WHAT I BOUGHT TODAY ...

Food for the mind and soul

I SAUNTERED into the best bookshop in Kuala Lumpur this weekend and treated myself to a couple of great books to nourish my mind and soul after a long week of mindless activity.

The Harmony Silk Factory (1st American edition) (2005) / Tash Aw
The Sea (1st American edition) (2005) / John Banville
Old Filth (2004) / Jane Gardam
A Tale of Love and Darkness (2004) / Amos Oz (trans. from the Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange)
Saving Fish from Drowning (1st American edition) (2005) / Amy Tan

Bibliography
AW Tash [1972-] Novelist. Born Aw Ta-Shii in Taipei, Taiwan. NOVEL The Harmony Silk Factory (2005: winner of the 2005 Whitbread First Novel Award; longlisted for the 2005 Booker Prize for Fiction and the 2005 Guardian First Book Award)

BANVILLE John [1945-] Novelist. Born in Wexford, Ireland. NOVELS The Sea (2005: winner of the 2005 Booker Prize for Fiction); Shroud (2002); Eclipse (2000); The Untouchable (1997: shortlisted for the 1997 Whitbread Novel Award for Fiction); Athena (1995); Ghosts (1993); The Book of Evidence (1989: shortlisted for the 1989 Booker Prize for Fiction); Mefisto (1986); The Newton Letter: An Interlude (1982); Kepler (1981: winner of the 1981 Guardian Prize for Fiction); Doctor Copernicus (1976: winner of the 1976 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction); Birchwood (1973); Nightspawn (1971) STORIES Long Lankin (1970) PLAYS God's Gift (2000); The Broken Jug (1994) TRAVEL Prague Pictures: Portrait of a City (2003)

GARDAM Jane [1928-] Novelist, short-story writer, children’s writer. Born Jean Mary Pearson in Coatham, North Yorkshire, England. NOVELS Old Filth (2004: shortlisted for the 2005 Orange Prize for Fiction); The Flight of the Maidens (2000); Faith Fox (1996); The Queen of the Tambourine (1991: winner of the 1991 Whitbread Novel Award); Crusoe’s Daughter (1985); God on the Rocks (1978: winner of the Prix Baudelaire in 1989 and shortlisted for the 1978 Booker Prize for Fiction) STORIES Missing the Midnight (1997); Going into a Dark House (1994: awarded the 1995 PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award); Showing the Flag and Other Stories (1989: winner of the 1989 Prix Baudelaire); The Pangs of Love and Other Stories (1983: winner of the 1984 Katherine Mansfield Award); The Sidmouth Letters (1978); Black Faces, White Faces (1975: winner of both the 1975 David Higham Prize for Fiction and the 1975 Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize) NONFICTION The Iron Coast (with photographs by Peter Burton and Harland Walshaw) (1994) CHILDREN’S Ink Monkey (1999); The Green Man (with illustrations by Mary Fedden) (1998); Tufty Bear (1996); Through the Doll’s House Door (1987); Swan (1986); Kit in Boots (1985); Kit (1984); Horse (1982); Bridget and William (1981); The Hollow Land (1981: winner of the 1981 Whitbread Children’s Novel Award); Bilgewater (1977); The Summer After the Funeral (1973); A Long Way from Verona (1971); A Few Fair Days (1971)

OZ Amos [1939-] Novelist, short- story writer, essayist, memoirist. Born Amos Klausner in Jerusalem, Israel. NOVELS The Same Sea (trans. from the Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange) (1999; 2001); Don’t Call It Night (trans. from the Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange) (1994; 1996); Panther in the Basement (trans. from the hebrew by Nicholas de Lange) (1995; 1997); Fima (trans. from the Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange) (1991; 1993); To Know a Woman (trans. from the Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange) (1989; 1991); Black Box (trans. from the Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange) (1987; 1988); A Perfect Peace (trans. from the Hebrew by Hillel Halkin) (1982; 1985); In the Land of Israel (trans. from the Hebrew by Maurie Goldberg-Bartura) (1983); The Hill of Evil Counsel (1973; 1978); Unto Death (trans. from the Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange) (1971; 1975); Touch the Water, Touch the Wind (1973; 1974); Elsewhere, Perhaps (trans. from the Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange) (1966; 1973); My Michael (trans. from the Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange) (1968; 1972) STORIES Where the Jackals Howl and Other Stories (trans. from the Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange and Philip Simpson) (1965; 1981) NONFICTION Help Us to Divorce: Israel & Palestine: Between Right and Right (2004); Where Shall Wisdom Be Found? (2004) ESSAYS The Silence of Heaven (2000); Israel, Palestine, and Peace (1995); Under This Blazing Light (trans. from the Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange) (1995); In the Land of Israel (1993); The Slopes of Lebanon (trans. from the Hebrew by Maurie Goldberg-Bartura) (1990) MEMOIR A Tale of Love and Darkness (trans. from the Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange) (2003; 2004: winner of the 2005 Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Literary Award for Nonfiction)

TAN Amy [1952-] Novelist. Born in Oakland, California, U.S. NOVELS Saving Fish from Drowning (2005); The Bonesetter’s Daughter (2001); The Hundred Secret Senses (1995: shortlisted for the 1996 Orange Prize for Fiction); The Kitchen God’s Wife (1991); The Joy Luck Club (1989: winner of the 1989 Los Angeles Times Book Award; shortlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction) MEMOIR The Opposite of Fate (2003) CHILDREN’S The Chinese Siamese Cat (with illustrations by Gretchen Schields) (1994); The Moon Lady (with illustrations by Gretchen Schields) (1992)