Two Book Nerds Talking

Table for Two is a story told in vignettes - Evelyn Ross drifts betwen cities, going from New York City to Chicago, then to Los Angeles. With every step she takes closer to home, she treads farther away away and finds herself in a constantly spiraling dialogue betwen her past, present, and future.  Exposited in seven points of view, the chain of storeis highlights the wit and dynamic penmanship of...

Hello booknerds!  It's been 2 weeks since the Aēsop Women's Library and we had some time to gather our thoughts about it.  We got some special guests on board for this epsiode and we asked their thoughts on the Aēsop Women's Library 2024 that took place from 14-16 June at the Aēsop stores at The Exchange TRX and IOI City Mall, Putrajaya. We have Shi Han, who is behind the fabulous Instagram accoun...

Hello everyone!  In this second special Aēsop episode, we're talking to some special guests that are no strangers to the literary scene in Kuala Lumpur.  We have Sharon Bakar who is the Managing Director of Word Works SDN BHD. Sharon runs creative writing courses, helps edit and publish writer’s works, and hosts literary events like readings at Seksan Gallery, Bangsar, KL.  We also have Amir Muham...

Introducing the Aēsop Women's Library 2024, Malaysia Edition! We are beyond excited to partner up with Aēsop Malaysia again to bring you another year of the Aēsop Women's Library! This year's theme is voices unbound and you'd be spoilt for choice as there will be 27 titles to choose from this year! Do visit the selected Aēsop stores and you are allowed to choose one complimentary book, no purchase...

Introducing the Aēsop Women's Library 2024, Malaysia Edition! We are beyond excited to partner up with Aēsop Malaysia again to bring you another year of the Aēsop Women's Library! This year's theme is voices unbound and you'd be spoilt for choice as there will be 27 titles to choose from this year! Do visit the selected Aēsop stores and you are allowed to choose one complimentary book, no purchase...

We're talking about Butter by Asako Yuzuki (translated by Polly Barton) in this episode. Whew! There's a lot to unpack in this book, from delectable desciptions of food, to possible murders, the power struggle between the characters... this book is so much more than it seems.  Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, "The Konkatsu Killer", the books is about gourmet...

Some people think foxes are similar to ghosts because we go around collecting qi, or life force, but nothing could be further than the truth. We are living creatures, just like you, only usually better looking . . . Hello booknerds!  We're so excited to share our interview with the fabulous Yangsze Choo on her new book The Fox Wife ! It has a bit of everything; spirits, mystery, vengence, longing,...

Hello book nerds! We're back with a whole new season and we're kicking it off with our anticipated reads for the first quarter of 2024! It's an eclectic list filled with family drama, witches, crime, tea, and all sorts. It's going to be an interesting reading year and we hope you'll join us. Books mentioned: - You Only Call Me When You're In Trouble by Stephen McCauley - You Dreamed of Empires by...

Hello booknerds! It has been some time but we're back from the ether to bring you our last episode of the year. Publishers usually hold out till the end of the year to release the good stuff and in this episode, we're talking about some anticipated reads that came out during the autumn season and year end. We would like to take this time to thank all our listeners for sticking with us and for all...

Spooky greeting booknerds. We know we're late but better late than never right? In this episode, we got to talk to the mysterious Kopi Soh, author of Looking After the Ashes. The book is a semi-biographical fiction of Kopi Soh’s childhood stories from growing up in a Peranakan family filled with "wisdom". We talked about strange taboos (pantang larang), spirits, ghosts, and everything in between....

Hello booknerds! We're talking to Tokyo-based Malaysian writer Florentyna Leow in this episode about her debut book How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart. The book is tender time capsule of her time working as a tour guide in Kyoto and the heartbreak that followed the end of a friendship. We absolutely loved reading her book and we obviously had to talk to her about it. She's a kindred spirit and we hope yo...

We know it's rather late in the day to release this episode but we've came across some titles that are just too good not to share. The promt for our August #tbntbookchallenge2023 is to read a book set in an ancient city or about an ancient civilisation. Eventhough these are some recommendations for our August challenge, we do hope some of these titles have piqued your interest and that you'll pick...

Hello booknerds! We got to talk to award-winning short story writer Saras Manickam back on 15 July 2023 live at our favourite indie bookshop Lit Books, PJ. We get into her short story collection My Mother Pattu and it was such a lovely conversation. Saras writes with much empathy and understanding of human complexities, tackling difficult issues like racism, mistreatment of migrant workers, and do...

