A book chronicling Singapore's longest-running personal column by Straits Times executive editor Sumiko Tan has made its debut on the bestsellers list at No. 2.
Tan's book, Sundays With Sumiko, has also gone into a second print run, after the first 3,000 copies were snapped up by bookstores.
The book charted on last Tuesday's Straits Times bestseller list for non-fiction, topped only by long-time list stalwart When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi.
The list is compiled weekly using data from four major bookstores: Popular, Times, Books Kinokuniya and MPH.
Launched earlier this month, Sundays With Sumiko compiles 74 of Tan's widely read personal columns on love, life and loss over 22 years.
Tan, 53, wrote about a plethora of issues, from singlehood to marrying in her late 40s, from prawn peeling to online shopping to being a caregiver to a stroke victim.
Straits Times Press, which published the book, has embarked on a second print run of 3,000 copies, which will be ready in the last week of next month.
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BOOK IT / ASKST@NLB: LOVE, LIFE & LOSS: WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO WRITE A PERSONAL COLUMN?
WHERE: Programme Zone B1-01 Central Public Library, 100 Victoria Street
WHEN: July 28, 7 to 8.30pm
ADMISSION: Free but registration is required (go to str.sg/sumikoNLB)
INFO: Tan will give a talk and sign books at this askST event.
BOOK IT / BOOK SIGNINGS
WHERE: Books Kinokuniya, 04-20 Ngee Ann City, 391 Orchard Road
WHEN: Aug 26, 4 to 5pm
ADMISSION: Free
WHERE: Popular Bookstores, B1-41 Jurong Point, 1 Jurong West Central 2
WHEN: Sept 16, 4 to 4.30pm
ADMISSION: Free
INFO: Go to www.facebook.com/StraitsTimesPress
ST Press marketing and operations manager Ilangoh Thanabalan says: "This is probably the fastest reprint we have ordered on any title with a 3,000 copies base.
In comparison, other fast-moving titles see their first reprint only after a month."
In recent memory, the only other ST Press books that had their first print run spoken for within a week were Dr Lee Wei Ling's A Hakka Woman's Singapore Stories (2015) and 50 Things To Love About Singapore (2014).
More than 100 people queued up to get Tan's autograph on July 9 at Popular bookstore in Nex, stretching a planned 30-minute session to two hours.
ST Press general manager Susan Long says: "What was very heartening was the wide range of Sumiko's fans who thronged the bookstores, young, old, male and female.
"Some presented yellowed scrapbooks of her newspaper article clippings they had lovingly collected through the decades."
Tan says: "I'm very grateful to those who bought the book. I had a fantastic time meeting readers at the book-signing session at Popular and look forward to meeting more readers at the other sessions."
•Sundays With Sumiko is available for $29.96 at all leading bookstores.
