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Six inspiring and empowering books for International Women’s Day

In recognition of International Women’s Day on March 8, we will be celebrating women writers and books about women throughout the entire month. To kick things off, we are offering 10% discount of the following six titles in our shop. While women-centric, these titles are not just for women but rather for  anyone looking to broaden their understanding on feminine themes and contributions.

 

Girl Up
By Laura Bates
Founder of Everyday Sexism Project Laura Bates has written a hilarious, jaunty and bold book that exposes the truth about the pressures surrounding body image, the false representations in media, the complexities of sex and relationships, the trials of social media, and all the other lies women are told. This unapologetic, empowering book sets the record straight. (Paperback, RM79.90)

Women Who Read Are Dangerous
By Stefan Bollman
What is it about a woman reading that has captivated hundreds of artists over the centuries? This book explores this popular subject in more than 70 artworks — drawings, paintings, photographs, and prints — by iconic artists such as Henri Matisse, Edward Hopper, Suzanne Valadon, August Sander, Rembrandt, and many more. In chapters such as “Intimate Moments” and “The Search for Oneself,” Bollmann profiles how a woman with a book was once seen as idle or suspect and how women have gained autonomy through reading over the years. Bollmann offers intelligent and engaging commentary on each work of art, telling us who the subject is, her relationship to the artist, and even what she is reading. With works ranging from a 1333 Annunciation painting of the angel Gabriel speaking to the Virgin Mary, book in hand, to 20th-century works such as a stunning photograph of Marilyn Monroe reading Ulysses, this intriguing survey provides a veritable slideshow of the many iterations of a woman and her book. (Hardcover, RM101.90)

Attack of the 50 Ft. Women: How Gender Equality Can Save The World
By Catherine Mayer
In this inspirational book, the co-founder of the Women’s Equality Party sets out compelling evidence for the social and economic benefits of gender equality and lays bare the mechanisms holding women back. Everywhere women are, at best, second-class citizens. Progress towards equality hasn’t only stalled; in many places, it is reversing. But things needn’t be this way. Mayer takes readers on a journey to Equalia, the gender-equal future that could be ours. (Trade paperback, RM83.90)

Broad Strokes: 15 Women Who Made Art and Made History (in That Order)
By Bridget Quinn
Major women artists have traditionally been excluded from the mainstream art canon. Aligned with the resurgence of feminism in pop culture, Broad Strokes offers an entertaining corrective to that omission. Art historian Bridget Quinn delves into the lives and careers of 15 brilliant female artists in text that’s smart, feisty, educational and an enjoyable read. Replete with beautiful reproductions of the artists’ works and contemporary portraits of each artist by renowned illustrator Lisa Congdon, this is art history from 1600 to the present day for the modern art lover, reader and feminist. (Hardcover, RM149.90)

Sensation: Adventures in Sex, Love & Laughter
By Isabel Losada
Isabel Losada brings her unique blend of humour, curiosity and honesty to the still-taboo subject of sexuality and pleasure. This is a brave, funny and often vulnerable quest to find out how we can make our sex lives better. On behalf of all women, a slightly terrified Isabel begins with a women’s workshop where she has to get naked; she journeys through the first international conference on clitoral stroking; is informed of 11 different forms of orgasm (10 of which she hasn’t had); and endures Kegel exercises and mystical sensations with tantric masters. Irreverent, yet open-minded, Sensation is both moving and challenging. For anyone who has ever been tempted to dip their toes into the deep waters of sexual exploration, this book plunges you straight in. (Paperback, RM62.90)

Bad Feminist
By Roxane Gay
In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman (Sweet Valley High) of colour (The Help) while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years (Girls, Django in Chains) and commenting on the state of feminism today (abortion, Chris Brown). The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture. Bad Feminist is a sharp, funny and sincere look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better. (Paperback, RM79.90)

Get these six titles at 10% in March. Prices listed are before discount. 

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Lit Review: ‘Below Zero’ by Dan Smith

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 on Mars. Enter our would-be hero, Zak, his parents, and older sister, May, who cut their beach holiday short so that Zak’s parents could check on their malfunctioning invention, the spider drones. The scene at the base, however, is less than welcoming. The power supply is erratic, the vehicle parked out front is damaged, and the people who were supposed to be on-base seem to have disappeared.

