What are you reading?

[venture160]

I just finished Death of a Red Heroine by the Shanghai author Qiu Xiaolong. Its a crime/political novel written in english and based in 1990 Shanghai. Highly reccomended!

[againstwind]

Qiu Xiaolong is also a brilliant poet and translator. I know he translated lots of classical Chinese poem into English. And he also translated some of T. S.Eliot's poems.

[heifeng]

ohhh... I love T.S. Elliot.

I am now (or still..) reading 千年一叹 by 余秋雨 which is basically the author's journal as he travels through 10 middle eastern countries in 1999.

I think this book alone is doing wonders for my vocabulary and of course it is very interesting as well. The good thing is since it is set up as a journal it is easy just to read a passage or two everyday and not really forget what is happening if you can't go back to reading it for a few days.

[roddy]

ohhh... I love T.S. Elliot.

Macavity, Macavity . . .

PS I know nothing about Elliot, or poetry. The poem on heifeng's link reminded me of Macavity, so I went looking for it and found it was actually written by the same person. We learnt Macavity in school, that's how I know that one.

[skylee]

I am reading the Chinese version of Murakami Haruki's 東京奇譚集. It's good.

[venture160]

I am now reading a Spy novel called 《致命弱点》"Fatal Weakness." It can be found on boxun or wenxuecity. I like it but the character development is very drawn out.

Qiu Xiaolong is also a brilliant poet and translator. I know he translated lots of classical Chinese poem into English. And he also translated some of T. S.Eliot's poems.

He is a great poet indeed! Every 5 pages or so the book is infused with excellent translations of Chinese poetry. The main character Chief Inspector Chen is also a poet in the book.

[Lu]

Haruki Murakami is the BEST!

Just finished a book named 'One's Company' by a guy named Peter Fleming, who was a special correspondent for the Times in China in 1933. Guy is 26 when he writes the book doesn't speak Chinese, he warns, doesn't know that much about Chinese history or culture, and only spent seven months in China. Thus warned I read the book, and it's hilarious (in a good way). Fleming mostly describes his travels, but when he describes the situation he is pretty accurate.

And I like contemporary accounts, for their lack of hindsight. The communists, Fleming writes, are led by Chu Teh and Mao Tsu Tung, a brilliant young man with a terminal disease. One wonders what that disease was that Mao was supposed to be dying of. A few pages later Fleming says he thinks it's unlikely that the communists will be succesfull or win the war, unless some unexpected event happens. Well, he couldn't see WWII coming in 1933.

[wushijiao]

In May, I read 易中天 by 帝国的惆怅, which was basically a series of essays showing the institutional flaws of the imperial system system, and by extension, the system now. Quite a bit of the book was over by head to be honest, but it was still pretty interesting. I like 易中天's writing style, which is a mix of hickish slang, historical fact, and opinion.

A few days ago, I just finished Zong Fengming's book of conversations with former Premier Zhao, who lived under house arrest until his death. That book was wonderfull, but it was, obviously, a bit depressing. I might write up a longer thing about it later, especially if anyone might be interested.

http://time-blog.com/china_blog/2007/03/zhao_ziyangs_memoirs_are_out.html

Right now I'm reading Zhongguo Gaige Niandai de Zhengzhi Douzheng　by Yang Jisheng (using pinyin to avoid censors). If you are interested in the debates of huge importance that took place in the highest levels of Chinese politics in the 1970'-90's, this is a fascinating book.

Both of those books I was able to find at prirated book stalls in Shanghai!

[gato]

A few days ago, I just finished Zong Fengming's book of conversations with former Premier Zhao, who lived under house arrest until his death. That book was wonderfull, but it was, obviously, a bit depressing.

Maybe you read a book about the Tang dynasty. Read something about one of the high points of Chinese history might be a nice turn after all these depressing books about contemporary history.

