Busy Reading Books

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

Charlotte Brontë

Emily Brontë

Anne Brontë

William Shakespeare

George Orwell - Animal Farm

Augustine of Hippo

Lytton Strachey

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

Fatema Mernissi

Riffat Hassan

Asma Lamrabet

Mona Eltahawy

Seema Yasmin - Muslim Women Are Everything

Susanna Clarke - Piranesi

Maggie O'Farrell - Hamnet

Bernardine Evaristo - Girl, Woman, Other

Hilary Mantel

Margaret Atwood

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

Mohsin Hamid

Khaled Hosseini

Rohinton Mistry

John Steinbeck

Négar Djavadi - Disoriental

Elena Ferrante

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

For more information about us visit zafigo.com/busy-reading-books

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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More information available at zafigo.com/busy-reading-books

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.

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More information available at zafigo.com/busy-reading-books

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.

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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.

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More information available at zafigo.com/busy-reading-books

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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