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July 01, 2004

More Books I've Read

Everytime I list books I've been reading, I get more people responding to my posts so I thought I'd do an updating reading list post. The first one can be found here:

Books Up Until November

Since then, here's what I've consumed:

Butter chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in small town India by Pankaj Mishra- good travel read about travel in India, by and Indian. The author fixates on the bad taste of people (and their love of concrete) who have just come into a bit of money.

Are You Experienced? by William Sutcliffe- A sometimes funny novel about how stupid people should not be allowed out of their own countries (in this case England) with plane tickets for another (India). I had heard this book was hysterical, especially while travelling through India. It was funny because the characters are clueless and you could change the names to those of all the people lying half naked on a beach in Goa.

The House of Blue Mangoes by David Davidar- A novel following three generations of a family in a village in southern India. Lubna/Dustyshoes gave Ant this book and I have to say, it kicked ass. I remember being in Alleppey, in south India (almost near the tip) and reading this book. The descriptions of the environment and the village could have been those of where we were staying.

Eat the Rich: A Treatise on Economics by P.J. O'Rourke- Quite possibly one of the funniest books I've ever read. Who would figure? The author (who also writes for Rolling Stone) wanted to discover why certain countries are wealthy while others are not so he visited ten different places (Hong Kong, Tanzania, Albania, Sweden, etc.) to determine if it was education, natural resources, culture, type of government, whatever. What he discovers is that giraffes are gay and Albania has imported the highest number of slot machines per capita, in the world, but hasn't bought a sewing machine in years.

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie- This one took me almost a month, which is a LONG time for me. It's heavy stuff. The book follows the story of a man who was born at midnight, August 15, 1947, when India became an independent nation. His fate is changed forever when a nurse, trying to impress her hoodlum boyfriend, switches him from a Hindu to a Muslim family, as an act of rebellion. The book follows Saleem as he literally crumbles apart as a physical manifestation of the soul of his country. Top notch book.

River God by Wilbur Smith- Basic airport trash reading but set in ancient Egypt so I gobbled it up in no time. It was recommended to me by Helga the Viking and did a good job of entertaining me on the rainy days in the Cameron Highlands. I was able to get a copy off some girl staying in our hostel room in Penang. The story's main character is Taita, a brilliant eunach in the service of Lostris, an imaginery ancient queen. There is nothing Taita can't do and we follow characters' adventures from Egypt into exile in the mysterious land of Kush.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller- Crap. I hated this book. It was soooo dull. It's about Yossarian, a whiny bombadier in Vietnam, trying to escape going on another sortie. I understand it's a commentary on why war is bad, but the character was annoying to distraction. I wanted him to get shot down and die so I wouldn't have to read his whining anymore.

Gai-Jin by James Clavell- Mediocre. A long, LONG novel about westerners (English, French, Russian, American) in Japan in the nineteenth century. It took me forever to get through and by the end, I had forgotten what had happened in the beginning. I'll have to give the first of Clavell's stuff (Shogun) a read before I write him off completely.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling- The first two HP books were amusing, but definately kiddie books. I enjoyed this one much more and was glad I had read it when I went to see the movie last week in Bangkok.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling- Same as above. Probably my favorite so far.

Off the Rails in Phnom Penh: Into the Dark Heart of Guns, Girls, and Ganja by Amit Gilboa- A very disturbing book about a journalist's interaction with expatriots in Cambodia. The people he meets on his visa runs to Phnom Penh blow up cows with grenades, sleep with $2 hookers, and get high as kites, all while teaching English to locals for money. I thought his ideas on what type of people are attracted to this kind of environment, and how they could or couldn't readjust back to living in the West, were very insightful and scary.

A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East by Tiziano Terzani- God, I hated this book. An Italian journalist in Asia is told by a Chinese fortune teller that in a certain year he should travel only by land. The author fixates on how the West is sucking the soul out of the East by introducing modern ideas and amenities. I found him to be obsessed with the appearances of buildings rather than the lives of the people who live in them. During the whole book he is offended that Asia has a love affair with anything new and indirectly all progress should be halted because it's making Asia ugly. Blah.

The Cider House Rules by John Irving- Awesome book. It's the story of a young man, Homer Wells, who grows up in an orphanage run by an abortionist, Dr. Larsh. I didn't know anything about the book except that a movie (which I haven't seen) had been made out of it.

Shanghai Baby by Wei Hui- Possibly the WORST book I have ever read. It's filled with references to supposedly cool things (Trainspotting, jazz musicians, etc) to show just how hip the character/author are. The main character is an idiot and her boyfriend, a useless creature, kills himself. Wow, what a "rivetting and exciting" novel. I wanted to kill myself too after realizing I traded The Cider House Rules for this load of trash.

Culture Shock!! China by Kevin Sinclair- The only book I could get for the last one. It had some interesting angles on the Chinese government and shed some light on 1989 Tianenamen Square Massacre.

Aman: The Story of a Somali Girl- A true story about a young girl. I had a hard time with this book. Although I knew the character, Aman, was a real person who had verbally told her story, I had a hard time empathizing with her because of the really ridiculous and impulsive decisions she made.

Clan of the Cavebear by Jean Auel- I read this book over the course of 1.5 days in a cafe in Jinghong, China. It's about a young prehistoric girl, Ayla, who gets separated from her family and people (The Others), only to be taken in by The Clan. Her way of thinking, inparticular her decision to hunt, causes her and her adopted family endless trouble.

Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella- Don't bother. Blah...

The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker- Ant didn't like this book, but I did. It's about the experiences of different races in America- both present and in the past. I'll definately have to read The Color Purple now.

Down Under by Bill Bryson- I nearly pissed myself from laughing. I read this after having just been in Australia. Bryson has their number! He writes about the quirks of the savage island nation/continent, from cricketers wearing mattresses as uniforms to the "losing" of a prime minister (he drowned and no one ever knew!). I learned a lot about Australia as well as laughed my ass off about things he notes that I also observed. A must read.

My Path Leads to Tibet by Sabriye Tenberken- I can't describe this book as well as this:

From Publishers Weekly:
When Tenberken, whose battle with retinal disease left her blind at age 13, was in her 20s, she studied Tibetan culture at the University of Bonn. Frustrated by the awkward character-recognition machinery she had to use to read Tibetan materials, she devised a Tibetan braille alphabet, so that once translated, works could be directly readable by the blind. What followed seemed natural to her: she'd go to Tibet and start a school to teach this braille to blind Tibetan children. Traveling on horseback over treacherous mountain passes, sleeping in rat-infested huts and dealing with self-interested charitable bureaucracies, Tenberken managed to keep her humor and courage. She succeeded in establishing a school, and her organization, "Braille Without Borders," continues the literacy mission in other countries.

But I can say I went to Sabriye's school for blind kids and it was unbelievable. The kids were so normal and well adjusted, considering the living conditions most of them come from. In the book, Sabriye mentions one little girl whose family didn't know what to do with her, so they tied her to a mattress everyday while they did work around the farm. As we were shown around the facilities, our guide, Kila, proved to be just short of telepathic. When a student in the English class we visited threw a single sheet of paper at her, she caught it midair because she could feel how it affected the air around her and was able to tell where it was. When I walked around a corner, another student whizzed around it and shopped just a few inches shy of where I was standing. I hadn't said a word or moved, but he just smiled and said "sorry, excuse me." How the HELL did he know I was there??? Nuts.

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown- I read this in one sitting. It's a totally rivetting murder mystery that involves art, history, symbology, ancient secret societies, modern cults, and the Catholic Church. AWESOME book.

The Seventh Scroll and Warlock by Wilbur Smith- Both continuations of River God. They would have been average had I not just come off The Davinci Code.

Notes from A Small Island by Bill Bryson- Another good travel book. I got a kick out of his frustration with public transportation in the UK because I had just been there and cursed under my breath many times on how random service was. He also notices many of the quirks I thought were funny, and had a million others to add.

The Valley of the Horses by Jean Auel- The second in the Earth's Children series. This is my mom's fav of the series. Ayla finds The Others and a hottie named Jondalar, as well as creating new innovations in hunting. I'll definately read the next few...

The Autobiography and Other Writings by Benjamin Franklin- I never would have read this but it was one of the few Penguin Classics I could find that wasn't Dickens. It was surprisingly interesting.

18 Best Short Stories of Edgar Allen Poe with a forward by Vincent Price- CREEPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Tell Tale Heart gave me chills.

Papillon by Henri Charriere- This is the sort of true story about a Frenchman's experience in the French penal colonies. Someone who had this copy had taped in Charriere's obituary in which Charriere is quoted in saying that 75% of his story is true, 25% is fiction. Papillon makes eight or nine attempted prison breaks (the last being successful), lives with Indians, and loses some of his best friends to illness acquired in solitary silent confinement.

Girl With the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier- I thought this book was alright. It had a good potential idea, but I felt that the characters were wooden and somewhat dull. The movie was crap.

The Alchemist by Paul Coelho- A feelgood fable about following your dreams. I liked it.

A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood- I'm still reeling from this one. I can't seem to shake the creepy ideas Atwood writes about- a post religious revolution state where women's "functions" are broken down and filled by different castes.

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown- Another murder mystery involving symbology, the Catholic Church, science, and the illusive Illuminati. Not as good as The DaVinci Code, but still damn good.

Blood Canticle by Anne Rice- Oh Anne, what have you done to Lestat!!?? I hated this book. There are too many characters and all seem shallow and robotic in their actions. Lestat, the hot, sexy, intelligent vampire has become a bore.

Wow, I didn't think my list was that long, but it seems I've read more than I thought. I'm currently working on a history of Europe (some light reading) and a book on how historians have created our image of Leonardo da Vinci, the painter, the mathmetician, the military strategist, the courtier, and the thinker, depending on the times in which historian lived, rather than when da Vinci lived.

Posted by Claudia on July 1, 2004 11:46 AM
Category: Oregon
Comments

Glad you enjoyed the House of Blue Mangoes, did Ant n you, actually lug it all the way back home. It sure was a thick book! 8-)

Posted by: Dusty on July 2, 2004 02:56 AM

Yup, it's here somewhere in this apartment.... :)

Posted by: Claudia on July 2, 2004 10:26 AM

Thank you! Catch 22 totally sucked. I read that when Greg blended his book collection with mine. I tried to seem interested but could not get past the first 30 miserable pages.

Got your call, I'll give you a holler today or tomorrow.
Di

Posted by: Dione on July 6, 2004 04:52 PM



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