I just finished Lost in Shangri-La by Michell Zuckoff. This is non-fiction. I don’t real a lot of non-fiction, but this was very well researched and a really fascinating story. I don’t regret it.
Also just read Snow Flower adn the Secret Fan by Lisa see. When I chose it, I didn’t realize that it was being made into a movie (which will be released soon). From the previews of the movie, the book’s got to be 1000 times superior! It was a very good read. A lot of attention was paid to the foot binding of the two girls. It’s important in the over all message of the book, and I doubt seriously that the movie will capture this the way the book does–visual audiances wouldn’t tolerate it well, I think.
What the movie likely does well is focus on the Nu Shu, or women’s writing, talked about in the book. I’d heard of this once before, but not much seems to be popularly known about it, even here. It think it’s fascinating! Very good book!
I’m currently reading Book One: A Game of Thrones of the A Song of Fire and Ice saga by George Martin. I’m 300 pages into it and really enjoying it. I’ve read a fair amount of fantasy and Sci-fi over the years, and I’m not quite sure how I’ve missed these gems. Then again, he’s just released book five after a five year wait, so it’s probably a good thing.
I’m enjoying the characters, and it’s nice that I’ve gotten familiar with them in the TV series first. It’s also nice to see how the two compare, and I like how a lot of the dialogue from season one of Game of Thrones is directly from the book. It’s also great to get a few more back stories to what’s actually going on.
I also like how Martin hasn’t shied away from bringing in the gruesome details of intrigue, sex and slaughter instead of the usual fare where fantasy writers only hint at sex and almost never mention the atrocities that go with war and conquest. The creatures in the book are also fascinating, and so far they’ve only been hinted at, building up the fear. The characters are also very personable, real life types that you can relate to, recognise, love or hate.
Jon Snow, Arya Stark, the direwolves, Tyrion Lannister, Khal Drogo and Daenerys Targaryen are by far my favourites.
The world with it’s seasons so different from ours is also pretty interesting and goes a long way towards creating the fantasy world of A Game of Thrones.
If you enjoy fantasy, or if you enjoyed season one of the TV series, you’ll enjoy the books.
Bought the novels in Jo Nesbo’s trilogy (The Red Breast, Nemesis, The Devil’s Star). Just finished The Red Breast, not bad, plot was a bit all over the place, but stuck with it, and I liked the main character which is always important…sure the next one will be better.
I got the July Playboy “Introducing Mrs. Crystal Hefner”
I thought they changed it. Maybe they just didn’t change the Asian edition. It is English though. The articles are very interesting.
I’m in the middle of Nixon and Mao by Margaret McMillan and I have Fareed Zakaria’s Post-American World about 2 chapters in.
Nixon and Mao is really good. Zakaria’s book is written for I guess mass market. It’s like sitting through a PoliSci101 course again. :neutral:
All year I’ve been reading Forumosa too
And some Taiwan-related travel blogs and Chinese learning resources.
I just purchased What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell.
I also subscribe to a magazine called Mental_Floss. It is a great magazine of trivia. Does anybody else read this magazine?
I’m reading Howard Goldblatt’s translation of Rice by Tu Song (the guy who wrote Raise the Red Lantern). It’s a quick read and it is nasty. It’s the first time I have chosen a Chinese novel. I’m loving it. A very fast, brutal read.
I haven’t read that one yet, I’d be curious to know what you thought.
Just finished Where Men Win Glory: The Pat Tillman Odyssey.Now I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel.[/quote]
I thought it was up to Gladwell’s usual excellence. Although it is a collection of essays, so some are better than others.
Next up on my reading list is GOOD OMENS by Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman. And after that is Anansi Boys.
Killing Kebble: An Underword Affair. Mandy Weiner.
The Saffas will know this bloke was, but there’s a fair amount of politics and intrigue in the book. 5 nearly got beaten by one of the fellas in the book. Brett got his drive-by shooting delivered. Was clubbing those days, and it was hairy shit. Now i have a better understanding how nasty those dogs were…
Finished Rice by Su Tong (童忠贵) a few nights ago. It is the first novel translated from Chinese that I have read. A stupendously fast read.
Beautifully worded (and apparently the translator has a good reputation, himself), but delightfully horrid. How unhappy with life could one be to write something like this? It reminds me of Athol Fugard’s journals and his lament (which was something along the lines of) “Where has my joy gone?”
Rice is about Five Dragons, an orphan running from the flooding that occurred in the 1930s. He’s accepted into a family that runs a rice emporium - but only as a near slave. His rise from there is meteoric and the absolute lack of love between family members from then on is bleak. Fear, hatred, and crippling others - that’s all this family knows and all this novel knows. I think I enjoyed it - nice to know that the horror is felt everywhere. The protagonist’s/antagonist’s only joy is rice and inserting it into women.
Su Tong wrote the novel that became Raise the Red Lantern. I’d recommend Rice if you want a nasty little expose of life. If you need things nicer, don’t even touch the book. This is one I will remember as a stark and beautiful entry into Chinese literature.
It is the first novel translated from Chinese that I have read. A stupendously fast read.
There are better… Ah, never mind.