Sharlene Teo's Top Book Recommendations
Want to know what books Sharlene Teo recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Sharlene Teo's favorite book recommendations of all time.
An ELLE Singapore Recommended Read
It is 1944 in India and Nimita Khosla yearns to attend university to become an engineer, but her parents want a different life for her. As she accepts her fate and marries, religious upheaval is splitting the country and forcing her family to find a new home.
In 2014, her granddaughter, molecular biologist Nimita Sachdev, escapes India to run away from the prospect of an arranged marriage. Staking out a future in Singapore, she faces rising anger against... more
Recommended by Sharlene Teo, and 1 others. Sharlene TeoWhat I like about it is, firstly, that it’s told from the much-welcomed perspective of a Singaporean Indian. In Singapore, the other cultures do not tend to get as much space as the majority, which is the Singaporean Chinese perspective. It’s a wonderfully written, really witty work of fiction that is looking at parallel narratives. It’s a story of migration, firstly about a woman who moved to... (Source)
In a neighboring village, seventeen-year-old Wang Di is strapped into the back of a troop carrier and shipped off to a Japanese military brothel where she is forced into sexual slavery as a "comfort woman." After sixty years of silence, what she saw and experienced still haunts her.
In the year 2000, twelve-year-old Kevin is sitting beside his ailing grandmother when he overhears a mumbled confession. He sets out to discover... more
Recommended by Sharlene Teo, and 1 others. Sharlene TeoHow We Disappeared is a historical novel about the Japanese occupation of Singapore. It’s a sweeping epic and tells the tragic story of a young girl who gets taken as a comfort woman. This is an essential read. It’s a wonderful introduction to Singaporean literature and where Singaporean literature is headed. It’s incredibly beautifully written and very understated. (Source)
Recommended by Sharlene Teo, and 1 others. Sharlene TeoIt’s a balanced book and it takes us through the development and history of Singapore…For most people my age I would say it’s a very, very good resource. It’s quite approachable as well. (Source)
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