2012 Book List

Photo copyright K. Smokey Cormier

Last year's final book review is up at the sisterblog, as is this year's book list. It's not complete, but that's because I can't climb up to the top shelves. If ever there's an earthquake, I'll be crushed to death by my own fucking books.

Anywho. Checkidout, place yer bets, and consider buying me lots of books for the new year, or lending me them, even. Also recommendations are welcome. Gotta remember to take the fucking pain meds even if it does make everything move at the speed of molasses.

Stumble It!

Book Review and Reading List 2009

I know I already posted it. I just had to get the taste of that last post out of my mouth.

Besides, that's a hella cute kitteh.

Book review.

Reading list for 2009.

Next project: Post reading list for 2010.

Also, a review of Quick Gun Murugan. If you haven't seen it already, you should. It is to larf.

Stumble It!

Book List 2009 August Update

The updated book list has been posted over at the sisterblog, together with a review of the books read between May and now. For earlier book reviews, see here. The original list in all its glory.

And no, I really don't want to hear about what a pitiful fucking twit I am for adding endlessly to the fucking book list. This was such a good idea when it started out a few years ago. Discipline, we said. Making a list will help, we said. At last we'll start getting some of those fucking piles of books off the floor, and out of the clothes closets and strange plastic storage bins. We won't have monster piles of books all over the tables and chairs and other random furniture, we said.

Yah, right. No matter what happens, I always find the middle of the year arrives and there's an additional twenty books on the reading list, yaknow? Yes, most of the piles are off the floor and the bed and the closet and (mostly) the furniture. But is it so wrong of me to feel like King Canute, trying to hold back the sea?

Stumble It!

Book List 2009

Copyright K. Smokey Cormier

The updated book list is up at the usual spot. Book reviews linked too. Feel free to castigate me for reading so much about WW II.

Stumble It!

Books: Beauty and Boiling Blood

Over at CultureVultures, our sisterblog. I'm looking for feedback, peoples.

Also the latest book list review. Mild bragging.

Stumble It!

Annual Book List

ICHC For Teh Win!

Yeah, finally.

I posted reviews of what I read last year. I put up the new list for this year.

What I'd like to ask of you, friends and fellow readers, is that you run a critical eye over the list and suggest any books that ought to be pruned off the list. While it's true I managed to read some 100+ books off the list last year, I think 180+ is a mite high. So help a fella out.

Gracias!

Stumble It!

Stupid People

La Casa de Los Gatos might have to start a new category for posts: Stupid People. We admit to being curmudgeonly and misanthropic by nature (you know that old line, "I love humanity, it's people I can't stand"? We said it first. In utero.).

We believe (los gatos included) in fairness and freedom, rights and responsibilities, equity and social justice. But we also would really, really, really like to part some people's hair with the trademarked Golden Bat o'Clue. You know, the kind of people who don't believe other people have, or should have, rights? The Taliban types? The fundie wingnuts? The AFA?

Here, for example, we present today this fine specimen, one JoAn Karkos of Lewiston, Maine. Ms. Karkos got her knickers in a big ole knot about sex education on account of a book titled "It's Perfectly Normal." Interestingly, several of her fellow citizens, including a Catholic parent who is homeschooling her youngsters, found this book so tasteful and informative that they have purchased it for their own sproggen. But not Ms. Knickerwads, oh no.

This pathetic walking colostomy bag claims she was "horrified" by the book. Fine. Everybody has a right to be offended, even if some people, like Ms. Knickerwads, are just offense kleptomaniacs, taking it wherever they can find it. So, it's offensive? Don't read it, or look at it, keep your sprog away from it, and like that.

But that's not enough for Knickerbags. Oh, no. She has to go check out every copy she can get her dimwitted paws on, and refuse to give them back. From the pertinent articles on this infuriating twit:

JoAn Karkos made her feelings known in letters to the Lewiston and Auburn public libraries. Each letter was accompanied by a check for $20.95 to cover the cost of the book, "It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health."

In one letter, Karkos wrote, “I have been sufficiently horrified of the illustrations and sexually graphic, amoral, abnormal contents. I will not be returning the books.”

Hey, ignoramus — one is not horrified "of" something, one is terrified of or horrified by something. Obviously, reading is not something you do a whole lot.

Now, the nice library director sends her check back, and encloses a form to request that the book be removed from the shelves. Does she fill in the form? Hell, no. So the library board addresses the controversy at its regular meeting and Knickerwads shows up to defend herself. On the plus side, the library has received email and phone calls from people wanting to donate money or copies of the book. On the minus side, Ms. Knickerbockermop defends herself, claiming she's done nothing wrong, and brags about how she's getting interview requests from media outlets all the way to New York City. Yeah, they just can't believe anyone as dumb, bigoted, and narrow as you can actually breathe without assistance, honey.

The book itself has been translated into many languages and is sold around the world. The author, when interviewed, said:

“Our kids already know about 99.9 percent of this stuff. What concerned me is that they have a lot of misinformation, no matter how much they tell us, and I wanted them to get accurate information. So I think the litmus test for me was, ‘What’s in the best interest of the child? What’s going to help a child stay healthy?’”

Sounds good.

The library told Knickerbogs it would file a complaint against her with the local flatfoots if Knickerbags didn't forthwith hand back their book. But, of course, Miss "The Media is More Important To Me" has blown them off, and actually had the unmitigated gall to file a complaint against them for obscenity.

She's been summoned to court. Teh judge sez return teh book, pay a $100 fine for wasting the court's time, you're in contempt, and if this shit ain't done by Friday, lady, you're in the hoosegow, too.

Now here's the part that really, really will make your head explode: Karkos maintains she didn't commit a crime. Excuse me, lady? You did. When you take something paid for by our tax dollars and refuse to return it? That's called stealing, you pathetic biological miscarriage. If the library says they want the book back, the book is what you have to give them. Not your lousy check. They said they want the goods, not your money, and since you committed a crime against them, they can specify the restitution of their choice.

