TBNT x Aesop E01 | Introducing the Aēsop Women's Library 2024: voices unbound (Part 1) - Two Book Nerds Talking

Episode Transcript
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(00:17):
Hello, friends and book lovers,Welcome to a special episode of two Booknets
talking with me Haney Ahmed and Hi, I'm Diana, and we have fantastic
news because the Esort Women's Library isback again this year. Yeah. Last
year, Yeah, last year theydid a library pop up in three ESORPT

(00:38):
stores for three days. That wasEsort in Pavilion KL, the Gardens and
Gurney Plaza. And this is whenthey turned their stores into beautiful libraries.
NA, what's wonderful, very veryesthetic as well. Yeah, So basically
anyone can come into any of thesestores during those days and a book by

(01:00):
a Malaysian women author and purus aselection of over twenty books and we TBNT
was their podcast partner and we hada great time and we're really thrilled that
this year they're back and the librarieswill be set up in their gorgeous new
store in DRX Beautiful Store and inIo City mo Fotragure. It will be

(01:22):
from the fourteenth to the sixteen ofJune this year and they have a fresh
selection of women authors chosen by sixbookstores and publishing houses. The books will
be in three languages, English butAssimilation and Mandarin, and we are here
in our first episode. For thesecond is a women's library to bring you
through the books. There are twentyseven of them, yes, twenty seven

(01:44):
new choices for you to choose from. And you know, honey, I
love the fact that the ISO Women'sLibrary is this initiative by the ISO company
that was designed to help champion andempower local women's literary voices, right,
And I think, you know,it's so great that we have this effort
to help the Malaysian public realize thatthere is so much richness in our local

(02:07):
literary market as well that most ofus don't know about. I did not
know about many of these books,I'm sorry to say. So. It's
designed to help champion and empower localwomen's literary voices and celebrate the successes of
these authors and artists. And there'ssome art books in here as well for
those people who don't like their booksto be only text. Right it say

(02:28):
picture books are only for children.Yes, that's very true. The goal,
of course, is to make ameaningful and memorable contribution to the community
through the sharing of local voices andstories with the customers, which I think
is an amazing goal. So Yeah, there's twenty seven books to choose from,
and they're from all kinds of genres. If you like fiction, you

(02:50):
like nonfiction, you like art,if you're looking for a children's book,
there's plenty of here for you tochoose. Let's dive into the choices that
you have for this year's AS Women'sLives. Okay, the first category,
Okay, we've actually sorted these intodifferent categories for people who are in different
moods. So the first one isif you're in the mood to explore Malaysia's

(03:10):
rich culture and heritage, you wantto listen to this first up is As
Equals the Oi Women of Java byDaryl Yup, and she is a banking
analyst who got into writing by chance. It started in two thousand and six
when her family home was entrusted intoan education foundation. She felt compelled to
find out more about her family historyand embarked on a decade long journey of

(03:34):
research and fact finding, and thatjourney led to her first book about her
great grandfather, Yak Choi, thelegendary grand old man of Penang who started
Penang's first local bank, ban Hinleyin nineteen eighteen. Now I feel that.
I really love the subject matter ofher second book because I think there's
a lack of books out there aboutwomen of substance that you know, in

(03:59):
the turn of the century, andwe're talking about the turn of the twentieth
century, right, And so shefocuses this book on the women in her
family in lass to her great grandfatherand what women they are. We follow
huilan Ida and Lucy, grand daughtersand wife of Oi tiong Hums which is
Asia's sugar king king at the cuspof the twentieth century, and they were

(04:20):
actually based in Indonesia. And thesewomen they broke cultural stereotypes, They flew
planes, they managed Asia's most opulentestates, and they charmed the Western world
with their sense of taste and sophistication. What do you think of this,
Dina? It really sounds fascinating becauseI think far too little is written or
known about a lot of the groundbreakingwomen in our past. And I think,

(04:44):
yeah, if you're really looking tolook into the history of Malaysia,
what we often listen to and hearabout is just you know, like drive
political history, right. So thisis something that really brings history to life.
And what's interesting about this is thatwhen she was doing the research,
she really had to dig right becausein those days, when a woman gets