Suspicion is immediately cast on the work being done by scientists from BioMesa, an enigmatic biotech company that have set up shop in the Antarctic. They are — were — currently studying a mysterious life form discovered in The Chasm, a fissure in the thick antarctic ice a stone’s throw away from Outpost Zero. That the strange going-ons at the base are due to these alien critters comes as a surprise to Zak and his family, who how have to fight to outsmart the invaders. But as each of his family members fall prey, one by one, to the creatures, Zak finds himself having to play the part of the reluctant hero.

Meanwhile,  another menace is brewing in the form of The Broker. He wants to get his hands on the alien life form BioMesa discovered and has deployed a weaponised tactical team to steal it. But what started out as a straightforward mission quickly goes awry.

Why: I’ll say this right off the bat: I really enjoyed this. It’s a fun sci-fi page-turner with a background scenario that’s so current — training for life on Mars — even if the main plot does not revolve around it. I like a good alien story, and this one surprises in pleasant ways.

Parents looking for a stimulating story with an empowering thread will find it here. A sensitive and thoughtful lad, Zak is an unlikely hero. He isn’t particularly brave or strong, and he suffers from a brain tumour, and is dreading the treatment he would have to start when he gets home. When it falls on him to save the day, he has to scrounge up courage to save his family from their fatal end.

Reading Level: Ages 11 and up

Verdict: An unputdownable, fast-paced, action-packed, heart-thumping sci-fi mystery and adventure tale with enough intrigue to keep you guessing. (8.5/10)

Availability: Paperback, RM44.90

Special thanks to Pansing Distribution for a review copy of this book.

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ARC Review: Michio Kaku’s ‘The Future of Humanity’

The great starship Ingenue has completed its overhaul at the spacedock on Moonbase Luna. Having finished a routine survey of Jupiter, which doubled as a test run of its new ion drives, the Ingenue is now being outfitted with the necessary equipment and personnel to commence Phase I of the colonisation of Europa. The crew, sent up via the space elevator just the previous week, is being transported by way of automated drone shuttles to Ingenue. They will spend the vast majority of the journey preparing their colonisation capsule to land on and begin the human exploration of Europa.

The capsule will separate from Ingenue as the starship enters the orbit of Jupiter, but the great starship itself will allow itself to be drawn into the gas giant’s gravitational field. Crewless, the AI on board will make the necessary calculations to slingshot the starship to a carefully identified location designated only as Delta Sigma.

When it arrives at Delta Sigma, powerful particle accelerators fueled by a substantial pocket of hydrogen at the site will crash electrons together, generating a massive negative energy bubble. The energy will then be concentrated on a small black area in space, not much bigger than the size of a ping-pong ball. But that’s when the magic will happen — slowly, almost imperceptibly, the small black ping-pong ball will start to widen, crackling with energy at its edges when finally it will grow to a size big enough allowing Ingenue to pass through.

And when it does, it will make history as the first object to ever travel faster than the speed of light by crossing into folded space via a wormhole.

Sounds remarkable? Reads like the premise of the next big science fiction offering from Andy Weir? Uncannily enough, the scenario described above may just be the future of humanity as outlined by futurist and physicist Michio Kaku.

A regular presenter for the Discovery Channel and a member of the new cohort of celebrity thinkers (which counts among its ranks the likes of Brian Cox and Neil DeGrasse Tyson), Kaku has the uncanny ability of presenting difficult, ground-breaking material in simple terms without committing the cardinal crime of being overly patronising.

Despite his being a rather prolific writer, this is only the second or third of his books that I have read. To be perfectly honest, there’s only so much about space-time theory, quantum physics, black holes and string theory that one can take before it all becomes a bit samey. These topics do not lend themselves to a natural narrative arc the same way that, say, a history of science might. I was therefore a bit trepidatious in accepting a review copy from Times Distribution for Kaku’s Future of Humanity.

