#tandasoal replies

[tanda-soal]

I wanna read Malaysian English literature, any good recommendations for my 2021 reading list? Oh, and dropping by to see how you're doing! I hope you're staying warm this winter!

Here's a pic of the afternoon sun here in Malaysia peeking through my window (in case you miss the heat here back home)

Aww this is incredibly sweet!! Yes, I do miss the heat. I'm constantly freezing my toes off :(

As for the recs, I haven't gotten to reading all of these yet, but I pulled some from my monster ASEAN To Be Read spreadsheet lol. Hopefully some of these books are interesting to you (or if you've already read them, let me know what you think!)

Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho - This one I actually did read! It's a collection of short stories that are laced with your typical Malaysian hantus, so all the pontianaks, orang bunians, toyols etc. I found it really fun identifying all of the superstitions (though most of them do draw from Chinese and Malay cultures)

The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf - This one's a pretty popular M’sian YA novel. I'm really interested in the fact that it's set during the May 13 racial riots in 1969. Some trigger warnings: racism, graphic violence, on-page death, OCD and anxiety

The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo - This one supposedly draws on an old Chinese superstition about men who turn into tigers. I saw this book around on booklr and bookstagram some time ago but only just realised that it's set in 1930s Malaya and that the author is a 4th gen Malaysian Chinese.

Salina by A. Samad Said - I've been wanting to read something by A. Samad Said since he's one of the Sasterawan Negara, awarded for his contributions to Malay literature. Salina looked like the most approachable of his works to me but tbh I've struggled trying to find a copy, either in its original Malay or translated into English

Right now I also have The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng, Iban Dream by Golda Mowe and Peninsula: A Story of Malaysia by Rehman Rashid (non-fiction) to read in the near-ish future. I'll let you know if they're good!

Also if you have Instagram, a really cool account is @literasea.bookclub, which is like a book club focused on SEA lit. The work they do is amazing, I highly recommend!

Thank you for checking in! I hope you’re doing well too (fingers crossed for a good 2021 for all of us)

[tanda-soal]

Hahah I honestly haven't read enough poetry to have an opinion, but yeah, I stumbled upon these lines and they've lingered in my mind. These recommendations are wonderful though! I actually haven't read any sci-fi or romance in a while so that first one sounds very cool. And I love how you interpreted the lyrics. I never thought about it in the context of grandparents before, but who else can say that they've loved someone for that long? Thank youu :)

I have some poetry and lyrics!! But they're both to do with love so maybe they give the same vibe "No matter what you say I won't love you less." -Shawn Mendes ft. Julia Michaels, Like to be You "i want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)" -e.e. cummings, i carry your heart with me

I generally admittedly don’t like e.e. cummings, but these lines are beautiful.

On to the books!

For the e.e. cummings line I’m going to go with This Is How You Lose the Time War/Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. It was a bit too full of purple prose for my own taste, but then again, so is e.e. cummings for me. And the quote really reminded me of how the book is written. (In short, two agents on opposite sides of the time war fall in love. They need no world but each other.)

The Shawn Mendes is a bit harder. I know you probably want a romance here, too, but can I recommend you some middle grade? It reminded me of two grandparents: The grandmother from Becoming Naomi León/Pam Muñoz Ryan and the grandfather from Journey/Patricia MacLachlan. I enjoyed Naomi León more but they’re both very good and taking a guess from the lyrics and lines you sent I think you might like Journey more. Thank you for asking!

(send me lyrics or lines from a poem and I’ll recommend you a book)

[tanda-soal]

Any favourite classics? Mine so far are Secret Garden, Lord of the Flies, hoping to start Jane Eyre by spring, i read Animal Farm and im starting Pride and Prejuidice

I have to admit that I haven’t read that many classics. If I do read them, they tend to be the more recent ones. I think my favourites would have to be The Handmaid’s Tale, To Kill A Mockingbird, Things Fall Apart and One Hundred Years of Solitude. Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm have been on my to-read list forever though!

