Bookshops In Penang, Malaysia

Having arrived in Malaysia nearly three weeks ago, I have been eager to check out the different chains of bookshops on the island of Penang as well as looking out for second-hand or antiquarian bookshops.

I read somewhere that a city which is truly great and cultured is judged not by its museums or ancient monuments or heritage or mounting tourism incomes or its rising GDP figures but by the number of second-hand bookshops in the city itself!  I have yet to understand the significance of this piece of nugget.

I had barely warmed up my seat on the Malaysian Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur when the plane touched down on Penang soil.  I thought it was the shortest flight I had ever been on and was pretty tickled by it.  I could do this more often.

Here they are:

1)  mph bookstore at the Gurney Plaza

2)  Popular bookstore at the Gurney Plaza, the Queensbay Mall, Komtar and Tesco Penang.

3)  Borders at the Queensbay Mall

4)  Chowrasta Market second-hand bookstall

You have just got to visit the Chowrasta Market second-hand bookstall if you are in Penang.  Stacked from floor to ceiling in every crook and cranny are books, books and more books.  There is only enough space in between the thousands of books to walk single-file.  My, what a wonderful sight to behold.  

Whatever you are looking for, the Indian owners can find it for you.  They are very savvy about books.  Even though I do not see any signs of new book releases but their stock is pretty much up-to-date and they know where most books are located.  They buy.  They sell.  Their prices are usually RM10 cheaper than chain bookshops and most of their books are in good condition.  Do haggle with them if you are there.  Do not ever take their selling price at face value.

The bookstall is open daily from 12 noon to 8pm.

5)  Leo Books at Island Plaza, Jalan Tanjong Tokong

"Cheap Books for the Hungry Minds" is Leo Books' business focus.  Founded on 1 December 2009, this independent bookshop sells used, bargain as well as new books.  They can be found on the first floor and are opened daily except Mondays.  For more information and updates, you can click on the above link to go onto their website or you can like their Facebook page.

                                                   *   *   *

The first three are the ubiquitous bookshops in Malaysia.  All of them stock the same books, local and foreign, and the prices are similar (from RM35.90) so where you buy your books from is a matter of personal preference, proximity and accessibility.

Popular Bookstore has a Mystery section as opposed to the Crime and Thriller section but in my opinion, there is no need for one because the selection on the bookcase is pitiful and most of the crime mysteries are stacked in alphabetical order in the fiction section anyway.  I wonder why that is so.

The bigger bookstores have a cafe area so if you feel like a deserving cuppa, do look out for those.  Personally, my favourite bookstore in Penang is the mph bookstore.  Second choice is Borders.  And I have the deepest respect for the last two.

If you are in Penang, happy browsing, booking and reading.

Murder In The Ashram by Kathleen McCaul

Welcome to the dark side of Delhi.

Ruby Jones has moved to Delhi to pursue her dreams of becoming an international news journalist.  But when the body of Stephen Newby, her flatmate and best friend, is pulled from the Yamuna River - and the circumstances surrounding his death become more and more mysterious - she puts her investigative instincts to good use as she tries to uncover who's responsible.

Ruby's questions take her deep into the world of Indian policing - and into the heart of a yoga ashram.  She discovers that the yoga world isn't the calm spiritual place she imagined, and beneath the breathing exercises and dog poses lies something sinister - something that she's certain points to dark, hidden secrets that could have huge repercussions for all involved if discovered...

About the author:  Kathleen McCaul was born in 1981 in London.  She read English at Oxford University before travelling to Baghdad in 2003 to help begin Iraq's first post-war English language newspaper.

As a journalist she has lived and worked in Kashmir, Iraq, Qatar, Finland, the UK and India - where she freelanced as a radio reporter for the BBC World Service and wrote the occasional article.  She most recently worked as a news producer for Al Jazeera English, before leaving to write her second novel called Whispers from a Goan Grave out in 2012.

