By The Book

We start the year off by discussing some of our reading resolutions for 2020 - from cleaning out bookshelves to reading more non-fiction and more. We also look at some of the upcoming publications this year that we’re excited about.

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As 2019 comes to a close, we look back at our year of reading and pick out the books that have stood out as our highlights of the year. We follow this with a bit of a discussion on what we hope to read more of in the coming year.

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This week, we have something slightly different in store: we're bringing you an interview conducted by Jason Dasey, when he met up with his former colleague Michael Robotham, who is now a bestselling author of psychological thrillers. Jason and Michael talk about his path to becoming an author, his 14th novel, Good Girl, Bad Girl, and his near-death experience. After that, we turn our attention to stories focused on Christmas, and discuss why they strike an emotional chord.

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For all our love of reading, we’re the first to admit that giving a book as a present can be quite a daunting task. So we’ve come up with a gift guide of sorts on how to buy a book for someone - whether an avid, casual, or non-reader. We wrap things up by crowdsourcing some ideas for books that make great gifts.

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34 years after the publication of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale - and in a time when its themes are more relevant than ever - the long-awaited sequel, The Testaments, arrived in 2019. It's been one of the most highly anticipated new releases, and also went on to win the Booker Prize. But in this episode of book club, we dive right in and see whether we think it matches the significance of The Handmaid's Tale (and frankly, whether it lives up to the hype).

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Children’s books are often many a reader’s first introduction to reading, but it is also a genre that is constantly changing. What are some of the current trends and changes happening in children’s literature, and is all this talk of diverse books actually making a difference? We speak with two experts on children’s books, Dr Sharifah Osman and Daphne Lee, and wrap up the discussion by sharing our earliest memories of reading.

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This month’s book club takes a journey to a place that isn’t often visited in global fiction - Oman from the late 1800s to present day. Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi is the first novel from a Gulf country to win the Man International Booker Prize, and Alharthi is the first female Omani author to have her work translated into English. Starting with the tale of three sisters raised in a deeply patriarchal society, Alharthi uses the multigenerational family saga to reflect on the story of a rapidly modernising nation. We wrap things up with a discussion of books that introduced us to new countries and cultures.

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Most of us have our comfort zones when it comes to reading - those genres that we gravitate towards or pretty much stick to because of their familiar pleasures. But how easy is it to venture outside of these? A Bit of Culture’s Kam Raslan joins us to discuss how these comfort zones get created and perpetuated, and the challenges of reading books that we don’t instantly feel an affinity for.

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We speak with the co-directors of the Georgetown Literary Festival to find out what they have in store for us this year, and the joy and philosophy behind curating a festival.

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With Halloween right around the corner, we speak with Tunku Halim, Malaysia's own prince of darkness, to tease out the appeal of the horror genre and discuss what makes a scary book scary. We also share some of our favourite chilling reads!

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