The need to escape from the backwoods of Taichung County, and re-familarize myself with the English language above a grade two level, compelled me to spend a couple of days in Taipei. Before I came away, I made the obligatory trip to Page One and picked up a copy of a book I hadn’t read since the ninth grade, To Kill A Mockingbird, and had it half read by the time the train lurched into Cin Shuei.
I was an avid reader until I started studying Computer Science a few years ago. However, my time in the ROC seems to have whet my appetite for the written language. The problem is there are so many books at Page One I hardly know where to begin, so I thought it would be good for people to share what they are reading (or what they have read in the past) with others. That way we might be turned on to some really good books we otherwise might have missed.
Please limit your list to ten items or less. Thank you.
Here are my recommendations:
The Grey Goose Of Arnhem (Leo Heaps)
To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
War Of The Worlds (HG Wells)
The First Man In Rome (Colleen McCullough)
The Grass Crown (Colleen McCullough)
Shogun (James Clavell)
I, Claudius (Robert Graves)
Broken Ground (Jack Hodgins)
I am reading Neil Gaimans ‘Coraline,’ which I personally recommend to IronMan, as he enjoyed ‘The Blind Assassin.’ And to Imaniou, cos she is so awesome at teaching, and it’s a kids book, kinda.
There’s A LOT of great stuff available in mp3 audio book format available, which might set you up well if getting to the good stuff is an issue. I always found Eslite in Taichung was a good source, though not nearly as comprehensive as Page One, obviously.
Im going through an Iaan Banks phase at the moment. Just finished reading the Wasp Factory. An unusual and well written novel.
Also just finished reading ‘Trainspotting’ again by Irvine Welsh, and currently reading a collection of Hunter S Thomson letters, which so far have been very entertaining
Taichung Social Club - do you know of any decent english book stores in Taichung?
If Eslite’s store in Chungyo is still what it was five years ago… the last time I looked… that’s the place to start.
Is Caves no longer on the boulevard leading to the science museum?
It used to be, but I didn’t see it last time I went by. It was almost midday, but most of the store fronts had their big assed metal pull-down doors pulled down. Maybe I didn’t see it because of that.
[quote=“Jaboney”]
Is Caves no longer on the boulevard leading to the science museum?[/quote]
Sorry, that’s gone - not sure when it left, though.
I’m getting too lazy to read - I’ve been doing tons of audiobooks with my iPod lately. Some I’ve “read” recently are:
The Kite Runner
Anansi Boys (fun Neil Gaiman book)
Freakonomics
The Undercover Economist
Guns, Germs and Steel
The Professor and the Madman
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
Last Chance to See
Watership Down
Status Anxiety
A Million Little Pieces (finished it a week before he admitted he lied :fume: )
Shogun
The Artemis Fowl Series
I used to run a bookshop here in Oz called ‘Bent Books’. We specialised in beat authors, underground and independent books. It was a fantastic 2 years of my life, but sadly was not profitable enough to keep going…
Hmm… I wonder if there is a need for an english book shop in Taichung? Sounds like it
The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Tasty little snack, nothing heavy. Great prose, good plot twists and turns, lots of intrigue, mystery, a dash of romance, melodrama, interesting characters, and more than a bit of self-directed humor. The prose, despite being a translation, is on occasion so good (although not flawless) that I’ll probably reread it in Spanish (La Sombra del Viento) at some point just for fun. I’m very curious to see how the translation compares to the original. Recommended.