We really, really hope she does go to jail. Why do these horrible Aunt Noseys think it is their right to censor what the rest of us may see, hear, read, or see? What business is it of hers? If she doesn't want to see it, or have her children see it, she can always request that the librarian shelve the book in the adult section. To which, no doubt, she never goes. Geez, what a fucking pinheaded Nosey Parker.

And, before you ask, yes, we have cut down our meds. They make us too happy but also too spazzed out to do anything.

Stumble It!

Books Read so far in 2008

Go over to our sisterblog, TPC-CultureVultures, and see the list of books I've read so far in 2008. You might find a book you want to read from my list.

Stumble It!

B.A.D. Sunday Stroll Through Blogtopia!

Graphics credit Skippy, concept credit Skippy and Jon Swift

Hello, everybody! The blogroll has grown again, affording us an opportunity to share more goodies with you from every corner (elbow?) of the InnerTubes.

But first we visit Sungold at Kittywampus to read what she has to say about Michelle Obama.

Kel, over at The Osterley Times, tells us about the British Government's lies on the rendition flights through Diego Garcia.

NG posts something very, very interesting about child porn over at his blog.

Mathman over at When Will I Use This points out a truth about a teacher's life that very few people seem to realize: it's not all flowers and candy and three months off a year.

At Spring Reading Challenge, Dr. Monkey von Monkerstein sets out the rules and welcomes the eager. This is very similar to what we do at CultureVultures, except it never occurred to us that anyone else loved reading as obsessively as we do, and we just post our lists and reviews and hope that we'll win our bet on how many books we can read each year and make the loser take us out to dinner. We like Dr. von Monkerstein's idea better.

Rook rants about the gods that neither atheists nor Christians believe in. Funny. The Atheist side of the table seems to have an extra row ...

This has been your Sunday stroll through Blogtopia (y,Sctp!). La Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your attention.

Stumble It!

B.A.D. Featured Blogger

We have an excuse for not posting a featured blogger yesterday. Actually we have two. One, we were goddamned tired, and Two, we read three books yesterday. Three! We're so pleased. All interesting, we must add. We're putting them on our February book review, which we post over at CultureVultures, our sisterblog. We'll post it on Leap Year Day.

But enough about us.

Today's featured bloggers &mdash there's just too many excellent bloggers out there to feature only one per day &mdash are:

• Nunya, over at PolitickyBitch, who has a good time mocking the WATB wing of the Republican Party (uh, that would be all of them, right?);
• Kyle, over at Comments from Left Field, who does a very interesting job of dissecting Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's claims as to their electability vis-a-vis John McCain;
• while Barrymax over at Jonestown is raising my hopes about Obama with this neat little tremulous yet hopeful post.

All very inspiring, and Dashiell's Photoshops at Jonestown deserve an extra mention, ew.

And finally, we posted over at our sisterblog, CultureVultures, about Rotus' music site, Clarkspicks, and a wonderful clip of Ali Farka Toure. You need to check this out. Just go.

Stumble It!

Karl Rove: Read about him in our sisterblog

On our sisterblog, TPC-CultureVultures, you can read a short item about Karl Rove schlepping his memoir around.

Stumble It!

Happy New Year's!

We trust a relatively peaceful and happy evening was had by all?

Casa de Los Gatos, aka ThePoliticalCat, celebrated with Ms. Manitoba the day before. A steak tasting was held, generously accompanied by grilled eggplant salad and roasted beets, and steak was cooked three different ways. The tasting was pronounced a success, and all held that the addition of crushed red chilli pepper flakes, and a sauce composed of 1/2 cup chicken stock and 1/4 cup red wine used to deglaze the roasting pan, combined with leftover marinade of red pepper, ginger, honey, and vinegar provided a delicious bite, as it were, to the steak.

Last night's celebration was slightly less muted: A fire, a game of scrabble, a slice of hazelnut chocolate torte, a slice of a chocolate sponge cake with dark chocolate ganache and sweet chocolate buttercream icing, a small bottle of Quady's Essensia. Later, a truly terrible movie called "Gow: The Killer" was watched, for reasons having to do with certain parties' nostalgia for Papua Niugini.

No one asked for our opinion, but clearly we don't wait for solicitations to begin holding forth: Don't watch the movie. It'll make you want to strangle the smug colonialists who shot it (come to think of it, you could shoot them. It's full of 1920s camera work (black/white, of course) of bare-breasted Melanesian and Polynesian women and men, while some droning fool opines in a terrible saltwater accent about the likelihood of cannibalism and the level of civilization attained by these, as they phrase it, unfortunates.

Bunch of shite.

Other than that, a good time was had by all, and we accept solicitous inquiries about the health of dear Bandicoot, who is finally beginning to recover from the wretched cold that has had him in its snotty grip for well over two months now.

In other news, we finally updated the Book List on our sisterblog! Book reviews will be posted imminently.

Finally, let it be said that I expected I'd read 60 books this year, and I'm really pleased with what I've achieved with the reading. Book Lists are a good idea. Now if only I could get off my duff and finish writing them.

Stumble It!

And Now A Blogwhore

For those who haven't yet had the opportunity to visit some of the fine blogs in our blogroll, I wanted to highlight the CultureVultures, where Ms. Manitoba frequently waxes poetic. We're in the process of adding book and film reviews, and we'll finally get around to posting photography and music and our other creative endeavours when we get a fucking break from our ludicrously busy days.

And if you like beautiful photographs, you can't go wrong at Cynscapes, where experimental photography as art is much in evidence. Unfortunately, the owner of that site must be verbally flogged until she puts up the rest of her terrific work, which she's still hiding from the public eye. Feel free to drop by and give her encouragement!

Next week, I'll blogwhore a couple of others. I'm liking this.

Stumble It!

Book Review July 2007

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling

Borrowed? Smoke.

Recommended? Hey, it was a fun read! Only if you have plenty of time to spare, and an interest in light reading material.

