Of library books and gold

It was a cool, rainy afternoon. Despite a slightly lopsided jaw, (no thanks to the swelling from the wisdom tooth extraction), I decided to return a 'soon to be due' library book and hopefully find something else to read from the humble Bukit Batok Community Library at West Mall. By the way, it got 1pathetic star in a certain Sunday Times report whiched awarded a maximum of 5 stars to libraries, depending on how they perform .. In terms of collection, service, events.. etc.

I chanced upon a Dean Kootz book titled Frankenstein in the "Just-returned" shelf. The book looks crisp and new.. (Yes i judge a book by its cover.) Published in Feb 2005. Very new indeed, judging by NLB standards. I thought, "Looks great, this will keep me company for tonight". I spotted an empty seat, plonked down on it and proceeeded to read the first couple of chapters.

The story was fine. Done in Dean Kootz's usual style of serial killers and mystery, with an angsty cop thrown in for good measure. I feel he's the "thriller equivilent" of Danielle Steel's trashy romance stories. Quite predictable, same style for many books, but still nice to read. As the title implies, there's some psycho out there who chops people up and collects body parts. there's this warped scene where he talks to magdalene, and gives her a manicure. Flirting with her.. only to wrap Magdalene's hands in plastic wrap to be stored in the freezer. He's actually talking to the HANDS only.

I was happily reading along when i discovered a little speck of brownish green stuff on a page..
Hmm.. don't tell me its ..
One more page.. Another speck of the same stuff, slightly different shape this time..
Ewwwww!!
Ignoring it and ploughing on, tinking "No i'm not giving up on the book.. No way!"
Again.. Some more..
The previous reader must be suffering from a bad bout of flu, has lots of nose hair.. or has a thing for 'gold-digging' while reading a thriller.

By then i had stopped reading.. instead i was flipping through the pages discovering more and more little globs of treasure.

I gave up. I put the book back on the librarian's trolley, zoomed out of the library and into the toilet to scrub my hands.

Ugly Singaporeans at its best.