[tanda-soal]

10 Questions Tag

— Rules: answer 10 questions and ask 10 new ones. Thank you for tagging me @readingbooksinisrael 😊

1. What is your favorite subgenre (fairytale retellings, comedy of manners, alternative history, etc.)?

Oof I’m not good at identifying genres tbh. I guess I like realistic stories about people and their life’s struggles, especially against the backdrop of significant historical events, though I prefer 19th or 20th century history. Is that historical fiction...? I truly don’t know. Someone please tell me so I know what to tell people when they ask 😂

2. Do you prefer writing poetry or prose?

Prose. I've never actually written poetry before...

3. What’s your favorite book from where you live (interpret this as broadly or as small as you want to)?

Okay so I'm actually awful at reading Malaysian books and I haven't read that many (we’re working on it!!) But there's this book from Indonesia called Laskar Pelangi (“The Rainbow Troops”) by Andrea Hirata that I absolutely adore. It's about a group of very poor village children who fight for their little school so that it isn't torn down. The film adaptation’s OST has a song, also called Laskar Pelangi, that I love. Also the children in the book are Belintung Malays and I'm Malay...so it's close enough?

4. Do you watch any reality tv?

Nah not anymore...

5. Who is your favorite “sidekick” (from Robin to Ron and Hermione)?

Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto? I'm not sure he's a sidekick per say...the best friend turned antagonist turned absent sidekick..?? Idek but whatever I love him, the world did him dirty and he deserves better, no one can tell me otherwise

6. Do you prefer warm or cold colours?

Cold colours, usually blues and purples

7. What is your favorite type of art to do?

I like redrawing portraits with Adobe Illustrator! I’m not good at drawing from my own imagination (my proportions are always way off) so this kind of digital art works best for me

8. What was your favorite subject in school?

English, History and Economics :)

9. Do you like writing book reviews?

Tbh not really, I always feel unqualified to give a review because I feel like I don’t know as much about literature and writing as other people do. And I feel like how much someone likes a book is very subjective, so I don’t want to accidentally turn someone off from reading a book they would've actually enjoyed. That’s why I’ve started writing book reflections instead, to talk about my biggest takeaways from what I read. Then people can decide for themselves whether or not they want to read it

10. What’s a short story I should read?

The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu!!! It’s about a Chinese-American boy who struggles with his identity growing up and his relationship with his mother as a result. I cried reading it the first time in 2013. And then in 2018 I did a whole 20-minute presentation about it for class. So yeah, I kinda love it

— Tagging @buecherworm @melody-of-moon @speculative-imaginaries @booksandtreesplease @probableereading if they’d like to do it and/or haven’t yet! Here are my 10 questions

Do you have a favourite book store? Describe it!

What does your ideal weekend look like?

What’s a book that you didn’t enjoy at first but then ended up loving?

What’s your favourite dessert?

What’s your favourite book genre?

Do you have a creative hobby? What is it?

Who would you say is your role model?

Where’s your favourite reading spot?

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

What’s the biggest life lesson that a book has taught you?

[tanda-soal]

10 Questions Tag

— Rules: answer 10 questions and ask 10 new ones. Thank you for tagging me @therefugeofbooks 😊

1. What’s your favorite cold drink?

Iced lemon tea! Close contenders are lemonade and boba

2. What’s the first thing you notice about a person?

I like listening to people speak and trying to guess where they're from. I took a linguistics class last year and binge-watched videos about accents and I got kinda hooked

3. Do you have any pets? What would you name if you had one (more)?

We have soooo many cats. My family and I love them 🥰 My house has 6, my grandmother has 5 and my cousins have 10. I didn't name any of them though, but if it were up to me, I'd name them something completely off like gajah ("elephant" in Malay)