(05:05):
married, it is British legal doctrineto give away her rights to her husband,
including their name. So it's hardto find in for because they become
missus so and so instead of theirindividual name. And this book, huilan
And actually, which I think isthe main character in the book, is
Attityoham's favorite daughter. She had aBritish governess, She was multi lingual,

(05:28):
she even performed a French opera inSingapore. She lived in London, wore
beautiful chung sums. I just imagineher like a Maggie Chung like character that
just waffs around in ballrooms and justlike enthrall all this kind of British colonious
with her fashion. So yeah,yeah, So if you want to read
something that has meticulous research, interestingfemale characters and real ones at that she

(05:51):
really brings the glamor and darkness ormodernity in early twentieth century Asia into your
hands. I think books like thesereally they shine a light on a lot
of the history that we always wenever knew about women like that, that
that really brought a lot of colorand culture into into our world and we

(06:12):
forget about them because history is onlywritten by men. Basically, yeah,
that's why we need men and victims. Yes, okay. Next up,
I have a Chinese book to introduceto you. It's called The Edges and
Corners of l L the Landjia.This is by the author Qued Sling and
Courshling is actually a Johorian who hasa master's in Chinese linguistics and she's currently

(06:39):
the Chinese editor of a non profitcultural organization in Singapore. This is her
eighth book of poetry. You know, she's probably very very well known in
Singapore, much more than she ishere. But she is after all writing
about her experience of being probably notonly a Singaporean but also as a Malaysian
as well. So the unique featureof this book is that it is handwritten

(07:02):
and there are illustrations drawn by thepoet paired with every poem. Nice it
is. So I'm so amazed whenI look at this because I do not
read Chinese, and therefore I thinkthere's there's a whole segment of literature that
is kind of like hidden from frommy view, and every time we are,

(07:23):
you know, exposed to these books, particularly through the Ace of Women's
Library. Actually it makes me realizethat, you know, like when it
comes to Chinese literature, they dothings a lot differently than we do.
Like their books they tend to havelike like this one is handwritten right there,
handwritten and illustrated by the by thepoet, which is not something that
you see very often in a lotof English literature. Actually, like on

(07:46):
the list this year, there's eightbooks in Mandarin, I think a lot
more than last year. Yeah,and all of them, and all of
them are really kind of different,and yes, and yes, and when
you have a lot of poetry inthis in this in this selection, so
if you think that books are actuallyjust boring and you know, like dry,
pick up a book of poetry becausethat's something that will really change your

(08:09):
mind about what words can do.And you can probably finish it in a
day. Yes, especially this book, because most of the poems in this
book are shot. They're easy toread, and they have a sense of
humor. I like that, unlikea poetress poet poet with a sense of
humor. And yeah, and itbasically explores, you know, aspects of
life and maybe you can get someinspiration from it. Yeah, yeah,

(08:31):
so I think, yeah, ifyou're looking for something that's easy to read,
and I think what I like isthat it's supposed to be funny and
humorous book. So if you're luckyenough to able to read Chinese, have
a lookout for the edges and cornersof elderly speaking of you know, different
sorts of books. That is sortof like a lifestyle recipe book on the

(08:54):
list called The Food that Makes UsIt's by Fondly Made and so to wigh
in. Yeah, so this thisbook is how would I describe this book?
It's not really a recipe book.I feel it's more like a story
book about various people's lives and differentdifferent parts of society. So there's a

(09:15):
section all around usli. There's asection on ladies who actually like run.
There there's even one on somebody.There's fine dining, but it's people who
has lived their life through food basically. So it's part stories, part recipes,
part photography, part illustration, andit's basically about how we make food
and how the food also makes ussounds lovely, it really does, yeah,

(09:37):
And so it explores stories behind homegooks. Theres a guy who mixed stork
from scratch. I mean, there'sHianis chicken rice. There's somebody that makes
bread and hazelnuts spread cha. Youknow fish stool in bamboo by the Similie
tribe. You know, there's thisecambilist bunger canton recipe, which I probably
would never eat because I don't likebunger cantan. But it's just so fas