My take:  Kathleen McCaul's gripping debut novel catapults the reader into a world of corruption - beat out a guilty confession, fix the evidence - in India's capital.  Easy to read with plenty on Indian culture and its festivals and spirituality but not so heavy on the crime.  The protagonist is like a modern day Nancy Drew sleuthing in the slums of India.  Has great potential for a debut and I would recommend it for a light crime read and will certainly look out for its sequel next year.

Rating:  4/5

Mercy by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Back blurb:  At first the prisoner scratches at the walls until her fingers bleed.  But there is no escaping the room.  With no way of measuring time, her days, weeks, months to unrecorded.  She vows not to go mad.  She will not give her captors the satisfaction.  She will die first.

Copenhagen detective Carl Morck has been taken off homicide to run a newly created department for unsolved crimes.  His first case concerns Merete Lynggaard, who vanished five years ago.  Everyone says she's dead.  Everyone says it's a waste of time.  He thinks they're right.

The voice in the dark is distorted, harsh and without mercy.  It says the prisoner's torture will only end when she answers one simple question.  It is one she has asked herself a million times:  WHY is this happening?


About the author:  Jussi Adler-Olsen was born in Copenhagen and worked as a magazine editor and publisher before starting to write fiction.  Mercy (The Woman in the Cage) is the first of four novels in the Department Q series.  He holds the prestigious Glass Key Award, given annually for a crime novel by a Scandinavian author, and in 2011 also won the Golden Laurels, Denmark's highest literary accolade, awarded by the Danish book trade.  Mercy was released on the English, Australian and Indian market on 13 May 2011 to become a No 1 International Bestseller and is translated from the Danish by Lisa Hartford.

Visit Jussi Adler-Olser's website at www.jussiadlerolsen.dk

Below, in three parts, the author talks about how his book came to be published, the characters in his book and the research entailed to write this book:







The book trailer for Mercy:



This interview of the author from shotsmag.co.uk merits a read.

Excellent and funny.  Gripping plot.  Interesting characters.  That says it all.

Mark my works, Adler-Olsen is an author to watch out for in 2011.

I look forward to the next book in the series named Disgrace, out in January 2012.

Rating:  5/5

Live Wire (The Myron Bolitar series, Book 10) by Harlan Coben

What a poignant story.  It jerks my heart to read Live Wire because I can relate to some of the characters' grief, their loss, their hurt and at times their joys and their humour.  You think you see a happy family walking in the street who on outward appearance are happy and put-together but what do they hide?  Because everyone has secrets, everyone has  hurt and everyone has unresolved problems in their lives.  But, everyone tries their best to make the best of their lives too.


Live Wire is more about Myron Bolitar's family problems than a crime thriller.  As with any family, Bolitar's has secrets.  Secrets which begin when someone is hurt and wants to hurt back.  Does that sound familiar?  This action then causes a ripple which results in another ripple and another and another until one day it all ends in sadness and loss.  Why not happiness?  Because hurt is always a more powerful emotion than the need to forgive.  Sometimes, tragically, death happens and it is too late.  Sometimes, there is no resolution and it brings back all the hurt again.  Amongst the ripples, there may be a glimpse or two of happiness but more often that not, it is so much easier to carry the hurt than to let it go.


Live Wire is a very well-written story reminiscent of Coben - he wouldn't let you read on in silence and there are some laugh-out and ah-ha! moments - which can stir up a lot of emotions for any reader because we have all been through some of the problems that Bolitar faces in the book.  What makes it a satisfying read is that it reads more fact than fiction in some parts.  I am unsure whether this is the last book in the Myron Bolitar series but if it is, it is a good 'un and I do not mean it lightly.

In his acknowledgments, Coben writes that for those who enjoyed reading about one of the characters in Live Wire, he will be extending it in a new young adult novel called Shelter, out in the autumn of 2011.


Live Wire is a funny and witty book and carries a lot of soul searching for his main character.  Do visit www.harlancoben.com for more information.


