In our last episode for the season, we're doing things a little differently. Instead of talking you through books she's read, Marina explores a list of titles and authors she's yet to peruse -- some that she may add to her reading list in the future and some she may not despite how popular they are.
Mentioned this episode:
Harold Robbins - The Carpetbaggers, The Adventurers
Mario Puzo - The Godfather
William Peter Blatty - The Exorcist
George Orwell - Animal Farm
Simone de Beauvoir - The Second Sex
Germaine Greer - The Female Eunuch
Betty Friedan - The Feminine Mystique
Amina Wadud - Qur'an and Woman, Inside the Gender Jihad
Kecia Ali - Sexual Ethics and Islam
Seema Yasmin - Muslim Women Are Everything
Susanna Clarke - Piranesi
Maggie O'Farrell - Hamnet
Bernardine Evaristo - Girl, Woman, Other
Keggie Carew - Dadland
As we near Malaysia Day on September 16, our thoughts turn to the history of our country, now 64 years old. Or rather, to the many histories, of families who were born and bred here, or who came from elsewhere and made a life for themselves here, of families disrupted by war or brought together by other circumstances. Some of these stories have made their way into books as Malaysian authors mine their own personal histories to tell stories that not only resonate with Malaysians but those around the world. Tan Twan Eng, Tash Aw and Preta Samarasen are just three of them but there are certainly as many authors as there are stories. In this episode, Marina talks to Viji Krishnamoorthy about Malaysian family stories and what they can teach us about our nation today.
Mentioned this epsiode:
R. K. Narayan - Malgudi Days
Elif Shafak - The Island of Missing Trees
Catherine Menon - Fragile Monsters
Négar Djavadi - Disoriental
Additional suggestions from Viji:
Sarah Moss - The Tidal Zone; Signs for Lost Children
Matt Haig - How To Stop Time; The Midnight Library
Max Porter - Grief is the Thing with Feathers; Lanny
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Not a fan of non-fiction reads? In this episode, Marina talks about some of her most-loved narrative non-fiction books and makes a pitch for why you should give the genre a go. These unique books interweave various literary techniques into true stories and create gripping accounts of a person, event, or issue, and often leaves its readers feeling as though they were reading works of fiction. Warning: these books can be compulsively readable.
Mentioned this episode:
Rebecca Skloot - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Jared Diamond - Guns, Germs, and Steel; Collapse; The World Until Yesterday
Steven Pinker - The Better Angels of Our Nature
Peter Pomerantsev - This Is Not Propaganda; Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible
Adam M. Grant - Think Again
Sherry Turkle - Reclaiming Conversation
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Has the book publishing industry been hit by the Covid pandemic? On the one hand, people forced into lockdown have more time to read which should be good news for publishers. On the other hand, with less footfall, bookstores are closing down for lack of customers. The big publishers may have the cushion of previous successes to survive with. But what about small publishing houses? How are they coping? Marina speaks to the founders of two independent Malaysian publishing houses, Amir Muhammad from Buku Fixi and Rosalind Chua from Clarity Publishing, to learn their views on what the future holds for their industry.
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You’ve probably heard this question being asked a thousand times before: Is the book is better than the movie/series? Granted, reading allows you to get creative while interpreting the story to your liking. On the other hand, the great thing about films is their ability to show. Not forgetting, there's the overall experience of watching a novel you love come to life.
But can we really compare both mediums? In this episode, Marina tackles the ol' page vs screen argument while exploring some favourite and popular titles and their feature film or TV show adaptations.
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This week, Marina ventures into the world of graphic novels with her daughter, Ineza Roussille. Ineza, a documentary filmmaker and visual storytelling enthusiast, has loved reading graphic novels ever since discovering Joe Sacco's works. In this episode, she doesn't just give us a breakdown of the popular categories within the genre, but also shares who her favourite authors and illustrators are.
Mentioned this episode:
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Follow Marina on a spectacular tour of some of her favourite books set in the Middle East. She discusses classics like the works of Turkish novelist, Orhan Pamuk, which touch on identity and history, to looking into what it’ll take to dismantle the patriarchy through the eyes of social commentator and journalist Mona Eltahawy.
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One of the must-dos for many travellers is to try local foods in whatever country we visit. Food represents so much of a country from its environment which dictates its ingredients to its culture and traditions. Since we can’t physically travel right now, one way of visiting different countries is by reading cookbooks. Not just recipes but the cookbooks that tell you a bit more about the country or region that the recipes come from. This episode, Marina speaks to a special guest, Asma Khan of Darjeeling Express restaurant in London, who you may have seen on that wonderful Netflix series, Chef’s Table, about her book, the culture and tradition of Indian food preparation, and the uncelebrated women behind the recipes.