(10:00):
fascinating that this is what it's like, a hunter gatherer kind of section of
the book. And yeah, sohopefully my coael book and I will be
cooking from this book. Yeah,your cream club. Yes, so yeah,
you got to watch this space everybody. It sounds like something that doesn't
only engage your sense of like,you know, you want to know a

(10:22):
little bit more about the history ofMalaysia, but then again you can experience
it through cooking from the dishes inthis book. Yes, indeed. So
next up we also have My MotherPatu Okay by Sarah's Monicam. I'm pretty
sure most of you out there willhave heard of this book because it was
probably one of the most popular bookssince last year. I think if you're

(10:46):
talking about books written by Malaysians ofcourse a very well deserved accolade as well.
It is a wonderful book. Wehave actually spoken to Sarah's Monicam and
yeah, and we enjoyed her bookas well. So Sarah's Monicam has worked
as a teacher, trainer, acopywriter, copy editor, like basically anything
and everything to do with within aroundliterature, I guess. So she also

(11:09):
has had her short stories published ina number of anthologies throughout the year.
And yeah, so she actually wonthe dk Good Memorial Award for Literary Excellence
in twenty seventeen and twenty nineteen CommonwealthShort Story Contest. So both of these
stories also appear in My Mother,Part two, which is her first collection

(11:30):
of her own stories. There's fourteenstories in this collection and they deal with
the themes of marriage, parenting,aging, sexual desires, friendship, sense
of belonging, motherhood and are verymuch good representation, I would say,
of a lot of what it meansto be Malaysian and also like I think,

(11:52):
the Indian diaspora. I mean,she really gets into the nuances,
you know, and some of herstories are quite heartbreaking, and what I
like about them is that she doesn'tshy away. She is not trying to
be Oh, yes, she's nottrying not to see it nice, but
she's not. She's trying to tellyou the truth. So and sometimes setting
the truth means looking at the uglyor what is you know, within your

(12:16):
society and within your culture. Exactly, she doesn't flinch. And there's see
story in here about a woman whoher mother is not nice to her,
let's put it that way, andthat emotional trauma kind of like you know,
carries over into the generations that comeafter her. Right. And also

(12:39):
what about the story about a motherwho has this severely disabled son and she's
like talking to God about it,what means to raise this son? And
how she's trying so hard, butwhy does she have to go through this
experience? And I think that's somethingthat is so heartfelt but yet so difficult
to read. Actually yeah, yeah, you know, yeah, so yeah,

(13:01):
people at the margins of society prejudicesall this kind of stuff. And
she's also a featured writer this yearfor the Women's Library. So I think
if you want to know more aboutit, you can also check out Esop's
website coming weeks. Yeah, andif you'd like to find out more about
this book before you race down andgrab a copy for yourself. Look out

(13:22):
for our season six episode thirteen wherewe chatted with Srs Monicam live at the
books and yeah, you can findout a little bit more about the book
there. Indeed, Oh, thisnext book is a book that I have
been meaning to read because I amquite a fan of the Nasa Man.
She wrote a collection of short storiescalled King of the Sea, and this

(13:43):
book took thirteen years to complete.So basically the stories is part of her
project when she was doing a master'sat like I Si University and inspired by
her homesickness and her longing for theTungannu air and being a Trunganu fhile myself
because I love Junggana. I'm fromEpo, but I have an affinity for
the beach in Terranano. So Ithink she explores a lot of themes that

(14:05):
I like as well, because it'sabout grief and loss and longing and magic.
That's what's nice about this. So, for instance, there's a story
about a young boy grieving for hislate father and that meets a ghost who
tells him that he is the Kingof the Sea. You know, so
maybe it's magical realism here, youknow. And then oh, and then
there's a story about Alia, amissing child that comes back as a chicken

