“A woman had been crushed by a goat that fell from the sky.” Thus begins Malaysian writer Amy Leow’s debut novel, The Scarlet Throne, one of the most assured and deft fantasies to have fallen in my lap in recent times. Deliberating on the case of the crushed woman—on whether her…
When Johor-born animator Erica Eng won an Eisner Award for her webcomic Fried Rice in 2020, she was 21 years old and still a college student. The semi-autobiographical, slice-of-life webcomic based on her experience of applying to an elite art school after secondary school was something she started as a…
Malaysian writer Yeoh Jo-Ann burst onto the local literary scene when her debut novel, Impractical Uses of Cake, won the Epigram Fiction Prize in 2018. Together with Honey Ahmad and Diana Yeong of Two Book Nerds Talking, we spoke with Jo-Ann about her book over a Facebook Live session at…
Truth, they say, is stranger than fiction. This is especially so in the world of physics where the behaviour of very large and the very small defy the causal relationships that we have come to expect from our mundane senses. So much so that if some quantum theories are correct,…
Malaysian writer Vanessa Chan had always dabbled in writing fiction. But it took what she called a “millennial existential crisis” to propel her to pursue it seriously—she left her job in communications at Facebook and enrolled in a writing graduate programme in New York City. What then started out as…
by Elaine Lau Malaysian lawyer-turned-children’s books author Kimberly Lee was just trying her luck. In late 2020, she submitted her picture book in a Twitter pitch contest called PitMad in hopes of attracting the attention of US book agents and editors. But the mother of two boys wasn’t expecting much…
by Fong Min Hun I have been a big fan of Sheila Armstrong since coming across her debut collection of short stories, How to Gut a Fish and you can read my review here. In that review, I gushed about the Shirley Jackson-esque flavour of her writing, and marvelled at…
2023 marks 60 years since the territories of Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak were brought together to form Malaysia. Much has transpired in the decades since, not the least of which was the ousting of Singapore from this alliance just a couple years later. Nevertheless, our two nations still share…
by Fong Min Hun Marzahn, Mon Amour, the Dublin Literary Award 2023 winner by Katja Oskamp (translated by Jo Heinrich), brims with warmth. Part memoir and part collective history, Marzahn is a portrait of the eponymous Berlin district, its inhabitants and Oskamp’s relationships with them. It is therefore perplexing that…
Belfast writer Paul McVeigh made a name for himself as a playwright and writer of comedy shows before he penned his first novel, The Good Son, published in 2015. The novel, which won the Polari Prize and the McCrea Literary Award, is a coming-of-age story of 11-year-old Mickey Donnelly set…
Lit Review: ‘Days at the Morisaki Bookshop’ by Satoshi Yagisawa
by Fong Min Hun Elaine and I were in Amsterdam on holiday recently, and made a quick detour to The Hague to see Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and catch the Escher exhibit. On the way back to the train station, we passed a bookshop just down the road…
Malaysian visual artist Red Hong Yi is renowned for her larger-than-life portraits and art installations created using everyday objects and materials not typically associated with art-making: socks, teabags, bamboo chopsticks, eggshells, and coffee stains, to name a few. An architecture graduate who found her true calling in making art, Hong…
by Fong Min Hun Sheila Armstrong’s debut short story collection, How to Gut a Fish, is a poised and masterful blend of the quotidian and the unsettling. The stories showcase an author with an array of writing styles at her disposal, ranging from the slow and lyrical, to the quick…
Lit Review: ‘How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart’ by Florentyna Leow
by Elaine Lau On a month-long cultural exchange trip to Japan as a teen, Malaysian writer Florentyna Leow fell in love with Japan – so much so that the Petaling Jaya-native went on to study Japanese at university in the UK, and moved to Tokyo when a job opportunity came…
by Elaine Lau Ten years after The Luminaries catapulted her to literary stardom, Man Booker prize-winning New Zealand author Eleanor Catton returns with Birnam Wood, a literary contemporary thriller that’s intelligent and zeitgeisty, but also incredibly gripping and entertaining. Birnam Wood has it all – a cast of well-formed characters,…
by Fong Min Hun I seldom read through a book in one sitting, so I was surprised when I found myself fighting sleep to finish Janice Hallett’s The Appeal, a whodunnit written in the form of a modern epistolary novel. The quick and dirty synopsis: senior barrister Roderick Tanner QC…
Fourteen years after her critically acclaimed debut novel Evening is the Whole Day was published, Preeta Samarasan returns with her second full-length novel, Tale of the Dreamer’s Son. It is an ambitious and darkly humorous book that examines the hubris and frailties of a community of Malaysians. Novel and insightfully…
by Fong Min Hun During an author event here at Lit Books on Nov 2, 2022, Audrey Magee, author of The Colony and former journalist, said that while writing her novel, she had to keep the reporter within in check. Notwithstanding the self-professed demarcation of roles, The Colony is a…
by Fong Min Hun As booksellers, Elaine and I constantly work through an endless pile of books to determine their suitability for our shelves. We usually divvy up the books between us and avoid reading the same book to speed up the assessment process (which makes for interesting book conversation,…
Malaysian author Hanna Alkaf’s third novel, Queen of the Tiles, is set in the world of competitive Scrabble. Hence it was only fitting that the author session held at Lit Books on 2 July, 2022 would feature life-size Scrabble boards where attendees could try their hand at fielding high-scoring words….
