Book Review - June 2008

This month's review list was supposed to be Part Six of Twelve, but as we look back we notice we've only done parts One and Two. Whatever. This is now Part Three.

We'll start with the updated booklist from February, then dissect the ones we finally managed to read, and publish the new updated booklist separately.

1. A Cloistered War - Maisie Duncan
   
2. A History of Malaysia - Barbara Watson Andaya & Leonard Andaya
   
3. A History of Modern Indonesia - M.C. Ricklefs
   
4. A History of Selangor - J. M. Gullick
   
5. A Map of the World - Jane Hamilton
   
6. A Place Where The Sea Remembers - Sandra Benitez
   
7. A Point of Light - Zhou Mei
   
8. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
   
9. A Tagore Reader - Amiya Chakravarty
   
10. A Will For Freedom - Romen Bose
    
11. Abraham's Promise - Philip Jeyaretnam
    
12. Agnes Smedley - J.R. & S.R. MacKinnon
    
13. Anthology of Japanese Literature - Donald Keene
    
14. Art & Fear - David Bayles & Ted Orland
    
15. Asian Labour In The Japanese Wartime Empire - Paul H. Kratoska, Ed.
    
16. Baba Nonnie Goes To War - Ron Mitchell
    
17. Bang Bang in Ampang - Norman Cleaveland
    
18. Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers - Vendela Vida, Ed.
    