(14:26):
to bewildered parents. A little bitof a gabble in here, Gabel Marcures
going on here, you know.A daughter witness is an affair by her
unfearful mother, but she's not sureif she was hallucinating. A man arrives
on an island and marries a junglespirit. It sounds like a really cool
little collection of short stories to kindof wild and afternoon away while is raining

(14:48):
outside and a fat cat on yourlap. I'm surprised not more people know
about this, considering how how muchMalaysia have this affinity with the supernatural and
and this sense of that we connectedto the world in more ways than one.
Right, I love that. Yes, we have to zoom through,
my friends, because we only haveone episode this particular season to tell you

(15:09):
about all the books that you cankind of get your hands on. Yes,
and one more for the people whoare looking for Malaysian heritage and culture,
The Storm We Made by Vanessa ChanBuzzy Buzzy book. Yes, yes,
exactly. I think at the momentshe's probably the book that everyone's talking
about. Right, The Storm WeMade is actually sealed a seven figure deal

(15:33):
after eleven way auction and it waswon by Simon and Schuster. So this
is actually published overseas, it's notpublished locally. Good for you, Vanessa,
Yes, so the book has actuallybeen sold in twenty languages and territories
worldwide. It is actually inspired byher own family story, inspired by her
grandmother stories of war. Actually thestory follows the our Kantara family. There

(15:58):
are you Asians who are living inKualounpur during the nineteen thirties British Malaya and
also throughout the Japanese occupation and upto the end of World War Two.
This is the story of Sicily,who is a discontented housewife who desires purpose,
something bigger than herself. Right,So she's swayed by the sweet promise

(16:21):
of Asia for the Asians by aJapanese spy who recruits her and Sicily becomes
a part of the espionage, passinginformation as she picks up from her husband
who works as an official for theBritish in Malaya to the Japanese and as
she becomes embroiled in this exciting doublelife. Things start falling apart around her

(16:42):
household, and she believes that it'sthe consequences of her actions and she will
have to face up to it.And this story is told from Sicily's point
of view, also from her children'spoint of view as well, and we
find out what the unfolding that happensat home and also around them against the
backdrop of colonial ze, violence,destruction, and the consequences of warfare.

(17:03):
So a pretty hard hitting historical whatan interesting premise. And and talking again
about unsung women or women that thatyou know was in history, but nobody
ever really knows about them, youknow, like all the behind the scenes,
you know, like they're very muchbehind the scenes kind of right,
every time a book like this comesout, I really want to know the
line between reality and fiction because Ithink there's probably a really fascinating person behind

(17:29):
the stories. Yeah, yeah,So if you are interested again, come
on down Dude is a Woman's Libraryin June and pick up a copy of
this book. The next one isa book that is kind of close to
my heart. It's called Principal Girl. Reducks is edited by Sharifa Osman and
Tutu Duta and it's a collection offeminist sales from Asia. Basically half of

(17:51):
the book is a retelling let mesee a retelling of some of our folk
loss, so a retelling of saysomething like Amera, and it sort of
like gives you the more of thefemale point of view on certain things.
And then the other half it hasmore urban modern tales, like you know,
there's a girl who investigates something butgets help from a Pontiana for instance,

(18:12):
which is Julia UI's story, whichis one of my favorites in it.
And I have a story in thisbook too, Yes, So that's
the last story in this book istell us a little bit about your story,
honey. Actually it's a story thatwas developed for our show because we
were doing this project with Empower Malaysiaand we wanted to kind of like amplify

(18:33):
marginalized voices. And this is astory I wrote about an orang Asli girl
from a Jacon tribe. And howyou know when people say match I'm jackun,
so the story is called matcham jackoon. So is how the fact that
people just use this as something notrealizing that it's an entire person's culture.
So yeah, so yes, stillpick up this book. I think what

(18:57):
I really love about the Principal GirlReducts, which is I think this is
the new edition, right, it'sthe second edition of this of the collection
of stories, it's that it's actuallyquite friendly for young adults as well.
I think. Plus, if youknow, like you'd like to revisit a
lot of the stories that we know, but have them told in a modern

(19:19):
voice with a little bit more femininepower, and this is probably a pew
to you. Yeah. And alsoshort stories, so you know, like
you don't necessarily have to commit yourselfto a novel. You know, there's
plenty of short stories in the librarythis year, you know, yes,
yes, exactly. Okay. Ournext category is for people who like adventure.

