June, 2023 – Black Wave by Kim Ghattas
BG 1 – June, 2023 Black Wave by Kim Ghattas The June book for Group 1 was Black Wave by Kim Ghattas who is a Dutch-Lebanese award-winning journalist and author. The book is an examination of how the modern Middle East unraveled and how it started with the pivotal events in 1979 (the Iranian Revolution, […]
May, 2023 – The Girl Who Wrote in Silk by Kelli Estes
BG 2 – May, 2023 The Girl who Wrote in Silk by Kelli Estes The novel is an historical fiction that tells a story of two women from different centuries, whose lives are intertwined. The novel explores themes of race, belonging and acceptance. The role of race in the novel is to highlight the discrimination and […]
May, 2023 – The Plotters by Un Su Kim
BG 1 – May 2023 The Plotters – Un Su Kim Government corruption. Political scandals. Contract killers. Disappearances. Set in contemporary Seoul, South Korea, the world within Kim Un-Su’s novel, The Plotters (2018), focuses on the deaths of random political figures as well as who is pulling the trigger. The shadowy figures responsible for the murders […]
April, 2023 – Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri
Book Group 2 The “haves” in this world tend to treat the “have-nots” as invisible. Their mute desperation makes us uncomfortable, so we look through them. Kazu Mori, the narrator of ‘Tokyo Ueno Station’ is literally invisible. He is dead, his spirit seemingly fated to linger among the homeless people who come and go through […]
April, 2023 – Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi
Book Group 1 Burnt Sugar is an absorbing novel with many twists. For a discussion group there is much to explore and debate. We are introduced initially to a child deprived of a childhood searching for what she missed. As an adult too, her relationships are unraveling – between a mother and daughter, husband and […]
March, 2023 – 912 Batu Road by Viji Krishnamoorthy
BG1 and BG2 meeting March 2023 Review: 912 Batu Road by Viji Krishnamoorthy The March book group meeting was quite special as Book Group 1 and Book Group 2 held a combined discussion meeting of the book ‘912 Batu Road’. We also had the privilege of having the author Viji Krishnamoorthy join the meeting. Viji Krishnamoorthy […]
Feb, 2023 -The Accidental Malay by Karina Robles Bahrin
BG 1 – February 2023 review The Accidental Malay by Karina Robles Bahrin About the author: Karina’s debut as a writer was when she guest-edited a weekly teen column in The Straits Times, she wrote various short stories and she is a former columnist with the weekly The Heat. She currently lives and works on the island […]
Feb, 2023 – The Map of Salt and Stars by Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar
BG 2 – February 2023 REVIEW – THE MAP OF SALT AND STARS BY JENNIFER ZEYNAB JOUKHADAR The Map of Salt and Stars, a novel by Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar, puts a face on the tragedy of the Syrian refugee crisis. The war in Syria has raged for more than eight years now, obliterating cities and homes […]
Jan, 2023 – On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong
Book Group 1 – On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong Our January read was a book that truly made you think. As one member put it “I think the author is a genius”. His use of language is superlative. With very few words he captures the essence and says what he needs to, […]
Nov. 2022 – Ghacher Ghocher – Vivek Shanbhag
Book Group 2 – Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag In Ghachar Ghochar, a lower-middle-class family finds itself suddenly wealthy. This means a move to a richer neighbourhood, from a tiny railroad-style house with no living room to a big, two-storied place. A bench, two chairs and mattresses give way to beds and dressers. No sitting on the […]