After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, we hosted our first in-person, in-store literary event on Saturday, 4 June, 2022. The occasion was to fete Malaysian author Shivani Sivagurunathan and her first full-length novel, Yalpanam, published by Penguin SEA last year. The novel is about the unlikely friendship of…
Lit Review: ‘Four Treasures of the Sky’ by Jenny Tinghui Zhang
by Cass Chia When I started reading Jenny Tinghui Zhang’s Four Treasures of the Sky, seated behind the counter at work, I wasn’t expecting to fall so deeply in love. A stirring debut of historical and literary fiction, Four Treasures explores a young girl’s coming of age set against the…
by Fong Min Hun If there is a lesson to Keiichiro Hirano’s At the End of the Matinee, it is this: love endures. A quiet romance replete with all the clichés, Matinee can, nevertheless, resonate with the right reader at the right time. It is also a reminder that however…
What a doozy of a year 2021 turned out to be — trying in so many ways. But it is times like these that I am so grateful that I can turn to books and find solace, truth, and escapism. These are the five books that made an indelible impression…
Deciding a best of list is always a frustrating experience because there are so many books to choose from in any publishing year. Then you also have to decide if books that elicit a strong emotional response is more or less deserving of a place than a novel that is,…
Lit Review: ‘The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again’ by M. John Harrison
by Fong Min Hun A few years ago, I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to accompany my wife and her brother on their sibling-bonding hike up Mt. Kinabalu. This was — is — something that I am not particularly keen to do, and the only reason I would have ventured to…
by Fong Min Hun Bill Gates’ How to Avoid a Climate Disaster doesn’t set out to change your mind about climate change. Not really. Instead, Gates — who says he thinks more like an engineer than anything else — sets out to do what an engineer does best: the book…
by Fong Min Hun Genzaburo Yoshino’s How Do You Live? is a beloved Japanese coming-of-age novel that has been translated into English for the first time by Bruno Navasky. Originally published in 1937, How Do You Live? is regarded as a classic and an important children’s title in Japan. Soon…
by Fong Min Hun It’s difficult to read Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun without locating it among the rest of his writing. What makes the job more difficult is the Nobel laureate’s tendency to produce variations on a theme, unlike, say, David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas, Bone Clocks, Utopia Avenue)…
The dawn of a new year inadvertently brings with it a renewed desire for self-improvement, whatever form that may take. This is a lifelong endeavour, however, and what’s important isn’t so much the destination as the path and process. To quote Michelle Obama from her memoir, Becoming, “[It] isn’t about…
Susanna Clarke returns with mystery novel ‘Piranesi’ 16 years after epic debut
by Elaine Lau Susanna Clarke’s new novel, Piranesi, is a mystery. It is not, as the title might suggest, a novel about the 18th century Italian architectural artist famed for his etchings of Rome and atmospheric imaginary prisons. But his art must have served as inspiration for the British author,…
Cures for Loneliness: Of Memoirs, Biographies and Stories from Elsewhere
By William Tham Two books by the British writer, Olivia Laing, are curiously offbeat in their fusion of travelogues and memoir, which are best read back-to-back. The Trip to Echo Spring takes the uniquely American form of the road trip, to the Deep South and eventually the shoreline of the…
Lit Review: ‘The Honjin Murders’ and ‘The Inugami Curse’ by Seishi Yokomizo
by Fong Min Hun That the last few months have been stressful is an understated and moot statement so much so that the declaration needs no further elaboration. Escapism, therefore, was very much called for so far as my reading was concerned. As a result of which, anyone going through…
by Elaine Lau I stopped reading children’s books when I became a teenager and graduated to ‘older’ works such as western classics and crime fiction. It wasn’t until we opened Lit Books that I rediscovered middle-grade fiction and found to my utter delight a world replete with gems. Many of…
by Elaine Lau I picked up Michelle Harrison’s newly published middle-grade novel, A Sprinkle of Sorcery, with keen anticipation. The book is a follow-up to the absolutely delightful first novel in the series, A Pinch of Magic, which I enjoyed immensely and could not stop recommending to young readers at…