Reread? No.

Imaginary Homelands - Salman Rushdie

Borrowed? No.

Recommended? Highly. It always amazes me how erudite and fluent a writer Rushdie is. This book has sat on my shelf for years, and now that I've read it, I'm really annoyed that I put it off so long. Witty, acerbic, well-read, and unbelievably good. Please read this book. You'll enjoy it unless you're a witless schlumpf, and maybe even then.

Reread? Definitely.

In My Dreams - Kassandra Kane

Borrowed? No.

Recommended? No. This is a book of lesbian erotica, but I've read much better lesbian erotica. It's really more like the journal of a particularly unliterary and unerotic lesbian. I don't want to trash the author. I think she tried to write her experience. Unfortunately, her experience is not terribly interesting. Pity. There's a real need for good lesbian erotica.

Reread? No.

Japanese Gods and Myths -

Borrowed? No.

Recommended? Only for people who have absolutely no knowledge of Japan, or Japanese culture. Most of the material was familiar to me, and from better sources. Lately, I've developed a deep need to read about myths, legends, and folktales, and this book was an unsatisfying excursion into that arena. You'll notice no author's name was attached to this book. That's because there wasn't one. Perhaps the person who put it together was embarrassed by the elementary level of the information?

Reread? Certainly not.

On Beauty - Zadie Smith

Borrowed? Smoke, of course, again.

Recommended? Oh, yes. Zadie Smith never fails to amaze as a writer. I didn't expect to like this book - it's about rather mundane people, a college professor of BeyondWhiteness and his African-American wife, and his three boring children, one of whom is an aspiring Christian of the worst sort (you know, the type that wants to cram it down everyone else's throats). It turned out to be an excellent book, a really interesting look at the lives of people who might not be like us at all, and who may, or may not, seem boring, commonplace, of little interest, but who have their own particular qualities that are very interesting. Kudos to Smith for producing a fine work of art, full of dialogue that sounds very real, and characters who, despite their flaws and sometimes outright unlikeability are, nonetheless, real in feel if not in fact.

Reread? Maybe.

Red Sorghum - Mo Yan

Borrowed? No.

Recommended? Oh, deity, yes. Read this book if you only have time to read one more book in your life. My god, what a terrific writer Mo Yan is. I saw the film that was based on this book, produced by Zhang Yi Mou, who is an amazing director/producer, and I thought, I must read the book. Now, usually when I read a book after seeing the film, I am disappointed in either the film or the book. This time, I was simply ravaged by both. The subject is China before and during World War II and, as you can well imagine, those were the worst of times and the worst of times. The book (and the film) are unflinching in showing the devastation and suffering that was inflicted upon the populace by the Japanese invasion, yet the writing and direction were both so great that despite the horrors, you end up enjoying both book and film. The story of that hideous war is told through the portrait of the narrator's mother, an amazing woman, strong, self-aware, and utterly admirable. And of his father, a sometimes drunken lout, but madly in love with his wonderful wife, and capable of heroic deeds (as well as pissing in the wine she made). God, it's a great book. It will leave you shaken to your roots.

Reread? Oh, hell, yes.

Sometimes A Great Notion - Ken Kesey

Borrowed? No. Lent.

Recommended? Er. I really did not care for this book. I've liked most of Kesey's work, and it was surprising to me that I found this book so difficult to get through, so uninteresting, so ... tedious. At any rate, I did not finish it, though I tried several times. I've handed it off to someone else, with the hope that they'll return it saying it was absolutely wonderful, and I'll try it again then.

Reread? Maybe. I'll try, anyway.

Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters

Borrowed? No.

Recommended? Yes. Well, I liked it. I know lots of people didn't, but really, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a description of the life of a lesbian in (I think) Victorian England. Well-written, for sure.

Reread? Maybe, if there's time.

Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen

Borrowed? Smoke.

Recommended? This is an excellent book about an elderly man reminiscing about his life in the circus. It's a page-turner, too, with a great sense of pace, a stunning power of description, unbelievable detail, yet never boring, a look at carny/circus life about a century ago, the card sharps and freaks, the oh-so-human pain and suffering and rough and tumble of people who make their living as nomads of the entertainment world. Well worth reading, too.

Reread? Probably not, but not for lack of interest.

You Shall Know Our Velocity - Dave Eggers

Borrowed? Smoke.

Recommended? This is the second work of the author's that I've read. I really didn't like the first, and I was afraid I wouldn't like this, either, but it turned out to be an OK experience. Interesting, though not brilliant. Enjoyable, if nothing to write home about. There's a certain lack of maturity in the writing that reveals itself as artificially constructed episodes of life happening to people it's hard to care about, if that makes any sense. In any event. Read it if you want to.

Reread? No.

Crossposted at CultureVultures, where all book, film, music, and art reviews will be posted, from now on.

Stumble It!

Books - Pottermania

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I read it. Borrowed it from Smoke (of course) Thursday, finished it the same night. Not exactly a strenuous read.

What, you might ask, does this do to the Ambitious Reading Plan? Well, I had decided before I ever formulated the plan that it was to be a guide, not a straightjacket. We (Ms. Manitoba and I) often come across a book or ten that is just begging to be read immediately, and just isn't on the Scheduled Reading List for this year.

Well, fuckit, I say. Are we to be ruled by our own plots and schemes? Never! We devised it simply to make our lives easier, not to get caught up in nerve-wracking, guilt-tripping, obsessive-compulsive pavement-crack-counting neuroses. So I read Harry Potter. Now back to the other 94 on the list.

I'll be putting my most current reviews up on Tuesday, probably, as I prefer to do it at the very end of the month, just in case I manage to finish some weighty tome or the other at midnight on the last day of the allotted time period. And, oh, yes, an updated reading list.

Stumble It!

