Bookmark This! Ep 16: The Discomfort Of Literature 22:16 mins Synopsis: A podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. Literary discomfort is having a winning streak of late, from Marieke Lucas Rijneveld's unsettling Dutch novel The Discomfort Of Evening snagging the International Booker Prize and Marylyn Tan becoming the first woman poet to score a solo victory at the Singapore Literature Prize for her collection Gaze Back. Journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li chat about these in the latest episode of this Straits Times literary podcast, as well as uncomfortable new releases The Lying Life Of Adults by Elena Ferrante and Death In Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh. Listen at: Gaze Back by Marylyn Tan - 00:42 The Discomfort Of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld - 03:20 Death In Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh - 09:53 The Lying Life Of Adults by Elena Ferrante - 12:36 Produced by: Olivia Ho, Toh Wen Li and Penelope Lee Edited by: Muhammad Firmann Follow Bookmark This! Podcast series and rate us on: Channel: https://str.sg/JWas Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWae Spotify: https://str.sg/JWan Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWah Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

Bookmark This!

The Discomfort of Literature: Bookmark This! Ep 16

Bookmark This! Ep 15: Escape into these books 23:54 mins Synopsis: A podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. After nearly two months under circuit breaker, you may want to break free - so journalists Olivia Ho (right) and Toh Wen Li (far right) pick out some escapist reads for you in the latest episode of this Straits Times literary podcast, whether it is renowned author Dan Brown or feeling less miserable with Les Miserables. Choose your own adventure in Intan Paramaditha's The Wandering, or flee a futuristic Singapore for new worlds in Judith Huang's Sofia And The Utopia Machine. Listen at: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown: 1:10 Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones: 4:45 The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emma Orczy: 8:37 Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: 11:40 Sofia And The Utopia Machine by Judith Huang: 16:52 The Wandering by Intan Paramaditha: 20:58 Produced by: Olivia Ho, Toh Wen Li and Penelope Lee Edited by: Penelope Lee Discover more Bookmark This! podcasts and rate us on: Spotify: http://str.sg/oeGg Apple Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeXN Google Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeLG Playlist: https://str.sg/JZnG Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg

Escape into these books: Bookmark This! Ep 15

Bookmark This! Ep 14: Pandemic novels for stay-home reading 31:29 mins Synopsis: A podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. Bored out of your mind while staying at home during the coronavirus circuit breaker? In the latest episode of this Straits Times literary podcast, journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li pick out some pandemic novels that may resonate with you, from Albert Camus’s seminal The Plague to Emily St John Mandel’s post-apocalyptic Station Eleven, as well as books by Singaporean authors Danielle Lim and Thea Lim.  0:55 The Plague by Albert Camus 6:33 Severance by Ling Ma 13:51 Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 17:44 An Ocean Of Minutes by Thea Lim21:03 Trafalgar Sunrise by Danielle Lim 24:50 Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel  Produced by: Olivia Ho, Toh Wen Li and Penelope Lee Edited by: Penelope Lee Discover more Bookmark This! podcasts and rate us on: Spotify: http://str.sg/oeGg Apple Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeXN Google Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeLG Playlist: https://str.sg/JZnG Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Thank you for your support! ST & BT Podcasts picked up a silver medal for Best Digital Project to engage younger and/or millennial audiences at 2019 Asian Digital Media Awards by Wan-Ifra: https://str.sg/Jw5T 

Pandemic novels for stay-home reading: Bookmark This! Ep 14

Bookmark This! Ep 13: In the mood for love poems30:56 minsSynopsis: A podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. With Valentine's Day around the corner, Life journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li chat about love poems across the spectrum, whether it is John Donne or Joshua Ip, budding romance or broken hearts, having a Coke together or keeping the stars apart.  Produced by: Olivia Ho, Toh Wen Li, Penelope Lee and Ernest LuisEdited by: Adam Azlee Discover more Bookmark This! podcasts and rate us on:Spotify: http://str.sg/oeGgApple Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeXNGoogle Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeLG Playlist: https://str.sg/JZnGFeedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Thank you for your support! ST & BT Podcasts picked up a silver medal for Best Digital Project to engage younger and/or millennial audiences at 2019 Asian Digital Media Awards by Wan-Ifra: https://str.sg/Jw5T 