by Fong Min Hun The God Game is a high-concept thriller that takes the well-used science fiction trope of runaway artificial intelligence and places it in a highly plausible contemporary setting: author Danny Tobey need not stretch his imagination very far to imagine a intelligence who, thanks to the Internet…
by Elaine Lau Friends know that I’m a sucker for cake. I am also a sucker for books with interesting titles. And so, when I came across Yeoh Jo-Ann’s debut novel, Impractical Uses of Cake, winner of Singaporean publisher Epigram’s Fiction Prize 2018, I had to bite. And what a…
In The Second Sex, French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir wrote that “one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman”. Woman-ness, accordingly, is an existential state that follows upon the myriad experiences that are specific — women’s experience, so to speak. Though this philosophical insight is not unproblematic, there can…
by Elaine Lau After having conquered the world of children’s fiction, British novelist Kiran Millwood Hargrave sets out to make her mark in adult fiction with The Mercies, a historical novel that throws into sharp relief the struggles of women forced to live lives dictated by men, and the perils…
It is both surprising and not that love continues to remain such fertile territory for scribblers: after all, we are nowhere closer to understanding what this emotion is although we would be hard-pressed to find anyone who can truly claim that they feel not its impact. Whether it be love…
by Elaine Lau Gripped by the plight of thousands of Spanish Republicans who fled the country at the end of the Spanish Civil War only to be interned in horrid concentration camps in France, Chilean poet Pablo Neruda in 1939 chartered the cargo ship SS Winnipeg to ship 2,200 Republican…
by Fong Min Hun Such a Fun Age is Kiley Reid’s debut novel which has drawn much admiration for its witty and sharp observations of modern life couched in fluent and pacey prose. The novel’s protagonist is Emira Tucker, a 20-something black babysitter fresh out of college with little direction…
One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own We, as a species, have a unique relationship with food. No longer mere fuel for our bodies — that uncomplicated relationship has gone the way of cavemen and woolly…
As the year winds down, so do our spirits which have been challenged and tried the past 11 months leaving us yearning for quietness and solicitude in these last few weeks of the year. It’s at times like these that one wants nothing more than to reach for books that…
With the monsoon rains beating down in full force at the moment, there are some very good reasons to hunker down at home. After all, nothing beats curling up at home on a stormy evening on the sofa with a riveting whodunnit or a pacy crime thriller, especially now towards…
Welcome to the fourth episode of the Lit Rewind. Every now and then, our bookshop hosts events that brings together writers and readers to discuss all things literary. So when The Edge Options approached us to jointly launch a book by one of their columnists, Bob Holmes, we jumped at…
This is the third episode of the Lit Rewind. Every now and then, we get interesting bookish people into our shop to discuss all things literary — be they their books, their thoughts on a book, or on the craft of writing in general. On Sept 28, a hazy Saturday…
by Fong Min Hun Who: Sir Salman Rushdie is an award-winning British Indian writer who needs no introduction. The winner of multiple awards and honours, Rushdie’s vast body of work include Midnight’s Children, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Joseph Anton, and the controversial Satanic Verses. He has also written a…
by Elaine Lau Who: Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey are both New York Times journalists. Kantor started at the paper in 2004 as editor of the arts section before moving on to cover politics and investigative pieces. Twohey spent a decade uncovering sex crimes and sexual misconduct in Chicago and…
The statement might be a bit hubristic, but we believe that the role of fiction as a revealer of “truth that reality obscures” (with thanks to Emerson) has never been more important as it is today. Hard-won certitudes have once again come under fire as errorists exploit the amplificatory powers…
Welcome to the second episode of Lit Rewind. Every now and then, our shop holds events where we invite authors, readers, and basically anyone interested in books to talk about all things literature. On the evening of Aug 23, we were pleased and honoured to launch Bernice Chauly’s new poetry…
Malaysia celebrates its 56th anniversary as a nation on Sept 16, but it very much remains a work in progress. Although the story of Malaysia is one littered with great moments of achievement, there are also moments of disappointments and sadness which are reminders that we are still very much…
