Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. The latest episode of this literary podcast by The Straits Times explores existential ennui in two books – Baek Se-hee’s therapy memoir I Want To Die But I Want To Eat Tteokbokki, and Ali Smith’s novel Companion Piece. Highlights(click/tap above): 2:52 I Want To Die But I Want To Eat Tteokbokki, by Baek Se-hee 7:08 Companion Piece, by Ali Smith Produced by: Olivia Ho, Toh Wen...

Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. In the latest episode of this literary podcast, The Straits Times journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li look at two novels about Asians in diaspora who know the rules and how to break them: Portrait Of A Thief by Grace D. Li, and Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen. Highlights(click/tap above): 1:49 Portrait Of A Thief, by Grace D. Li 6:50 Counterfeit, by Kirstin Chen Produced by:...

Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads.In the latest episode of this literary podcast, The Straits Times' journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li look at three romance novels whose characters fly in the face of stereotypes: Lucie Yi Is Not A Romantic by Lauren Ho, You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi, and Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.Highlights(click/tap above):1:25 Lucie Yi Is Not A Romantic,...

Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. In the latest episode of this literary podcast, The Straits Times journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li take on six books shortlisted for the International Booker Prize – from Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk’s sweeping novel The Books Of Jacob to Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb Of Sand, the first Hindi-language novel shortlisted for the award. Highlights(click/tap above): 01:31 The Books of...

Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. In the latest episode of this literary podcast, The Straits Times journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li go on a whistle-stop tour of books about travelling -- from the journeys of Rebecca Solnit and Sanmao, to the introspective musings of Italo Calvino and Robert Macfarlane. Highlights (click/tap above): 01:53 Unfathomable City, by Rebecca Solnit and Snedeker 05:53 Stories Of The...

Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. In the latest episode, The Straits Times' journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li delve into novels about romantic love in the 21st century, including Monica Ali's Love Marriage and Jane Pek's The Verifiers. Highlights (click/tap above): 00:55 The Verifiers by Jane Pek 07:47 Love Marriage by Monica Ali Produced by: Olivia Ho ([email protected]), Toh Wen Li ([email protected])...

Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. In the latest episode of this literary podcast, The Straits Times journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li look at a new wave of pandemic novels, including To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara and How High We Go In The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu.   Produced by: Olivia Ho ([email protected]), Toh Wen Li ([email protected]) and Penelope Lee Edited by: Penelope Lee, Teo Tong Kai and Hadyu...

Bookmark This! Ep 27: The 50 greatest SingLit books 34:21 mins Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. In the latest episode of this literary podcast, The Straits Times journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li, along with a special guest, Senior Culture Correspondent Ong Sor Fern, discuss The 50 Greatest Works Of SingLit, a list published in The Sunday Times on Dec 12, and take listeners on a crash course through local...

Bookmark This! Ep 26: The worlds of Sally Rooney and Anne Carson 18:48 mins Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. In the latest episode of this literary podcast, The Straits Times journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li talk about new and old in the latest works by Sally Rooney and Anne Carson, from the millennial crisis of Beautiful World, Where Are You to the reworking of Greek myth in H Of H Playbook. Beautiful...

Bookmark This! Ep 25: Hooked on the Booker Prize? Not quite 25:13 mins Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. In the latest episode of this literary podcast, The Straits Times journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li lay down what they loved (and didn’t) about the six books on this year’s Booker Prize for Fiction shortlist, from heavyweights such as Pulitzer Prize-winner Richard Powers and three-time Booker nominee Damon...

Bookmark This! Ep 24: New novels by International Booker Prize-winners David Diop and David Grossman 15:13 mins Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. In the latest episode of this literary podcast, The Straits Times' journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li look at new novels from International Booker Prize-winners - At Night All Blood Is Black, which made David Diop the first French author and the first of African...

Bookmark This! Ep 23: Walking with Jhumpa Lahiri, Andre Aciman and Natsuko Imamura 16:27 mins Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. In the latest episode, The Straits Times journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li look at three meditative new books about walking in cities and the passage of time: Homo Irrealis by Andre Aciman (0:48) Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri (4:56) The Woman In The Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura...

Bookmark This! Ep 22: Lurkers and lingering spirits in Sandi Tan and Zen Cho's new novels 17:38 mins Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. In the latest episode of this literary podcast, The Straits Times journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li look at two new genre-bending novels that mix horror and humour, Lurkers by Singapore-born film-maker Sandi Tan and Black Water Sister by Malaysian author Zen Cho. Listen at: 1....