I was pleasantly surprised that the book was focused on one central thesis: Humanity will perish painfully and inevitably unless it becomes an interplanetary species — so how can it go about becoming one? From our history of rudimentary rocketry to sci-fi-only intergalactic spacecraft, to how we might go about settling other planets — the prime candidate being Mars — through a programme of terraforming and colonisation, and the possibility of faster-than-light travel, Kaku explores the science in sufficient detail to convince one that humanity is but several key Eureka! moments away from the breakthrough.

These are admittedly very giant Eureka! moments, but Kaku’s book helps shift the focus slightly from one of possibility to one of plausibility. Drawing from his pool of knowledge and experience as a physicist and active participant in the development of science, as well as a rather robust consumer of science fiction books and movies (there are a lot of references to those throughout the book), Kaku outlines intimately and in some detail how we might finally become an advanced space borne species (i.e. a Type I or Type II civilisation on the scale proposed by astronomer Nikolai Kardashev).

In a nutshell, the Kardashev scale measures the advancement of a civilisation based on its level of energy consumption. A Type I civilisation is one that utilises all the energy of the sunlight that falls on the planet, a Type II utilises all the energy its sun produces and a Type III utilises all the energy produced in a galaxy. We are presently a Type 0.7 at the moment, and struggling to make it as a full Type I civilisation. Ironically, even as we struggle to advance and survive, the biggest challenge to us is we ourselves:

“Of all the transitions, perhaps the most difficult is the transition from Type 0 to Type I, which is what we are undergoing at present. This is because a Type 0 civilisation is the most uncivilised, both technologically and socially… It still has all the scars from its brutal past, which was full of inquisitions, persecutions, pogroms and wars.”

The Future of Humanity is, by its final reckoning, a hopeful book. Kaku is an enthusiastic commentator and takes a long view of the possibilities that are in store. The only catch is that those interested in the subject matter may already be familiar with the themes contained within this book and then some; in some respects this book may be better suited to the lapsed popular science or science fiction reader.

Who: Michio Kaku is the silver-maned professor of physics at the City University of New York, co-founder of string field theory, and the author of several widely acclaimed science books. Makes a lot of appearances on Discovery Channel.

Verdict: If nothing else, readers will discover a litany of classic science fiction books and movies that have inspired Kaku and others presently working in the field. It is also perhaps the first attempt at a comprehensive groundwork outlining what it might take to transform humanity to a space borne species. (7.5/10)

In-store Availability: Should be coming in soon!

Thanks to Times Distribution for the advance reading copy.

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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 believes that Ellie’s neuro-atypical mental condition prevents her from meaningful participation. Ellie is not at all prepared to for the real world when she’s forced to do so after her mother suffers a stroke. Together with the help of her neighbour, Sylvia, Ellie  draws up seven rules to help her interact with  people and the world around her. However, when she stumbles upon a mystery surrounding her deceased father, she realises that she will have to go beyond her seven rules if she is to come to terms with the truth.

Why: Having Ellie as narrator makes this novel truly special because for many of us, it’s difficult to comprehend just how literal neuro-atypicals relate to or respond to people and the world around them. For instance, social cues that might be obvious to us “NormalTypicals”  slip right by Ellie. Aside from  the challenges that come with having to live on her own and figuring things out for herself for the first time in her life, Ellie also has to deal with the echoes of her mother’s overbearing and often patronising voice in her head. We feel nothing but empathy for Ellie.

Over the course of the book, Ellie comes into her own as a person. There are victories big and small, such as learning how to use a computer and Google, and volunteering at a zoo. She also makes plenty of mistakes, of course, as in when she decides to help her neighbour Sylvia retrieve her granddaughter. When her world is completely shaken up upon uncovering the truth about her late father, Ellie has to dig deep to find the strength to deal with it and move forward.

Best/Worst Line: “Rules change depending on the situation and the person you are speaking to.”

Verdict: Heart-warming and uplifting, interspersed with some bitter and sad moments, this ultimately feel-good novel hits all the right notes. (7.5/10)

Availability: Trade paperback, RM75.90

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How are we different from other bookstores?

On an almost daily basis, someone will come into the shop to ask us one of these questions or a permutation thereof.

‘How are you different from other bookshops?’
‘What’s your concept?’
‘Are you a library?’

