What books sit high on the list of ‘to revisit books’ this festive holiday? The writers of Pulse and Plush offer their favourite picks
INTAN MAIZURA AHMAD KAMAL (EDITOR)
Books that I turn to again and again have somewhat been inspired by things I’ve seen on the idiot box or the silver screen. Case in point is my favourite all-time book, The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullough, the heart-rending epic saga centring on the dreams and struggles of three generations. At the heart of the story is the love of Meggie Cleary for parish priest-turn-Archbishop, Ralph de Bricassart. It was the TV series that hooked me first and made me seek out the book.
The seamless interweaving of love stories from one generation to the next, the dramatic plotting, the sense of steadily mounting tension are perfect ingredients for a most compelling read.
When it’s not priests and tormented women, I have a fixation for anything remotely connected to one of the most famous kings in English history, Henry VIII and Tudor history. Again, it was a fi lm, The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) starring Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman about two sisters vying for the affection of King Henry VIII that drove me to seek out Brit author Philippa Gregory’s novel of the same name. And I was hooked from then on. My bookstore jaunts are always driven by the desire to amass the latest Gregory novel or anything that’s set against the backdrop of Tudor England. A big history buff, I also love works of non-fiction that offer me an insight into the tyrannical king’s psyche and character.
Priests, tortured women, and mad monarchs aside, another type of book that gets me excited are travel books. Possessing a perpetual wanderlust, these books feed my need to soar to faraway places — albeit on virtual mode. A friend recently passed me a beautiful hardback tome, Lonely Planet’s Ultimate Travel List. I can’t wait to dive into that this festive break.
SULYN CHONG (SPECIALIST WRITER)
This festive hols, I will settle for a glass of iced Milo and the original unedited version of Sherlock Holmes — the ever intuitive detective who has many times solved problems that stumped even the cleverest at Scotland Yard.
My high regards for the greatest detective of all began when I was merely a teen. It was his quick wit, extraordinary intellect, and thorough methods of deduction that caught my imagination.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s portrayal of Sherlock Holmes was the pinnacle that shaped my desire to be who I am today— a perceptive individual who picks up on minute details and my deep sense of curiosity about everything that I come across. Not to mention, I thrive on the simple satisfaction of solving mysteries as minute as “who took my pen?” or “who ate the last cookie?”
Having lapped up every mystery from A Study In Scarlet to The Hound Of The Baskervilles and even witnessing his so-called “death” in His Last Bow, my love for Sherlock
Holmes has never waned. It is a series I will forever revisit, without doubt.
ZULIANTIE DZUL (JOURNALIST)
My favourite all-time book and one that I’d like to revisit this festive period is If Only It Were True by Marc Levy, a book that was adapted into a film in 2005 called Just Like Heaven. The story is about a young San Francisco architect named Arthur who finds a stranger in his closet. The stranger, a woman named Lauren, can appear and disappear at whim, but somehow only Arthur can see her. She tells Arthur she is in a coma and that her soulless body has been left in the hospital. It’s up to Arthur to help her get back into her body.
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It’s a heart-warming love story filled with adventure as well as some funny moments. I’m a hopeless romantic and am always imagining myself as being invisible (i.e. not good enough for anybody). I hope one day a guy can come up to me and say “I see you”.
He’ll see the real me, with all the flaws and still love me anyway. Move aside Nicholas Sparks! This should be the new bestselling tear-jerker novel!
ANEETA SUNDARARAJ (CONTRIBUTING WRITER)
It is customary to read a book starting on page one. There are also books I’ll read repeatedly like Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie and Discovery Of India by Jawaharlal Nehru. But there’s one book I have read from start to end, end to start and picked chapters out at random:
Autobiography Of A Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda.
It’s the story of a man’s singular search for Truth and an introduction to the science and philosophy of yoga. It starts with the birth of Mukunda at the end of the 19th century. His early life was full of the usual adventures with one difference:
Mukunda’s sole quest was to find a guru to guide him on his spiritual path.
When he was 17, Mukunda found his guru, Yukteswar. In time, Mukunda took his formal vows to enter the Swami Order and adopted the name Yogananda. He spent a good part of the rest of his life travelling the world to disseminate his teachings on India’s ancient spiritual practices.
