Category: Recommendations

It’s a wrap. Come year end, most of us bookworms tend to look back and count on the number of books we have been able to read in the year. Whether it is 10, 20, or a whopping 60 (if not more!), one can safely say that when it comes to reading – too many books, too little time. Unless you have a time-turner, chances are that you probably have not been able to read all our new releases or add them to your TBR.  

With less than a week to go before we head into 2023, it’s time we take a pause and look at all the diverse books from our list that you can pick up to read and set the mood in this cozy and festive time of the year. From diverse young-adult, extremely well-crafted fantasies, swoon-worthy romances, bone-chilling horror, and dark fiction to exhaustive and highly researched non-fiction from the space of business, culture, and politics, no matter what your preference is, we have got you covered.   

Let the reading sprints begin! 

Literary fiction

JOY – A Novel: Covering the contemporary ideas of representation, digital relationships, as well as absence and loss in this new digital age, and how they figure in the lives of people, JOY is a novel that explores the new challenges of Asians: the estrangement, loneliness, loss of the diaspora, and the familial and existential challenges of younger generations. Perfect for anyone who likes to indulge in a book with a story that is heartfelt and moving. 

Too Far From Antibes: Too Far From Antibes revolves around French Indochina, as it was called, and particularly during the First Indochina War, a period in Vietnamese (and French) history. Filled with humor and ‘lightness’, the author manages to maintain a sincerely honest and engaging tone while telling a story of suspense and intrigue with a band of nuanced characters.

Romance 

Duxton Hill: Love the movie, Noting Hill? Then maybe it’s time you checked this tongue-in-cheek, humor-filled, meet-cute romance set in the whimsical area of Duxton Hill in Singapore which would make your hearts sing and give you all the feels of a cozy winter read.  

Showers of Luck: A forbidden next-door neighbor romance set during World War II, Showers of Luck is an ode to love, life, family, and all those emotions that make us human. Layered and deeply nuanced with history and culture, pick this book up if you enjoy reading historical fiction that has a love story woven into it. 

Fantasy

The End of All Skies: A rediscovery of forgotten Southeast Asian mythology with an epic-adventurous story is all that you need for this December. The End of All Skies is a book that allows one to reconnect to one’s own identity, which has been erased by the colonizers or rewritten by historical revisionists. The rediscovery of who one truly is, can make one proud and strong.  

Of Myths and Men: With a diverse and intriguing cast of characters and several mythological creatures, Of Myths and Men is a fantasy that will keep you up at night. Ava, the main protagonist is NOT the Chosen One—she’s the one making the choices, which also includes falling in love with a guy from another world! Easy to read, fast-paced, lots of action and fun.  

Horror  

My Lovely Skull & Other Skeletons: Dark, imaginative, spine-chilling, My Lovely Skull and Other Skeletons has fifteen short stories that will haunt you. If horror is your go-to genre, you should not miss this brilliant and thought-provoking bunch of stories from Malaysia’s award-winning, master of horror author, Tunku Halim.  

 We Are Not Alone Here:  An intricate blend of mystery and horror with a strong feminist take on the roles of womanhood, especially motherhood, in contemporary times, We are Not Alone Here is hauntingly beautiful and intimately scary. If you enjoy lush and vivid writing with descriptions and conversations and a pinch of horror, then this book must be added to your TBR.  

Young Adult

The House of Little Sisters: Laced with romance at its heart, The House of Little Sisters is a story about life, the ups and downs, family, and different cultures and backgrounds. Intricate, evocative, and well-layered, this is story will stay with you for a long time. 

The Light of Stars: Sequel to the adventurous and highly addictive, The Night of Legends, The Light of Stars follows the entourage of characters as they go map out challenges and obstacles bigger than before, with many twists and turns, budding romance and lots of action. For lovers of fantasy in the young adult genre, this book will keep you turning pages right until the end.  

Children’s and Middle grade 

Winter Blue, Fairy Child: A series of three books that follows the adventures of Winter Blue – a fourteen-year-old fairy-child who leads parallel lives in two worlds-the world of humans, and another, secret, wondrous world-Magic-Land. This series will entertain and appeal to readers both young and adult with its magic and imagination and a story that is full of adventure and fun!   

Exploring Southeast series: Colourful and beautifully illustrated stories about history and culture, Exploring Southeast Asia is a series of 4 books that uses age-appropriate vocabulary to make the stories accessible to early and young readers, and children. A perfect gift for the little ones this New Year. 

Anthology 

Unsaid – An Asian Anthology: A collection of short stories from Asia explores dark and sombre themes such as discrimination (caste, race, gender, sexual orientation), difficult family relationships (extramarital affairs, religious differences in the family, gender roles) and mystical/supernatural tales of the unknown.  

Born and Bred in Myanmar: If you are someone who looks after short stories that are rooted in real-life situations, then Born and Bred in Myanmar is a great pick. Portraying the lack of support system from the government or even support from the family for young people who dream of pursuing a good education in life, this is a hard-hitting but extremely relevant and timeless read.  

