What Are You Reading??

I started reading Story by Robert McKee. That dude is one repetitively verbose mofo. If I didn't really, really want to know what all the fuss is about, the sheer bloat of Part 1 would have been reason enough to sling the book out the window. (Metaphorically sling, anyway; pressing the delete button in the ebook app wouldn't satisfy nearly so much.)

Meanwhile, Qiu Xiaolong is telling an agreeable mystery story, potholing it with the occasional awkward metaphor.

In honor of Roger Ebert, "Life Itself". His memoirs. Very fascinating by itself but, also how the industry and its stars have changed.  Some of his casual meetings with such famous people are hard to believe in this day and age.  GOOD FOR HIM!  A humble, Midwestern boy who never got caught up in his celebrity or overly impressed by the movie stars themselves.  Who would have thought someone of his beginnings could have had such a rich and significant life?

I have now finished the "Parasol Protectorate" series. It was good, dashed good. Am now plunging into Chris Wooding's "Retribution Falls", Cherie Priest's "Boneshaker" and Mike Dash's "Satan's Circus". I have been on the most delightful reading spree this month, chomping through novel after novel, it's been pure bliss. 

What are they reading...

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/05/23/chinese_military_liberation_novels


(I'm reading the article, not the books--can't read Chinese--but it's really interesting, both for web publishing and for what kind of pulp is popular in China.)

Finished Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong. Meh. Boring hero, recognizable old Shanghai, complicated but not very mysterious political doings. Weird poetry. YMMV.

Moving on to Abaddon's Gate, the third book in The Expanse trilogy, a very space opera-y space opera, by James S.A. Corey.

The Reapers are the Angels - Alden Bell.

Sure, it says "zombies" and "post-apocalypse", but what it really is is a western, somewhat in the mold of No Country For Old Men, only post-apocalypse and with zombies.


 

I have been reading 'An Utterly Impartial History of Britain" by John O'Farrell. A history book that informs you of events but with no reverence. For instance, when the author describes the forests of England pre-1066 "Britain was covered in a thick impenetrable mesh of thicket, fallen branches and brambles which barely exists in Britain today outside the gardens of student houses".. and after that it is Saul David's "Victoria's Wars". All in the name of class prep 

I have been reading 'An Utterly Impartial History of Britain" by John O'Farrell. A history book that informs you of events but with no reverence. For instance, when the author describes the forests of England pre-1066 "Britain was covered in a thick impenetrable mesh of thicket, fallen branches and brambles which barely exists in Britain today outside the gardens of student houses"..

Sounds like my kind of history book.

I'm currently reading "The Search for Modern China" by Jonathan Spence. And by reading, I mean... It's in my Audibles queue, and I keep telling myself I'm going to get through it because I should REALLy know this stuff.

What I'm actually reading is "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" by Haruki Murakami. Maybe it'll inspire me to actually get off my butt and go for a jog. Yeeeeah...

The book by Spence is good, really good. If you have the chance, you might want to try the "History of China" podcast available for free on iTunes, it is made by a chap called Laszlo Montgomery. I highly recommend it.
If you are keen on some China history, Julia Lovell's "The Opium War" is good too, so is "God's Chinese Son" by Spence. To get a feel for some of the Chinese cultural tales, I recommend Pu Songling's "Tales from a Chinese Studio". 

The book by Spence is good, really good.

Agreed! I read it in my second year here (lo those many years ago) and have found what I learned from it has melded and mellowed my understanding of how and why things are as they are here. Required reading for living in China.

The Spence book was one of my textbooks in a course I took when I was an undergrad Asian Studies major -- many many years ago. Agreed, really good book!

The book by Spence is good, really good.

Awesome! I'm glad to hear that so many of you recommend it. It seemed like the best "overview" option available on Audibles. I've also read the first two of Peter Hessler's books, though I'm holding off on Country Roads so I can get a bit broader perspective. I also read a bunch of kindle books from people who have taught in China and Taiwan, though none of them really stuck out enough to be memorable.

If you have the chance, you might want to try the "History of China" podcast available for free on iTunes, it is made by a chap called Laszlo Montgomery. I highly recommend it.
If you are keen on some China history, Julia Lovell's "The Opium War" is good too, so is "God's Chinese Son" by Spence. To get a feel for some of the Chinese cultural tales, I recommend Pu Songling's "Tales from a Chinese Studio". 

Wow! Thanks for all the recommendations. I'll definitely look into these.

Have you guys found that your Kindles/Audibles accounts work fine? I'm a bit of a book hoarder and I'm trying to avoid a repeat of my year in Germany, in which I had to mail 2 boxes of books home... (Though I have half a shelf of books on Chinese language study, so I may haul those over with me, yet...)

Don't know about Audible, but Kindle works fine 

A Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka Mrs Harry Potter)

A London-based detective story, and actually pretty good.

"Satan's Circus" by Mike Dash, the true story of the only member of the NYPD who has ever, apparently, been convicted of murder. Haven't finished it yet, but it is good