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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 14 AUGUST 2016 10 Feature A little summer Perhaps one of the best-known writ- ers of both chil- dren's and adult fiction in the lo- cal scene, Trevor Zahra, has an im- pressive number of works under his belt, including 'Il-Haj- ja Sigrieta tan-Nanna Genoveffa' and 'Meta Jaqa c-Cpar' among other classics. "At present I'm reading: 'The Uncommon- ers - The Crooked Sixpence' by Jennifer Bell, a novel for older children published this year. "It is a fantasy story about an alternative London; a place where power and evil thrive, and Ivy and Seb must go to the bottom of a family secret, before it's too late. "It's a great page turner, making it an ideal read for these crazy, hazy, lazy days of sum- mer." Malta Today's own culture editor and writer of novel 'Two' Teodor Reljic shares his top picks for the summer months… "My reading habits aren't really determined by the seasons. I tend to have a thick reading pile at the ready at all times. However, there are some works that I tend to associate with summer for whatever reason, and which I find enjoyable to return to during summer for the vibe they seem to carry with them. Perhaps because the sweltering heat makes me pine for green and shady boughs to nes- tle under, it's fantasy literature that seems to predominate during this period… There's an obvious culprit in this mix – The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. To compound the already-nostalgic idyll that pervades Tolkien's fairy tale adventure, I had actually read it for the first time while on holiday in Serbia – specifically, at an equally idyllic vil- lage where our family has a summer home. It doesn't get much stronger than that as far as nostalgia-boosted literary staples go. More generally – but in a similar milieu – a random selection of short stories from the Irish fantasist Lord Dunsany (who in- fluenced Tolkien) also hits the spot in sum- mer: with his dream-like prose often evok- ing a world gone by; mixing in the mythical world-building that Tolkien would later on popularize with a poetic sense of melan- choly that's evocative of another one of his admirers – and fellow Irishman – William Butler Yeats. In a similar but slightly different vein, Dunsany fan HP Lovecraft, though more famous for his contributions to the horror genre, does have a few stories I like to re- turn to all year round. In summer, though, it's his more Dunsany-esque tales that I find welcoming and soothing, from the creepy but immersive 'The Nameless City' and 'The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath'." Young adult and children's writer Leanne Ellul, whose novel about a n o r e x i a , Gramma, was praised for its subject matter, and even won her the Novel for Youth Prize, recommends a unique book of poetry… "Recently I read Animal City, written by Marc Nair and illustrated by Vanessa Chan. Nair is a spoken word poet and photogra- pher from Singapore, and in this book the animals are portrayed in the setting of a city. "They engage in mundane routines such as jumping fences, but also surprisingly plan revenges and engage in exquisite practices, such as eating bugs and different grubs like sushi." Readers meet a number of creatures, from insects to mammals, and so on and through defamiliarization and anthropomorphism these poems make us picture common situ- ations from an entirely different perspective. Nair flirts with words, while the illustra- tions add to the flair of the book making it suitable for both children and adults. Reading the book made me look even more forward to Marc Nair's visit – he will be in Malta for the Malta Mediterranean Litera- ture Festival between the 25th and 27th of August. This is a book you can take to the beach and flip through as a light read, but a deeper understanding of the poems reveals other, at times even political implications. Besides… the front cover carries a fab fish – what else would one want in summer?" Palestinian-Maltese author Walid Nabhan, writer of 'L-Eżodu taċ-Ċikonji', which centres around the Israel-Palestine con- flict and ultimately won Nabhan the 2013 National Book Prize, has a somewhat different choice… "This summer I am re-reading 'The His- tory of the Siege of Lisbon' a novel by José Saramago, which recounts the re-conquest of Lisbon by Christians from Muslims in 1147 in a very fabulous manner. Unlike in many historical accounts, chron- icles in this book are told at both camps; the besieging and the be- sieged, the believers and the infidels, who both deserve all manners of grizzly ends. Both faiths are remorseless, adamant, blood- stained, yet they feel guiltless and correct. Taken lightly, it can make you laugh, but if you delve deeper into it, it is about 'other- ness'. No one can strip the human soul from its holiness and reveal the unholy quite like Saramago. The book is about nakedness, complete nakedness in front of God's mys- terious mirror, and it is about people who ruthlessly guide God to whatever suits us best…" Publisher Chris Gruppetta, from Merlin Publishers, which incidentally worked with many of the writers on the list, picks one of our century's foremost female and feminist writers for his summer pick… "My favourite summer read right now is Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adi- chie. "It's not "summery" in any particular way, Summer is a great time to relax and unwind, and as the days get hotter, and ever more people go on holiday, stopping for a break becomes almost inevitable. For many (including myself), chasing a little down-time generally means finding some time to catch up on my reading. With all the new titles coming out every year, it might be hard to decide which books to look into during our breaks to make the most of our time off… MARTINA BORG spoke to writers and people in the book publishing industry with tastes as varied as one can imagine, to find out what books they are tearing into during these lazy summer days…