“We're here to make magic with words” ― R.F. Kuang, Babel: An Arcane History Step into the world of dark academia with us in this book chaser episode. We talk about Babel by R.F. Kuang and I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai; both set in institutions of learning and all the dark stuff that happens behind the scenes. Murder, colonism, dark secrets, word nerdery: all the good stuff can b...

Hello booknerds! We took a short break after all the Aesop Women's Library excitement and we're back! We got to speak to THE Samantha Shannon, author of The Priory of the Orange Tree, about her latest book, A Day of Fallen Night . A Day of Fallen Night is the prequel to Priory and it’s set just shy of five centuries before Priory and covers the period known as the Great Sorrow, or Grief of Ages. W...

This is the third special episode brought to you by Aesop Malaysia in conjunction with the Aesop Women's Library: Malaysia Edition. In this episode, we got Hanna Alkaf , Viji Krishnamoorthy , Alina Rastam , Qurratul ‘Ain , and 梁靖芬 Leong Ching Foon aboard to talk to us about being a woman writer in Malaysia. It is such an illuminating episode and we think we can confidently say that our women wr...

Cheers booknerds! This is the second episode of our Aesop Women's Library special. In this episode, Honey and Diana will be talking about some of their picks for the fiction and poetry collections that will be availble at the selected Aesop stores soon. You will be spoilt for choice and we're here to help highlight some titles that might interest you. Enjoy! — Over the course of three days, the sh...

Introducing The Aesop Women's Library! During this time, the shelves of Aesop Pavilion, Aesop Gardens, and Aesop Gurney Plaza will be cleared of products to make way for significant works of literature by Malayisan women authors. The selection is sprawling in genre and spirit: from emerging voices to seasoned authors, and short stories to novels and poetry. To find out more, listen to this episode...

Who knows you better than your best friend? Who knows your secrets, your fears, your desires, your strange imperfect self? Get ready to be all in your feels with We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman. Edi and Ash have been best friends for over forty years, and when Edi is diagnosed with terminal cancer and put into hospice care, Ash's life is reshaped. Catherine Newman has managed to...

We're talking to Malaysian author Shivani Sivagurunathan on her book, What Has Happened to Harry Pillai? in this episode. Shivani Sivagurunathan has been writing and publishing fiction and poetry for twenty years. She is an English professor at the University of Nottingham Malaysia and fun fact, she was Diana's professor when she was persuing her Masters! What Has Happened to Harry Pillai? consist...

What do you do if you're a murder-magnet? Everywhere you go, someone dies. Mallory Veridian's solution is to blast off to space, to a space station called Eternity. Greetings booknerds! In this episode, Honey and DIana talk about a sci-fi cozy mystery called Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty. Sentient spaceships, all forms and manners of aliens, symbiotic alien relationships, a shuttle full of huma...

Cheers booknerds! It's been a hot minute since you've heard our dulcet voices. Life certainly got crazy towards the end of 2022 but we've finally sat ourselves down in the studio to bring you some of our anticipated reads of the first half of 2023! Ranging from fantasy to non-fiction, a dash of a VERY much talked about 'memoir', dreadful and hopeful reads about climate change, we've come up with a...

On the 2nd of September 2022, we sat down with the incredible Karina Robles Bahrin to talk about her debut Epigram Fiction Prize 2022 winning book, The Accidental Malay at Lit Books. We had such a great time talking to Karina and she's a hoot, as you'll find out yourself in this episode. This recording was done in front of a live audience so do take note of the sound. Do pick up a copy of Karina's...

Cheers book nerds! We're back and fair warning, we're GUSHING about Gabreille Zevin's new book, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. This book helped Honey out of her reading slump and Diana loved it. It's described as "a love story, but it is not one you have read before", it's one of love between creative individuals and the sense of being able to understand and click with one another. The book...

Man, it's August already and that means a new reading prompt for our #tbntbookchallenge2022! This month, we're challenging you to read a diverse or a classic YA book and we're back with some recommendations. Honey tackles some diverse and recent YA books while Diana is giving us some classic YA titles that you may or may not have heard of. Whatever you pick up, we hope it's an enjoyable read for y...