We run through the usual answers:

  • As an independent bookstore, we personally select the books we have;
  • Yes, you can find some of our titles in other bookshops;
  • We are a bookshop with a cafe attached that serves drinks;
  • No, we don’t lend out books but we don’t mind if you pull a book from the shelf to read while you’re enjoying a cup of coffee (just be careful with them!).

While we understand that bookshops such as ours aren’t ubiquitous these days, it bemuses me slightly that people think that our concept is original. Bemusing not because I think that our customers are yokels, but because bookshops, at least for some segments of our society, have become a forgotten cultural artefact.

Don’t get me wrong — we appreciate and are grateful for all customers who walk through our doors, but the fact remains that Lit Books isn’t, and shouldn’t be, a cultural phenom. It might help, therefore, for us to describe what we are trying to do in the grand scheme of things by explaining some of what we do do in our shop.

Why do you have titles that we can’t find elsewhere in other bookstores?
For a very simple reason: because these are books that we (Elaine and I) like that we think other people might like as well. We believe that the character of bookstores, particularly an independent bookstore, is very much represented by the titles that they choose to stock (and by corollary, the titles that they choose not to stock). We don’t have a central buyer as chain bookshops do, and our selection of new books and authors is based on research and gut instinct. (This is why we stock both The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon and Heath Robinson’s How to be a Perfect Husband. No prizes for guessing who picked which title!)

Do you get your books from local suppliers?
Yes! In fact, we get the vast majority of our books from local suppliers just like everyone else. So why do our titles differ? It has to do with the way the book business is conducted where distribution rights from publishers are assigned to local distributors. However, by ordering books from the publishers’ catalogues rather than the distributors’ catalogues, we can establish our own identity by choosing books from a larger pool.

Why are you more expensive than XXX?
Lit Books adheres strictly to the recommended retail price (RRP). Every book comes with an RRP which becomes the official price of the book. Retail booksellers get a discount from wholesalers, and this discount then becomes the profit margin for the retailers. The discount that retailers get from wholesalers vary based on various factors. One of the major ones is the purchase volume. Simply put, if someone were to buy 1,000 copies of a book from you, you would be more likely to give them a greater discount than someone who only buys four or five copies. The retailer who purchases 1,000 copies can then pass the savings on to their customers. I’m one of those guys who buys four or five copies of a book.

Why don’t you buy more copies to enjoy greater discounts?
Mainly because as an independent bookshop, we don’t have very deep pockets. While we could opt to blow our entire budget on the next bestseller, that’s not really what we’re about.

So what are you about?
We want to create a bookshop that encourages people to browse and explore new authors and titles. Our target audience, to be perfectly frank, is the reader who knows they’d love a book to read but not entirely sure what it is that they want. I’d love for someone to come to my store looking for the latest Jodi Picoult only to walk away with Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking. Or for someone who’s looking for the new Jack Ma biography to walk out with Siddhartha Mukherjee’s Emperor of All Maladies. This is not to say that the books that they’re looking for aren’t great, but rather that we want to provide alternatives: we want to be the path less taken.

Can we order a coffee, sit and read a book?
Yes! In fact, we encourage our readers to grab a few books, sit down and try them out to see if they fit before they decide on making a purchase. But please bear in mind that we are a mom-and-pop, and a damaged book is not a saleable book. We can’t return the book to our distributors and any damaged book directly impacts our bottomline. I don’t want to be that guy who goes around telling people not to dog-ear our books, or crease the spine, or flip the pages with greasy fingers — we are all adults and should be aware of what passes as good book-reading etiquette. We will never shrink wrap our books (except for the super-premium ones) and if you do find some still bound in plastic, it’s probably because I was too lazy to take it off myself.

Why don’t you shrink wrap your books?
Because books need to breathe. But seriously, it’s because we’d hate to sell a book to someone who hasn’t had a chance to try it out. Book buying is not that different from starting a relationship, and you wouldn’t want your potential spouse shrink wrapped and shipped to you in a box.

Do you recommend books?
Boy, do we ever! Please harass, harangue and kacau us about helping you find the right book. If I’m outside having a smoke, tick me off and drag me back into the shop. We love talking about books and we learn as much as you do during the exchange.

