Exhalation by Ted Chiang
3/5 averaged with some stories 5 and some DNF
Really enjoyed some stories and DNF some stories. i’m not a fan of time travel books but the first story really had me from the beginning. Inquisitive imaginative thoughtful stories. Unique implementations of concepts like creation, free will, memory, verbal communication, technology, multiverse timelines, etc.
Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-zi (楊雙子)
Banana King Ngôo Tsín-suī by Lee Wang-tai (李旺台)
Elephant Herd: A Novel by Taiwan-based Malaysian author Zhang Guixing (張貴興)
“Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird: The Art of Eastern Storytelling” by Taiwanese American author Henry Lien (連宏毅)
“Wild Greens, Beautiful Girl,” a children’s book by Taiwanese American author Erica Lee Schlaikjer
I do not have a lot of dnf books on my shelf, but this one is heading there. The gushing”Ooooh, YOUR culture is sooooo blah blah blah and YOUR food is sooooo blah blah and it’s hot,” simply isn’t holding my interest.
Does she end up sleeping with the translator?
Recently (re)finished The Short-timers, The Ugly American, A Good Man In Africa, and now onto The Quiet American.
Pleasantly spun yarns.
I read The Quiet American while staying at The Continental Hotel in Saigon/HCM City which is featured in both book and movie. Unique experience. Book was better than movie for me. Graham Greene came up with the story while staying long term at the hotel in the 1950s after WWII.
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Great reviews… me, DNF at 50%
LitRPG? Is that a thing now?
I’ve adored video games my entire life, and I love reading about them… but this book sounds like a playthrough of a video game someone wished existed.
Supposedly one of first and best of the genre.
When I read Fall by Neal Stephenson, I loathed the parts set in the ‘game’ world.
I got this at the Gaithersburg Book Fair.
And every time I’m in Montgomery County I go get Taiwanese food.
Does it help you sleep? I recommend D.H. Lawrence.
Gonna see if I can get this on my next stateside excursion.
Pandemic School Closures: “Abundance of Caution” Reveals the Bad Science
Intriguing fast short story mysterious until the end.
My Death
By
Lisa Tuttle
Finally finished “Butter.” Took me a while. It’s well written and easy to read, but I am staying with my earlier remarks. To me it falls short of exciting me. I feel there are many parts where the author could have gone further in drama, suspense, surprise, humor, etc. to make it an even better read. I need more juice, more butter! 
That’s the feminism talking. 
Just finished reading and thoroughly enjoyed it. This was not cheap to buy as it is a limited 1905 edition, but my goodness. The case studies are as lewd as they come 
! Really enjoyed the fetishism, sadism, masochism case studies. It sits in my antique bookshelf with my first print editions of Henry Miller, select biographies, and other antique books.
