“Sleeping on Jupiter” by Anuradha Roy (India) Review From a classic plot-driven novel to an unusual collective ‘novel-essay,’ the four shortlisted books for this year’s Summer Reading Group varied greatly in structure, style of writing, and point of view. Our summer readers also noticed a recurrent theme in all four of dreams and their many…
“Parade” by Shuichi Yoshida (Japan) Review From a first novel to a first attempt at a new genre by a well-known writer, this year’s Summer Reading selection of crime fiction covered a wide range of writing styles. Readers’ opinions varied from book to book, so it was no surprise that “Parade” won the Best Summer…
“Questions of Travel” by Michelle de Kretser (Sri Lanka) Review Members of our Summer Reading Group liked the differences in writing styles and themes of this year’s four shortlisted books finding most of the stories highly enjoyable. “Questions of Travel” has two parallel narratives, one set in Sri Lanka, the other in Australia. With over…
“The Solemn Lantern Maker” by Merlinda Bobis (Philippines) Favourite Quote Foolish men. Not for a moment do they think of their wives who will be widows or their mothers who will be childless, but about country and integrity, the bigger picture. Always the home is too small. The heroic resides somewhere else. If not the…
“The Devil I Know” by Claire Kilroy (Ireland) Synopsis A thrilling novel of greed and hubris, set against the backdrop of a brewing international debt crisis. Told by Tristram, in the form of a mysterious testimony, “The Devil I Know” recounts his return home after a self-imposed exile only to find himself trapped as a…
“The Lake” by Banana Yoshimoto (Japan) Review Mystical and mysterious were some of the words readers used to describe this book that they thoroughly enjoyed. Most were familiar with the author having read other of her books and they liked her writing style, which they found captured the atmosphere well. They were drawn to the…
“Map of the Invisible World” by Tash Aw (Malaysia) Review Intriguing, colourful and touching are some of the words that readers used to describe this story set at the beginning of Indonesian independence. They agreed that the author painted a vivid picture of life both in the countryside and in the city during these turbulent times. One…
“Please Look After Mother” by Kyung-Sook Shin (S. Korea) Synopsis “Please Look After Mother” is the story of So-nyo, a wife and mother, who has lived a life of sacrifice and compromise. In the past she suffered a stroke, leaving her vulnerable and often confused. Now, travelling from the Korean countryside to the Seoul of…
