What Are You Reading??

Simon Winchester's "The Man Who Loved China". 

Fascinating.

Ma Jin's "Stick Out Your Tongue' was also a good read.  Short stories set in T't.

"The Golden Bough" by James George Frazer, "The Frogs of War" by Andrew Harman, "The Search for Modern China" by Jonathan D. Spence and "The History of Western Philosophy" by Bertrand Russell. Plus my Chinese text books....it's so damn cold that reading in bed is the best way to keep warm....well...second best way 

it's so damn cold that reading in bed is the best way to keep warm....well...second best way 

And lasts longer than the 1st best way!  ALL day without a blue pill in sight.   

Just finished "Daughter of China" by Xu Meihong and Larry Englemann - fascinating account of one of the first women to be trained in military intelligence here, and her fall from grace.

Just started "Wolf Totem' - Jiang Rong - so far, also fascinating.

What are the odds of finding Red Cliff and the sequel in English?

Just started "Wolf Totem' - Jiang Rong - so far, also fascinating.

I'll be curious to read your opinion on this one once you're done... most folks i know that read it either loved it or hated it with a passion. Strangely enough, the ones that cared for it the least were my Chinese mates.

Not surprised about that - even as far as I have read it is pretty disparaging about the Han.

Lotus, I'm almost finished with Wolf Totem...it's taken quite a long time to get through. It over-explains too much and reads like a textbook in parts. But it is interesting from a cultural perspective.

I think next up is Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz.

I agree with Matt. I started Wolf Totem quite some time ago and keep putting it down for something else. It's very interesting from the cultural perspective, and it's great in bursts. But then the guy's writing gets to me. Matt hit it on the head. He "over-explains" a lot. It starts to feel like when you're stuck at one of those interminable big dinners sitting next to some boring schmuck who just has to explain every little thing. The dinner (book) is good, but the dining companion (writer) gets on your nerves. Go have a smoke/go to the WC/talk to someone else (pick up another book). Wolf Totem will still be there when you get back. And you can jump back in for another 25-30 pages. It's a compelling read, but in a slo-mo kind of way.

Oh, and to comment on Noles post, yes, a couple of my Chinese friends have read it and didn't like it. They read the original (Chinese). From their comments, they were surprised (in a bad way) by the anti-Han viewpoint. They didn't mention the writing style at all.

Well there you go. I haven't picked it up in a few weeks, so I guess I got my Sunday reading sorted out for tomorrow. Brunch and Wolf Totem.

I haven't read Wolf Totem, but I'm interested now. I'll have to snag a copy to read over Spring Festival holidays.

I just finished reading Peony in Love, this book all about the Chinese afterlife (and based on an old Chinese opera, the Peony Pavillion, and a commentary on that opera supposedly written by a poet's three wives) that takes place at the beginning of the Qing dynasty, when the traditional beliefs were still going strong. I've always found the traditional Chinese ideas about the afterlife -- hungry ghosts, ancestors, etc. -- to be a bit disturbing, and this book just confirmed that. Hungry ghosts are just about the saddest thing I can imagine, and the book's main character is a hungry ghost so a good portion of the book is pretty depressing. It is well written, however, and although I'm usually someone who stays far away from ghosts/paranormal stuff, the historical aspect of this novel sucked me in.

Before that I was reading Infidel (the book by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Dutch parliment member who was targetted by Islamic fundementalists after speaking out against Islam), which actually I still need to finish. That's another book that sort of over explains at times, which was distracting. Towards the end it goes off on long rants about Dutch government and certain political figures, and I found this really tiresome, maybe simply because I'm not Dutch. Still, I didn't really feel like I needed to know the particular policy differences between different Dutch parties in order to understand her message about Islam, or why she was persecuted. Has anyone else read it?

On a buddy's advice I read White Tiger, by - crap, forgot.  I'll add it later.  Indian fellow.

This book is incredible!  EVERYBODY: FIND THIS BOOK AND READ IT.  I banged it off today, start to finish.  I won't tell you anything about it- just get it.

On a buddy's advice I read White Tiger, by - crap, forgot.  I'll add it later.  Indian fellow.

This book is incredible!  EVERYBODY: FIND THIS BOOK AND READ IT.  I banged it off today, start to finish.  I won't tell you anything about it- just get it.

Aravind Adiga??

'Red Dust' by Ma Jian...just starting it so I can't really comment yet. Which makes me wonder why I contributed this post. Oh well

I'm just finishing Mullahs, Merchants and Militants: The Economic Collapse of the Arab World  by Stephen Glain, a former Middle East correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. It oughtta be required reading for everyone in the upper levels of the US government. It gets past the knee-jerk "Israel good, Arabs bad" approach so prevalent here (including myself, until I read this) and gives a truly balanced, insightful view of what's really happening in that part of the world...and how incredibly stupid and damaging the Bush Middle East policies have been. A very useful, informative, and eye-opening read.

'Red Dust' by Ma Jian...just starting it so I can't really comment yet. Which makes me wonder why I contributed this post. Oh well

I enjoyed it, plus his subsequent books.