(19:47):
If you want to travel, eitherin the real world or in fiction.
Here are our selections for you.The very first one is a book
that actually we spoke to the authorabout and we really love this book.
So it's How Kyoto Breaks Your Heartby Florentina Leo. And this is a
book that came out in February twentytwenty three. It's a travel book or

(20:11):
an autobiography, so it's kind oflike called it a time. She called
it a time castle, yes,exactly. So she calls it a time
castle. It's a little piece ofher thoughts, I guess in that time
period. So this is a seriesof essays and personal musings, right,
featuring travel and food okay, andalso about the breakdown of a friendship,

(20:33):
self discovery, you know, andit delves into loneliness and isolation and the
search for belonging. I think so. As a young Malaysian who had just
completed her studies in the UK,Florentina Leo moved to Japan. First of
all, she took a position ina retail store in Tokyo, and then
she ended up working for a tourcompany in Kyoto. The essays in this

(20:56):
book come from her chronicles of whathappened during that time. So she talks
about a friendship that she found andthen lost, and then she also talks
about her experience of what it's liketo be someone who looks Japanese but will
always be other to most Japanese.I really love especially the way she writes

(21:18):
about Japanese cultural icons, you know, such as the tea ceremony and Kissa
Tan's right, traditional Japanese. That'sone of my favorite chapters. There's a
great deal of beauty and wonder tobe found in this book, I think.
Yeah, I mean, I thinkshe has a real way with words.
She's very evocative and emotional sort ofwriter. So you really do feel
that you're there with her, sittingbeside her in a kissatan, having like

(21:41):
a high borrow or you know,like gathering persimens, because that was like
the first chapter starts with her theyhave a persimmon tree in where she first
lived in Kyoto. Yeah, soit really gives you a sense of place.
Yeah. I really like this book. I think it's one of my
favorite books of last year. Ifyou're one of the millions of Malaysians who

(22:02):
dream of a life in Japan,I think this is a perfect book for
you. Yeah, And you cancheck out our episode where we talk to
her. This is a very goodepisode. It is in season six,
episode fifteen, So then you canfind out a little bit more and whether
this might be the book that willfind its way to your bookshelves. Next
up our first Basa Malaysia book.There are four on the list this year,

(22:23):
and they're all from iman Chop,which is actually an online bookstore which
I actually kind of vaguely know existedbut never really produced. So the first
one is a novel. It's calledMungaja Mimpi Sponer Chasing the Perfect Dream by
Auni Zina. It basically asks youthe question, what if a diary can

(22:44):
be a time machine? Right?So, Nadia and Kaliss's marriage went on
the rocks after they lose their sonTanis their child Tennis. The names are
kind of interesting in this book.I don't know a Malay child named Tennis,
but why not? And so Nadia, full of longing and remorse,
turns to the rad diary given toher by a friend, and she writes

(23:04):
her regrets and thoughts, and thenshe finds herself transported to her past,
to her school days, almost likea sliding dog and a diary, right.
And then she realizes that she hasthe ability to change her fate and
save those who she loves. Soshe meets her mother, who has died,
and then she might be able tosave her relationship with Callis, with
her husband. You know, maybeif you go back to the beginning,

(23:26):
you can see where things go wrongin the future, right, But of
course it's not as simple as that, because each action has a consequence,
and you're talking about the time paradoxperhaps, and she ends up hurting the
people around So the more she triesto solve things, the more she ends
up hurting the people around her.And of course there are other people who
want this diary. One of themis Khazali, who kidnaps her and wants

(23:48):
to use the diary to change hisluck, even if it means killing his
best friend. Callis ooh, thisis Malay drama territory Diana. It sounds
like a tear jerker, right,and and we're bit of a light speculative
fiction. Yeah, I think Ithink it sounds a lot like anybody who
who picks up their diaries, youknow, after they've grown up, and
they're like, just go back alittle bit down down memory lane and you