So that’s it, really. I hope this gives you a rough idea of what we’re trying to do. This post didn’t start out with the intention of becoming an FAQ and I had some Serious Ideas about curation I wanted to share. That will have to wait till next time. If you have any questions — any questions at all — left unanswered, please post them in the comments below and I’ll try to address them as best I can.

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Lit Review: ‘The Cruel Prince’ by Holly Black

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 Vivienne, are taken to live in Faerie, a land of magic populated by Fey, beautiful but cruel immortals. The story picks up 10 years later, with each of the girls trying to find their place in a world that does not look kindly on humans. Jude is out to prove that she is just as capable as the best of them and wants a place in the King’s court. Taryn, meanwhile,  just wants acceptance and is willing to play by the rules. Vivi, on the other hand, would rather return to the mortal world.

Amidst all this, Jude has to contend with bullying from her Fey classmates, in particular the youngest son of the High King, Prince Cardan. Jude, not one to stand down from bullies, defies the prince, setting into a motion a series of events. She then becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and court machinations, even as a civil war threatens to engulf Faerie.

Why: Fast-paced with the right amount of drama, action, plot twists, cruelty, courage, and romantic intrigue, The Cruel Prince is Holly Black in scintillating form. Hooking you right from the start and refusing to let go, The Cruel Prince leaves one breathless and aching for the next book in the series.

Central to the novel is the obsession with power. This is an obsession that not only ensnares our heroine Jude, but is a fact of court life in Faerie. It is a matter of survival for Jude, however, and she is confronted with ethical dilemmas at every turn. As she navigates the complex dynamics at play in Faerie, Jude doesn’t always make the wisest decisions. Our heroine is flawed in many ways, but we like and empathise with her all the more for it.

The antagonist, Prince Cardan, is as mean as they come, but there’s more to his motivations than meets the eye. Clashes between Jude and the prince build to a climax with unexpected and shocking turns of events, and their relationship, as well as Faerie, evolves as a result of these clashes.

Best/Worst Line: “True power isn’t granted. True power can’t be taken away.”

Verdict: An absolutely engrossing, juicy read with plenty to keep you interested and guessing. (8/10)

Availability: Trade paperback, RM55.90

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‘The Transition’ by Luke Kennard

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 Desmond Elliott Prize.

What: Karl Temperley is the hapless, underachieving poster boy of generation rent. Sent out into the world armed with a graduate degree in Metaphysical Poetry worth £78,000, he quickly learns that intimate knowledge of John Donne and Henry Vaughan didn’t really amount to a whole hill of beans in modern day London. Disenfranchised, cynical (when he can muster the energy for it) and accompanied with too much wit, Karl finds himself employed as a sweatshop academic, churning out “study aids” for students. Unable to cover rent or basic necessities —due in part to his penchant for “flavoured coffees the size of poster tubes” — and the demands of his somewhat eclectic teacher wife Genevieve, he turns to benevolent credit card companies to make ends meet. There is, however, a limit to their benevolence.

Charged with credit card fraud and looking at 15 months in prison, Karl is offered the opportunity to participate in the Transition in lieu of jail time. The Transition is ostensibly a rehabilitation programme designed to instil teachables such as financial planning, dental hygiene and time management. The goal, one is led to believe, is to reintegrate programme participants into society as productive and beneficial members. With no options left, Karl enrols with Genevieve, and are placed as “proteges” under Transition mentors Stu and Janna. Living arrangements are top notch, and the programmes, eye-rolling though they might be, seem to be helping. At least for Genevieve if not for Karl.

But of course, it’s too good to be true. Karl discovers that the Transition is a cover for a sinister-ish programme threatening to separate him from Genevieve.

Why: I was drawn to the book because it promised to be funny, and it is, although much of it is owed to Karl’s wry and deadpan observations and repartees. The dialogue between the characters is something that Kevin Smith would put in a script, which can both be fantastic and abysmal simultaneously. Karl is a throwback to the mid-90s when grunge and alternate youth were in ascendance; when young people in their 20s fresh out of university were generally bitter and recriminatory. It’s funny in the way that Reality Bites was funny, which is to say that it won’t be funny for everyone.

