A great actor, A gifted author

My current read is The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier.

I have not read a memoir/autobiography for years. This one I purchased during my last trip in Singapore.

Last night, I read up to page 77 before tucking in. If I didn't have to work [and oh, how often I wish so], I could have stayed up to 4am to get through its pages. It's been a very soothing and comfortable read. Not one of the fast page turners where you can't wait to get to the end of it. This story was good to be savoured at every single page [up to page 77 at least]. 

Thank God this wasn't one of those memoirs where the main character is portrayed as a person who has been dealt the worst card in life, and out of the ashes he made something of himself. Not at all. Instead, although Sidney Poitier's life [being an impoverished African-American in the 1930s], can easily be placed in a degradatory light, he had a very jovial take on his childhood without being in denial of the difficulties that came with it. And indeed, his take on his life in poverty and the joy that is available to him as a child under such circumstances, echoed in me something I read not too long ago in Philip Yancey's book- Soul Survivor. Yancey wrote about how Dr. Paul Brand reckoned that there were certain joys in life that are readily embraced by those in poverty, yet were seemingly unattainable to the wealthy. I have to find that exact sentence, because Dr. Paul Brand said it so much better.

If Sidney Poitier continues to deliver a good read through the rest of the book, I'd be getting his other book- Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great Granddaughter. Another African-American actor whose writings I am a HUGE fan of is Bill Cosby. His book titled Childhood had me in fits and fits of laugther, and to think that I bought it at a second-hand charity sale for a few bucks was an absolute treasure. Unfortunately, I've tried hunting for his titles in KL. No luck, giving me yet another reason for me to head down to Singapore.

I know this post is already painfully long, but I've just learned from my editor chieftain that there is the Page 69 Test. According to Marshall McLuhan [the person behind the test, and the guru of The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962)], to decide whether you like a book or not [prior to purchase], flip to page 69 and read, if you like that page, it's good to buy. I have yet to try this theory out.