TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN PUTRA AL-HAJ: His Life Journey Leading to the Declaration of Independence (1903-1957) by E. Yu (MPH, 2009, 240 pages)

Last week's novel, The Malayan Trilogy, ended at Independence but gave us the sardonic sweep of our incipient nation's colours and contradictions.

It did not foreground any politicians, so this oversight (if it can be considered one) is happily corrected in this comic tome.

LETHAL LESSON AND  OTHER STORIES by Adeline Lee Zhia Ern (Silverfish, 2009, 175 pages)

He spoke for almost an hour but thousands of people stayed put. It’s a weekly ritual known as sekolah atas tembok, which in this context translates to mean ‘school on the street’ rather than ‘school on a concrete wall’. He didn’t have to raise his voice;

YOU can't read Malaysian books all the time, of course; you will go bonkers! Although our publishing output is more varied than our news - microwaving the Cold War yet again? Are we still wondering if theocrats can be liberal? - it's good to take the occasional break.

'Catatan Hati Nik Nur Madihah' by Nik Nur Madihah with Ummu Hani Abu Hassan (Hijjaz Records Publishing, 2009, 126 pages)

Unlike the archetypal rebel-hero of Malay antiquity, Mat Som is already so lepak (chill) that he doesn’t need a day off. And so it is with Pipiyapong, the nom de blog of one Firdaus Abdillah, twenty-something.

It helps that I had never read any of the pieces here before.

I mistook Lydia Teh’s Word’s Up, Eh Poh Nim? column in The Star for some kind of simple grammar guide, so never felt compelled to go any further because I have been told that my Englands is already quite well.

Well, the joke’s on me!