What Are You Reading??

It would make me sound gay.

Not if you prefaced the remarks by saying, "Remember that young woman we brought in here when we had that snowstorm?  Well, she said to tell you that she thinks you are....."

It's a trap Con.

The words don't sound gay, sort of, but doing what they're asking is definitly gay.


Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I must say though, Peter and Pierre.... that sounds like a nice couple.

Yes, you are

Just began the small task of reading pretty much everything written in England between 1700 and 1900. Have to start somewhere and Samuel Richardson's "Clarissa" is a good place to do that. A 1000 page epistolary novel...

Just began a new trilogy series sent to me by my daughter written by Fiona McIntosh called the Quickening.  So far okay for fantasy, especially since Fiona is an Australian.  Who woulda thunk?

Have just started reading "Behind The Lines". For three years Andrew Carroll travelled throughout the United States and around the world to seek out the most powerful and unforgettable letters ever written during the U.S. wars. These include American and foreign war letters.There are vivid descriptions of guerrilla warfare dating back to the American Revolution. Fierce exchanges between brothers who fought on opposite sides of the Civl War. Secret messages to loved ones written by POWs while in captivity. Final words by troops who knew they were dying etc etc. LEST WE FORGET!!

Just started reading Nathan Englander's "The Ministry of Special Cases". It's really riveting.

"The Ministry of Special Cases"

That title sounds Harry Potter-ish to me...

Or Monty Python-ish

Actually, it's neither. It's a very grim tale. No flying brooms or cutesy dragons. Lots of corruption and such.

Lots of corruption and such.

So, a teaching book for living in China? 

I forgot to post I've been reading The Exquisite by Laird Hunt (a former teacher of mine) for about a week now. It's quite good... I'm almost finished.

I'm re-reading the best photography book I've read - Michael Freeman's "The Photographer's Eye".

Plus reading Larry's Party, by Carol Shields (Canadian author) and Strange But True; Stories from Japan by Jack Seward.  (And my Chinese textbook!)

I just started a book called "Notes From an Exhibition." Bought it at the Bookworm (Suzhou) literary festival. Brilliant writing.

I got through over half of one of the funniest novels I've ever read, a Chinese effort called "Fortres Beseiged".  It's a Chinese novel, titled after a French proverb: "Marriage is like a fortress beseiged: those who are outside want to get in, and those who are inside long to break out."  It follows the thoughts of both men and women, capturing the petty, silly, foolish and misguided thoughts of the characters.

The Bookworm got a copy, and I'm almost to the part where I was when I left it in a cab almost two years ago.  Absolute riot!