In the mood for love poems: Bookmark This! Ep 13

Bookmark This! Ep 12: Clothes, consumption and the climate crisis20 minsSynopsis: A podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads.Life journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li check out three new books on the climate crisis: Naomi Klein's searing essay collection On Fire; We Are The Weather, in which Jonathan Safran Foer argues you can fight climate change by changing your diet; and Fashionopolis by Dana Thomas, which looks at the environmental cost of fashion.Produced by: Olivia Ho, Toh Wen Li, Penelope Lee and Ernest LuisEdited by: Adam Azlee Discover more Bookmark This! podcasts and rate us on:Spotify: http://str.sg/oeGgApple Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeXNGoogle Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeLG Playlist: https://str.sg/JZnGFeedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Thank you for your support! ST & BT Podcasts picked up a silver medal for Best Digital Project to engage younger and/or millennial audiences at 2019 Asian Digital Media Awards by Wan-Ifra: https://str.sg/Jw5T  Watch a video of Podcasts on the rise in Singapore: https://youtu.be/aGJ4cbch6eQ

Clothes, consumption and the climate crisis: Bookmark This Ep 12

Bookmark This! Ep 11: Booker breakdown - Atwood, Rushdie or the 1,000-page sentence? 27:30 mins Synopsis: A monthly podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. Life journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li break down the Booker Prize shortlist and weigh Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie's chances against Lucy Ellmann's Ducks, Newburyport, which is more than 1,000 pages long. 00:51 The Testaments by Margaret Atwood05:15 Quichotte by Salman Rushdie07:30 10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World by Elif Shafak12:26 An Orchestra Of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma15:26 Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo19:27 Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann Produced by: Olivia Ho and Toh Wen LiEdited by: Penelope Lee Discover more Bookmark This! podcasts and rate us on:Spotify: http://str.sg/oeGgApple Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeXNGoogle Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeLG Playlist: https://str.sg/JZnGFeedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Thank you for your support! ST & BT Podcasts picked up a silver medal for Best Digital Project to engage younger and/or millennial audiences at 2019 Asian Digital Media Awards by Wan-Ifra: https://str.sg/Jw5T  Watch a video of Podcasts on the rise in Singapore: https://youtu.be/aGJ4cbch6eQ

Booker breakdown - Atwood, Rushdie or the 1,000-page sentence?: Bookmark This! Ep 11

Bookmark This! Ep 10: Screen sirens, showgirls and sexuality 23 mins Synopsis: A monthly podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. Revisit the glamour of 1930s and 1940s show business with Life journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li as they discuss Delayed Rays Of A Star, Singaporean writer Amanda Lee Koe's dazzling debut novel about cinema legends Marlene Dietrich, Anna May Wong and Leni Riefenstahl, and City Of Girls, Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert's glitzy romp through the New York theatre world of the 1940s.  Produced by: Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li Edited by: John Lui Discover more Bookmark This! podcasts and rate us on:Spotify: http://str.sg/oeGgApple Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeXNGoogle Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeLG Playlist: https://str.sg/JZnGFeedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Thank you for your support! ST & BT Podcasts picked up a silver medal for Best Digital Project to engage younger and/or millennial audiences at 2019 Asian Digital Media Awards by Wan-Ifra:  https://str.sg/Jw5T  Watch a video of Podcasts on the rise in Singapore: https://youtu.be/aGJ4cbch6eQ

Screen sirens, showgirls and sexuality: Bookmark This! Ep 10

Bookmark This! Ep 9: Reviewing global and Singapore audiobooks 24:18 mins Synopsis: A monthly podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads When should an audiobook not sound too polished? Life journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li swap their bookmarks for headphones in this episode, in which they review audiobooks by the likes of David Sedaris, Neil Humphreys, Marlon James, Marie Kondo and more. They review the new Storytel app, which is also putting out original content based on Singapore literature: 2:50 David Sedaris, Children Playing Before A Statue Of Hercules4:19 Neil Humphreys, Notes From An Even Smaller Island6:16 George Saunders, Lincoln In The Bardo8:02 Philip Pullman, The Book Of Dust #1: La Belle Sauvage (read by Michael Sheen)10:30 Marlon James, Black Leopard, Red Wolf (read by Dion Graham)13:44 Lau Siew Mei, The Last Immigrant (read by Benjamin Chow)16:28 Sharlene Teo, Ponti (read by Vera Chok)18:03 Sebastian Sim, The Riot Act (read by Karen Tan) 20:21 Marie Kondo, The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up (read by Lucy Scott) Audiobook clips provided courtesy of Storytel Singapore. Produced by: Olivia Ho, Toh Wen Li, John Lui and Ernest Luis Edited by: John Lui Discover more Bookmark This! podcasts and rate us on:Spotify: http://str.sg/oeGgApple Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeXNGoogle Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeLG Playlist: https://str.sg/JZnGFeedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Thank you for your support! ST & BT Podcasts picked up a silver medal for Best Digital Project to engage younger and/or millennial audiences at 2019 Asian Digital Media Awards by Wan-Ifra:  https://str.sg/Jw5T  Watch a video of Podcasts on the rise in Singapore: https://youtu.be/aGJ4cbch6eQ