UPDATE 31 AUG 2019, 1.29PM: The podcast is back up and running! We’re now hosting the recording via Soundcloud and the player and link is visible in the top-right corner of our homepage. We’ve also posted the link below. Send us a message on FB or Insta if the link…
by Fong Min Hun Who: Lisa Taddeo is a New York Times best-selling author, journalist and two-time recipient of the Pushcart Prize for her short stories. Three Women became an instant best seller when it was published earlier this year. What: Three Women is the product of a near-decade long…
Independence — of a nation, state, individual — has been and remains a rich literary theme for writers. With its promise of irruptions, both gentle and seismic, and of vistas renewed, independence is a heady dive into the unknown. In the spirit of Merdeka, here are our picks of books…
Suffian Hakim’s The Minorities is a fantastical supernatural tale of four very unlikely housemates embarking on a journey to help a lonely Pontianak return home to Melaka. It is a wacky, witty, cheeky and laugh-out-loud funny parody, but it is also layered and emotionally rich. Together with the lovely ladies…
Few things in life are as heartbreaking as bearing witness to the steady decline of a loved one. It is particularly tragic when the decline pertains directly to that sense of self and identity which makes a person distinctive, special and, perhaps more importantly, makes them the unique individual that…
There are two schools of thought when it comes to business and management books: soulless instructional guides that reinforce the pragmatism of the pragmatic, and invaluable fonts of wisdom and information that will guide you to the upper echelons of corporate success. The truth, however, lies somewhere in the middle….
Travel has captured humanity’s imagination since time immemorial. Driven by the need for discovery, travel promises — even if doesn’t always deliver — an encounter with vistas new and strange, and truths of the soul which resonate across cultures and across time. As the American poet Walt Whitman once put…
Who: Suffian Hakim is a Singaporean writer whose first book Harris bin Potter and the Stoned Philosopher became an instant cult favourite. The Minorities, another parody, is his second book published by Singapore-based Epigram. Epigram will also be re-releasing Haris bin Potter later in the year. What: The Minorities is…
Who: After stints as an actor, singer and storyteller, Lucy Strange became a secondary school teacher and writer of middle-grade historical fiction. Her first book, The Secret of Nightingale Wood, received high praise and her second, Our Castle by the Sea, is the subject of this review. What: It’s 1939,…
The biography, rightly, stands as a sub-genre of its own within publishing and literary circles. At once a descriptive report as well as a work of psychoanalysis, the biography at its best digs deeply into the motivations and thinking of another person, replete with their biases, prejudices and preconceptions, to…
Lit Review: ‘Daisy Jones and The Six’ by Taylor Jenkins Reid
by Fong Min Hun Who: Taylor Jenkins Reid is the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, One True Loves, Maybe in Another Life, After I Do, and Forever, Interrupted. Her novels have been Indie Next Picks, chosen by Book of the Month, and featured in People, US Weekly,…
The Unesco World Book and Copyright Day falls on April 23 annually, and each year, a city is named World Book Capital. For 2019, that honour falls on Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates; as such, this month’s picks are dedicated to featuring books written by Middle Eastern authors. Often set…
by Fong Min Hun Who: David R. Gillham is the author of the NYT bestselling City of Women. He studied screenwriting at the University of Southern California before transitioning into fiction. After moving to New York City, Gillham spent more than a decade in the book business, and he now…
Five books to read this month for International Women’s Day 2019
In recognition of International Women’s Day on March 8, we have come up with a list of books that feature women and their experiences in one way or another. Some of the titles we have chosen celebrate the unique contributions of women while others shine a spotlight on some of…
On Saturday, Feb 17, we celebrated the publication of Malaysian author Hanna Alkaf’s debut young adult (YA) novel, The Weight of Our Sky, with a meet-the-author event that saw more than 70 people in attendance. We were heartened to see the enthusiastic response to Hanna’s novel, which is about a…
