I'm a huge book hoarder and buy many more books than I realistically have time to read. Also, I don't really have enough space at home. But I love books a lot and this habit doesn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon.
Circle of Tsundoku is a small, irregular thing that I do through this newsletter. As and when I finish reading a book—or if I go through a round of 'culling' of books that I finally admit to myself that I might never get around to reading—I will list the book here. All you have to do is email me to claim a book.
Milo Peng Funders of all tiers can claim books at no cost. For free subscribers of We, The Citizens, I just ask that you pay $5 for me to pack and post the book to you. I'm only able to post books to people in Singapore—it doesn't really make sense to ship secondhand books internationally given the cost!
One caveat: If you're claiming multiple books and it goes over the stipulated 2kg limit for the prepaid postage labels I have, I might be in touch about shipping costs or whether we can work out other options.
Looking for a good home
The Mother of All Questions by Rebecca Solnit
A new collection of 'further feminisms' - searing, smart and provocative essays from one of the most important public intellectuals writing today.
Following on from the success of Men Explain Things to Me comes a new collection of essays in which Rebecca Solnit opens up a feminism for all of us: one that doesn't stigmatize women's lives, whether they include spouses and children or not; that brings empathy to the silences in men's lives as well as the silencing of women's lives; celebrates the ways feminism has shifted in recent years to reclaim rape jokes, revise canons, and rethink our everyday lives.
Palestine by Joe Sacco
A landmark of graphic journalism, capturing the heart of day-to-day life in occupied Palestine.
Palestine remains one of the most influential works of visual reportage ever created—a ground-breaking fusion of comic art and investigative journalism.
Based on months of on-the-ground reporting in the early 1990s, Joe Sacco powerfully documents his own experiences and the daily lives of Palestinians during the First Intifada in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with remarkable insight and clarity.
Through drawings, reportage and storytelling, Sacco captures the moments of grief, resilience and absurdity that conventional journalism can miss. Palestine is a modern classic that continues to inspire artists, journalists and readers who seek an unflinching and nuanced account of the conflict.
The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
This beautifully illustrated and emotional story is an evocative memoir about the search for a better future and a longing for the past. Exploring the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family, Bui documents the story of her family’s daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced building new lives for themselves.
At the heart of Bui’s story is a universal struggle: While adjusting to life as a first-time mother, she ultimately discovers what it means to be a parent—the endless sacrifices, the unnoticed gestures, and the depths of unspoken love. Despite how impossible it seems to take on the simultaneous roles of both parent and child, Bui pushes through. With haunting, poetic writing and breathtaking art, she examines the strength of family, the importance of identity, and the meaning of home.
In what Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen calls “a book to break your heart and heal it,” The Best We Could Do brings to life Thi Bui’s journey of understanding.
What Doesn't Kill Us by Ajay Close
A killer stalks the streets of Leeds. Every man is a suspect. Every woman is at risk. But in a house on Cleopatra Street, women are fighting back.
It’s the eve of the 1980s. PC Liz Seeley joins the squad investigating the murders. With a violent boyfriend at home and male chauvinist pigs at work, she is drawn to a feminist collective led by the militant and uncompromising Rowena. There she meets Charmaine—young, Black, artistic, and fighting discrimination on two fronts.
As the list of victims grows and police fail to catch the killer, women across the north are too terrified to go out after dark. To the feminists, the Butcher is a symptom of wider misogyny. Their anger finds an outlet in violence and Liz is torn between loyalty to them and her duty as a police officer. Which way will she jump?
Ajay Close combines the tension of a police procedural with the power and passion of the women’s lib movement. By turns emotional, action-packed and darkly funny, What Doesn’t Kill Us reveals just how much the world has changed since the 1970s—and how much it hasn’t.
Kaypoh? Here's a list of previously claimed books
- The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good? by Michael J. Sandel
- Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? by Michael J. Sandel
- Unease: Life in Singapore Families by Teo You Yenn
- Deplorable Conversations with Cats and Other Distractions by Yeoh Jo-Ann
- Shanghai Immortal by A.Y Chao
- Impractical Uses of Cake by Yeoh Jo-Ann
- Carceral Capitalism by Jackie Wang
- Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
- Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
- I'll Just Be Five More Minutes: And Other Tales from My ADHD Brain by Emily Farris
- Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong by Lousia Lim
- All My Cats by Bohumil Hrabal
- The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang
- Dear Leader: North Korea's senior propagandist exposes shocking truths behind the regime by Jang Jin-sung
- If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio
- This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
- Singapore, Incomplete: Reflections on a First World Nation's Arrested Political Development by Cherian George
- 1987: Singapore's Marxist Conspiracy 30 Years On, edited by Chng Suan Tze, Low Yit Leng and Teo Soh Lung
- A Woman's Battles and Transformations by Edouard Louis