PC screen the English version, and eventually told her how to write an article reflecting learnings and impressions and she won a good score for this.

In June when we the lockdown was lifted, I read a collection of English stories by some Myanmar writers. Interesting that daily life can be such a reservoir of materials for short story writing.

Then in September I read for the second time the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. Very interesting even though I was reading it again. Interlocking intrigues!

All the while I have been reading a few pages of David Copperfield. Since 2015 I have made it a point of writing Charles Dickens's works, again and again.

I feel reading English novels nurtures a strong linguistic sence of the language and helps with my efficiency as an advisor to a key money contributor to Lever VC. So reading English novels for me is not just killing time, or for entertainment, but for work purposes!

I think I will start reading a thick novel by Dan Brown next.

Since the lockdown was lifted in June, I read the novels in a park close to my home. However I do notice that some prostitues are also hovering around to solicit clients. More than ten years ago, the prostitues looked to be in their late 40s, 50s and 60s. This year I noticed that the prostitutes are nowadays quite young. Some may be in their mid to late 30s, some may be just passing 40 or barely reaching 50.

Today a woman of about 40 followed me for quite a long distance, hailing me, trying to get me to stop and talk to her. I reading in a park is targeted as a prospective client by this prostitute.

I find the prostitutes getting so much younger shows that the economy is getting worse. I pray that such women be assisted in one way or another. I believe most prostitutes choose to do so because of the dire need to survive and they are not inherently bad. When they cannot find any other sources of income, some desperate women have chosen to sell their bodies. That's it! It's an economic choice, more than a moral choice.

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