Bookends

Who: Ruby Jayaseelan, 27, dancer

She will perform in the play, Ghost Writer, directed by Alvin Tan and written by Haresh Sharma, who are Cultural Medallion recipients.

The production will run from Thursday to June 12 at the Esplanade Theatre Studios. Tickets are available at $35 from Sistic.

What are you reading now? One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Such A Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry.

I don't usually read two books at the same time.

I was already reading Such A Long Journey and found an old, torn copy of One Hundred Years Of Solitudeduring a one-month surf trip in Bali which was physically and mentally exhausting.

Ruby Jayaseelan will be performing in the production, Ghost Writer.
Ruby Jayaseelan will be performing in the production, Ghost Writer. PHOTO: SHAZA ISHAK

Finding something as imaginative as this book on an old dusty shelf in a surf house made me euphoric, so I read it immediately.

Now I am dividing my time between the two. I'm leaning more towards One Hundred Years Of Solitude, though. It unravels a whole thought process with every few pages and I like that a lot in books.

Such A Long Journey was given to me by one of my oldest and closest friends, whose recommendations I am almost always blown away by, so I do have high hopes for it.

What books would you save from a burning house? Immortality by Milan Kundera, Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer by Patrick Suskind and The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Immortality and The Picture Of Dorian Gray were recommended by the same friend.

I haven't stopped talking about Immortality, though it has been years since I read it. I can remember specific scenes and lines as if I had watched a movie of it just yesterday.

The Picture Of Dorian Gray was recommended when I was involved in works that were making me question and think about beauty and how people perceive it.

I was in Thailand staying with a Myanmar couple. The husband could barely speak English.

I was there for over a month and there were many awkward moments until he asked if I wanted to watch his favourite film, which was Perfume.

We bonded and became good friends despite the language barrier. Years later, I read the book.

Ruby Jayaseelan will be performing in the production, Ghost Writer. One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Penguin Books, 2014, $22.42)

Ruby Jayaseelan will be performing in the production, Ghost Writer. Such A Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry (Faber & Faber, 2006, $17.66)

Ruby Jayaseelan will be performing in the production, Ghost Writer. Immortality by Milan Kundera (Faber & Faber, 1998, $19.80)

Ruby Jayaseelan will be performing in the production, Ghost Writer. Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer by Patrick Suskind (Penguin Books, 2015, $19.21)

Ruby Jayaseelan will be performing in the production, Ghost Writer. The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (Alma Books, 2015, $12.31)

• One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Penguin Books, 2014, $22.42), Such A Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry (Faber & Faber, 2006, $17.66), Immortality by Milan Kundera (Faber & Faber, 1998, $19.80), Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer by Patrick Suskind (Penguin Books, 2015, $19.21) and The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (Alma Books, 2015, $12.31) are available from Books Kinokuniya.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on June 05, 2016, with the headline Bookends. Subscribe