Reviewing global and Singapore audiobooks: Bookmark This! Ep 9

Bookmark This! Ep 8: Middlemarch, Middle-Earth and the end of the world 20 mins Synopsis: A new monthly podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. Book-to-screen adaptations - love them or hate them? This month, as Game Of Thrones wraps up on HBO and we look forward to the Amazon Studios and BBC miniseries based on Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Armageddon comedy Good Omens, we size up the best and worst adaptations out there - from actors playing multiple characters in Cloud Atlas to the failure of the 2005 Pride And Prejudice film, and why Brad Pitt needs to stop making zombie movies. 1:55: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman5:37: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell7:04: The Lord Of The Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien11:42: Middlemarch by George Eliot13:31: Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen14:51: Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates15:27: The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien15:47: Murder On The Orient Express by Agatha Christie16:23: World War Z by Max Brooks18:18: His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman18:44: The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye by Sonny Liew Produced by: Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li Edited by: Adam Azlee Discover more Bookmark This! podcasts and rate us on:Spotify: http://str.sg/oeGgApple Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeXNGoogle Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeLG Playlist: https://str.sg/JZnGFeedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Thank you for your support! ST & BT Podcasts picked up a silver medal for Best Digital Project to engage younger and/or millennial audiences at 2019 Asian Digital Media Awards by Wan-Ifra:  https://str.sg/Jw5T  Watch a video of Podcasts on the rise in Singapore: https://youtu.be/aGJ4cbch6eQ

Middlemarch, Middle-Earth and the end of the world: Bookmark This! Ep 8

Bookmark This! Ep 7: Singaporean Lee Jing-Jing's historical novel How We Disappeared; New York novelist Siri Hustvedt's Memories Of The Future 19:35 mins Synopsis: A new monthly podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. This month, we look at women and memory in two new books. New York novelist Siri Hustvedt's Memories Of The Future is about a woman named S.H. who moves to New York. Is it a memoir? Is it something else? There is also Singaporean Lee Jing-Jing's devastating historical novel How We Disappeared, about "comfort women" in World War II-era Singapore. Produced by: Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li Edited by: Adam Azlee Discover more Bookmark This! podcasts and rate us on:Spotify: http://str.sg/oeGgApple Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeXNGoogle Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeLG Playlist: https://str.sg/JZnGFeedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Thank you for your support! ST & BT Podcasts picked up a silver medal for Best Digital Project to engage younger and/or millennial audiences at 2019 Asian Digital Media Awards by Wan-Ifra:  https://str.sg/Jw5T  Watch a video of Podcasts on the rise in Singapore: https://youtu.be/aGJ4cbch6eQ

Singaporean Lee Jing-Jing's historical novel How We Disappeared; New York novelist Siri Hustvedt's Memories Of The Future: Bookmark This! Ep7

Bookmark This! Ep 6: Assassins, AI and alternate histories   20:31 mins   Synopsis: A new monthly podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads.   This month, we take a stab at two new books in translation. Korean novelist Kim Un-Su's offbeat thriller The Plotters is about a society of assassins who work out of a library. Broken Stars is an anthology of cutting-edge Chinese science fiction by the likes of Liu Cixin, Xia Jia, Hao Jingfang and more, edited by Ken Liu.   Produced by: Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li Edited by: Adam Azlee Discover more Bookmark This! podcasts and rate us on:Spotify: http://str.sg/oeGgApple Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeXNGoogle Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeLG Playlist: https://str.sg/JZnGFeedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Thank you for your support! ST & BT Podcasts picked up a silver medal for Best Digital Project to engage younger and/or millennial audiences at 2019 Asian Digital Media Awards by Wan-Ifra:  https://str.sg/Jw5T  Watch a video of Podcasts on the rise in Singapore: https://youtu.be/aGJ4cbch6eQ