Book List July 2007

Well, here's the updated list now:

A History of Malaysia - Barbara Watson Andaya & Leonard Andaya
A History of Modern Indonesia Since C. 1300 - M.C. Ricklefs
A History of Selangor - J.M. Gullick
A Point of Light - The Life of Family Planning Pioneer Constance Goh - Zhou Mei
A Spy's Revenge - Richard V. Hall
A Will For Freedom - Romen Bose
Abraham's Promise - Philip Jeyaretnam
Agnes Smedley - The Life and Times of an American Radical - J.R. & S.R. MacKinnon
Amerika - Franz Kafka
Armed Communist Movements in Southeast Asia - Ed. Lim Joo Jock & Vani S.
Beating the Blues - Thase & Lang
Believer Book of Writers Talking To Writers - Vendela Vida
Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott
Bonfire of the Vanities - Tom Wolfe
Captains of Consciousness - Stuart Ewen
Captives of Shanghai - The Story of the President Harrison - David H. & Gretchen G. Grover
Chandranath - SharatChandra Chattopadhyay
Chinese Blue and White - Ann Frank
Clay Walls - Kim Ronyoung
Colonial Masculinity - Mrinalini Sinha
Daniel Deronda - George Eliot
Death and Justice - Mark Fuhrman
Dena-Paona - SharatChandra Chattopadhyay
Devdas - SharatChandra Chattopadhyay
Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis
Extraordinary Popular Delusions - Mackay
Folklore of Tamil Nadu - S.M.L. Lakshman Chettiar
Force 136 Story of A WWII Resistance Fighter - Tan Chong Tee
From Pacific War to Merdeka - James Wong Wing On
Gaijin - James Clavell
Glory - Vladimir Nabokov
Heart Politics - Fran Peavey
How I Adore You - Mark Pritchard
How To Write A Damn Good Novel - James Frey
Imaginary Homelands - Salman Rushdie
In My Dreams - Kassandra Kane
In Pursuit of Mountain Rats - Anthony Short
Jai Bhim - Terry Pilchik
Kempeitai - The Japanese Secret Service Then and Now - Richard Deacon
Kempeitai - Japan's Dreaded Military Police - Raymond Lamont-Brown
Labour Unrest in Malaya, 1934-1941 - The Rise of the Workers' Movement - Tai Yuen
Lest We Forget - Joyce E. Williams & Alice M. Coleman
Life As The River Flows - Women in the Malayan Anti-Colonial Struggle - Agnes Khoo
Living Hell - Story of a WWII Survivor at the Death Railway - Goh Chor Boon
Malay Folk Beliefs - An Integration of Disparate Elements - Mohd. Taib Osman
Malaya and Singapore During The Japanese Occupation - Ed. Paul Kratoska
Malaysia - R. Emerson
Maria - Leslie Netto
Modern Japan - A Historical Survey - Mikiso Hane
Murder on the Verandah - Eric Lawlor
My Brother Jack - George Johnston
Night Butterfly - Tan Guan Heng
Niskriti - SharatChandra Chattopadhyay
No Cowardly Past - Dominic Puthucheary
Nonsense - Robert J. Gula
On Beauty - Zadie Smith
On the Beach - Nevil Shute
Orientalism - Edward W. Said
Outwitting the Gestapo - Lucie Aubrac
Pandit Moshai - SharatChandra Chattopadhyay
Pearl S. Buck - A Cultural Biography - Peter Conn
Plays, Vol. 2 - Bertholdt Brecht
Praxis - Faye Weldon
Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago - Peter Bellwood
Prometheus Rising - Robert Anton Wilson
Raffles - Maurice Collis
Reading Lolita In Teheran - Azar Nafisi
Reality Isn't What It Used To Be - Walter Truett Anderson
Red Star Over Malaya - Resistance & Social Conflict During And After The Japanese Occupation, 1941-1946 - Cheah Boon Kheng
Rehearsal For War The Underground War Against The Japanese - Ban Kah Choon Yap Hong Kuan
Rethinking Raffles - Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied\
Revolt in Paradise - K'tut Tantri
Robert van Gulik - His Life, His Work - Jan Willem van de Wetering
Shanghai Refuge - A Memoir of the World War II Jewish Ghetto - Ernest G. Heppner
Shantung Compound - Langdon Gilkey
Shirin Fozdar, Asia's Foremost Feminist - Rose Ong
Silences - Tillie Olsen
Singapore - Journey Into Nationhood
Singapore The Air-Conditioned Nation - Cherian George
Singapore The Pregnable Fortress - Peter Elphick
Singapore's People's Action Party - Its History, Organization and Leadership - Pang Cheng Liang
Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas - Maya Angelou
Sinister Twilight - The Fall of Singapore - Noel Barber
Sisters in The Resistance - How Women Fought To Free France, 1940-1945 - Margaret Collins Weitz
Sisters and Strangers - Women in the Shanghai Cotton Mills, 1919-1949 - Emily Honig
Soldiers Alive - Ishikawa Tatsuzo
Southeast Asia In The Age of Commerce, 1450-1680 - Anthony Reid
Spices & Condiments - J.S. Pruthi
Stones From The River - Ursula Hegi
Strangers Always - A Jewish Family in Wartime Shanghai - Rena Krasno
Streets of Georgetown, Penang - Khoo Su Nin
Syonan - My Story - The Japanese Occupation of Singapore - Mamoru Shinozaki
Taming the Wind of Desire - Psychology, Medicine, and Aesthetics in Malay Shamanistic Performance - Carol Laderman
The Age of Diminished Expectations - Krugman
The Argumentative Indian - Writings on Indian Histolry, Culture, and Identity - Amartya Sen
The Art of the Novel - Milan Kundera
The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian - Nirad C. Chaudhury
The Book of Tea - Okakura Kakuzo
The Communist Struggle in Malaya - Gene Z. Hanrahan
The Courtship of Robert Browning & Elizabeth Barrett - Karlin
The Death of Woman Wang - Jonathan D. Spence
The Devil Finds Work - James Baldwin
The Fall of Shanghai - Noel Barber
The Family:They Fuck You Up - Granta
The Forgotten Army - India's Armed Struggle for Independence 1942-1945 - Peter Ward Fay
The Ginger Man - J.P. Donleavy
The Great Hedge of India - Roy Moxham
The Great Indian Novel - Shashi Tharoor
The Hollowing - Robert Holdstock
The Jungle is Neutral - F. Spencer Chapman D.S.O.
The Literature & The Story - Vivian Gornick
The Lives of Agnes Smedley - Ruth Price
The Mak Nyahs - Teh Yik Koon
The Makioka Sisters - Junichiro Tanizaki
The Malay Archipelago - Alfred Russell Wallace
The Malayan Union Controversy, 1942-1948 - Albert Lau
The Marquis A Tale of Syonan-to - E.J.H. Corner
The Mind's I - Hofstadter & Dennett
The Origins Of The Second World War In Asia And The Pacific - Akira Iriye
The Pacific War 1931-1945 - Saburo Ienaga
The Physics of Star Trek - Lawrence Krauss
The Plague - Albert Camus
The Political Economy of Social Control in Singapore - Christopher Tremewan
The Price of Peace - True Accounts of the Japanese Occupation - Ed. Foong Choon Hon
The Rise and Fall of the Knights Templar - Gordon Napier
The Scents of Eden - A History Of The Spice Trade - Charles Corn
The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins
The Singapore Council of Women and The Women's Movement - Phyllis Ghim Lian Chew
The Unabomber Manifesto -
The Vintage Book of Indian Writing 1947-1997 - Ed. Salman Rushdie & Elizabeth West
The War in Malaya - Lt. Gen. A.E. Percival
The World of the Shining Prince - Court Life in Ancient Japan - Ivan Morris
Three Came Home - Agnes Newton Keith
Till Morning Comes - Han Suyin
Time Bombs in Malaysia - Lim Kit Siang
Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters
Tokyo Rose - Masayo Duus
Understanding Media - Marshall McLuhan
War and Memory in Malaysia and Singapore - Ed. P. Lim Pui Huen & Diana Wong
Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
Who Won The Malayan Emergency - Herbert Andrew
Why I Am Not A Muslim - ibn Warraq
Women in the Holocaust - Eds. Dalia Ofer & Lenore J. Weitzman
Women of China - Bobby Siu
Women, Outcastes, Peasants & Rebels - Bardhan
Writers Workshop In A Book - Alan Cheuse and Lisa Alvarez
Writing Past Dark - Bonnie Friedman
You Shall Know Our Velocity - Dave Eggers
You'll Never Get Off The Island - Keith Wilson
Your Memory:A User's Guide - Alan Baddeley