19. Between Two Oceans - Murfett, Miskic, Farrell, & Chiang
    
20. Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott
    
21. Buffalo Gals - Ursula K. LeGuin
    
22. Burglars can't be Choosers - Lawrence Block
    
23. Busman's Honeymoon - Dorothy Sayers
    
24. Captives of Shanghai - David H. & Gretchen G. Grover
    
25. Chandranath - Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay
    
26. Chinese Blue and White - Ann Frank
    
27. Chinese Customs - Henri Dore
    
28. Clay Walls - Kim Ronyoung
    
29. Daniel Deronda - George Eliot
    
30. Dictionary of the Khazars - Milorad Pavic
    
31. Early Views of Indonesia/Pemandangan Indonesia di Masa Lampau - Annabel Teh Gallop
    
32. Encyclopedia of China - Dorothy Perkins
    
33. Fantasies of the Six Dynasties - Tsai Chih Chung
    
34. Faster - James Gleick
    
35. Finnegan's Wake - James Joyce
    
36. Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman
    
37. From Pacific War to Merdeka - James Wong Wing On
    
38. Fu Lu Shou - Jeffrey Seow
    
39. Gaudy Night - Dorothy Sayers
    
40. Golden Boy and Other Stories from Burma - Saw Wai Lwyn Moe
    
41. Golden Gate - Vikram Seth
    
42. Glory - Vladimir Nabokov
    
43. Have His Carcase - Dorothy Sayers
    
44. How I Adore You - Mark Pritchard
    
45. How To Write A Damn Good Novel - James N. Frey
    
46. In Pursuit of Mountain Rats - Anthony Short
    
47. In The Grip of a Crisis - Rudy Mosbergen
    
48. In the Midst of Death - Lawrence Block
    
49. Kempeitai, Japan's Dreaded Military Police - Raymond Lamont-Brown
    
50. Kempei Tai: The Japanese Secret Service Then And Now - Richard Deacon
    
51. Kim - Rudyard Kipling
    
52. Krait: The Fishing Boat That Went To War - Lynette Ramsay Silver
    
53. Kranji - Romen Bose
    
54. Labour Unrest in Malaya - Tai Yuen
    
55. Lest We Forget - Alice M. Coleman & Joyce E. Williams
    
56. Life As The River Flows - Agnes Khoo
    
57. Living Hell - Goh Chor Boon
    
58. Malay Folk Beliefs - Mohd Taib Osman
    
59. Malaya and Singapore During the Japanese Occupation - Paul H. Kratoska, Ed.
    
60. Malaysia - R. Emerson
    
61. Modern Japan, A Historical Survey - Hane Mikiso
    
62. Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
    
63. Murder Must Advertise - Dorothy Sayers
    
64. Night Butterfly - Tan Guan Heng
    
65. No Cowardly Past - James Puthucheary
    
66. Old Filth - Jane Gardam
    
67. Operation Matador - Ong Chit Chung
    
68. Orlando - Virginia Woolf
    
69. Outwitting the Gestapo - Aubrac
    
70. Palli Samaj (The Homecoming) - Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay
    
71. Power Politics - Arundhati Roy
    
72. Prehistory of the Indo-Malayan Archipelago - Peter Bellwood
    
73. Red Star Over Malaya - Cheah Boon Kheng
    
74. Revolt in Paradise - K'tut Tantri
    
75. Rhymes of Li Yu Tsai - Chao Shu Li
    
76. Robert van Gulik - Janwillem van de Wetering
    
77. Rosie - Anne Lamott
    
78. Rouge of the North - Chang Ai Ling
    
79. Shanghai Refuge, A Memoir of the WWII Jewish Ghetto - Ernest G. Heppner
    
80. Shantung Compound - Langdon Gilkey
    
81. Singapore & The Many-Headed Monster - Joe Conceicao
    
82. Sisters and Strangers (Women in the Shanghai Cotton Mills) - Honig
    
83. Sisters in the Resistance - Margaret Collins Weitz
    
84. Soldiers Alive - Ishikawa Tatsuzo
    
85. Strange Tales of Liao Zhai - Tsai Chih Chung
    
86. Strangers Always A Jewish Family in Wartime Shanghai - Rena Krasno
    
87. Strong Poison - Dorothy Sayers
    
88. Taming the Wind of Desire - Carol Laderman
    
89. Tao Te Ching - Ursula K. LeGuin
    
90. That Fellow Kanda - AUPE
    
91. The Age of Diminished Expectations - Paul Krugman
    
92. The Areas of My Expertise - John Hodgman
    
93. The Art of Fiction - John Gardner
    
94. The Art of the Novel - Milan Kundera
    
95. The Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama
    
96. The Bafut Beagles - Gerald Durrell
    
97. The Beatitudes - Lyn LeJeune
    
98. The Book of Tea - Okakura Kazuko
    
99. The Brooklyn Follies - Paul Auster
    
100. The Burglar In The Library - Lawrence Block
     
101. The Burglar In The Rye - Lawrence Block
     
102. The Burglar Who Liked To Quote Kipling - Lawrence Block
     
103. The Castle of Otranto - Horace Walpole
     
104. The Crippled Tree - Han Suyin
     
105. The Death of Woman Wang - Jonathan D. Spence
     
106. The Demon-Haunted World - Carl Sagan
     
107. The Double Tenth Trial - C. Sleeman, S.C. Sillein, Eds.
     
108. The End of the War - Romen Bose
     
109. The Family: They Fuck You Up - Granta
     
110. The Gift - Lewis Hyde
     
111. The Grand Guignol - Mel Gordon
     
112. The Life of an Amorous Woman - Saikaku Ihara
     
113. The Makioka Sisters - Junichiro Tanizaki
     
114. The Malay Archipelago - Alfred Russell Wallace
     
115. The Malayan Union Controversy, 1942-1948 - Albert Lau
     
116. The Marquis - A Tale of Syonan-To - E.J.H. Corner
     
117. The Nanking Massacre - Katsuichi Honda
     
118. The Nine Tailors - Dorothy Sayers
     
119. The Origins of The Second World War in Asia and the Pacific - Akira Iriye
     
120. The Other Side of War - Zainab Salbi, Ed.
     
121. The Pacific War - Ienaga Saburo
     
122. The Plague - Albert Camus
     
123. The Price of Peace - Foong Choon Hon, Ed.
     
124. The Rape of Nanking - Iris Chang
     
125. The Sabahan: The Life and Death of Tun Fuad Stephens - P.J. Granville-Edge
     
126. The Singapore Grip - J.G. Farrell
     
127. The Sins of the Fathers - Lawrence Block
     
128. The Situation and The Story - Vivian Gornick
     
129. The Tin Drum - Gunther Grass
     
130. The Unabomber Manifesto - Ted Kaczynski
     
131. The War in Malaya - A.E. Percival
     
132. The Way of All Flesh - Samuel Butler
     
133. The World of the Shining Prince - Ivan Morris
     
134. Three Came Home - Agnes Newton Keith
     
135. To The Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
     
136. Tokyo Rose - Masayo Duus
     
137. Totto-chan - Kuroyanagi Tetsuko
     
138. Travels in Siam - Henri Mouhot
     
139. Tripmaster Monkey His Fake Book - Maxine Hong Kingston
     
140. Vietnamese Traditional Water Puppetry - Nguyen Huy Hong
     
141. War & Memory in Malaysia & Singapore - P. Lim Pui Huen, Diana Wong, Eds.
     
142. Woman of the Inner Sea - Thomas Kenneally
     
143. Women in the Holocaust - Dalia Ofer, Lenore J. Weitzman, Eds.
     
144. Women of China - Bobby Siu
     
145. Women, Outcastes, Peasants & Rebels - Kalpana Bardhan
     
146. Writers' Workshop in a Book - Cheuse and Alvarez
     
147. Writing Fiction - A.B. Guthrie, Jr.
     
148. Writing Past Dark - Bonnie Friedman
     
149. You'll Die in Singapore - Charles McCormac
     
150. Your Memory: A User's Guide - Alan Baddeley
     
151. A Choice of Evils - Meira Chand
     
152. Force 136:Story of A Resistance Fighter in WWII - Tan Chong Tee
     
153. King Rat - James Clavell
     
154. Murder on the Verandah - Eric Lawlor
     
155. No Dram of Mercy - Sybil Kathigasu
     
156. Rehearsal for War - Ban Kah Choon, Yap Hong Kuan
     
157. Singa, Lion of Malaya - Gurchan Singh
     
158. Singapore The Pregnable Fortress - Peter Elphick
     
159. Sinister Twilight - Noel Barber
     
160. Sold For Silver - Janet Lim
     
161. Syonan - My Story (The Japanese Occupation of Singapore) - Mamoru Shinozaki
     
162. The Fall of Shanghai - Noel Barber
     
163. The Jungle is Neutral - F. Spencer Chapman
     
164. The War Of The Running Dogs - Noel Barber
     
165. You'll Never Get Off The Island - Keith Wilson

The books in fuschia I have already read but need to re-read for a current book project.