Bookmark This!: Ep 6 – Assassins, AI and alternate histories

Bookmark This! S1: Ep 5: Dip into dreams and a drowning Bangkok 15 mins Synopsis: A monthly podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. This month, we dive into Singapore poet Cyril Wong's phantasmagoric collection Oneiros, recently reprinted by Math Paper Press, and Thai author Pitchaya Sudbanthad's centuries-spanning debut novel Bangkok Wakes To Rain, publishing later in February. Produced by: Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li Discover more Bookmark This! podcasts and rate us on:Spotify: http://str.sg/oeGgApple Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeXNGoogle Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeLG Playlist: https://str.sg/JZnGFeedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Thank you for your support! ST & BT Podcasts picked up a silver medal for Best Digital Project to engage younger and/or millennial audiences at 2019 Asian Digital Media Awards by Wan-Ifra:  https://str.sg/Jw5T  Watch a video of Podcasts on the rise in Singapore: https://youtu.be/aGJ4cbch6eQ

Bookmark This! Ep 5: Dip into dreams and a drowning Bangkok

Bookmark This! Ep 4: Burning books, bearing witness and a black-clad woman 17:26 mins Synopsis: A new monthly podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. Looking for a good book to curl up with over the holiday season? This month, we chat about The Library Book by Susan Orlean, an investigation into the 1986 Los Angeles Public Library fire and a love letter to libraries everywhere, and Melmoth by Sarah Perry, a neo-Gothic novel in which the guilty are haunted through history by a woman in black. Produced by: Olivia Ho, Toh Wen Li and Ernest Luis Discover more Bookmark This! podcasts and rate us on:Spotify: http://str.sg/oeGgApple Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeXNGoogle Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeLG Playlist: https://str.sg/JZnGFeedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Thank you for your support! ST & BT Podcasts picked up a silver medal for Best Digital Project to engage younger and/or millennial audiences at 2019 Asian Digital Media Awards by Wan-Ifra:  https://str.sg/Jw5T  Watch a video of Podcasts on the rise in Singapore: https://youtu.be/aGJ4cbch6eQ

Bookmark This! Ep 4: Burning books, bearing witness and a black-clad woman

Bookmark This! Ep 3: Myths, menstruation and a missing Singapore 15 mins Synopsis: A new monthly podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. This month, we chat about two bold new books hot off the press in the wake of the 2018 Singapore Writers Festival -  Ng Yi-Sheng's speculative short story collection Lion City and Marylyn Tan's poetry debut Gaze Back. Produced by: Olivia Ho, Toh Wen Li and Ernest Luis Subscribe, like and rate Bookmark This! on: Spotify: http://str.sg/oeGgiTunes: http://str.sg/oeXNGoogle podcasts: http://str.sg/oeLG Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg

Bookmark This! Ep 3: Myths, menstruation and a missing Singapore

Bookmark This! - Breaking down the Man Booker shortlist 25 mins Synopsis: A new monthly podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. This month, we break down the six contenders on the Man Booker Prize shortlist. Who will win the prestigious prize come Oct 16? We present our top choices. Fast forward to the following times for the various books covered. 00:36: The Long Take by Robin Robertson 05:32: Milkman by Anna Burns 13:27: The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner 14:45: The Overstory by Richard Powers 18:43: Washington Black by Esi Edugyan 21:49: Everything Under by Daisy Johnson Produced by: Olivia Ho, Toh Wen Li, Ernest Luis and Jonathan Roberts Discover more Bookmark This! podcasts and rate us on:Spotify: http://str.sg/oeGgApple Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeXNGoogle Podcasts: http://str.sg/oeLG Playlist: https://str.sg/JZnGFeedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Thank you for your support! ST & BT Podcasts picked up a silver medal for Best Digital Project to engage younger and/or millennial audiences at 2019 Asian Digital Media Awards by Wan-Ifra:  https://str.sg/Jw5T  Watch a video of Podcasts on the rise in Singapore: https://youtu.be/aGJ4cbch6eQ

Bookmark This! Ep2: Breaking Down the Man Booker Prize shortlist

A monthly podcast by The Straits Times, where we talk about titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. Podcasters: Olivia Ho & Toh Wen Li. Produced by The Straits Times, SPH.