Some of these have been read before, but I need to make notes for The Bobbed-Haired Girl project.

Stumble It!

Book Review June 2007

Daughters of a Coral Dawn - Katherine V. Forrest

Borrowed? No.

What possessed me to read this, I can't possibly imagine. I have a load of books by this author, all from a time when I was looking for books written by women, about women, preferably strong women. She's not a very good writer, but this was in the days before I discovered writers like Sandra Scoppetone, Sheri Tepper, and Sara Paretsky, and was looking for detective fiction to while away the time with. She is not a good writer at all, come to think of it. So why did I read this particular book? A thread over at Twisty Faster's turned into a discussion of feminist utopias in fiction, and this was one of the books mentioned in the thread. I thought it might provide good background for another project I'm working on. Suffice it to say that I've learned my lesson.

Recommended? Good Lord, no.

Reread? Perhaps I'll try again, if I get further on my project and get stuck.

Dictionary of Asian Mythology - David Leeming

Borrowed? No.

An excellent, handy little reference, very useful for looking up things that you kind of know, or ought to know, or vaguely remember, about myths and legends of China, India, and every country around and in between.

Recommended? Highly.

Reread? As needed.

Ethan of Athos - Lois McMaster Bujold

Borrowed? No.

I've always liked Lois McMaster Bujold as a writer of science fiction. She has a certain sly humour and charm. This book was lightweight, a quick easy read, and thoroughly enjoyable. Yes, it was part of the "feminist utopias in fiction" project. The project doesn't have a name yet, and it's not in any way related to "The Bobbed-Haired Girl" project.

Recommended? Light reading, yes.

Reread? Probably not.

Martin Chuzzlewit - Charles Dickens

Borrowed? No.

Although it was slow to start, eventually, as all Dickensian dramas do, this book gripped me, and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough to find out what happened next. As always, the bad guys get their comeuppance, and the good their just reward, and of course Dickens is exceedingly verbose, but it was some 800 pages of enjoyment. Verbose but talented. With what skill he describes each scene, each character, how well he delves, without heavy-handed framing, the depths and heights of emotion. Bit cloying in the approved manner of the time, at times, but nevertheless a good read. Most interesting of all is his description of America.

Recommended? Highly.

Reread? Not for a good while.

Palli Samaj (The Homecoming) - SharatChandra Chattopadhyay

Borrowed? No.

Reading another of this writer's works translated into English brought home to me the importance of a good translator. Regrettably, this translation was a bit too literal, and Bangla does not translate directly into English, so much of the beauty is lost, and the idiom is clumsy and ineffective. Nevertheless, as with all of SharatChandra's work, this novel deals with the mores of village life and the difference between the urbanized protagonist and his rural childhood companion, and the maze of relationships, customs, prejudices, and regulations that make up life in rural areas. The book would have been far more enjoyable in the hands of a skilled translator. I wish I could get a copy in the original!

Recommended? Only in the original, or in a better translation

Reread? Only in the original or a better translation

Pather Dabi - SharatChandra Chattopadhyay

Borrowed? Nicki.

The translator of this work is excellent, and this is one of SharatChandra's finest novels. Loosely translated, Pather Dabi means "Right of Way." The novel chronicles the awakening of a young man to the injustices imposed by the society in which he is raised. In parts painful, in parts filled with pathos, excitement, rage, this is a novel to stir one's soul. The British did their best to suppress this work when it was first published. Read it and you'll see why.