Mentioned this episode:
More information available at zafigo.com/busy-reading-books
In a continent as culturally and ethnically diverse as Africa, it's no surprise that the literature that has come out from it be equally diverse and multifaceted. Dealing with a range of social and cultural issues, from human rights and feminism to post-war and post-colonial identity, here are Marina's suggestions on some books worth diving your nose into from some of Africa's best and upcoming writers.
Mentioned this episode:
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We’ve talked to and about authors in many neighbouring countries but have yet to speak to writers from Singapore. Not that the island state is short of writers - there’s Catherine Lim, Philip Jayaretnam, Stella Kon, and Alfian Saat to name a few. But the one that has had Marina most excited recently is Sharlene Teo. Sharlene's debut novel, Ponti released in 2018 and is now working on her follow-up. She chats with Marina about her first book and gives us the low-down on which Singaporean authors are hot right now.
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China is a place full of great history and tradition, so it's no surprise why there are so many excellent works of fiction and non-fiction based on and set in this country. In this episode, Marina revisits the Middle Kingdom through some of her favourite (and not so favourite) books. From tales of life during the Mao regime to the opium war, or just of people in search of better lives, these reads capture the magic of this fascinating nation.
Mentioned this episode:
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For booklovers, literary festivals have been the opportunities to meet and listen to authors, to talk about and buy books. But with the COVID-19 pandemic, these festivals that have thrived so much on face-to-face interactions have had to go online or close down. What has this meant for festivals, for authors, publishers and readers? Marina speaks to Lily Yulianti Farid and Pauline Fan, who have organised two of the most successful regional festivals, the Makassar International Writers Festival, and the George Town Literary Festival.
Mentioned this episode:
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As a city that's rich in culture, it's no surprise why London has been an inspiration for many books over the years. Whether you can’t get enough of the British capital or have it on your must-visit bucket list, the city does have a certain draw to it. Having studied there (twice), London has a soft place in Marina's heart and in this episode, she takes you on a journey through the swinging city through some of her favourite books.
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In this era full of distressing news, Malaysians always perk up when we hear of our fellow citizens doing well and winning awards. It makes us proud and happy to see our flag being flown high especially by talented young people. Here, Marina speaks to two gifted storytellers doing the Malaysian literary scene proud, Ling Low and Joshua Kam, about what being nominated and winning awards feels like, how important these prizes are, and the future of Malaysian writing.
Mentioned this episode:
Joshua's book debut novel How the Man in Green Saved Pahang, and Possibly the World won the 2020 Epigram Books Fiction Prize.
Ling's latest short story, Weeds is shortlisted for the 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize and will be published later this year. Her other stories have been featured in Little Basket 2016, Cerpen Terbaik 2016, and Bitter Root Sweet Fruit.
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Latin America is full of literary talents and many of them have left a mark on classic and contemporary literature. Even if you’ve never visited the countries in this region, novelists like Gabriel García Márquez and Isabel Allende allow you to escape the prison of your mind and take flight in somebody else’s. After all, there’s no better way to satisfy your curiosity than with good reading material. In this episode, Marina shares a vast selection of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction works that offer a distinct look into the histories, voices, and views of Latin American authors and the people that inspire their stories.
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As our lives get busier and busier, sitting down to read a book has become harder to do. One solution is audiobooks, which allow us to listen while doing something else: cooking, doing our makeup, sitting in a traffic jam. Newly published books now almost always come in audio form as well, often read by their own authors. Are they the same as print books? Are they the future of ‘reading’? Listen as Marina speaks to bibliophile, author and freelance writer Sharon Bakar as they ponder these questions.
Mentioned this episode:
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Journey to Japan with Marina as she reminisces the years when she lived in Tokyo and what it was like for her, as a young woman in the 80s. She also gives us the low-down on some of the country's most well-known and up-and-coming writers that you can read in translation. From classic favourites to more contemporary wordsmiths, and even feminist literary forces, there's a book for everyone.
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What types of books does our former premier like to read (when he has the time to do so, of course)? Marina sits down for a chat with her father, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, a National Reading Icon, about his favourite authors, the books he's written and is working on, and why we should encourage the younger generation to read, especially in English.
Mentioned this episode:
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Memoirs, autobiographies, and biographies... Each form of these non-fiction books has its own distinct characteristics and in this episode, Marina takes us through what differentiates them. She also talks about some of her favourite non-fiction books - From Jean McNeil's account of her year as writer-in-residence with the British Antarctic Survey, to Keggie Carew's story of a daughter striving to reclaim her father from the grip of dementia.
Mentioned in this episode:
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This week, Marina catches up with Pyae Moe Thet War, a classmate from her years studying at the University of East Anglia and a fellow writer. They chat about the books they've read and why they like them, and perhaps whether the cultural issues that arise from Asians (like them) who have studied and lived in the West are worth exploring in their writing.
Pyae is now back in Myanmar and is working on her first book, an essay collection titled You’ve Changed to be published by Catapult in 2022.
Mentioned in this episode:
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