4. What was your favorite TV show growing up?

I was pretty basic (still am probably 🤣). The ones that come to mind are Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Wizards of Waverly Place, Teen Titans, Naruto, Totally Spies, Kim Possible, Lilo and Stitch etc

5. What’s your ideal vacation?

As a true child of the tropics, I love the beach. In Wales I discovered cold beaches where you need a wetsuit to not freeze your toes off. No!! None of that nonsense!! I want warm sand, sparkling blue seas, island hopping on speedboats, afternoons spent snorkelling and skin diving, seafood dinners on the beach, palm trees swaying with the wind...Ah this makes me want to go to an island so bad

6. Is there any book that you want to read but by any reason you keep avoiding it?

I have quite a few actually. I bought lots of books last year based on those “Books to Read Before You Die” lists, so I have things like Lord of the Flies, Slaughterhouse Five, Don Quixote, 1984 etc. I definitely still want to read them eventually, but for now I’m trying to read more contemporary works by authors of colour

7. What book do you hope will be turned into a movie or TV show one day?

Hmmm I don't really like it when my favourite books are turned into movies or TV shows, I feel like I always end up disappointed...

8. Are there any books that are really popular but you dislike?

Oof okay honestly The Picture of Dorian Gray maybe? It's not that I didn't like it I guess, more like I felt like I wasn't getting it

9. When did you last visit a library?

In late March, I visited my uni library to return my books before I flew home 😔

10. Could you recommend me a book that you think is underrated?

Yes!! I just read The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui and I LOVE IT. Maybe I’m late (it was published in 2017) but whatever I will continue to gush for the rest of the week. It's a graphic novel in which Thi Bui, a Vietnamese-American woman, tells her family’s history, including their journey fleeing Vietnam to the United States in the 1970s

Other honourable mentions are Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Severance by Ling Ma and Farewell My Concubine by Lilian Lee

— Tagging @bellscansada @libri-et-coffea @beginagxin @akhuna @auraseeingcoffeebean @book-a-bilia if they’d like to do it and/or haven’t yet! Here are my 10 questions

Do you have a favourite book store? Describe it!

What does your ideal weekend look like? 

What’s a book that you didn’t enjoy at first but then ended up loving?

What’s your favourite dessert? 

What’s your favourite book genre?

Do you have a creative hobby? What is it?

Who would you say is your role model? 

Where’s your favourite reading spot?

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

What’s the biggest life lesson that a book has taught you?

[tanda-soal]

That's awesome! I've forgotten quite a bit tbh but I do remember the confusing narration. And yes, I agree that it's a book that you come back to to digest and appreciate better. Can't wait to read what you think when you're done!

Hey, saw that you're reading The Plague!! I read that too for class just last fall and yeah, definitely don't appreciate the coincidence lol. How do you like it so far?

I read only 1/3 of the book at the moment but it’s a bit surprising (in a good way) how accurate was Camus in describing some of the feelings that accompanied me during this time. I have to admit though, it was also comforting, in a way.

Camus writes well, it’s extremly pleasant to read, his style is smooth. I love how he describes city in the beggining of the book and how he describes characters.

On unrelated note, I think that narration style he chose can be confusing at times, because sometimes narrator describes events like he was a part of them and sometimes, he is all-knowing, anyomous storyteller. So, at times he seems like a real person who just stalks dr. Rieux and other characters? But I guess it’s on purpose.

I will write more when I read the whole book! But even now, I know that I am going to go back to this book to re-read some parts.

[tanda-soal]

Hey! So, have you finished reading The Kite Runner? What did you think of it?

Hello yes I have!! And I loved it!!

So many incredible things, like Amir's character and how he deals with craving his father's love, navigating societal norms, feeling guilt from harming his closest friend. The constant plot twists also keep the story exciting (while breaking my heart).

I think most of all, the book really helps to put a face to the conflict in Afghanistan, which I admittedly did know much about at all. In fact, that's what my book reflection post (that I'm still working on lol) will be about :)

How about you? Have you read it?