Synopsis:  Over the years, Myron Bolitar has walked a tightrope between sports agent, friend, problem solver and private eye, his big heart quick to defend his clients' interests so fiercely that he can't help but jump in to save them, no matter the cost to his own happiness.

So when former tennis star Suzze T and her rock star husband, Lex, encounter an anonymous Facebook post questioning the paternity of their unborn child, Lex runs off, and Suzze - at eight months pregnant - asks Myron to save her marriage, and perhaps her husband's life.  But when he finds Lex, he also finds two people he wasn't looking for: his sister-in-law, Kitty, wife of Myron's estranged brother, and her teenage son, Mickey, who is achingly familiar.  But this boy that he has never met blames Myron for everything that has happened to his parents...

As Myron races to locate his missing brother while their father clings to life after a savage heart-attack, he must face the lies that led to the estrangement long ago - including the ones told by Myron himself.  He must also answer the questions that Mickey's arrival has thrown up.  Who is Myron Bolitar really?  And can he heal the damage of the past?

We thought we knew Myron, but Harlan Coben now shows us we never did.  An electric, stay-up-all-night thriller that unfolds at a breakneck pace, Live Wire proves that Coben still has the ability to shock us anew.

Harlan Coben and his views on marketing books and other things:



And here is the author chatting about his latest book on today.com on 8 April 2011:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42230205/ns/today-books/t/harlan-cobens-thriller-reveals-private-eyes-personal-life/

Rating:  5/5

Vanished by Joseph Finder

This book is the first in a new series by author Joseph Finder introducing a new character in the crime fiction world - Nick Heller, an intelligence investigator.  His brother, Roger Heller, disappeared without trace one rainy evening in Washington DC.  He and his wife, Lauren, were out on a rare date at his favourite Japanese restaurant and he had seemed preoccupied about something but no more than usual.  When they were walking back to their car after the meal, they were attacked.  There was no blood on the ground and no signs of a struggle.  Twenty four hours later, Lauren woke up in a hospital.  Roger was missing.

With the police investigation stalled, Lauren turns to Nick for help.  Nick is also ex-Army Special Forces.  A man who doesn't take orders from anyone and is relentless when pursuing a lead.  A man who knows where the bodies are buried.  Most importantly, a man who always puts his family first.

If Nick is to find his brother, he is going to have to call on all his skills for it appears that Roger may have a powerful enemy - an enemy that will do whatever it takes to stop Nick finding him.

Watch this interview of Joseph Finder talking about his instant international bestseller Vanished (published 2009), the main character in his book and also how he got started writing :

It would be worth your time to check out Finder's official website because there is a wealth of information on the site including his blog.  He has previously published eight stand-alone novels where one became the basis for a movie and another was awarded the International Thriller Writers' Association's Best Novel of the Year in 2007.  This has been an outstanding read and I am pleased to find out that the sequel to Vanished came out last month (21 June 2011) entitled Buried Secrets.  If you like corporate espionage and high-end technology, then this is the book for you.

Happy reading!

Rating:  5/5

The Night Ferry by Michael Robotham

First two lines in the book:  It was Graham Greene who said that a story has no beginning or end.  The author simply chooses a moment, an arbitrary point, and looks either forward or back.

A year ago, Detective Constable Alisha Barba worked with the Diplomatic Protection Group at the London Metropolitan Police and helped solve a kidnapping.  One of the kidnappers dropped her onto a wall, crushing her spine.  After numerous operations and months of physiotherapy, she is fit again, but is still on medical leave from the Metropolitan Police because they do not know what to do with her.

One October morning, she receives a letter that says

Dear Ali, I'm in trouble.  I must see you.  Please come to the reunion.  Love, Cate

Cate was her best friend and they have not spoken for eight years.  Cate is eight months pregnant and in trouble.  On the night they arrange to meet, Cate is mown down by a car that kills her husband instantly. As paramedics fight to save Cate's life, they uncover that she was never pregnant.