It is a generally acknowledged phenomenon that February and love go hand-in-hand together. Regardless of whether it’s due to the mass commercialisation of the emotion due to Valentine’s Day or some deeply-rooted instinct deep within our circadian rhythms, love is, for better or worse, in the air. Love is complicated,…
As booksellers, we are often asked by customers to recommend inspirational books or books that can help them improve themselves. At Lit Books, we try to take a different tack to self-improvement. While we do carry a selection of self-help titles, we also believe that personal edification can come through…
The coming of a New Year inevitably brings about the desire to set fresh goals and resolutions. While detoxing, dieting and decluttering are all well and good, none of these can quite enrich your mind and soul the way reading a good book can. Do yourself a favour – make…
We’ve read more than we’ve had in years since opening the bookshop this past year. Granted, it’s partly for research purposes, but whatever the reason, it’s also the most pleasure we’ve had in reading in quite some time. Here are some of our favourite books of 2018. Min Hun’s Picks…
Halloween is just around the corner! This inevitably starts us thinking about books with dark, haunting, chilling and macabre themes. As chilling as they are compelling, the horror novel compels us to gaze into the void to consider the extreme limits and consequences of events both natural and supernatural. But even…
Who: Australian author Carole Wilkinson started her writing career at 40, publishing her first book for young readers in 1996; she has been making up for lost time ever since. Over the past 20 years she has written more than 30 books, including the internationally award-winning and bestselling Dragonkeeper series….
Who: Irish author John Boyne has written 11 novels for adults and five for younger readers, including the acclaimed and highly successful, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which was turned into a film. He is also the author of the short story collection, Beneath the Earth, and is a…
Who: Michael Ondaatje is a Sri Lanka-born Canadian poet and novelist. He is the recipient of multiple literary awards including the Governor General’s Award, the Giller Prize, the Booker Prize, and the Prix Médicis étranger. His 1992 Booker winner, The English Patient, won the Golden Man Booker Prize in 2018. Warlight is his…
Lit Recap: An Evening of Murakami-Inspired Music by WVC Malaysian Jazz Ensemble
It’s not often that Elaine and I are able to indulge in two of our great loves — reading and music — together at the same time. So when Tay Cher Siang from critically-acclaimed jazz band WVC Malaysian Jazz Ensemble proposed a Murakami-inspired performance at our store, it didn’t take…
On Friday, Aug 3, we had the pleasure of hosting Zaheera Hashim, a Singapore-based artist and writer, for a meet-and-greet at Lit Books. She was in town to promote her debut graphic novella called Lost, which comprises vignettes on the the theme of loss. Accompanying the text is Zaheera’s soulful…
Who: American author Paula McLain shot to international stardom with her bestselling historical fiction, The Paris Wife, which is based on Ernest Hemingway’s marriage to his first wife Hadley Richardson during their Paris years. Written from Hadley’s perspective, the novel has since been published in 34 languages. Paula is the…
Who: Leïla Slimani is a Franco-Moroccan writer and journalist. Lullaby, or Chanson douce in the original French, is her second novel. In 2016, Chanson douce was awarded the Prix Goncourt. The story is based on the 2012 killings of the Krim siblings in New York. Lullaby was translated into English by…
Writing more than 400 years ago in a land and culture far removed from our own, the question is worth asking: Is Shakespeare, or has Shakespeare ever been, relevant to us? While the bard’s continued grip on the West can certainly be attributable to historicity and the need for cultural…
Say hello to our new guest contributor, Eugene Lim. He reviews a debut novel set in Singapore. Who: A journalist who was born and raised in the UK, Fiona Mitchell’s debut novel, The Maid’s Room, is based on her experiences living in Singapore for almost three years. She is winner…
By guest contributor Sarah Loh Who: Prayaag Akbar is a writer and journalist. A former deputy editor of Scroll, his award-winning reporting and commentary have examined various aspects of marginalisation in India. He studied at Dartmouth College and the London School of Economics. He lives in Mumbai with his wife and…
We’re delighted to have a new guest contributor, Emily Ding, write for us. Here’s her first review. Who: A few years ago, Tom Rachman — who used to work as a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press in Rome — published The Imperfectionists, his debut novel/linked short stories about a…