Recommended? Highly.

Reread? Whenever I can.

Tears of the Giraffe - Alexander McCall Smith

Borrowed? Smokey again.

An amusing little work of detective fiction about the adventures of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, set in Botswana. I believe the first of those works is about to be turned into a film. The writing is good, the characters well drawn and textured, and the writer captures the sweetness of the native culture along with its suffering from change. Good pace, interesting occurrences. It left me wanting to visit Africa, notably Botswana.

Recommended? Yes, if you like detective fiction, light reading matter, and Africana.

Reread? Probably not. Once you've read a piece of detective fiction, you know how it ends, and then what's the point?

The Amber Spyglass - Phillip Pullman

Borrowed? K.B.

Oh, my. Phillip Pullman has written a fascinating trilogy, part science fiction, part fantasy, all thrilling. The writing was quite good, and although after the first book it became a little more predictable in parts, it was still a rollicking good read. It's being made into a film, and I saw the preview and felt as if I must read the book. The film is beautiful, if it all keeps the same high quality as the preview I saw. I can't wait for it to open. As for the books, I read all three volumes in a single night. So there.

Recommended? Yes, if you like science fiction, fantasy, or fast-paced adventure. Definitely light reading, though.

Reread? Maybe.

The Boss Dog - M.F.K. Fisher

Borrowed? Smoke, again.

I've always loved M.F.K. Fisher as a writer. There's a lyrical quality to her descriptions of scenes and people. Neither overly descriptive nor cloying, yet utterly sympathetic and very visual. This book, as you can tell from the title, is about a dog, and an excellent device was that dog as a way of describing the relationship between a woman and her two daughters and the time they spent living in France. As with all of Fisher's books, it was a veritable treasure of culinary and cultural information. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Recommended? Mais certainement.

Reread? Someday when I have some free time!

The Golden Compass - Phillip Pullman

Borrowed? K.B.

This is the first book in Phillip Pullman's trilogy, and I think the most exciting. His portrait of the little girl who is the protagonist is very good, I think. An excellent writer with a vivid imagination, I blame him for my subsequent insomnia.

Recommended? Highly, for those in search of entertaining reading material.

Reread? Probably, but not for years.

The Subtle Knife - Phillip Pullman

Borrowed? K.B.

This is the final book in Pullman's excellent trilogy. I didn't like it quite as much as I liked the first, but it's still well written and well worth reading.

Recommended? Yes.

Reread? Maybe.

Stumble It!

Book List June 2007

Nothing like destroying your own posts because you're too tired to see straight. What's the matter with me, I wonder. Anyway, here's the original post on the book list, retitled June 2007. Does anyone believe I have a prayer of finishing all these books by 12/31/2007?