Why?  Why would Cate deceive and lie to her family and even Alisha about the baby?  Cate's last words to Alisha was "They want to take my baby.  They can't.  You have to stop them..."  Who does she mean?  But there was never any baby because strapped to Cate's midriff is a large piece of upholstery foam, trimmed to fit over her stomach.  Undeterred, Alisha is determined to uncover the first in a series of sinister deceptions and to understand why.

A gripping psychological thriller, The Night Ferry, published 2007, is a heart-wrenching read, intelligently written and comes very highly recommended.

Robotham talks about The Night Ferry and how characterization is the most important part of the writing process:



Rating: 5/5

Bombproof by Michael Robotham

I am trawling through Robotham's back catalogue.  Bombproof (published 2009) smacks of a British thriller and not only because of the setting - read it and you will find out!  The first chapter can be downloaded from the crime writer's official website at www.michaelrobotham.com, amongst other very interesting information.  This book marks the end of my June read but I look forward to a whole array of  exciting new/old books to read in July when I go on a much-anticipated holiday overseas.

Backcover story:  Fifty-four hours ago Sami Macbeth was released from prison.  Thirty-six hours ago he slept with the woman of his dreams at the Savoy.  An hour ago his train blew up.

Now he's carrying a rucksack through London's West End and has turned himself into the most wanted terrorist in the country.

Sami is not a master criminal.  He's not even a minor one.  He's not a jewel thief.  He's not a safe-cracker.  And he's certainly not an expert in explosives.  Instead he plays guitar and wants to be a rock god, but somehow he keeps getting sidetracked with men with guns and no necks.  Now his life has spiralled completely out of control and catapulted him into a desperate race against the clock - for his sister, for his life, for his freedom...

Take time to read.

Rating:  4/5

Launching of We Love This Book

25 June 2011 sees the launching of a brand new quarterly consumer book magazine, We Love This Book, by TheBookseller.com available free at all Foyles bookshops, independent bookshops, festivals and libraries.  Nigel Roby, the managing director of The Bookseller Group, aims to "help stimulate demand for new and interesting books and hope to give all parts of the book trade a relevant, responsive and vibrant new way of reaching consumer book purchasers."

The magazine is going to feature:

1)  the latest books with independent reviews by booksellers, readers, authors and top literary journalists

2)  well-known and bestselling authors as well as emerging authors

3)  book events around the country

4)  book video trailers

5)  book recommendations

6)  short stories

7)  bookshop profiles

8)  children's section

9)  blogs

10) and many more...

This is an exciting moment for everyone involved in the book industry and the best of luck with it.

More information can be had at www.welovethisbook.com

Whispers Of The Dead (The David Hunter Thriller) by Simon Beckett

Backcover blurb:  In America to escape London and the violence that nearly killed him, forensics expert David Hunter needs to know whether he is still up to the job of confronting death in all its strange and terrible forms.  Then a body is found in a remote cabin out in the woods.  And then another...  Pushed deep into the heart of a terrifying manhunt, Hunter begins to wonder if they're on the trail of a maniac who simply cannot be stopped.


Whispers Of The Dead (2009), the third book of the David Hunter thriller, ends my reading of the gruesome forensics mystery series.  Beckett's books are inspired by his visit to and the publication of a series of articles for the UK's Daily Telegraph on the Anthropological Research Facility in Knoxville, Tennessee, better known as the Body Farm.

The author introduces his work:



I recommend this series highly and look forward to more next year.  To find out more about him and his books, go to www.simonbeckett.com

At the back of this paperback, the author tells us about the inspiration behind and background to his David Hunter thrillers and his recollection of a meeting with a real-life forensic expert: one of the UK's foremost forensic ecologists, Patricia Wiltshire.