[tanda-soal]

What have you read before by Ta-Nehisi Coates? Any particular favourites?

As of now, it's just that first volume of Black Panther, which was also my first Marvel comic book. First impression: it was okay, most of it was to establish settings and context so sometimes it was a bit boring. That said, I do think visual storytelling is different to non-visual stuff. So I still really want to read his novels, maybe Between the World and Me or The Water Dancer? How about you, have you read any of his works? Would love some recommendations 😉

[tanda-soal]

— rules

bold the statements that apply to you, italicize your aspirations, then tag some people.

— tagged by: @readingbooksinisrael for tagging me 😊

— air

i have small hands / i love the night sky / i watch small animals and birds when i pass them by / i drink herbal tea / i wake to see dawn* / the smell of dust is comforting / i’m valued for being wise / i prefer books to music / i meditate / i find joy in learning new truths from the world around me

*sometimes...

�� fire

i don’t have straight hair / i like to wear ripped jeans and overalls / i play an organized sport / i love dogs / i am not afraid of adventure / i love to talk to strangers / i always try new foods / i enjoy road trips / summer is my favorite season / my radio is always playing*

*by radio i mean spotify lol

— water

i wear bracelets on my wrists / i love the bustle of the city / i have more than one set of piercings / i read poetry / i love the sound of a thunderstorm / i want to travel the world / i sleep past midday most days / i love dimly lit diners and fluorescent signs / i rewatch kids’ shows out of nostalgia  / i see emotions in colors not words

— earth

i wear glasses or contacts / i enjoy doing the laundry / i am a vegetarian or vegan / i have an excellent sense of time / my humor is very cheerful / i am a valued advisor to my friends / i believe in true love / i love the chill of mountain air / i’m always listening to music / i am highly trusted by the people in my life

— aether

i go without makeup in my daily life / i make my own artwork / i keep on track of my tasks and time / i always know true north / i see beauty in everything / i can always smell flowers / i smile at everyone i pass by / i always fear history repeating itself / i have recovered from a mental disorder / i can love unconditionally

— tagging: some people I’d love to get to know more :) (only if you want to though!) @lightrhetoric @notashotasmyteapot @curtnez @clnchw @melody-of-moon @thebookbud and anyone else who’d like to do it!!

[tanda-soal]

I see you’ve read the Kite Runner! I absolutely love Hosseini!! I’m not sure if you’re taking recommendations but A Thousand Splendid Suns by Hosseini is a must read!:)

This was my first Hosseini book and I'm very pleased!! And yes I always love recommendations so thank youuu. In fact, my friend was just telling me about A Thousand Splendid Suns too. Looks like I really have to read it now 😉

[tanda-soal]

We r reading the same book??? Im reading 100 years of solitude

Ah that picture was taken last year actually 😅 But I did enjoy it, enough to write a whole paper lol. What do you think of it so far?

[tanda-soal]

Uuu nice I've never heard of those before!! They're going on my list 😌 And you got me so curious about Tropic of Orange that I read the first page through Google's book preview. That was probably a more detailed description of dead insects and little animals than I wanted 😂 But it does sound intriguing...maybe one day...

i rarely see malaysia mentioned in foreign books or movies or tv series, so when i do, i get pretty excited. sometimes though, those mentions are especially jarring because it teaches me something i didn't know at all about my country. i'm currently reading an illustrated memoir called the best we could do by thi bui (vietnamese-american) and she talks about how her little brother was born in a un refugee camp in malaysia in 1978. i didn't even know we had un refugee camps here...

reading is such a humbling experience and i'm constantly reminded of how little i know about my own region. on instagram, some southeast asian bookstagrammers are doing a "read asean" month so i think i'm gonna compile a huge list of these books for myself. the goal in the future is to be able to share more about southeast asian literature with everyone, because it feels like a thing not enough people know about (not even within the region itself!)

fun fact: today, august 8, is the day asean (association of southeast asian nations) was formed. no, nobody actually celebrates anything but it's the perfect day for these rambles of mine no?