A History of Malaysia - Barbara Watson Andaya & Leonard Andaya
A History of Modern Indonesia Since C. 1300 - M.C. Ricklefs
A History of Selangor - J.M. Gullick
A Point of Light - The Life of Family Planning Pioneer Constance Goh - Zhou Mei
A Spy's Revenge - Richard V. Hall
A Will For Freedom - Romen Bose
Abraham's Promise - Philip Jeyaretnam
Agnes Smedley - The Life and Times of an American Radical - J.R. & S.R. MacKinnon
Amerika - Franz Kafka
Armed Communist Movements in Southeast Asia - Ed. Lim Joo Jock & Vani S.
Beating the Blues - Thase & Lang
Believer Book of Writers Talking To Writers - Vendela Vida
Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott
Bonfire of the Vanities - Tom Wolfe
Captains of Consciousness - Stuart Ewen
Captives of Shanghai - The Story of the President Harrison - David H. & Gretchen G. Grover
Chandranath - SharatChandra Chattopadhyay
Chinese Blue and White - Ann Frank
Clay Walls - Kim Ronyoung
Colonial Masculinity - Mrinalini Sinha
Daniel Deronda - George Eliot
Daughters of a Coral Dawn - Katherine V. Forrest
Death and Justice - Mark Fuhrman
Dena-Paona - SharatChandra Chattopadhyay
Devdas - SharatChandra Chattopadhyay
Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis
Ethan of Athos - Lois McMaster Bujold
Extraordinary Popular Delusions - Mackay
Folklore of Tamil Nadu - S.M.L. Lakshman Chettiar
Force 136 Story of A WWII Resistance Fighter - Tan Chong Tee
From Pacific War to Merdeka - James Wong Wing On
Gaijin - James Clavell
Glory - Vladimir Nabokov
Heart Politics - Fran Peavey
How I Adore You - Mark Pritchard
How To Write A Damn Good Novel - James Frey
Imaginary Homelands - Salman Rushdie
In My Dreams - Kassandra Kane
In Pursuit of Mountain Rats - Anthony Short
Jai Bhim - Terry Pilchik
Kempeitai - The Japanese Secret Service Then and Now - Richard Deacon
Kempeitai Japan's Dreaded Military Police - Raymond Lamont-Brown
Labour Unrest in Malaya, 1934-1941 The Rise of the Workers' Movement - Tai Yuen
Lest We Forget - Joyce E. Williams & Alice M. Coleman
Life As The River Flows Women in the Malayan Anti-Colonial Struggle - Agnes Khoo
Living Hell - Story of a WWII Survivor at the Death Railway - Goh Chor Boon
Malay Folk Beliefs - An Integration of Disparate Elements - Mohd. Taib Osman
Malaya and Singapore During The Japanese Occupation - Ed. Paul Kratoska
Malaysia - R. Emerson
Maria - Leslie Netto
Martin Chuzzlewit - Charles Dickens
Modern Japan - A Historical Survey - Mikiso Hane
Murder on the Verandah - Eric Lawlor
My Brother Jack - George Johnston
Night Butterfly - Tan Guan Heng
Niskriti - SharatChandra Chattopadhyay
No Cowardly Past - Dominic Puthucheary
Nonsense - Robert J. Gula
On Beauty - Zadie Smith
On the Beach - Nevil Shute
Orientalism - Edward W. Said
Outwitting the Gestapo - Lucie Aubrac
Palli Samaj (The Homecoming) - SharatChandra Chattopadhyay
Pandit Moshai - SharatChandra Chattopadhyay
Pather Dabi - SharatChandra Chattopadhyay
Pearl S. Buck - A Cultural Biography - Peter Conn
Plays, Vol. 2 - Bertholdt Brecht
Praxis - Faye Weldon
Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago - Peter Bellwood
Prometheus Rising - Robert Anton Wilson
Raffles - Maurice Collis
Reading Lolita In Teheran - Azar Nafisi
Reality Isn't What It Used To Be - Walter Truett Anderson
Red Star Over Malaya Resistance & Social Conflict During And After The Japanese Occupation, 1941-1946 - Cheah Boon Kheng
Rehearsal For War The Underground War Against The Japanese - Ban Kah Choon Yap Hong Kuan
Rethinking Raffles - Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied
Revolt in Paradise - K'tut Tantri
Robert van Gulik - His Life, His Work - Jan Willem van de Wetering
Shanghai Refuge A Memoir of the World War II Jewish Ghetto - Ernest G. Heppner
Shantung Compound - Langdon Gilkey
Shirin Fozdar, Asia's Foremost Feminist - Rose Ong
Silences - Tillie Olsen
Singapore - Journey Into Nationhood
Singapore The Air-Conditioned Nation - Cherian George
Singapore The Pregnable Fortress - Peter Elphick
Singapore's People's Action Party - Its History, Organization and Leadership - Pang Cheng Liang
Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas - Maya Angelou
Sinister Twilight The Fall of Singapore - Noel Barber
Sisters in The Resistance - How Women Fought To Free France, 1940-1945 - Margaret Collins Weitz
Sisters and Strangers - Women in the Shanghai Cotton Mills, 1919-1949 - Emily Honig
Soldiers Alive - Ishikawa Tatsuzo
Southeast Asia In The Age of Commerce 1450-1680 - Anthony Reid
Spices & Condiments - J.S. Pruthi
Stones From The River - Ursula Hegi
Strangers Always - A Jewish Family in Wartime Shanghai - Rena Krasno
Streets of Georgetown, Penang - Khoo Su Nin
Syonan - My Story - The Japanese Occupation of Singapore - Mamoru Shinozaki
Taming the Wind of Desire - Psychology, Medicine, and Aesthetics in Malay Shamanistic Performance - Carol Laderman
Tears of the Giraffe - Alexander McCall Smith
The Age of Diminished Expectations - Krugman
The Amber Spyglass - Phillip Pullman
The Argumentative Indian - Writings on Indian Histolry, Culture, and Identity - Amartya Sen
The Art of the Novel - Milan Kundera
The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian - Nirad C. Chaudhury
The Book of Tea - Okakura Kakuzo
The Boss Dog - M.F.K. Fisher
The Communist Struggle in Malaya - Gene Z. Hanrahan
The Courtship of Robert Browning & Elizabeth Barrett - Karlin
The Death of Woman Wang - Jonathan D. Spence
The Devil Finds Work - James Baldwin
The Fall of Shanghai - Noel Barber
The Family:They Fuck You Up - Granta
The Forgotten Army - India's Armed Struggle for Independence 1942-1945 - Peter Ward Fay
The Ginger Man - J.P. Donleavy
The Golden Compass - Phillip Pullman
The Great Hedge of India - Roy Moxham
The Great Indian Novel - Shashi Tharoor
The Hollowing - Robert Holdstock
The Jungle is Neutral - F. Spencer Chapman D.S.O.
The Literature & The Story - Vivian Gornick
The Lives of Agnes Smedley - Ruth Price
The Mak Nyahs - Teh Yik Koon
The Makioka Sisters - Junichiro Tanizaki
The Malay Archipelago - Alfred Russell Wallace
The Malayan Union Controversy, 1942-1948 - Albert Lau
The Marquis A Tale of Syonan-to - E.J.H. Corner
The Mind's I - Hofstadter & Dennett
The Origins Of The Second World War In Asia And The Pacific - Akira Iriye
The Pacific War 1931-1945 - Saburo Ienaga
The Physics of Star Trek - Lawrence Krauss
The Plague - Albert Camus
The Political Economy of Social Control in Singapore - Christopher Tremewan
The Price of Peace - True Accounts of the Japanese Occupation - Ed. Foong Choon Hon
The Rise and Fall of the Knights Templar - Gordon Napier
The Scents of Eden - A History Of The Spice Trade - Charles Corn
The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins
The Singapore Council of Women and The Women's Movement - Phyllis Ghim Lian Chew
The Subtle Knife - Phillip Pullman
The Unabomber Manifesto -
The Vintage Book of Indian Writing 1947-1997 - Ed. Salman Rushdie & Elizabeth West
The War in Malaya - Lt. Gen. A.E. Percival
The World of the Shining Prince - Court Life in Ancient Japan - Ivan Morris
Three Came Home - Agnes Newton Keith
Till Morning Comes - Han Suyin
Time Bombs in Malaysia - Lim Kit Siang
Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters
Tokyo Rose - Masayo Duus
Understanding Media - Marshall McLuhan
War and Memory in Malaysia and Singapore - Ed. P. Lim Pui Huen & Diana Wong
Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
Who Won The Malayan Emergency - Herbert Andrew
Why I Am Not A Muslim - ibn Warraq
Women in the Holocaust - Eds. Dalia Ofer & Lenore J. Weitzman
Women of China - Bobby Siu
Women, Outcastes, Peasants & Rebels - Bardhan
Writers Workshop In A Book - Alan Cheuse and Lisa Alvarez
Writing Past Dark - Bonnie Friedman
You Shall Know Our Velocity - Dave Eggers
You'll Never Get Off The Island - Keith Wilson
Your Memory:A User's Guide - Alan Baddeley

Stumble It!