Rating:  5/5

The Confession by John Grisham

Published in October 2010, the Number One bestseller The Confession is a cracker of a read, quite but not quite similar to his non-fiction, The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice In A Small Town (2006), and deserves the overrated rating below, but more than that, I second the opinion of one reader from Goodreads who wrote:

"What John Grisham brings to his work as a writer -- other than his deep knowledge of the law and its application in the South -- is more than just craft. For one thing, he clearly has a deep-seated passion for justice. The Confession, like other memorable stories he's told in writing, is a loud cry for the ideals of our legal system to be put into practice. When Grisham tells the story of a young man -- and, for that matter, his family and his community -- victimized by a corrupt system, he's relating to us a true story of America today. He strikes a deep chord of recognition in us all, because we've heard that story before, again and again, on our television screens and in our newspapers. And the details of the story don't matter, because we know in our hearts that the unprincipled police officers and prosecutors and judges, the self-seeking politicians, the heartless insurance executives, and the greedy lawyers that populate Grisham's books are the people we believe are running our lives.

John Grisham has emerged as one of the premier chroniclers of our time because he's telling our story."

Grisham shares his pearls of wisdom at a Commencement ceremony in North Carolina in 2010 below:



Grisham confessed in three versions:







The reason I put up three of the above videos is because I enjoy listening to Grisham every time.  He is a brilliant and witty orator and I am glad there is something to look forward to - his next legal thriller, The Litigators, which comes out in October 2011; and in the interim, may go back to reading his very first publication, A Time To Kill, published in 1989, and so on and so forth, for the pure joy of it.  His books never get old.  For more information on his legal novels, check out the author's official website at www.jgrisham.com

Take time to read.

Rating:  7/5

The Shadow Of Your Smile by Mary Higgins Clark

With her prolific output of world-wide bestsellers, it is not surprising that New York born Mary Higgins Clark has a long and impressive biography.  Some of her books have been adapted into movies and television programs.  Her very first book, Aspire To The Heavens, was published in 1968 and her latest book, I'll Walk Alone, was recently published in May 2011.  Her daughter and sometimes co-writer, Carol Higgins Clark, and her daughter-in-law, Mary Jane Clark, are also writers.  She lives in Saddle River, New Jersey.  To find out more, go onto the Mary Higgins Clark's website.

The Shadow of your Smile, published in 2010, explores the juxtaposition of medical science and religious faith, and the search of identity by a daughter of a man adopted at birth.  This is an engrossing and terrific read.  I have never known Mary Higgins Clark to fail to capture my attention with her innate gift of storytelling, filled with palpable suspense at every turn of the page every time I pick up her books!

The author tells us what it is about:



This book is displayed from the vantage point of a shelf facing the entrance to the Cambridge Central Library - cannot fail to miss it.

Rating: 3.5/5

My New Reading Book - The Kindle

I have succumbed.

I fought long and hard over the last four years to resist buying an electronic book because I am a die-hard booklover but in the end...

...I succumbed.

It was a tortuous and argument-ridden battle between the devil and the angel, but alas, the devil won.  Or is it the angel.

Now, I am proud as punch to say I am a proud as punch owner of such a clever reading apparatus that I have totally forgotten what my gripes were about the Kindle in the first place!

I can now horde more books in one small device instead of having to keep searching for a new place to store my ever-expanding library.  At one time, there was a concern that I might have to store my books on top of the roof with the birds, droppings and nests, if they continued to increase in numbers.

I have even dressed it in a gorgeous red sheath complete with sparkling jewellery to rival the Queen's - the reading light.

Any readers out there who are still undecided about getting a Kindle, I can say hand on my heart just get it.

It will now be my constant companion wherever I go.

Last word:  You can shoot me but I will still carry on buying books.

Meet Me At The Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan

Jenny Colgan is a completely new author to me.  I picked up her book only because of that one word on the cover - cupcake.  I love cupcakes.  I also love to laugh.  So, when both are combined in a book, I simply cannot resist taking it home with me.  Romance is a sideline.

