Multiculturalism through the Lens: A Guide to Ethnic and Migrant Anxieties in Singapore
Catherine Gomes
Singapore: Ethos Books, 2015
ISBN: 9789810943332

This book weaves together critical studies of Singaporean films, compelling personal reflections, and analysis of the contemporary socio-political discourse. It probes into issues that arise from the dilemma of globalization and transnational migration in cosmopolitan Singapore and examines the angst of contemporary Singaporeans against the prevailing political order beyond the veneer of multiculturalism and government-sanctioned displays of social cohesion, inclusion, and harmony.

Through analyses of Singaporean films, Catherine Gomes writes about Singaporean anxieties concerning race, ethnicity, and identity construction. She writes honestly of dealing with being Eurasian, the 'Other' in Singapore, where ethnicity becomes a defining label. Her book is a great read while dealing with important issues of labour migration and ethnicity. This book will prove engaging to all Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans.

Front Page: STories of Singapore Since 1845
The Straits Times
Singapore: Straits Times Press, 2015
ISBN: 9789814642231

We come to know a people through their stories: Stories of origin, adversity, failure and triumph. The daily newspaper has been an enduring chronicle of such stories, both everyday and extraordinary, that are close to people's hearts and minds.

Singapore's daily English-language newspaper, The Straits Times, has been reporting these stories since 1845. It has outlived empires and crises to offer readers a front-row seat to events unfolding in Singapore and the world.

Front Page: STories of Singapore since 1845 mines the 170-year-old archives of The Straits Times for articles, headlines and photographs, including never-before-seen pictures, to tell the familiar story of Singapore in a fresh way. It borrows its themes from sections of the newspaper and looks to Singapore’s past to contemplate its present and future.

Step through the pages of The Straits Times to explore where Singapore has been, how its people came to be who they are today, and where the country is headed next.

From Clementi to Carnegie: The Journey of Singaporean Violinist Siow Lee Chin
Siow Lee Chin
Singapore: Straits Times Press, 2015
ISBN: 9789814642224

From Clementi to Carnegie is an inspirational autobiography of Singaporean violinist Siow Lee Chin. The story of one of Singapore's favorite daughters of classical music began at age 15 when, against the odds, Lee Chin made the leap from her humble Clementi HDB flat to become the first Singaporean talent-spotted to study at America's prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, which has produced musical giants the likes of conductor Leonard Bernstein. Single-handedly, she carved a name as one of the most distinguished violinists of her generation, at a time when classical music was not the popular career choice in Singapore. But success was by no means smooth sailing.

In 2012, she faced her biggest setback -- a career-threatening injury from a car accident which broke both bones in her left arm -- the arm which holds her violin. Surgery could not guarantee that she would ever regain the fine motor skills needed to make her violin sing again. But through faith and determination, she worked note by note, scale by scale to put her life together again. A year after her accident, she made her comeback as a soloist performing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, considered one of the most technically demanding pieces for a violinist. Today, Lee Chin is 100% back on track (with titanium-reinforced arms), honoured to share her inspirational journey with the world.

One Kopi at a Time: Retracing Singapore's Coffee Culture
Jahan Loh
Singapore: Invasion Studios Pte Ltd, 2015
ISBN: 9789810950774

Coffee-drinking may be one of Singapore's favourite pastimes but how many of us know what goes into making a cup of our favourite local brew, the difference between Nanyang coffee and coffee from other parts of the world, or how the kopitiam came about?

One Kopi At A Time offers a glimpse into Singapore's rich coffee culture, excavating from interviews and research the origins of Nanyang coffee and how it found a place in our social history.

Elections in Singapore: 1948-2011
Chiang Hai Ding
Singapore: Straits Times Press, 2015
ISBN: 9789814642163

This is a brief history of political elections in Singapore. It is especially timely as a general election has to be held about five years after the 2011 general election.

The book sets the backdrop for the forthcoming general election. How will the political process evolve in the post-Lee Kuan Yew era?

This book is written for the citizens, voters, students of history and politics, and all who have an interest in the governance of Singapore.

It traces the evolution of the political process in Singapore after World War II, from Crown Colony to self-governing state, to a state within Malaysia, to an independent and sovereign Republic, up till the two elections in 2011.

It discusses the reasons for the PAP’s dominance in Parliament.

