By Lin Zengru

I LIKE making lists. Not just a list of things to do for the day (which I do obsessively), or a list of books to get at Kinokuniya or Borders, but actually compiling lists of best-selling things.

When I was writing comics reviews for a rock magazine, I used to compile a list of best-selling comics titles from a popular comic shop in Singapore.

These days, I'm doing the same thing.

Through a contact in Kinokuniya, I have been compiling a monthly list of best-selling graphic novels (including manga) in Kinokuniya since April (www.singaporecomix.blogspot.com).

For the month of August, the top-selling title was Watchmen, the seminal Alan Moore graphic novel that is being adapted by Zack Snyder (300) for the big screen.

It has been a lot of fun, although the hits for the site are insignificant.

But I'm doing this for myself and posterity.

I tried explaining this to an acquaintance, also a graphic artist, over dinner some weeks ago.

He was wondering how I would profit from doing this. But that's the point, I don't.

The joy comes from putting up the list and preserving it for future fans and researchers. Such a list could tell people
in the future what sort of comics-reading habits Singaporeans had in 2008.

For example, Batman titles have dominated the list for the past few months, a testimony to Hollywood's cultural impact on our shores.

I'm history-trained, and talking about the past continues to be one of the tools of my trade.

One of the most fascinating books I have come across in recent years is Jonathan Ross' The Intellectual Life Of The British Working Classes (2003), which describes the reading habits of 19th-century England.

A professor of history, Ross went round the village libraries of England and collected information about books borrowed by the working class in these communities.

The data was telling. It revealed that working-class people in 19th-century England read widely and were keen to educate themselves.

Some academics have argued that bestseller lists reflect the national character of a country.

Such lists reveal cultural character as well. What we read, buy and consume reflects and shapes who we are and what we are about.

So cultural signifiers are not just about the buzz over F1, what is happening at Hong Lim or whether we should have
a by-election or not. Sometimes, that four-colour comic book called World War Hulk reveals more about our personal failings and political frustrations.

We are what we read.

myp@sph.com.sg
Lin Zengru is an educator, a writer and a commentator on pop culture.

For more my paper stories click here.