Travel 

Kopi Dulu: A 15,000km journey from Aceh to West Papua and from Northern Sulawesi to the southern tip of Sumba. Kopi Dulu is a flowing travelogue, each chapter filled with a depth of research, interesting anecdotes, and several insightful stories of the hidden soul of the world’s fourth most populous country, Indonesia.  

Wild Wisdom: Combining lessons about navigating life with the narrative of a travel memoir, Wild Wisdom traces author Christine’s decade-long mission of taking hundreds of women, of all nationalities, ages, and backgrounds, to off-the-beaten-track locations around the world on challenging, often pioneering expeditions that really push them outside of their comfort zone.  

Business and Management 

The First Decade: Vivy Yusof needs no introduction. Starting out as a lifestyle and fashion blogger, today she is an influencer and the head of a multi-million dollar fashion company that she built herself. From her proud wins to her juiciest failures, this book is filled with inspiration, strategies, ideas, and thoughts that lead Vivy to become the star that she is today.  

Made In Future: The world is changing at an incredible speed and so needs the approach of marketing and related industries. In this book, the marketing ring-leader and founder of Entropia, sheds light on how to tackle and navigate the changing dynamics of the marketing field and provides insights from his own career to make this a powerful and extremely educative read this December.  

Politics and International Relations

ChinaPhobia: An extremely well-researched and deeply insightful read on the growing concern of China phobia in the world. For those who are interested in diplomacy and books that give them a lot of information and interesting and unique opinions, ChinaPhobia: A Wasted Opportunity is a good one to pick.  

Indonesia Out of Exile: Telling the story of the struggle of the writing of Pramoedya’s novels in the Buru Island prison camp, Indonesia Out of Exile is a path-breaking book that goes to ask and answers the questions about how a new generation is being inspired by Pramoedya’s works and what comes next.  

Culture and Society 

The Visible Invisibles: Offering a very uniquely human connection to the undocumented lives of migrant workers across Asia, presenting stories of adventure, love, hope, loss, guilt, and redemption, The Visible Invisibles is a careful curation of unconventional yet universal life stories from a diverse and incredible cast of characters. Filling readers with knowledge, one must pick this book up to read more about the real-life stories of real people.  

A Gaijin Sarariman: The global fascination of all things Japanese is not new. A Gaijin Sarariman takes a deep dive to uncover and unveil many of these facets—from Japanese cuisine, fashion, make-up, boy-bands and workplace. Pick this up to know more about the Japanese way of living and what makes them so distinctly unique.  

Happy reading and seasons greetings!

– Chaitanya Srivastava, Executive – Corporate Communication & Publicity

Find the best of non fiction books to read this November. From understanding karma to healing from trauma, steps for self-development and career management – find our specially curated reading list here.

Finding the Freedom to Get Unstuck and Be Happier

The ancient and scientific secrets to getting unstuck from negative habits.

 

 

Five Energies of Horrible Bosses…And How Not to Become One

Supercharge the power of your mind and body for sustained success and influence in business, leadership, and life.

The Twelve Habits of Smart Skill-Building – A code for the reskilling of you

There is no one magic bullet to learning skills -only twelve easy habits.

The Great Career Paradox – When pursuing career success may not lead to career happiness

Finding Career Longevity and Happiness in a complex world.

 

 

‘This International Translation Day, we bring you the best of Southeast Asian literature and a word from their translators. Find out what goes on behind the scenes while translating a novel, and how the essence of the story is retained while adapting the book to make it ready for new readers.’

Jennifer Lindsay, the translator of REJECTION – A SUMATRAN ODYSSEY talks about keeping it real and true when translating the novel from Bahasa Indonesia to English:

‘Translating is a mixture of slog and inspiration. It is an intense engagement with the language of the writer. To me, the creative part is in choosing words and phrases to reflect that language. After all, it can be done in many different ways. But, like Goldilocks, there comes to be one choice (on that particular day) that feels ‘just right’. That is the ‘aha’ moment, even though later you might change it when you edit. It is a deeply personal choice. I always pay great attention to the sound and rhythm of the original text. Sometimes I say it aloud as I work. How is the writer using the language, exploiting its possibilities? How can I reflect that? 

When translating Rejection, I was very aware of the balance of Ashadi’s sentences, the poetry of his prose, and in the latter part of the book which has a different tone, the dialogue. In Rejection, Ashadi stretches the poetic narrative potential of Indonesian in a storytelling way. I learnt a lot about the Indonesian language from that. That is what translation is: learning.’

 Watch Jennifer Lindsay talk about her journey while translating REJECTION here. 

Click here to watch a special message from Ashadi Siregar for the new readers of his novel. 

Danton Remoto, the translator of Filipino Classic novel BANAAG AT SIKAT (Radiance and Sunrise), shares how translations of classics can open it up to a whole new readership.