(24:11):
think, oh my god, youknow if things had changed, had turned
out differently since that time. Yeah, and then you're just like, oh
my god, what if it actuallydid come true. I think most of
them would want that to happen.They have the second chance, right,
Yeah, it's kind of like secondchance. But I read a review somewhere
where it has a lot more thanthat, because it actually goes into the

(24:32):
backstories of the characters and things likethat. But when I was reading the
blurb, I was like, wow, you know, this is really something
that I could imagine being one ofthe seven o'clock dramas, you know,
where the characters are intense, they'renot many of them, but then they
go into kind of extraordinary kind ofcircumstances. And I think this is one

(24:53):
of the occupational hazards of being ascriptwriter. Everything looks like like a TV
guilty Filthy as Judge. Next,next, Okay. Next on the list
is another Chinese book. It iscalled Leave Early, Turns Out Too Far.
Okay. This is by Traveler lirenzYaoui, and it's actually a collection

(25:15):
of essays. So. Traveler Yoior lirenz Yoi is a girl born in
nineteen eighty two. She's from Saramban. She's the founder of the travel information
website Global Diary. So she Thisis actually probably a little bit more of
a travel memoir. There are essaysin here that chronicle her travel addiction and

(25:40):
all the travels that she's taken toVietnam, Me and mar Cambodia and Laos.
So it's broken down into these fourdifferent chapters and each of these chapters
has forty six essays about her travelsin those places. Basically, she's her
musing about what it's like visiting theseplaces and her impression of them, you
know, the nature of travel,her thoughts about the places she visits,

(26:03):
and also talking about the cities,the people, the food, scenery that
she encounters along the way. AndYeah, I mean, it feels like
it's one of those books that youkind of feel like you're going with them
on that journey, Like you ifyou want to, Yeah, if you
want to travel vicariously through somebody somebodyelse's writings, this looks like the perfect
book for you. I mean,I like the fact that she concentrates on

(26:26):
Indo China because it's also a veryinteresting part of South East Asia, Like
they almost have their own culture.It's almost like it's almost like I suppose
when you talk about Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, there might be some similarities,
but yet the differences are also soIndo China is like that, you
know, like Cambodia is kind ofdifferent from Laos, even though there's some

(26:47):
similarities. So maybe she picks itup in a book. And the other
thing I'm interested in finding out,although I do not read Mandarin. Is
why is it called leave early?Is it leave early enough to go to
the airport so that you will beyour flight, or leave early from the
country you're visiting before you don't wantto get anymore. But the Chinese actually
the Chinese words actually mean leave whileit's early, So it turns out too

(27:14):
far. So yeah, let's leave. Let's you know, let's leave the
house while while it's too early,So I guess, I guess, so
you have more time to get toget through the day, and you don't.
You're not rushed, you know.Yeah. What I like about books
like this is that, you know, most of us are not habitual travelers
who have gone to many different places. And you know, if you only

(27:37):
go on holiday three, four orfive times a year, you don't really
have that opportunity to really immerse yourselfin the culture of a place and maybe
get a proper sense of the ofa country by visiting it repeatedly, right,
And I think I think that's somethingthat you know, if you go
to one country in stuff is Asiaand then you think you know what it's

(28:03):
like, you don't actually because youdon't have the chance to really immerse yourself
in that place. You're not you'venot been there long enough to really know
what it means to be to bepart of this place, right, Like
I've just when I go on holiday, I don't like to stay longer than
maybe ten days, because then Iget really tired of the whole process of

(28:26):
traveling itself. But yeah, Ithink when you're reading a book like this,
you really get a sense of theplace, of the the culture of
the people. You know what it'slike to be them. And also I
guess looking through the eyes of thattraveler and seeing what they pick up that
might be interesting. So I've beento Laos and I've been to Vietnam,
but it'd be kind of interesting toread somebody else's point of view, what

(28:49):
they make of the food, whatis it that they found challenging. And
this is the beauty of traveling.You kind of you get out of your
comfort zone. So it's how openyou are, do you experts instance,
And you know that's the thing aboutbut traveling it lends itself to this certain
meditation, this this introspection that thatthat's why so many people have travel memoirs.

