Lion City Lit: Books to mark the anniversary of the Fall of Singapore.

Asian Books Blog is based in Singapore. Lion City Lit explores what’s going on in the City-State, lit-wise. During World War Two, the Battle of Singapore, from 8–15 February 1942, ended with the fall of this city, Britain’s fortress in the East. Today marks the 74^th anniversary of the event, and NUS Press, which is associated with the National University of Singapore, offers a range of relevant titles.

The Sunday Post: Valentine's Day

The Sunday Post is a weekly round-up of items that caught my eye over the previous seven days. But since it's February 14th, I thought Asian Books Blog may as well join in with the annual orgy of hearts and flowers...

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You my be interested in my latest blog for the Telegraph, it's about Chinese New Year this week.  Click here to read it. 

Book of the Lunar Year: The Boy with a Bamboo Heart

All the votes are now counted, and the winner of the Asian Books Blog Book of the Lunar Year in the Year of the Ram / Goat, now drawing to a close, is The Boy with a Bamboo Heart, by Dr. Amporn Wathanavongs with Chantal Jauvin, published by Maverick House (Ireland). Click here to see the blog’s coverage of the book, last October.

Just quickly...

You may be interested in my review of Tales of Two Cities in Asian Review of Books. 

Tales of Two Cities is an anthology of stories from Hong Kong and Singapore. It's in the running for the blog's Book of the Lunar Year Award. Voting closes tomorrow at 9 a.m., so if you haven't done so yet, and you want to support one of the books on the shortlist, get cracking!! See here for details of the shortlist, and of how to vote.

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You may be interested in two pieces I have out today:

Who Was Olivia Cassivelaun Fancourt and What's Her Connection with Singapore? / The Singapore Finder

Expat problems: household help / The UK Telegraph (A jokey post for my regular Telegraph blog)

This week in Asian Review of Books

See the Asian Review of Books for ever-interesting discussion. Here are links to its newest reviews, excerpts, letters, essays, listings, translations, news items, and round ups:

Imperial Cities as Cultural Nodes: A View from Early Twentieth-Century Tokyo by Jordan Sand
Weekend reading: links to essays about poetry, prizes, authors 
Migration and Identity in Central Asia: The Uzbek Experience by Rano Turaeva reviewed by Joshua Bird
Dragons in Diamond Village by David Bandurski reviewed by Bill Purves
The China Boom: Why China Will Not Rule the World by Ho-fung Hung reviewed by Salvatore Babones
Russia and the Changing World Order by Francis P Sempa
Half of What I Say by Anil Menon reviewed by Jane Wallace
Recruit to Revolution: Adventure and Politics during the Indonesian Struggle for Independence by John Coast, edited by Laura Noszlopy reviewed by Tim Hannigan