I know a few ladies who make the most delicious and creamiest cupcakes I have ever tasted but sadly, none could sustain a cupcake cafe for long, not outside of London anyway, due to the poor economic climate.

The shop/supermarket-bought ones are not up to par and never will be, so, I guess it is a consolation that they still run their businesses by phone and online whenever we cupcake lovers feel like indulging our sweet tooth.

The best news is that if you want to meet other cupcake lovers, you can now do so at the annual cupcake festival to be held on Halloween's Day of this year from 2-5pm.  The festival is also held in aid of the North London Hospice.


Red, a luxury women's lifestyle magazine from the UK, termed Colgan's books as "a delicious comedy" and I could not agree more.

Flicking through the book before reading it, I notice that almost all chapters open with a tempting and yummy recipe, for example:

First Chapter: Drop Scones


Chapter Two: Orange Cupcakes with Marmalade Icing for a Grumpy Day


Chapter Three: None


Chapter Four: Not Going To Work Nutella Cookies


Chapter Five: Peppermint Creams


Chapter Six: Lemon Getting What You Want Cake


Chapter Seven: Double Chocolate Cupcakes and Chocolate Sauce


Chapter Eight: Pear Upside-Down Cake


Chapters Nine and Ten: None


Chapter Eleven: Strawberry Meringue Cupcakes 


etc

You can even find a Royal Wedding Street Party Red, White and Blue Cupcake recipe at the end of the book, no doubt to commemorate the recent royal wedding between Prince William and Catherine Middleton.

I love Colgan's writing and will definitely check out her other books before the year ends.  Having read a number of chick-lits in the past, I can say with certainty that Colgan's book stands out.  That is because it contains two ingredients which I look out for when I read chick-lits - wit and wisdom - and this book definitely contains much more than a good yarn let me tell you that!

Meet Me At The Cupcake Cafe was published in April 2011.  To know more about the author, keep up-to-date with her, read her blog, check out her latest news, reviews, books and book information, baking tips, recipes, enter competitions, Facebook, Twitter, just click onto her genuinely warm, genuinely funny website.  Right, I need to go and bake a tray of cupcakes now.  Happy read.

Rating:  4/5

Only Time Will Tell (The Clifton Chronicles Series, Book 1) by Jeffrey Archer

It has been aeons since I last read a book set in Great Britain in the early 1900s.  For the past decade or more, I have consciously been reading contemporary books and sourcing and supporting new authors with their books set in the present techie age because I told myself I have had enough of the past.  But when one of my favourite writers of our age produced his latest novel (published 12 May 2011), how could I possibly ignore it?  I could not.  To put it mildly, I will read anything that Lord Jeffrey Archer writes.  I am already very excited to get ahold of the sequel to Only Time Will Tell called The Sins Of The Father, which will be out in March 2012 in hardback, audio and Kindle.  Happy reading.

First line in the book:  This story would never have been written if I hadn't become pregnant.

Hardcover blurb:  The Clifton Chronicles is Jeffrey Archer's most ambitious work in four decades as an international bestselling author.

The epic tale of Harry Clifton's life begins in 1919, in the backstreets of Bristol.  His father was a war hero, but it will be twenty-one tumultuous years before Harry discovers the truth about how his father really died and if, in fact, he even was his father.

Only Time Will Tell takes a cast of memorable characters from the ravages of the Great War to the outbreak of the Second World War, when Harry must decide whether to take his place at Oxford, or join the fight against Hitler's Germany.

In Jeffrey Archer's masterful hands, you will be taken on a journey that you won't want to end, even after you've turned the last page of this unforgettable yarn, because then you will be faced with a dilemma that neither you nor Harry Clifton could ever have anticipated.

I enjoyed listening to this conversation with Lord Archer:

Here is the trailer:

More videos and information can be gleaned from Jeffrey Archer's official website.

Rating:  5/5