Set in modern China, February Flowers by Fan Wu is a coming of age story of two young women in a society torn between tradition and modernity, focusing on the bond between the two girls. Innocent seventeen-year-old Chen Ming and worldly and flashy twenty-four-year-old Miao Yan have very little in common other than studying at the same university. Ming lives in her own world ...

The Housekeeper and the Professor (博士の愛した数式) by Yoko Ogawa is a short read, mesmerising in its heart-warming story about unlikely friendships, mathematics and baseball. It has sold in excess of 4 million copies in Japan alone. This is a beautifully-written story about an old maths professor, his housekeeper and her young son. After a traffic accident in 1975, the professor’s memory post-1975 lasts only 80 minutes. ...

Dead Souls by Angela Marsons is a gripping, emotional and addictive novel that kept me captivated from start to finish. With a dark main theme, the author tackles racism and hate crimes in this thriller, challenging our perceptions and beliefs. The book opens with a disturbing scene in which a teenage boy commits suicide after writing a letter to his mother. Though it’s evident he’s ...

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J. D. Salinger first published in 1951 though it was partially published in serial form in 1945-1946. It has withstood the passage of time, remaining the quintessential story of teenage angst and alienation. Published as a classic novel for adults, it has resonated with adolescent readers for its themes, becoming a ...

Val McDermid hails The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood as a genuinely shocking thriller where nothing is as it seems. A chilling thriller, so says Clare Mackintosh. Lisa Jewell describes it as spine-tingling and terrifying. Ruth Dugdall declares it is more twisty than Gone Girl. Amazingly gripping, that’s Sophie Hannah’s verdict. “Oh my God, it is so good!” gushes Mark ...

Memory is a funny thing – Haruki Murakami As I grow older, I find memory to be a funny thing. I can remember things from my childhood days and yet I can sometimes forget things that happen moments earlier. My memory can really play tricks on me, often in the most embarrassing way. I was having a meeting with my ...

It is strange but I have not heard of The Seeker Cafe & Bistro in Miri though the restaurant has been in business for over one and a half years and has been receiving good reviews. It was only a couple of days ago that my sister-in-law Angela Ngieng told us about it. Last night we had our dinner there ...

Six Four, the sixth novel by Hideo Yokoyama but his first to get an English translation, is a Japanese Crime Literature phenomenon with rave reviews from around the world. In Japan, it sold over a million copies in the first six days after it was released. As I started reading it, I was increasingly caught in its grip. It is ...

Chap Goh Meh is here Chinese version of Valentine’s Day Night for single girls To try their luck for romance With tangerines as Tinder.

Fidget spinners are undoubtedly this year’s leading toy fad. The “must-have” toy of the year has two or three paddle-shaped blades attached to a central core. Hold the core between two fingers, give the blades a flick and they spin. That’s it. When it first took off last month, stores could not keep them in stock. Parents were scrambling to ...