[tanda-soal]

Omg yes!! I always have a mini solo concert to Bad Boy in the shower 😂

Playlist Tag

Thanks for tagging me @lifeisforlearning!! This was a fun stress-reliever :)

Rules: You can usually tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to! Put your favourite playlist on shuffle and list the first 10 songs, then tag 10 people. No skipping! 

eight (Prod.& Feat. SUGA of BTS) - IU

Love Somebody - Lauv

Bad Boy - Red Velvet

invisible string - Taylor Swift

the 1 - Taylor Swift

exile (feat. Bon Iver) - Taylor Swift

Mean It - stripped - Lauv, LANY

Dynamite - BTS

Daechwita - Agust D

Friends - BTS

Lmao I always joke that I have the music taste of a basic teenager and it probably shows. That said, I am unapologetic and embrace it wholeheartedly.

Tagging: @themelodyofspring @happysops @readingbooksinisrael @therefugeofbooks if you’d like :)

[tanda-soal]

Aw I'm so glad to hear that! It'll be interesting to see if and how the book resonates with you differently if you read it again. Let me know if you do :))

Hey! So, have you finished reading The Kite Runner? What did you think of it?

Hello yes I have!! And I loved it!!

So many incredible things, like Amir's character and how he deals with craving his father's love, navigating societal norms, feeling guilt from harming his closest friend. The constant plot twists also keep the story exciting (while breaking my heart).

I think most of all, the book really helps to put a face to the conflict in Afghanistan, which I admittedly did know much about at all. In fact, that's what my book reflection post (that I'm still working on lol) will be about :)

How about you? Have you read it?

[tanda-soal]

Aww omg thank youuuu that's so motivating! And tbh my shelves legit only have 2 or 3 Malaysian books and I. Am. Ashamed. So here's to fixing that, one little step at a time 💪

i rarely see malaysia mentioned in foreign books or movies or tv series, so when i do, i get pretty excited. sometimes though, those mentions are especially jarring because it teaches me something i didn't know at all about my country. i'm currently reading an illustrated memoir called the best we could do by thi bui (vietnamese-american) and she talks about how her little brother was born in a un refugee camp in malaysia in 1978. i didn't even know we had un refugee camps here...

reading is such a humbling experience and i'm constantly reminded of how little i know about my own region. on instagram, some southeast asian bookstagrammers are doing a "read asean" month so i think i'm gonna compile a huge list of these books for myself. the goal in the future is to be able to share more about southeast asian literature with everyone, because it feels like a thing not enough people know about (not even within the region itself!)

fun fact: today, august 8, is the day asean (association of southeast asian nations) was formed. no, nobody actually celebrates anything but it's the perfect day for these rambles of mine no?

[tanda-soal]

Omg these are absolutely perfect!! Noted on the Black Widow 😉 I’ve always wanted to read some Marvel instead of just watching the movies and TV series but there are sooo many and it feels quite intimidating to start.

And you’ve definitely solidified Between the World and Me’s spot on my TBR. I haven’t heard of We Were Eight Years in Power before, but you’re right, that format is definitely interesting. I’d love to see in what ways things have changed and in what ways they haven’t. I’ve also bookmarked all those articles you’ve linked 😉 Looking forward to some free time so I can dig in. (And that quote about Obama, wow that hit hard)

Thank you so so much again for these, I really appreciate it!! <3

What have you read before by Ta-Nehisi Coates? Any particular favourites?

As of now, it's just that first volume of Black Panther, which was also my first Marvel comic book. First impression: it was okay, most of it was to establish settings and context so sometimes it was a bit boring. That said, I do think visual storytelling is different to non-visual stuff. So I still really want to read his novels, maybe Between the World and Me or The Water Dancer? How about you, have you read any of his works? Would love some recommendations 😉