Two Book Nerds Talking

Notes from Honey: Hey Booknerds, we are taking a week’s break but here’s one of our favourites from the TBNT archives and fitting too for March’s #tbntbookchallenge2021 | .. | Ocean Vuong's raw and visceral debut novel takes you by the throat and doesn't let you go. Admittedly not for everyone, you will still be floored by the emotional truth within. Structured as a letter written by a son to his illiterate mother, this work of auto-fiction blurs the lines between reality and make-believe, you won't really know where Ocean ends and Little Dog (the protagonist) begins and in there lies the beauty of it. Also it's August! So it's break your T.B.R. again and there are so many lovely books to cover...

Producers Note: This episode contains content that might be sensitive to some, content includes particular kinds of consensual sexual activity and discussions of LGBTQ+ topics. If this isn't your cup of tea, we suggest you skip this one.

Come meet the first vampire in the world! Did you know that Raja Bersiong actually lived in the 11th or 12th century meaning that it predates Vlad Tepesh? - the real life bloodthirsty ruler that spawned Dracula. Mentioned in Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa and then later immortalised on film(s) most people have an inclination of what he is, a mortal man who developed a taste for blood and because of it grew fangs and became more cruel. Tutu reimagines him as a young prince, the heir to the kingdom of Langkasuka and the possibility that this affliction might have come to him from more traditional vampiric means. Catch this interesting conversation!

One of Diana's current favourite author is Charles Yu and we got stuck into Interior Chinatown- one of the most innovative and entertaining books of 2020, hey it won the National Book Award. We went into structure, stereotypes even fonts and foibles. I mean once a nerd, always a nerd. Check it out folks! Our excerpts this week is read by actor and director, Gavin Yap.

Ever wondered what it takes to run the biggest book sale in the world over and over again and still have juice leftover to open beautiful bookstores and push for reading advocacy? Well at the end of 2020 Diana and Honey sat down with Andrew Yap, one half of BookXcess and The Big Bad Wolf sale and we did a real deep dive into the book business. This is deep nerd stuff folks!

To egg you along on our #tbntbookchallenge for 2021 we will be putting up a 30mins show at the end of each month that can get your juices going for the next month. So February's challenge is to read a book by a Southeast Asian author or set in Southeast Asia- we concentrate on Indochina for this episode

Part 2 folks where we cover Asian Lit, middle-grade-YA, translated books and other notable literary fiction coming out in the first half of 2021. Enjoy!

We are trying to keep our shows concise folks so here is the first part of 2021 Anticipated Reads (January-June). In this first part we go into most anticipated books, a huge non-fiction list and speculative fiction to watch out for. We though we start off the year a little chilled, get you groovy on books coming out. Don't forget to listen into Part 2 coming out on Sunday. - - -Gymnopedie No. 1 by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3837-gymnopedie-no-1License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-licenseRussian DanceJoey Pecorarohttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXUbxtXlyp-urIb2hRlXRpQSneaky Adventure by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4383-sneaky-adventureLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-licenseLocal Elevator by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1300012Artist: http://incompetech.com/

For those of you who have just started listening to TBNT, these are some of our 2020 highlights. It's been quite a year! We clocked over 40 episodes, launched Patreon, figured out how to do social distancing recording, talked and talked and talked and chewed the fat with lots of wonderful authors and booknerds. We experimented on new formats, topics and even did a narrative show. Save to say we will always try and keep things interesting for you and serve up the variety and voracity of readers in this part of the world. We hope you enjoyed listening just as much as we enjoyed making the shows. Now onwards to 2021!

Our second last little episode of the year! This time we are giving you a quick tour of our reading year. We talk about romantic books, books we'll probably DNF and what some of the books we are looking forward to reading... Alien Sunset by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Artist: http://audionautix.com/ Celtic Impulse - Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Tavern Loop One by Alexander Nakarada | https://www.serpentsoundstudios.comMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comAttribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We caught up with chef and food writer Lara Lee on her gorgeous cookbook Coconut and Sambal. It has hit the culinary world by storm giving a face to modern Indonesian cuisine. As you can imagine gathering together recipes from the very diverse Indonesian archipelago is challenge indeed and she shared all the pleasures and challenges of not only writing a cookbook but also launching one where you can't do cooking demos and roadshows.

