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Chinese Lessons

I just finished this book, which was recommended to me by a co-worker. The author was one of the first US exchange students to study in China after the Cultural Revolution.

This is the quote on the back of the book by the former US ambassador to China,

"John Pomfret has written a brilliant, insightful book describing the dark side and the human cost of the 'Chinese economic miracle.' His feel for China, based on years of living there, his fluency in Chinese, and his reporting genius cut through the sham and spin of much current coverage."

The book recounts the lives of five of his classmates and Pomfret's life and interactions with China, including his expulsion after the Tienanmen square massacre. This is a great way to learn about recent Chinese history and give more perspective to the current issues in China.

I would strongly encourage everyone to read this before the Olympics in Beijing.

d

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio

Terry Ryan wrote this book about her mother. It is pretty funny, as you would expect when there are 10 kids in one house. To help pay for expenses, the mother starts entering writing contests. And she wins--a lot! Here is a little teaser:

"She began her contesting career simply enough, with Burma-Shave roadside rhymes. In the 1950s you couldn't drive down a highway without passing a Burma-Shave roadside billboard campaign, six signs spaced at hundred-yard intervals down the road, one line to a sign, the last always "Burma-Shave". The verses were clever and meant to amuse, their content ranging from shaving to safe driving and current culture. My mother's submissions added to those topics an occasional touch of irony:

Race little roadster,
Fairly Fly.
You'll be
Used parts
By and by.
Burma-Shave.

Successful Burma-Shave jingles inserted a not-so-hidden advertisement into the mix, and in one entry Mom went for broke--if you don't shave close enough, you could kill yourself:

Hairpin turn,
Hotrod ditched.
Lost control,
His whiskers
Itched.
Burma-Shave."

Susan Vreeland

Just a short note on Passion of Artemisia. It was sort of a let down. I really loved Girl in Hyacinth Blue, so I was looking forward to another book from this author. Only one thing really happens in this book though. Maybe if I had known more about the art ahead of time I would have enjoyed it more.

French Impressions

by John S. Little--sort of. It's actually mostly taken from notes written by his mother while they were abroad. Cute stories about their adventures in France. Good book. Who loaned this to me? I'm ready to give it back.

The True Account

Need something for the trip D? This book will be an excellent choice to distract you in busy airports.

I am sick so I have been reading a lot. This has been the best of the lot. It has many Don Quixote references and for good reason. This pure imagination and adventure. It is a narrative written by a kid about his crazy uncle and all they do together. I am going to give you a quote from fairly early in the book, so I don't give too much away:

(from handbills printed by the kid)

RUNAWAY UNCLE. Run off from Kingdom Common, Vermont, and UNCLE, Private True Teague Kinneson, about 50 years of age. His stature is tall, his countenance fierce, his clothes and gear those of a knight-errant, consisting of chain mail, a belled night-stocking over a copper plate in his head, a red sash, and galoshes worn high or low as the occasion requires. A former soldier with the Continental Army, a playwright, and a clasical scholar, this UNCLE imagines himself to have explored from the Pacific up the Columbia River, across the Rocky Mountains, and thence overland to St. Louis and the United States. Whoever conveys him safely home, or into the care of his nephew, Ticonderoga Kinneson, shall have 5 dollars from

THE KINNESON FAMILY
KINGDOM COMMON, VERMONT

This book flies by much faster than I would want. Very fun.

The Travel Bug Bites Again!

Oh, dear... I'm supposed to be packing and here I am writing a post (read: wasting time).

I just read two really good books. One was expected to be good and the other was a risk taken in the library stacks. I read the second book by J. Maarten Troost, the author of "The Sex Lives of Cannibals." It is called, "Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu." In this book, the author and his wife (the girlfriend from the last book) are holding down steady jobs in Washington, when they chuck it all (ok, he gets fired) and move off to an island in the South Pacific. He continues to write with a sense of humor which makes me laugh out loud. (While I was in the middle of this book, API walked into our bedroom to find me curled up with this book and snickering to myself. He thinks I am very strange.)

The title of Chapter 6: "In which the author ponders cannibalism and discovers that he just doesn't get it--not at all, cannot get past the icky factor--and so, left to his own devices by his beguiling wife, he decides to seek enlightenment on the island of Malekula, where until recently, within his own lifetime even, they lunched on people."

And, yes, you Spanish and French speakers out there, if you sound out the name of the Island you will understand that when Captain Cook named the island in French, he was not having a particularly good time.

You should probably read "The Sex Lives of Cannibals" first, but both are very, very good.

The second book, which was a risky selection at the library, is "On Mexican Time: A New Life in San Miguel" by Tony Cohan. While I very much enjoy reading about the young couple, or lone woman, or whomever chucking it all and moving to France (See Julia Child entry), I am very wary of the people who travel through Latin America. Most of this genre are travellers and they don't settle, so the book is usually about breadth instead of depth. I wanted depth, and this book delivered.

I'm also wary of the views from above of the lowly Latino, but these folks get right in there and mix it up! Sure, they have gringo friends and european friends, but they also have Mexican friends. It was surprisingly good.

Well, we're leaving for our own adventure in Mexico on Thursday night and I haven't started the packing process yet. This could be the trip which decides our summer plans, so keep your fingers crossed for us!

d

Ooo, and this one too

Lots of web-surfing procrastination going on today:

Library Smut

Book Reccomendation Database

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What Shall I Read Next?

Julie and Julia--Finished at Last!

What a great recommendation! This was from one of Della's earlier posts and it is really enjoyable. It took me a while to read, because I read it one chapter per day...sorta blog style. I thought I would share what Julie Powell had to say about blogging:

"When we blog about our weight-loss problems and our knitting and our opinion of the president's IQ level, we do it on the blithe assumption that someone gives a shit -- even though there's a guy stuck in Baghdad who blogs, and a Washington DC staff assistant who gets paid by Republican appointees for sex who blogs, and our own jottings must all be dreadfully dull by comparison. Nowadays anyone with a crap laptop and Internet access can sound their barbaric yawp, whatever it may be. But the surprise is that for every person who's got something to say, it seems there are at least a few people who are interested. Some of them aren't even related."

I thought that last part was funny considering that I'm related to most everyone who reads this blog. Oh, and if you can't tell from that paragraph--beware Republicans. This may not be your book. Otherwise, enjoy! Thanks Della.