The Widower
Mohamed Latiff Mohamed
Singapore: Epigram Books, 2015
ISBN: 9789814615129

Former political detainee and professor Pak Karman loses his wife in a car accident. The intensity of his mourning causes him to become untethered from his sanity. As reality, memory and fantasy become more and more blurred, he must come to terms with his past actions before his grief overwhelms him completely. Mohamed Latiff Mohamed's novel, hailed as a landmark in modernist Malay fiction, is an unsettling tale of psychic disintegration and obsessive love.

Jeremy Monteiro: Late Night Thoughts of a Jazz Musician
Jeremy Monteiro
Singapore: Marshall Cavendish International, 2015
ISBN: 9789814516655

Jeremy Monteiro is a thinker and an observer. He likes to think about music, life, people, and human existence and he loves to observe human behavior. He loves people, loves to tell stories and share experiences.

From his formidable virtuosity on the piano where he communicates non-verbally, to the stories he tells on the stage at his many packed concerts and jazz club shows, he has often kept his show audiences in rapt attention. He has now also taken to sharing his thoughts in writing.

His Facebook and Blog posts have attracted thousands of "Likes" and comments. Both in person and in writing he loves to tell stories and set people thinking and talking. Some of his Facebook posts have garnered hundreds of "Shares," each of which has become their own lively discussion forums. In this book, he revisits, rewrites and updates many of his postings along with many new thoughts and stories.

Sometimes thoughtful and sometimes silly, sometimes cogent and sometimes irreverent, he writes with the confidence of one who has seen a fair bit of the ups & downs of life and is not afraid to speak his mind, while always observing his personal guiding light of fair comment.

Going from a fond reminiscence that tugs at the heartstrings, to a seductive but perhaps unworkable idea which may leave you quizzical, from a serious thought to a funny story that may evoke a huge guffaw, each essay will randomly take you on a journey into the mind of one Singapore’s most loved and respected musicians.

Saving a Sexier Island: Notes From Old Singapore
Neil Humphreys
Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2015
ISBN: 9789814634090

With Singapore evolving at blistering pace, old Singapore is being left behind, neglected or just plain dying? As a result, active citizenry is taking off like never before with Singaporeans campaigning to save Bukit Brown, Joo Chiat HDB flats, Rochor Centre, with Jalan Besar, Balestier and Tiong Bahru championed for their history/heritage. Basically, as Singapore becomes more of a global metropolis, the search to save its soul has been taken up like never before.

Nostalgia is spreading through the country. Old Singapore has never been more hip, more trendy as Singaporeans cling to the last vestiges of what actually makes them Singaporean. The race is on to save an even sexier island. So as the nation celebrates its 50th anniversary, Neil Humphreys heads off on a tour of old Singapore to find 50 sights and sounds that are at risk of being overlooked, forgotten or even bulldozed and lost forever. Some are historically significant (like Queenstown or Tiong Bahru). Some are environmentally significant (like Pulau Hantu or Lazarus Island). Some are culturally significant (like Cafe Colbar and Thieves Market). Some are politically significant (like LKY's house!). And some are just quirky and a tad surreal (a remote bus stop, a viewing tower in Upper Seletar, Haw Par Villa and Zouk). But Humphreys tracks them all down in a funny, insightful and unashamedly sentimental search for what's left of Singapore's soul.

Corridor: 12 Short Stories
Alfian Sa'at
Singapore: Ethos Books, 2015
ISBN: 9789810779931

Corridor is a collection of short stories all set in present‐day Singapore. With unsentimental clarity and heartbreaking honesty, Alfian Sa'at writes about HDB dwellers -- students, housewives and factory workers, whose lives begin to unravel once they discover that happiness is a fragile thing in a country obsessed with progress and success.

The characters in each story find themselves in situations that offer them a ticket to hope and change: A video camera transforms the way a resentful daughter sees her widowed mother. A married couple receives free holiday tickets just when their luck seems to have run out. A girl encounters a transvestite on an MRT train ride who tells her that she looks like a famous singer. And a man enters a discotheque after a bitter divorce and re‐learns the terror of falling in love all over again.

Rich in authentic detail, with a sensitive ear for the vernacular, Corridor paints an elegiac, revealing portrait of contemporary Singaporeans who exist along the city's corridors -- haunted by lost loves, irrevocable childhoods and a deep longing to be free.

Corridor won the Singapore Literature Prize Commendation Award in 1998.