20 Jun May 2016 Bestsllers

Once again we look back at the month just gone – and try to read the runes when it comes to our readers’ buying habits. As usual, it’s an intriguing list. Pride of place – and for the first time – goes to Tan Twan Eng’s The Garden of Evening Mists (Canongate), his elegant and haunting novel of war, art and memory. And just to hog the limelight, Twan Eng’s The Gift of Rain (Myrmidon) comes in at number four. In a strong month for literary fiction, it’s pleasing to see Deborah Rodriguez’s The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul (Sphere) and a personal favourite, Meena Kandasamy’s The Gypsy Goddess (Atlantic Books), make the top ten for the first time. The frisson caused by Rehman Rashid’s fine new book, Peninsula: A Story of Malaysia (Fergana Art), shows no sign of abating, unsurprising given the excellent reviews it’s been garnering. Mahathir Mohamad’s appearance at a major forum recently obviously spurred some to revisit his incendiary The Malay Dilemma (Marshall Cavendish). As always, our commitment to first-class books on Penang shows up in three wonderful titles (each of which we were privileged to edit): Marcus Langdon’s Penang: The Fourth presidency of India, volume 2 (George Town Wolrd Heritage Inc.); Tan Yeow Wooi’s Penang Shophouses (Tan Yeow Wooi Culture & Heritage Research Studio); and the classic Portraits of Penang: Little India (Areca Books), showcasing the historic photographs of Ooi Cheng Ghee. With Helen and William Bynum’s beautifully produced Remarkable Plants That Shape Our World (Thames & Hudson) showing up well, we think it’s been a vintage month. Here’s the full list:

1. Tan Twan Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists (Canongate)
2. Rehman Rashid, Peninsula: A Story of Malaysia (Fergana Art)
3. Mahathir Mohamad, The Malay Dilemma (Marshall Cavendish)
4. Tan Twan Eng, The Gift of Rain (Myrmidon Books)
4. Sonny Liew, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (Epigram Books)
5. Marcus Langdon, Penang: The Fourth presidency of India, Vol. 2 (GTWHI)
6. Deborah Rodriguez, The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul (Sphere)
7. Tan Yeow Wooi, Penang Shophouses (Tan Yeow Wooi Culture & Heritage Research Studio)
8. Meena Kandasamy, The Gypsy Goddess (Atlantic Books)
9. Helen and William Bynum, Remarkable Plants That Shape Our World (Thames & Hudson)
10. Ooi Cheng Ghee, Portraits of Penang: Little India (Areca Books)