25 August 2013: Three Malay titles – Performing arts October 30, 2014 – Posted in: Newsletters

Areca Books presents three Malay titles … An Artiste for All Seasons… Trying to sum up the life of the late Mohamed Bahroodin Ahmad (or Cigku Baha to all who knew him) in a few pages is akin to choosing just three paintings to describe Rembrandt. One risks oversimplification when describing his talents – actor, teacher, performer, scriptwriter, choreographer and producer of Malay performing arts. Many remember his legendary performances which cut across social, culture…

18 July 2013: Perak Postcards – Posted in: Newsletters

The largest collection of postcards ever assembled into one volume … a masterpiece of design. There’s a scene from the movie Enchanted April where one of the characters, the cranky and feisty Mrs. Fisher, surrounded by old photographs, talks about “better times and better men.” Indeed, nothing stirs the imagination and awakens buried memories like old photographs. Distilled within those images are myriad stories and experiences all waiting to be told. Even old postcards of…

04 July 2013: My Days in the Sun – Posted in: Newsletters

Lucidly written, Dr. Soo tells his story simply and with deep sincerity. With much pleasure, I commend it to everyone. – Wang Gungwu In My Days in the Sun, a distinguished radiologist presents a candid self-portrait of his first 40 years. Mark Y.S. Soo was born in 1933 into a Cantonese family who divided their time between business interests in Malaya and Hong Kong. As a precocious child, Mark was an eyewitness to the Battle of Kampar, the Japanese occupation of…

29 May 2013: Convergence – Posted in: Newsletters

This book examines how people’s ways of life are shaped by the socio-political landscape of the places they live. Convergence proves that there is nothing more sublimely interpretive than capturing life’s subtle moments though the lens of a camera. Through carefully composed and thoughtfully compiled photographs, photographer Wei Leng Tan breathes life into difficult topics like diaspora, identity and the effects of cultural displacement. Resembling an attractive personal photo album, Convergence is filled with images…

12 Apr 2013: Prescriptions of Faith – Posted in: Newsletters

These are moving and eloquent memoirs of two remarkable lives… Sir David Todd Prescriptions of Faith is the tale of two renowned doctors’ war-torn journeys through Hong Kong to China and back, in pursuit of their medical degrees. In 1939, just before the start of World War Two, a young woman from Kuala Lumpur named Eleanor Eu sailed from Malaysia to pursue a medical degree at the prestigious University of Hong Kong. Two years later,…

20 March 2013: Lasting Impressions, Seals from the Islamic World October 27, 2014 – Posted in: Newsletters

“Masterworks in miniature, each of these seals leaves lasting impressions of the people who commissioned and used them, and the Islamic worlds in which they were created…” With over 100 vivid images of seals, letters, maps and other paraphernalia, Lasting Impressions: Seals from the Islamic World offers – for scholars and curious readers alike – a delightful and enriching education on Islamic seals: powerful symbols of persona once so ubiquitous and valued in Muslim societies.…

25 Feb 2013: Special announcement “Penang, The Fourth Presidency of India 1805-1830” – Posted in: Newsletters

In Areca Book’s newest title, Penang, The Fourth Presidency of India 1805-1830, author Marcus Langdon proves that little islands can be just as worthy of historical interpretation as major empires. Written in an easily accessible style, the book tells the story of how the tiny settlement of Pulau Pinang came to be an administrative seat of one of the most powerful trading companies in the world. In this initial volume of a three-part series, Langdon…

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14 January 2013: “Malacca, Voices from the Street” February 14, 2013 – Posted in: Newsletters

“We began by listening to the voices of ordinary Malaccans. We listened to the city’s streets, as we searched out hidden corners and abandoned alleyways. Listened to houses and temples, ruins and cemeteries… And we heard them speak.” Excerpt from the book In the early 1400s, a small port on the west side of Malaysia was waking up to what would be a long, colourful, and at times violent history. Over the course of its…

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4 January 2013: “Recollections” – Posted in: Newsletters

“This attempt to record a part of Penang’s unique history through the lives of a local family sheds details on the people who contributed to its growth and development during the 20th century… through the lives of the extended [Baba Nyonya] clan members are rare insights into their genteel world.” From the Preface of Recollections The elegant culture of the Baba Nyonyas, that heritage so fundamentally stitched into the fabric of George Town’s past and present,…

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27 December 2012: “The Way Home” – Posted in: Newsletters

“All those who had been excluded, who had been silenced, and who were invisible actually did not go away. They are the unhealed wounds that cause us dull pain. This book reveals their existence.” Leung Man Tao, Hong Kong Social Commentator The Sungai Buloh Settlement in Selangor, Malaysia, once the second largest leper colony in the world, was created to separate those infected with leprosy from the rest of society. In the process of separation, those…