Bookmark This! Ep 21: Shedding light on Kazuo Ishiguro and Ethan Hawke's novels 14:57 mins Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. In the latest episode of this literary podcast, The Straits Times journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li put the spotlight on two novels by celebrity authors - A Bright Ray Of Darkness, by Hollywood actor Ethan Hawke and Klara And The Sun. by Nobel Laureate Kazuo Ishiguro. Listen at: A...

Bookmark This! Ep 20: Feminists take on literary classics (Women's Day edition) 22:17 mins Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. Bro! Tell me about a complicated man. In the Women’s Day episode of this literary podcast, The Straits Times journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li talk about feminist translations of the male-dominated classics, such as Emily Wilson’s groundbreaking The Odyssey and Maria Dahvana Headley’s...

Bookmark This! Ep 19: Written In The Stars - books to read for Valentine's Day 18:32 mins Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. In this Valentine’s Day episode of The Straits Times literary podcast, journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li visit star-crossed lovers old and new, from William Shakespeare's merry As You Like It to Ian McEwan’s tragic Atonement; from Marilynne Robinson's latest novel Jack to...

Bookmark This! Ep 18: Our favourite books of 2020 31:55 mins Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. What are the books that got you through 2020? In the latest episode of this monthly literary podcast, The Straits Times journalists Olivia Ho (left) and Toh Wen Li (right) pick some of their favourite books that came out this year: Hilary Mantel’s epic The Mirror And The Light, Susanna Clarke’s strange, surreal Piranesi...

Bookmark This! Ep 17: Reviewing the 2020 Booker Prize 28:02 mins Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. Who will win the 2020 Booker Prize? Will it be an ambitious historical novel about Ethiopia’s unsung women soldiers or a bleak dystopia about the last wilderness? Will a pioneer Zimbabwean author take the prize, or will it go to one of the four up-and-coming debut novelists on the list? In the latest episode of...

Bookmark This! Ep 16: The Discomfort Of Literature 22:16 mins Synopsis: A podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. Literary discomfort is having a winning streak of late, from Marieke Lucas Rijneveld's unsettling Dutch novel The Discomfort Of Evening snagging the International Booker Prize and Marylyn Tan becoming the first woman poet to score a solo victory at the Singapore Literature Prize for her collection Gaze Back. Journalists...

Bookmark This! Ep 15: Escape into these books 23:54 mins Synopsis: A podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. After nearly two months under circuit breaker, you may want to break free - so journalists Olivia Ho (right) and Toh Wen Li (far right) pick out some escapist reads for you in the latest episode of this Straits Times literary podcast, whether it is renowned author Dan Brown or feeling less miserable with Les Miserables. Choose...

Bookmark This! Ep 14: Pandemic novels for stay-home reading 31:29 mins Synopsis: A podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. Bored out of your mind while staying at home during the coronavirus circuit breaker? In the latest episode of this Straits Times literary podcast, journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li pick out some pandemic novels that may resonate with you, from Albert Camus’s seminal The Plague to Emily St John Mandel’s...

Bookmark This! Ep 13: In the mood for love poems 30:56 mins Synopsis: A podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. With Valentine's Day around the corner, Life journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li chat about love poems across the spectrum, whether it is John Donne or Joshua Ip, budding romance or broken hearts, having a Coke together or keeping the stars apart.  Produced by: Olivia Ho, Toh Wen Li, Penelope Lee and Ernest Luis Edited by:...

Bookmark This! Ep 12: Clothes, consumption and the climate crisis 20 mins Synopsis: A podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. Life journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li check out three new books on the climate crisis: Naomi Klein's searing essay collection On Fire; We Are The Weather, in which Jonathan Safran Foer argues you can fight climate change by changing your diet; and Fashionopolis by Dana Thomas, which looks at the environmental...

Bookmark This! Ep 11: Booker breakdown - Atwood, Rushdie or the 1,000-page sentence? 27:30 mins Synopsis: A monthly podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. Life journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li break down the Booker Prize shortlist and weigh Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie's chances against Lucy Ellmann's Ducks, Newburyport, which is more than 1,000 pages long. 00:51 The Testaments by Margaret Atwood 05:15 Quichotte by Salman...