‘I translated a novel that was written in florid Tagalog and published in 1906. I kept in mind that I was translating an English version for the 21st century reader. Thus, I used brisk, Anglo-Saxon words in my translation to make the novel read faster. I also edited repetitive words, phrases and scenes in the novel to make the pages turn. Moreover, I translated the dialogues to make it appear as if the characters are speaking originally in English and not in the florid Tagalog of the early 20th century. I also used the English equivalents of words (java plum for duhat) because I did not want to have a glossary at the back of the novel that would make the reader flip from the novel to the glossary with every new Tagalog word he or she would encounter. I also did not want a translation of the meaning put as a footnote, since this would be distracting on the page. I aimed at giving a 21st-century rendering of an early 20th-century novel. I hope I have succeeded in doing so.’

Explore some more translated books from our list: 

The Sea Speaks His Name 

Genealogy of Kings 

Prisna Volume 1

Prisna Volume 2

The Great Flowing River 

Chronicles of A Village

After Time 

Migrantik 

Keep an eye out for the following works of translation coming soon to bookstores near you:

The Preying Birds  

The Fabulist by Uthis Haemamool, translated by Palin Ansusinha

Table for One (Mesa Para Una) by Caro Saracho, translated by Sharmila Bhushan.

Add these translated books to your shelf today and explore diverse voices from Southeast Asia and beyond.

Happy reading! 

By Garima Bhatt, Senior Executive – Marketing & Digital, Penguin Random House SEA.

By Rupal Vyas, Assistant Editor, Penguin Random House SEA

With freedom in the air and celebrations all around, we come together to celebrate the 57^th National Day with our fellow readers. Seeing the nation grow from strength to strength has only brought in more compassion and hope; and has kept the spirit alive to move ahead #StrongerTogether. Bringing to you from our beloved shelves some exciting reads:

The Votive Pen: Writings on Edwin Thumboo

A rivetting look at the fiercely original, intellectually brilliant mind of Singapore’s unofficial Poet-Laureate, Edwin Thumboo. Born of Tamil and Teochew parents, he embraced the Protestant faith late in his life. He has a self-confessed fetish for Yeats and Pound and yet completed his doctoral thesis on post-colonial African poetry. He taught himself the Ramayana and I-Ching but found traces of the Odysseus in the shadows of the Merlion. He is brusquely vocal about poetry with a purpose and yet appears a hopeless romantic in his poems about his wife. What happens when a mind which is such a melting pot of brilliant ideas and contrary emotions tries to unscramble the identity of a country like Singapore which is complex, multiracial, has known a fierce economic growth that has often elbowed aside everything else?

The Votive Pen sets out to see Edwin Thumboo’s poetry – steadily and see it whole – without the intervening static of earlier critical writing and with an intense alertness to the text.

Beyond Storms and Stars – A Memoir

How did a young girl who rose from underprivileged circumstances in post-war Singapore become a trailblazer of women’s global leadership at the United Nations? Noeleen Heyzer was the first woman from outside North America to be appointed as Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the first woman Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). In these memoirs, Noeleen Heyzer reflects on her remarkable journey – from the challenges of her childhood and youth, her intellectual development at the University of Singapore and the University of Cambridge, to her groundbreaking work on women’s empowerment and her meteoric rise to the position of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. It is a book that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the courage of individuals, communities, and societies to transform structures of discrimination and injustice.

Softer Voices

Philip Montfort is a man of contradictions. He is an Anglo-Indian born in British India and torn between his Part-Caucasian heritage and his Indian identity. Born into a vanishing aristocratic family with fading fortunes, his life is a struggle to reconcile his circumstances with his desires and to render a true account of himself. He is irreligious but a seeker of truth and authenticity. After studying law at Cambridge, and being denied a place in both England and India, he seeks instead to make life anew in the Colonies – specifically in the bustling, ecstatic British outpost of Singapore.

There, he is drawn into the orbit of young, privileged intellectuals like himself who seek truth just as he does, while gorging and stupefying themselves with layers of luxury. They call themselves the Asiatic Club and commission themselves to doing civic works in the lead up to the War. More secretive however are their preparations to form a stay-behind auxiliary in the event that Singapore is occupied.

When War reaches Singapore in the early forties, the excess is stripped away and each member of this exclusive coterie is forced to confront their true selves as they make sacrifices and compromises of character. While fighting as a reserve officer in the British Indian Army’s III Corps, Philip is captured as a prisoner-of-war. Thereafter, he is convinced to join the Axis-collaborationist Indian National Army under its mercurial but brilliant leader, Subhas Chandra Bose.

Raffles Readers: A Century of Adventures

Raffles Hotel is the best known, oldest and most elegant hotel in Singapore. When it was first built in 1887, it stood on Beach Road, opposite the sea. Nowadays, Beach Road is in the middle of a thriving, modern city. There are many tales of weird and wonderful events at this beautiful hotel. And hundreds of famous people have stayed there. Here, in the Raffles Readers, you will meet some characters who maybe, just maybe, could have stayed in the hotel. Who knows?

Stories spanning from the 1920s to 2000s, these imaginative tales draw in the young readers to the wonderous world inside the iconic Raffles hotel and the adventures of its eclectic guest list.

Celebrate the spirit of inclusivity, strength and hope with us as we grow #StrongerTogether and commemorate the 57^th National Day of Singapore. Add these exciting reads from our bag of books to your #TBR today!