(29:11):
And I think I think It's notonly people like writing travel memoirs,
people like reading them. So there'ssomething about the act of traveling that I
think, you know, like it'swe all travel differently, right. We
could be on the trip together,but we see different things, which is
why it's always good to pick upa book like this and be able to
see what she's actually experiencing, whatshe's actually not so much telling you things

(29:34):
that you have to do, butalso what is it that you can experience?
Yes, right, speaking of memoirs, the next book, Oh,
I love this book. In fact, I used to read it when it
was just a web comic, youknow, Erica Earns fried Rice. Oh,
she is such a great illustrator,you know. So basically the book

(29:57):
is a collection, I guess,a collect action of scenes and stories.
And it's a comic book, right, it's a constructor. Yeah, it's
an illustrated book. So you followmen who, after finishing secondary school,
spendser school holiday with her cousin Lilyin Kuala Lumpur, and she daydreams of
migrating to the US to work inanimation and submits an application to a prestigious

(30:19):
art school in New York. Andthis book captures that particular part of your
life where you're at the crossroads.It's young adulthood, right, you finish
your formal education, where are yougoing from now? And because it's illustrated,
it does capture that poignancy in away that perhaps pros doesn't do.
Right. So, fred Rise isa story about a young person wanting to

(30:41):
leave home in order to chase adream career and cover her own destiny.
And Erica says that the comics isreally close to her heart because it's drawn
from her real life experiences and thefact that sometimes when one door closes,
another one opens, and you neverreally know where your life dad you,
right, and sometimes not achieving yourheart's desires might lead to something bigger and

(31:04):
better. So yeah, and definallyis finally collected in a book. I
think I think this is going tobe one of the most popular books in
this collection, because, I mean, when it comes to comics, it's
not easy, I think to writea comic that is engaging and also like

(31:25):
be able to carry to carry througha message, right. And I think
that she's probably very popular because shegets that really well. I think that's
that's something that a lot of peopletry to do, but you know,
you may not usually find that mostpeople have a message that they can carry
through. Sometimes you just want asimple story to all. Well, it
doesn't have to be overwrought, itdoesn't have to be a murder, doesn't

(31:48):
have to happen to be exciting.Sometimes it doesn't have to hear a lot
of baddies. It doesn't have tobe a lot of pain. Oh yeah,
it does have to be too manybroken hearts. Sometimes it's just someone
at the cut of great change andbeing able to capture that on people.
I think it's just such an amazingtalent relion who cannot relate to that?
Yep, I've been there. That'sstill doing it. I think. Oh,

(32:13):
the next one. I love thetitle. I know what is the
title of this next book? Okay, now you're some more but just a
maze. Okay, So this isthe This is a book by Paypalleisian Okay,
the Backpacker God. And it's it'sthe English translation of it is I'm
not Brave. I'm not brave,just not dead, so brilliant so paybolish

(32:39):
Okay. Obviously, maybe it doesn'tneed to be pointed out to the Chinese
listeners out there that all these namesof these of these authors, these are
all not their real names, rightthey this this is the thing that Chinese
authors tend to do where they kindof like take on a personality when they're

(33:01):
writing. It's not really who theyreally are. Therefore, they don't put
their own names on it. SoI don't know if that's something that everyone
does, but it seems to bequite a common thing. Yeah, wasn't
there a right the last say zimissmile or something. Yeah, yeah,
so I'm like shine, most ofthem don't use their own names. But

(33:23):
anyway, so obviously from the nameof it, she is an experienced backpacker,
an outdoor tracking guide, and travelwriter. And this is another travel
memoir, but a little bit ofa different one because it's not just about
the act of traveling. It's aboutthe act of hitch hiking, I guess,
so it's off road kind of things, walking on hiking trails. So

