Best locally-published books you should have on your reading list
Have reading on the top of your New Year Resolutions list? We’ll help get you started with these awesome reads from our favorite Singapore authors!
1. Harris Bin Potter and The Stoned Philosopher – Suffian Hakim
If you’re a Potterhead, you will love this book with a local spin on the Harry Potter classics. The fun parody follows the journey of Harry Bin Potter – an 11-year old Singaporean boy who meets a giant janitor and gets into the Hog-Tak-Halal-What School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Once sorted into the House of Fandi, he gets thrown into an insane adventure to save all of Singapore from being turned into kosongs.
Not sure about you, but we’re digging this story already.
2. The Riot Act – Sebastian Sim
The Riot Act by Sebastian Sim draws references from the Little India riot of 2013 and follows the lives of three women who were affected by it. One wonders if she triggered the chaos, the other asks if she can reveal what happened in the ambulance, and the the last one thinks this catastrophe could be what she needs to advance her political career. Also the winner of Epigram’s 2017 Book Fiction Prize, this dark comedic fiction is engaging yet unnerving as it discusses the “what ifs” of the historic riot.
3. An Ocean of Minutes – Thea Lim
A book that is extremely apt in today’s climate, An Ocean Of Minutes tells the story of Polly – a girl who flays America in light of a 1981 pandemic to take a job in the future that can save her lover. Once in the future, Polly has to risk everything to find him again. While this is a stretch from the current Covid-19 pandemic we live in, the imaginative storyline is one that will keep you on the edge of your seats.
4. The Descent of Monsters (The Tensorate Series) – J.Y. Yang
Imagine you’re an investigator who is called to the Rewar Teng Institute of Experimental Methods. It’s obvious that something has happened – there’s a sea of blood and bones, and dead bodies are everywhere. One of the experiments has broken lose. You only have a few clues and two prisoners, one who is a terrorist leader, and another companion known only as Rider. What will happen next? Read the book to find out!
5. The Gatekeeper – Nuraliah Norasid
In this book by Nuraliah Norasid, a young medusa named Ria accidentally turns a village into stone and flees to an underground settlement for protection. After becoming its gatekeeper, her new friendship with a human threatens to dismantle the city. While this masterpiece took Nuraliah two years to research and two years to write, her efforts must have paid off since The Gatekeeper snagged the Epigram Books Fiction Prize in 2016!