What’s particularly inspiring is his first-hand account of meeting people like Luther Burbank (the legendary botanist), Rabindranath Tagore (the famed poet) and Mahatma Gandhi.
Yogananda also had audiences with Therese Neumann (a Catholic Stigmatist), Babaji (the ageless saint) and Giri Bala (the saint who never ate).
There are fantastical stories about materialising a palace in the Himalayas, and funny ones about the invisible entity called Hazrat who can fulfi l his master’s slightest wish and a thief who stole Yogananda’s caulifl owers. Yogananda’s lyrical prose showcases his charming humility and filial piety. In all, Autobiography Of A Yogi will forever be a book that I read to feed my soul.
NINOT AZIZ (CONTRIBUTING WRITER)
Time and again, I read books that define the different stages of my life. The most memorable novel I read in school was Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. As a teenager, the idea of a dark, tormented love borne out in the rugged moors must have been irresistible. Along with the tale Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and Touch Not The Cat by Mary Stewart, classics and gothic tales dominated my book shelf.
In the 1980s, science fiction was immensely popular. Frank Herbert’s masterpiece, Dune created a whole new universe and manipulation of dimensions, space and time. The language was poetic and prophetic and until today, this is my all-time favourite novel together with Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings and Trevanian’s The Summer Of Katya. Though I didn’t know it then, the tendency to combine prose and poetry in my writing was borne from these works.
As a writer and PR consultant, revisiting old books is a respite from the busy world. There is one book I read and reread with the same fascination year in year out. The Malay Annals. Lately, I have seriously read Malay novels with passion and appreciation of the history and language.
Recently, Haruki Murakami’s book series 1Q84 has also joined my list of favourite reads.
SARAH NH VOGELER (CONTRIBUTING WRITER)
My favourite pick would have to be Dean Koontz’ Lightning. Written in 1988, it is 351 pages of absolute horror and faith, of being broken, shattered and miraculously put together again. It’s not a love story, but it’s of love impossible, the kind probably only sages know of.
The protagonist, Laura Shane was born during a rare lightning blizzard, almost maimed by a doctor who attempted to deliver her while intoxicated. Laura’s life: A loving father who made up stories of toads living in cellars, whose love defined her, whose death imprinted a melancholy forever embedded into her spine.
Then there’s the enigmatic stranger Stefan who shows up every single time her life is in peril, and there are many. Why do I read it Christmas? Because it fills me with this inexplicable fervent zeal, because in my mind, I’m vehemently that this crushed world would never be whole again unless it’s read over and over and again. It’s moveable magic. It knots the veins. It stirs the blood.
SIMON SEZ (CONTRIBUTING WRITER)
Shocking, visceral and beautifully crafted, my favourite read of all time has got to be Water For Elephants, the award-winning historical fiction by Sara Gruen. First published in 2006, the book has become an international bestseller available in more than 40 languages and unsurprisingly, adapted onto the big screen in 2011.
A novel that pulsates with emotion and told in sombre tones of the Great Depression, Gruen transports readers back to the 1930s to trace Jacob Jankowski’s footsteps in his quest for purpose and happiness.
Failing his veterinary exams and with things looking bleak, Jacob hopped onto a train housing a travelling circus in search of a new life — one that he would come to painfully reminisce decades later.
In Jacob’s capacity as the circus’s vet, we come to know of the show’s star horse Silver, and Rosie, the traumatised elephant that Jacob eventually forms a bond with. As Jacob fi nds himself falling for Marlena, the equestrian whose husband happens to be the abusive ringmaster August, our protagonist must now ask if love and freedom are what he would ultimately fight for.
Though usually more psyched about crime novels, Gruen’s ingenious approach to storytelling, moving back and forth between the present day nursing home where Jacob resides and the rowdy circus scenes of earlier days, has me captivated.
As with the many rich scents that come with Christmas, this book makes for an enriching experience.
A book that affected me deeply, Water For Elephants is perfect for anyone seeking an endearing albeit slightly unorthodox read this hols.