This Great Soon-To-Be-Ex-Democracy

if the current misadministration has its way. Lee Iacocca wants to know:

Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course."

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don't need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.

I'm blown away. Lee Iacocca??? Borders has his book. Go read it.

Stumble It!

Books read in February

My February Book Review:

• Foreign Country - Jonathan Raban
  
  Borrowed? No.
  

  This book got rave reviews from some very well-respected authors and reviewers, including Salman Rushdie. I liked it very much in some parts, and not so much in others. Well-written, no doubt. I think it's one of those books that would be of especial interest to those who know something about sailing, or Africa, or what it feels like to be a white person in Africa. Or English.
  
  
  Recommended? For sailors, travellers, Afrophiles, and travel writers.
  Reread? No. Well, maybe. But not soon.
  

• Passions of the Cut Sleeve - Bret Hinsch
  
  Borrowed? No.
  
  A rather early study of gay culture in China throughout the ages. I believe this was the writer's PhD thesis. Interesting, but dated.
  
  Recommended? Not really.
  Reread? No.
  
  
• The Sleeper Wakes - Marcy Knopf
  
  Borrowed? No.
  
  This book is a collection of short stories by some of the literary lights of the Harlem Renaissance. Featured writers include Nella Larsen and Angelina Weld Grimke. Beautiful book, really powerful writing, and some of the writers are women I'd never heard of or never read. Includes some all-time favorites, like Zora Neale Hurston, but it's a book to be read and reread.
  
  
  Recommended? Heartily.
  Reread? Repeatedly.
  
  
• The Bride Price - Buchi Emecheta
  
  Borrowed? No.
  
  I've had this book forever, and why I didn't start it earlier I do not know. Twelve smacks in the head with a sheet of wet paper. Ow. Beautiful. The writer, who now lives in the UK, is very prolific, very talented, very very good. All that said, it's a very depressing story. But still worth reading. Don't take my word for it. And yes, it's available for loan, but you must return it, or 922 cats (and kittens!) may torment you.
  
  Recommended? Highly.
  Reread? Not for a bit, I'm afraid.
  
  
• Take the Cannoli - Sarah Vowell
  
  Borrowed? Sadly - No!
  
  It is my understanding that the writer is a highly acclaimed Hip Young Person. And I can't deny that she is a wordsmith. However, when she mocks Maya Angelou, I have to question her purpose. Perhaps she's just too terminally hip to tip a hat to other writers. For what it's worth, she's entertaining, but not memorable.
  
  Recommended? Only to those in pursuit of terminal hipatude.
  Reread? Why?
  
  
• Nectar in a Sieve - Kamala Markandeya
  
  Borrowed? No.
  
  Another writer who comes highly recommended and raved. I wish I'd put the book down when I started to feel disenchanted, but in my own defense, I felt if I could give Daniel Deronda another bash, I could certainly persevere with Kamala Markandeya. Frankly, this is one of those books that has become, to me, all too representative of Third World Literature, or, more accurately, Third World Writers Writing In English. The writer is talented, and can capture your interest, but the story is so unremittingly dreary and depressing. At least Buchi Emecheta's book had its delightful moments. This book was unending misery.
  
  Recommended? Only if you've stocked up on your psychoactive meds.
  Reread? I haven't. There isn't a stockpile large enough of happy pills, that is, for me to reread this.
  
  
• 'Tis Pity She's A Whore - John Ford
  
  Borrowed? NO!!! Dammit.
  
  This is one of those plays that makes me grateful I was born in these times - even if global warming is proceeding apace, and the fish are dying out and there won't be any tigers or hippos in a decade, and we'll all be living on texturized soy protein. At least we won't have to deal with a misogynistic church and its maggoty mouthpieces, the educated classes. She's a whore because her brother seduced her, you see. Whereas he, the seducer, is a fine upstanding young - schmuck. And her husband, who beats her, is A Man Wronged. And her father who gets her married off is Merely Caring For His Brood. And the friar, who urges her to marry the wife-beater, is Simply Trying To Save Her Soul. Pardon my foreign language of choice, but fuck the lot of them, the self-righteous, hypocritical swine - no offense to swine, who are fine sources of protein, not to mention quite charming in their own right. In any event. It was a difficult read.
  
  Recommended? Certainly not, and I don't care if you are majoring in English Literature.
  Reread? Only on pain of suffering and death.
  
  
• The Post Office - Rabindranath Tagore
  
  Borrowed? No.
  
  This charming, sweet little play is a spiritual allegory. I found it irresistible, delightful, even though I don't care for deist superstition. It was not intrusive deism, just a very sweet allusion to something better in human nature. Or so it could be read. And so, certainly, did I read it.
  
  Recommended? Highly.
  Reread? Oh, yes.
  
  
• Rabbit-Proof Fence - Doris Pilkington
  
  Borrowed? No.
  
  The author is the granddaughter and grandniece of the three women who made the astounding trek across Australia that is commemorated in the book and film of the above title. The writer is not very skilled, but the book is worth reading for its glimpse at the lives of the Native Australians and the incredible cruelty they suffered at the hands of white Australians.
  
  Recommended? Yes.
  Reread? Not anytime soon, but not for lack of wanting.
  
  
• I Married A Barbarian - Dennis Bloodworth and Liang Ching Ping
  
  Borrowed? No.
  
  This is a sweet story of a long and enduring relationship between two people who came from the opposite sides of the world to settle in Singapore. I wasn't planning to read any love stories, but it's set in a period that is germane to The Book Writing Project, and I got caught up in the story anyway. No great literary masterpiece, but nice. And sweet.
  
  Recommended? Only for those who are interested in World War II, and the period between 1940 and 2005, or Asia, or - love stories, I guess.
  Reread? Probably not.
  

Short list this month. I blame two bouts of the flu, some badly-needed weeding of the garden, and work.

Stumble It!