We are back with another stocking filler! Yay! This time it's on some yummy books to can get for the bookworm in your life or... let's be real for yourself. DD Groove by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100492Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Dirt Cheap Podcast reached out to us for a chat. We sat down via Discord with hosts Amanda Meadows and Geoffrey Golden to talk about their poddy where they are reading a dime store novel Murder in the Glass Room (it's bad, it's really, really bad) chapter by chapter and commenting on it. What followed was a super nerdy chat on the nature of man, interesting comic books and reads that begin with 'Planet of...' Enjoy! Covert Affair - Film Noire by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100795Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Casa Bossa Nova by Kevin MacLeod https://incompetech.com/Promoted by MrSnooze https://youtu.be/ioi_-5sAuXQCreative Commons — CC BY 3.0 I https://goo.gl/Yibru5

T'is the season to be jolly (well as jolly as you can muster after the year we've been having). Why not take a load off and enjoy our little minisode on some December TBR and book highlights. This is a first of a series of audio stocking fillers for the Christmas season. Dreams Become Real by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1500027Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Arcadia - Wonders by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100326Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Today we discuss one of our most unexpected reads of the year. Kikuko Tsumura's book is hilarious, mundane, relatable and dare we say intriguing. Yes, it's about a woman who keeps changing her temp job but scratch beneath the surface there is an astute look into urban life and finding fulfilment in how ever small your work might be. Listen on, it might make you think about your job too.Fluffing a Duck by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100768Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Lone Passage is a podcast about those most vulnerable and invisible in our society; Unaccompanied Minor Refugees. Children who are forced to leave their homes and loved ones due to dire circumstances. Through this exclusive audio documentary series, we will be shining a light on the stories and struggles of refugee children who in one way or another, ended up here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. What does the future hold for these young refugees in a country that doesn't recognize the rights of refugees? From Renegade Radio in collaboration with Malaysiakini, this is Lone Passage.Subscribe now to Lone Passage on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.

Stuart Turton returns with his second novel, another twisty nefarious tale, this time set on a ship in the 17th century. There is a motley crew of suspect characters, supernatural occurrences and of course murder. But as usual nothing is what it seems and we chatted with Stuart about what obsesses him, the story that did not let him go and what it takes to write a book like this. You won't want to miss this! It's an excellent interview.

We have heard of the theme Uplit but sometimes a book is not thoroughly 'up' just quietly hopeful perhaps on humanity, getting through a rough patch or just sometimes straight-up outwitting the devil. We all need a little patch of sunlight breaking through stormy clouds sometimes (although the storm-clouds itself can be blessing in disguise). Listen on as we discuss books themed around, 'what is a good life' and 'roads not taken.'Other book recommendationsLife after Life- Kate AtkinsonEveryday- David LevithanHow to Stop Time- Matt HaigThe Heavens- Sandra NewmanPeter Pan- J.M. BarrieMy Real Children- Jo WaltonA Lifetime of Impossible Days- Tabitha BirdCheck out our episode on Ted Chiang's Exhalation

We did a LIVE interview with Joshua Kam on his award-winning book How the Man In Green Saved Pahang and Possibly the World with Lit Books. Here is an edited version of the interview and a never before heard SPOILER section right at the end. This is definitely one of the more interesting books released locally this year.

Bonus episode! We thought it's be fun to careen out of our usual wheelhouse and tell you folks some cerita hantu. This was quite a bit of fun to do as we shook out some old stories we wrote and put it forth to be enjoyed by all. In lieu of Halloween you will get an original story written by us and one by our producer, Jeff. So three stories, never heard before. Be kind and enjoy it! If you folks have ghost stories or just stories you might like us to consider putting on the show do email it to us at booknerdstalking@gmail.com