🥀 Flowers, allergies and a nonfiction to share....Homeless by Liyana Dhamirah{2026 Nonfiction Reading Challenge}

I had an appointment at an allergy clinic this week to see if I am allergic to seafood, crustations or mollusks.  Big surprise - I am not allergic to any of those, in spite of the reaction I had which required Prednisone.   The culprit is coconut 🥥. Funny thing as I had eaten coconut before but now it gives me hives. I can easily live without coconut and am happy it wasn't olives, coffee or chocolate.

In the front garden my Cosmos are still blooming but the season will end soon. Still getting quite a few bees visiting.

Loki isn't about to mess about with bees. "I'll just observe from inside, thank you very much!"

Book chat / Here is another nonfiction for the challenge for the South East Asia category. 

Homeless: The Untold Story of a Mother's Struggle in Crazy Rich Singapore by Liyana Dhamirah is a very short memoir. The author takes us on a journey of how she ended up homeless and living in a tent on the beach with her small children. 

Singapore has two faces - the rich side and the poverty side. Through a set of circumstances, which were a combination of Liyana's limited and sometimes poor choices,  the author ended up living in a tent on the beach. There she learned there was a community of others like her.  The homeless people ended up there in a "tent city" due to varying situations. Despite their hardships and challenges most supported one another best they could.

She made the tent a home for her children and did her best, keeping a more positive attitude than most could.  Can't imagine getting pregnant at 16 after being raped at a party, then marrying but ultimimately beng kicked out of her mother-in-law's home.  It was such a sad set of cirmcumstances.

Being intelligent she found some solutions, ended up being interviewed and turned her life around.  She also brought attention to the lack of infrastructure in the society to assist those facing homelessness. 

Linking up with Shelleyrae at Book'd Out for the 2026 Nonfiction Reading Challenge. Category: South East Asia 

This will make fifteen nonfictions I have read so far in 2026. 📚😀

Next up is another nonficton for the Subculture category and a possible fall reading list (which I hope I can stick to!).