But Kennard does litter genuinely funny lines throughout the novel:

  • In describing a bad incident: “A turn for the worse was taken.”
  • In getting advice: “If you want my advice, don’t get involved with any conspiracy nuts or Stalinists or anyone who wants to bring down Western Civilisation. I love Western civilisation. It’s brilliant.”
  • On the joys of staying in: “Most of all, he loved being free of the responsibility of having a good time.”

The Transition tackles a few other themes aside from that of the modern impoverished. These include themes of mental illness, societal integration, George Orwell’s 1984 and perhaps love. The latter is a bit strange because clearly Karl loves Genevieve, but it’s never made very clear why. She’s not particularly lovable and Karl’s love can be better described as an obsession that has run on for too long; an unhealthy co-dependence would probably be a fitting description. Nevertheless, there is love.

Did I mention there was a secret, sinister plot?

Best/Worst Line: “A turn for the worse was taken.”

Verdict: A fun dysopia which is probably less dystopic than it intends to be. Both Karl and Genevieve deserve a smack every now and then. (7/10)

Availability: Paperback, RM49.90

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‘Cogheart’ and ‘Moonlocket’ by Peter Bunzl

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, Cogheart is the story of spunky Lily Hartman, whose life gets thrown upside-down when her father mysteriously goes missing. She is stalked by silver-eyed men who will do anything to get their hands on one of her father’s mechanical inventions, the eponymous Cogheart. Thankfully, she doesn’t have to face them alone — she has the help of Robert, the clockmaker’s son, and Malkin, her mechanical fox. They also find a friend and ally in newspaper reporter, Anna. As they begin to figure out who the men chasing them are and their reasons for doing so, Lily also uncovers the truth about her family.

In Moonlocket, Robert’s past catches up with him when a criminal mastermind, the Jack of Diamonds, breaks out of prison and appears at his father’s workshop searching for the mysterious Moonlocket. Robert discovers that the locket is a memento from his mother, who left him and his father when Robert was just a boy. Together with Lily and Malkin, Robert goes on a quest to discover the mystery behind his family only to uncover dark secrets that plunge them further into danger.

Why: The world that author Bunzl has created is one teeming with mechanical wonders — remarkable clockwork animals and beings that need to be wound with a key. But these are no mere machines as they are endowed with the capacity to think and feel. The book brings into relief the question of what makes one human — is it merely the ability to self-propel, or is there something more profound behind automation?

In Cogheart, Lily and Robert both grapple with individual loss, each having to navigate their way through crushing life events and find the courage and strength to carry on. The pace picks up considerably in Moonlocket, with high adventure and strange hijinks thrown into the fray. But ultimately, the overarching theme of the novel is what it means to be family and how one can choose who is family.

Best/Worst Line: “Life can be painful. And if you can’t change what’s happened today, bide your time, until you’re strong enough to fight tomorrow.”

Verdict: Bunzl weaves an imaginative and thrilling tale of mystery and adventure, imbued with a lot of heart — great for children aged 9 and up who’s hankering for something a little out of the ordinary. (8/10)

Availability: Paperback, RM29.90 each.

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‘I Am Thunder’ by Muhammad Khan

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 British-born Pakistani.

What: Muzna Saleem is a 15-year-old British Pakistani who harbours a secret ambition of becoming a novelist, even though her parents have decided she should become a doctor. Muzna isn’t brought up to disobey elders or to rock the boat, and so she goes along with her parents’ fantasy. Her quiet and unassuming life gets disrupted when she meets high-school stud, Arif Malik, who, to her utter surprise, takes an interest in her. She discovers a troubling secret about him and his brother bears a grudge against the powers that be for what he perceives to be the demonisation of Islam. As they start down a progressively darker path, Muzna has to make a difficult choice: keep quiet and betray her beliefs, or speak out and betray her heart.

Why: The perennial question of whether to follow the head or heart is addressed in two different scenarios in this bildungsroman. Muzna is made to question her beliefs and desires, and has to find the courage to do the right thing, although it is not always clear what the right thing is. The struggle here is very real.

The novel also examines the idealism of young people and their easy exploitation by opportunists and extreme ideologies. Exploitation, the book carefully shows, is a gradual process that simultaneously preys on vulnerabilities but also reaffirms and panders to the ego. It is a study of contemporary psychology, and attempts an explanation at the all too familiar lament of the naivety and simple idealism of the young.