Who: You-Jeong Jeong initially trained as a nurse but is now South Korea’s leading writer of psychological thrillers and crime fiction. She is the award-winning author of four novels including Seven Years of Darkness, which was named one of the top ten crime novels of 2015 by German newspaper Die…
Lit Review: ‘Max the Detective Cat: The Disappearing Diva’ by Sarah Todd Taylor
Say hello to a new contributor for the Lit Review column, Sarah Loh. Her first review is a children’s book. Who: Born in Lancashire, Sarah Todd Tayl0r was brought up in Yorkshire and moved to Wales when she was 8 years old. She studied history at university and remained in higher…
On June 16, we had the pleasure of hosting Australian author Carol Jones at Lit Books to talk about her novel, The Concubine’s Child. The great majority of the novel is set in 1930s Kuala Lumpur, where a young girl is sold off to become the unhappy concubine of the rich…
The Slave Prince is the third book by Malaysian author Jeyna Grace. An imaginative retelling of the story of Moses, The Slave Prince is set in the fantasy kingdom of Alpenwhist where young Prince Thom believed himself to be the heir apparent to the throne. However, his dreams of glory…
Don’t have much time to read? A short novel is just the thing for you. Take your pick from these punchy novellas, all of which are less than 150 pages. Engrossing, enchanting, and some just downright weird, these books can be easily devoured in one sitting. 1. Territory of…
Words by guest contributor Poon Jin Feng Who: In contrast to the sunny image of her birthplace of South Florida, amid a colourful life characterised by reading, baking, and dragging a ‘lazy’ dog out on walks, Laura Sebastian’s literary debut is rather grim. Ash Princess is the first of a…
Lit Review: ‘The Children of Castle Rock’ by Natasha Farrant
Who: Natasha Farrant has worked in children’s publishing for almost 20 years, running her own literary scouting agency for the past 10. She is the author of the Carnegie-longlisted and Branford Boase-shortlisted YA historical novel, The Things We Did For Love, as well as two successful adult novels. Farrant was…
What’s the next best thing to eating good food? Why, to read great writing on food, of course! Here at Lit Books, we have a growing selection of delectable food books. Evocative and vivid, these six delicious reads will give you much to chew on. Super Sushi Ramen Express:…
Who: Ahmed Saadawi is an Iraqi novelist, poet, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. Frankenstein in Baghdad is his third novel. It won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2014 and is shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2018. What: Frankenstein in Baghdad is set in war-ravaged Baghdad. Stitched together…
Lit Review: ‘Elastic: Flexible Thinking in a Time of Change’ by Leonard Mlodinow
Written by Poon Jin Feng, Lit Review contributor Who: Leonard Mlodinow is a theoretical physicist and author of several New York Times best-sellers, including The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives, Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behaviour, The Grand Design co-authored with Stephen Hawking, and War of the…
Ready Player One (RP1) is a flawed novel. Among its blemishes is its narrow focus in that it was written for readers to get “it” — the “it” being the cultural artifacts of the 80s. It appealed to those who remember Pac Man, Popeye and Donkey Kong arcade cabinets, Galaga-type…
Who: Former CIA analyst Karen Cleveland hung her intelligence hat up in exchange for a writing career. Need To Know is her debut novel, and the film rights for the book have already been bought by Universal Pictures (Charlize Theron is reportedly acting in it). What: CIA counterintelligence analyst Vivian…
Introducing a new guest contributor for Lit Review, Hannah Azlan. Who: Japanese novelist Hideo Yokoyama specialises in mystery novels but has said that the crime is the least interesting part of his stories; instead, he likes to focus on the psychology and social dynamics of characters affected by the crime. His…
Hey folks! Nothing gives Elaine and me greater pleasure when we meet kids excited about reading and so when this young man, Ng Zan Lim, aged 10 and a bit, said he wanted to write a review for us, we were quite over the moon! Zan Lim recently read Lissa…
Who: Libby Page wrote The Lido while working in marketing and moonlighting as a writer. She graduated from the London College of Fashion with a BA in Fashion Journalism before going on to work as a journalist at The Guardian. The Lido is her debut novel. What: The Lido’s story isn’t unfamiliar: the Brockwell Lido,…
We’re happy to welcome another guest contributor, Mabel Ho, to the Lit Review fold! Her first review is a novel from debut YA author Anna Day. Who: Anna Day is a clinical psychologist and author from Northeast England. The Fandom is her debut novel. What: Best friends Violet and Alice…