[wushijiao]

Maybe you read a book about the Tang dynasty. Read something about one of the high points of Chinese history might be a nice turn after all these depressing books about contemporary history

Hehe, Good point. But then agian, Zong's book is of huge historic importance, and although there is a lot of repetition and boring parts about Marxist theory, there are also a lot of interesting points about the leadership of the past 30 years, and, to some degree, I felt like I got to know both Zong and Zhao by the end of the book. It was depressing by the end, but it was a page-turner of sorts. Historically speaking, and as a historical document (regardless of its truthfullness) it is probably the most important book of the year for 2007 in Chinese, without question.

I feel like the 80's in China, politically speaking, was a fascinating time, with tons of interesting characters. Li Peng, Zhao Ziyang, Hu Yaobang, Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yun, Bao Tong, Jiang Zemin, Yang Shaokun...etc were all powerful characters with their own flaws, who also advocated interesting positions. This was the turning point that decided China's direction from many possible scenarios (ie. a big North Korea, a slightly-capitalists North Korea, the China of today, a free and economically powerfull China, a weak China in splinters and chaos). So, although on the surface they always present a facade of blah uniformity, there was a true debate of ideas going on behind the curtain, mixed in with a lot of blood sport and personal hatred. That's why, although these books are a bit depressing, they make for great reading.

I also read 25 pages of Yu Dan's new book about Confucius, but it just didn't hook me in.

[gato]

I also read 25 pages of Yu Dan's new book about Confucius, but it just didn't hook me in.

Yeah, Confucius is just not as sexy as Zhao Ziyang.

[wushijiao]

Yeah, Confucius is just not as sexy as Zhao Ziyang

Yu Dan is not bad looking though.

[skylee]

I am reading《偽科學鑑證2 殺出香港》by 小克 (Siuhak). :D

[zozzen]

reading this now:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/book/2007-02/12/content_5728645.htm

CCTV has invited scholars to run a series of program that discusses philosophy, history and society. Among all this, i think this book is the most comprehensive and well written. Some other books are simply the disorganized transcript of the talk show.

[skylee]

I am reading "煙花三月", written by 李碧華 (author of "Farewell to my concubine"). The book has been on my book shelf for years and I was not sure if I had read it. I found my own signature and the date 2000 on the book. I never though about (re)reading it until I read about the death of the main character in another book (the one in post #273).

One thing that makes it hard to read/finish the book is that it makes me cry. I cried when I read the first chapter "五塊錢買了個指環", and again reading the second chapter "十八歲的慰安婦". Crying made my head ache so I had to stop.

About the book -> http://culture.qianlong.com/6931/2005/06/17/1400@2682426.htm

The author's blog -> http://blog.sina.com.cn/libihua

[skylee]

I am reading the screenplays of "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset". I like these two films a lot (I have a "Before Sunset" postcard right in front of me on my desk). I have finished one fourth of the book and I like it just as much.

I've also borrowed Ian McEwan's "Amsterdam" from the library and I plan to finish it during the Christmas holidays (it is hard not travelling during holidays).

[trien27]

中文一分鐘 Vol. 1 & 3.

Here's a link from the same books online:

http://www.rthk.org.hk/chiculture/1minchinese/

Note: Everything from the above site is in Traditional Chinese because it's a site from .hk domain, meaning the server is in Hong Kong.

[Lu]

Am halfway through Lady Chatterly's Lover, and don't like it. Liked the first two or so chapters, they had nice style, but the more I read the more annoyed I get. Will probably finish it, as it's a famous book, but I don't like it.

[fireball9261]

Here are the Chinese eBooks I am reading:

http://www.cmfu.com/showbook.asp?bl_id=133925 (The model Chinese family of Ming dynasty) - Modern Chinese couple time traveled to Ming dynasty China.

http://www.cmfu.com/showbook.asp?Bl_id=20 (Puple River - Chinese Fatasy Fiction - Set in a society more like a Western Feudal society and the time in far future after WWIII and the reset of the civilization. This is one of the more popular and well written modern Chinese fiction in mainland China.)

[heifeng]

Although I should actually finish the book I started (listed above), I have shifted gears to this book,

一针见血, original name 警察与流氓 and so far so good!

next is this one:

江户川乱步：女妖

(haven't officially started reading it, other than what I read at the book store, but it looked good and if Iike it the auther has written tons of stories...)