On the write trek

FROM a poignant graphic novel to an anthology of love poems to a collection of non-fiction essays, the best local books make you look at life on this little island in a different light:

Last Train From Tanjong Pagar

By Koh Hong Teng

Epigram Books, $26.64

ONE of the breeziest reads of 2014 is Koh Hong Teng's graphic novel Last Train From Tanjong Pagar, which depicts various characters connected to the now-closed Tanjong Pagar Railway Station. Based on history tours conducted by Lai Chee Kien, Last Train makes you nostalgic about the railway station and other local landmarks with its beautifully spare illustrations.

Hard Choices: Challenging The Singapore Consensus

By Donald Low and Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh

NUS Press Singapore, S$25.68

FEW non-fiction publications have attracted as much discussion this year as this collection of political essays. It questions many long-held beliefs and assumptions in Singapore's policy-making and boldly calls for reforms to address a new polity. You may not agree with everything that the authors argue for, but the book gets you thinking for weeks.

One Thousand and One Nights: Love Poems

By Gwee Li Sui

Landmark Books, S$19.26

WELL-REGARDED poet Gwee Li Sui is not known for being a writer of love poems. But these 40 love poems were inspired by a previous romance which, according to Gwee, lasted about 1,001 nights. There are some deliciously saccharine poems and some achingly tender ones too.

Play Things: The Complete Works 1984-2014

By Michael Chiang

Really Good Books, S$39.94

IN the 1980s, Michael Chiang wrote plays like Army Daze and Beauty World. They drew such unprecedentedly large audiences, they made part-time theatre practitioners think that theatre-making could be a viable way to make a living. Chiang and his peers like Ong Keng Sen went on to help create the scene as we know it today. Play Things is a collection of every play Chiang has written.

The Annotated Malay Archipelago

By Alfred Russel Wallace and edited by John van Wyhe

NUS Press Singapore, S$34.24

WHAT did Singapore and its neighbouring countries look like 150 years ago? This re-published account of the fieldwork carried out by naturalist Alfred Wallace in the 19th century is a must-have for anyone curious about life before modernity. It includes more than 800 footnotes and some gorgeous illustrations of the flora, fauna and people.

A Certain Exposure

By Jolene Tan

Epigram Books, S$20.22

ONE of the best debuts of 2014, this sometimes strident but largely effective novel begins with the suicide of a government scholar and proceeds to dissect elitism, racism, homophobia and other taboo topics in Singapore.

This Is My Family: New Singapore Plays Vol 2

Edited by Lucas Ho

Checkpoint Theatre, S$26.64

CHECKPOINT Theatre has released another good collection of plays written mostly by young playwrights who were formerly mentored by Huzir Sulaiman. Among the gems are Faith Ng's heartbreaking examination of marriage, For Better Or For Worse; and Oon Shu An's smart and funny confessional play about being a millennial, #UnicornMoment.

Trivialities About Me And Myself

By Yeng Pway Ngon, translated by Howard Goldblatt

Epigram Books, S$26.64

TRANSLATED into English for the first time, this complex and layered novel by Chinese language writer and Cultural Medallion recipient Yeng Pway Ngon centres on a protagonist whose lifelong struggles with his identity mirrors Singapore's own dilemmas.

Krakatau: The Tale of Lampung Submerged

By Muhammad Salleh,

translated byJohn H McGlynn

NUS Press Singapore, S$25.68

MORE than 130 years ago on Krakatau, an island 800km from Singapore, a massive volcanic explosion and tsunami took hundreds of thousands of lives. Though still talked about as one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history, the only surviving eye-witness account was written in Malay verse by Muhammad Salleh. Now beautifully translated into English by John H McGlynn, Krakatau is a real page-turner.

We Were Always Eating Expired Things

By Cheryl Julia Lee

Math Paper Press, S$16

SAVING my favourite for last, the book that had me returning to again and again is the debut poetry collection of Cheryl Julia Lee. Her poems about the need to connect and love have a subtle grace and covert brilliance that surely mark her as a talent to watch.