(33:46):
in this book she kind of likerecords long distance hiking experiences which she takes
in, like, you know,like Nepal. The Spanish pilgrimage wrote the
Camino de Santiago and also the PacificCrest trail, and these are not for
the fainthearted, right, these areactually real hardcore hiking hiking experiences. So

(34:10):
yeah, you're talking weeks months ofjust being on the road, of camping,
of carrying this huge bag with youand figuring out like what, you
know, how you're going to befeeding yourself, how you're going to be
like doing all those things that youneed to get through the day, and
plus also traveling right through some reallytough terrain as well. Yes, absolutely,

(34:31):
yeah, So it's it's it's abook that will let you like kind
of immerse yourself in what it's reallylike to be an extreme hiker. I
guess that's a good way of puttingit, an extreme hiker, because you
know, like we talk, wethink of hiking as like, you know,
like we're just gonna go into thewoods a little way. And now

(34:52):
people just drive their car to acampsite and then set out at ten and
then just cook a stack outside andthen you know it's like five minutes.
Come on, I did not notnot hide, but like ten minutes.
So what the full Oh, I'vehiked. I'm like no, no,
no, guys, no, youdon't know what it means. Right,
unless you're doing this kind of thing. So yeah, so obviously that's why
the title is I'm not brave,just not dead. Also, I think

(35:15):
when you tell somebody and you're asolo girl traveling and you tell somebody,
oh, I'm going to do thisspecific questrail for instance, right, which
is like a thousand miles or something, people are going to go like wow,
So braver, So I think shegot really fed up off answering that
question. She said, No,I'm not brave, I'm just not dead,
which is why I'm doing this.And I like this person already.

(35:37):
Plus I love hiking too, sothis is a book after my own heart
as well. You know, likeI totally get this, this need to
actually go somewhere unknown and b Blying on yourself. I think that's self
sufficiency, like how people want tobe off grid because the world is becoming
a lot more crowded, a lotmore capitalistic, you know, and the
simplicity of just surviving on your owninstincts and your own body power and having

(36:02):
a beer for hiking and getting yourselfthrough that whole process of like being challenged
to go through this entire it ismentally challenging, right, can you imagine
having to do this for days,for day after day, week after week,
and you know, through through like, I think the only experience that
I've had is probably Cheryl Strade's book. Yes, right, Yeah, so

(36:24):
that's kind of like that's most people'sexperience of like because she's she also did
the Pacific Crest Trail and it doesnot sound like a walk in the park.
So in this book. In thisbook, Bibolish does answer questions such
as what is the point of hiking? So this is a this is a
profound question that one that probably hasno standard answer, and so she says

(36:49):
everyone's hiking experience is unique. Somepeople do it to challenge their limits,
some people do it to find innerpeace and tranquility, and some people do
it to coexist in harmony with nature. But yeah, no matter what the
starting point, she says, hikingcan give us a deeper understanding and under
of ourselves and life. And yeah, it feels like a very philosophical book

(37:10):
as well, because she says that, you know, people are in the
society today, we often pursue fame, wealth and utility, terranism, but
hiking can allow us to see amore real and essential world, allowing us
to re examine the meaning and valueof life, which I I mean like
I would not go to hiking todo that, but I mean like I

(37:31):
can see that some people would that. That's the thing about solo hiking.
You have a lot of time onyour hands to contemplate life, you know,
to actually really like sort out yourthoughts. To write, you would
have to become very, very mentallystrong to write. So this would be
a fascinating person to talk to.But I remember like reading like share a
Strat's book, right, and howyou really want to keep your pack as

(37:52):
slight as possible. And it's howwhen she reads she finishes a part of
the book, she just rips itup so that she doesn't have to carry
unest sary way. I know,I know, like for book people,
we're like what, yeah, butI totally get it. This is part

(38:19):
one of our special series on thebooks of Esop Women's Library twenty twenty four.
Don't miss part two, where wewill continue talking through the rest of
the books on the list. Checkout our Instagram at TBNT Books or two
Bookneests Talking on Facebook for more informationon the Esop Women's Library

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TBNT x Aesop E01 | Introducing the Aēsop Women's Library 2024: voices unbound (Part 1)

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