Best/Worst Line: “I am Muzna. I am the cloud who brings the rain.”

Verdict: While the novel is not unpredictable, it is ultimately an empowering and uplifting story with a lot of relevance today for teens and adults alike. (7/10)

Availability: Paperback, RM49.90

Special thanks to Pansing Distribution for the ARC.

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ARC Review: Willy Vlautin’s ‘Don’t Skip Out On Me’

Hey folks!

First, a big thanks to our suppliers APD Singapore, MPH Distributors, Pansing and Times Distribution for the advance reading copies they’ve kindly given to us. They really help us make our buying decisions, and keep us in the know of what’s going on out there. This week’s ARC of Willy Vlautin’s Don’t Skip Out On Me comes to us courtesy of Times Distribution. Thanks guys.

Generously blurbed by Donna Tartt, the late Ursula K. Le Guin and Colm Tòibìn, and featuring a sketch of a horse on the front cover, I was expecting a gritty western with tobacco chewing, hard-as-nail cowboys and swaggering chaps. Perhaps a bit of a romance, some fights, and characters with quick tempers and penchants for vengeance. ‘Don’t Skip Out On Me’ is and isn’t that kind of novel.

The story revolves around Horace Hopper, a half-Irish, half-Indian ranch hand with dreams of becoming a champion professional boxer. Strangely, he believes that he has to pretend he is a Mexican in order for this dream to come true because ‘Mexican boxers are the toughest… They go toe-to-toe. They’re true warriors who never quit, who never back down, who are never scared’. This despite being unable to learn the most rudimentary Spanish and a latent inability to stomach Mexican food.

This naïve outlook on his route to success is bolstered by the teachings of a third-rate self-help guru — “To be a champion you have to create your own future… You have to build your boat little by little and brick by brick until it’s unbreakable and unbeatable” —, an almost unbearable fear of failure and, arguably, an overly coddling adoptive father/employer. But perhaps this is preferable to the alternative of viewing one’s self an unwanted half-breed, good for nothing except as a drain for a bottle of cheap grain whiskey.

The caricature of the half-Indian may seem harsh but it is nevertheless not an untrue one. In the two years that I spent in Indian country as a news reporter in Fort Smith, Canada, I bore witness to the systemic abuse faced by many native Americans — abuse that came from both within and without. I’d met a few native Americans, who like Hopper, had internalised the worst of these. Unlike Horace, the majority of them fell into a spiral of self-debasement leading to substance abuse and generational cycles of recrimination.

From this perspective, Horace’s optimism for himself — even if he has to reject his identity to don the trappings of Hector Hidalgo, an el boxeador — is heartening. But, as with all adopted identities, it is a fragile shell and one that is easily cracked. To his disgust and immediate regret, he lies to protect his identity as Hector Hidalgo with the most preposterous of claims:

“Horace Hopper is the name I was given later on, it’s what’s on my ID, but my real name is Hector Hidalgo. That’s the name my dad has — that’s the name he gave me before he got murdered… He got murdered in front of me when I was 12. In the driveway of our house. he stood up against a drug cartel and they killed him for it. After that, my mother was so worried she changed our name to Hopper.”

Meanwhile, he ploughs onward in life the same way as he does in boxing: He gets hit a lot, but hits back harder. It didn’t matter how many punches he had to take to get his hard, solid punches in so long as he was the only one left standing in the ring. The strategy works for a while and he enjoys some early success with his boxing career. But success earned under a false name and identity always rings hollow, and leads to difficult questions about the suppressed self.

Who: Willy Vlautin is an American author and was the lead singer and songwriter of the Portland, Oregon band Richmond Fontaine and is currently a member of The Delines. His previous novel Lean on Pete was adapted into a major motion picture and screened at the 74th International Venice Film Festival.

Verdict: I finished Don’t Skip Out On Me in two sittings. It’s not a boxing book and it’s not really a Western, but Horace is a sympathetic protagonist. The setting of the novel may seem a bit alien to local readers, and the Latino flavour of the book may not be up everyone’s alley but it’s a book that sits well with perseverance. (7.5/10)

In-store Availability: Trade paperback, RM86.95