By guest contributor Poon Jin Feng Who: Mary Watson moved to Ireland from South Africa over a decade ago and found herself captivated by the magical landscape she now calls home. She has written a collection of short stories, Moss, which bagged the Caine Prize in 2006, and has written…
We’re happy to welcome another guest reviewer on our Lit Review column, Poon Jin Feng. His first review is a children’s book, Begone the Raggedy Witches by Celine Kiernan. Who: Award-winning author Celine Kiernan is best known for The Moorehawke Trilogy and her 2011 novel, Into the Grey, was the first book…
Who: Jeff VanderMeer is the author of the bestselling, award-winning Southern Reach trilogy (Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance), the first of which was adapted into a critically-acclaimed movie on Netflix. VanderMeer is a three-time World Fantasy Award winner and 15-time nominee, and widely regarded as a leading fantasist. What: Borne takes…
Who: After four years as a junior doctor, Lissa Evans decided medicine wasn’t quite for her and gave it up for an entirely different career. Following a decade-long stint as a producer and script editor for both radio and television, Evans decided she would write something of her own. Her…
We are pleased to introduce the first of what we hope to be many Lit ‘Guest’ Reviews. In this segment, we invite our discerning friends and guests to contribute a review of a book they’ve recently read — advance reading copies (ARC) or otherwise. For our first column, we have…
Who: Award-winning UK author Dan Smith writes adventure stories for children and thrillers for adults. His latest novel for young readers is Below Zero. What: At Outpost Zero in frigid Antarctica, eight families have volunteered to be part of the Exodus Project, a programme designed to train them for life…
Lit Review: ‘The Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira Carr’ by Frances Maynard
Who: Frances Maynard teaches English to adults with learning difficulties, including Asperger Syndrome. Her insights into neuro-atypical adults helped form the protagonist of her debut novel, The Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira Carr. What: Twenty-seven year old Elvira Carr (Ellie) has lived a sheltered existence due to her overbearing mother,…
Who: Bestselling YA author Holly Black returns in 2018 with a brand new fantasy trilogy. The Cruel Prince is the first book in the series. What: After having their parents slaughtered right before their eyes by vengeful redcap general Madoc, Jude and her siblings, twin sister Taryn and older sister…
Who: Luke Kennard is better known for his five collections of poetry, one of which won the Eric Gregory Award in 2005. In 2014, he was selected by the Poetry Book Society as one of the Next Generation Poets. The Transition is his first novel and was long-listed for the…
Who: Peter Bunzl is a BAFTA-award-winning animator, as well as a writer and filmmaker. Cogheart is his debut children’s novel, and Moonlocket is the second book in the series. The third book is slated to come out some time in 2018. What: Set in a vivid steampunk Victorian era England,…
Who: Secondary school teacher Muhammad Khan wrote I Am Thunder as a response to the three British schoolgirls who fled to Syria to join ISIS in 2015 — this is Khan’s debut YA novel. He took inspiration from the children he teaches, as well as his own upbringing as a…
Who: George Saunders was, prior to Lincoln in the Bardo, an award-winning short-story writer, with his collection of stories Tenth of December particularly singled out for commendation. Lincoln in the Bardo, Saunder’s first novel, won the 2017 Man Booker Prize. What: Young Willie Lincoln, the most beloved child of the 16th US President Abraham…
Who: Jennifer Egan won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in fiction for the postmodern novel, A Visit From the Goon Squad. She takes a more traditional storytelling approach with historical novel Manhattan Beach, published last year. What: The novel begins with Eddie Kerrigan paying a visit to mobster Dexter Styles at…
Who: American Chinese author Celeste Ng’s much anticipated sophomore effort, Little Fires Everywhere, is the winner of the Goodreads Choice Award 2017 for fiction. It follows her standout debut, Everything I Never Told You. What: The story begins with a literal fire, whereby someone has deliberately set ablaze the Richardson…
Who: Jon McGregor is the author of four novels and a story collection. Reservoir 13 was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize 2017. What: Reservoir 13 is a novel about a mystery, but is not itself a mystery novel. The book opens with a girl lost upon the moors of…