Out of that enormous number here are the pitiful few we managed to read between the first of February and today:

1. A Cloistered War - Maisie Duncan
   
   Borrowed? No.
   Recommended? Excellent read for those interested in the Second World War as it played out in the Pacific. Told by a Eurasian boarder at the CHIJ convent in Singapore, it includes details about the author's life after the war as well.
   Reread? For research purposes maybe.
   
   
2. A Map of the World - Jane Hamilton
   
   Borrowed? No.
   Recommended? Highly. The subject matter, although deeply disturbing, is not my normal choice of reading fare. The book describes the death of a child (not the protagonist's) and the effect that it has on various people involved. I tend to avoid books about children because they, generally speaking, are just way outside my experience and I don't have any interest in the subject. Plus they tend to be cloying and sentimental, on the whole. And this book is very much about children and mothers and fathers and the like. Nevertheless, the author held my interest for every damned page. A good read, and, as I said before deeply disturbing.
   Reread? Maybe.
   
   
   
3. A Tagore Reader - Amiya Chakravarty
   
   Borrowed? No.
   Recommended? This is a very accessible collection of Tagore's essays, short stories, speeches, plays, poems, and extracts from various of his longer works for readers who cannot avail themselves of the original. Although I would have preferred a less eclectic mix, I cannot fault the editor, who has done a noble job throughout. Excellent. I wish there were such a compilation in the original language (which, luckily, I can read).
   Reread? Maybe, time permitting.
   
   
   
4. Abraham's Promise - Philip Jeyaretnam
   
   Borrowed? Gift.
   Recommended? Given that the author has all kinds of prestigious academic attachments to his name, I was expecting a much better caliber of book. It's hard to feel any sympathy for the protagonist, who comes off as a really unlikable doddering ancient self-obsessed prick, quite frankly. The writer also throws in various characters along the way but leaves them too ill-limned to allow any real understanding of them or their motivations, self-knowledge, influence upon the protagonist. Sadly, the gay theme has been added as an afterthought, rather like an attempt to dress up an overcooked fowl with a heavy sauce.
   Reread? No. If I could take back the hours spent on reading it the first time, I'd be happy.
   
   
5. Buffalo Gals - Ursula K. LeGuin
   
   Borrowed? Gift.
   Recommended? I've always been very fond of LeGuin's writing. This little collection of short stories and poems does not disappoint, although I liked Catwings better.
   Reread? Some day, some day.
   
   
6. Burglars can't be Choosers - Lawrence Block
   
   Borrowed? Yes. Blame the S-person. Retro me, Satanas!
   
   Recommended? Lawrence Block is a find for me, and quite the treat. This is one of his books in which the protagonist is a professional burglar who runs a bookstore on the side. Delightfully witty dialogue and an intriguing mystery with less blood and guts and more smarts. Read it if you're into mysteries, lesbians, smart women, bookstores, or burglars.
   Reread? Not really unless I need some tips on clever dialogue.
   
   
   
7. Busman's Honeymoon - Dorothy Sayers
   
   Borrowed? No.
   Recommended? Highly. Dorothy Sayers is probably one of the best mystery writers that ever lived. The breadth and depth of her knowledge on various arcane subjects (campanology? Yes, campanology!), and Peter Wimsey is, in this particular novel, new-wedded Lord to his bride and Lady, Harriet Vane. Wonderfully unsoppily entertaining.
   Reread? Well, yes. But not till some of the other inhabitants of this damned list have met their due.
   
   
8. Faster - James Gleick
   
   Borrowed? No.
   Recommended? Probably not. Although the writer makes an interesting case for his argument of an artificially hastened tempo to modern life, he's really not saying anything most of us don't already know and feel pretty resentful about. But do give it to your country cousins if they're particularly out of touch.
   Reread?
   
   
9. Gaudy Night - Dorothy Sayers
   
   Borrowed? No.
   Recommended? Sayers explores a murder set among the scholars of a women's college and makes some astute observations on the psychological background of a poison-pen who attempts murder. The redoubtable Harriet Vane finds she must call on Lord Peter Wimsey's assistance in solving a mystery, and finds a whole new side of Lord Peter to explore, in addition to mystery and motives therefor.
   Reread? Like I said, already, not till my list has shrunken somewhat.
   
   
10. Have His Carcase - Dorothy Sayers
    
    Borrowed? No.
    Recommended? Yes. Sayers is always worth reading. In this particular story, she employs an interesting twist which we all "could have thought of" if only we had.
    Reread? Yada yada yada.
    
    
11. In the Midst of Death - Lawrence Block
    
    Borrowed? Yes.
    Recommended? Yes.
    Reread? Probably Not.
    
    
    
12. Murder Must Advertise - Dorothy Sayers
    
    Borrowed? No.
    Recommended? Only to Sayers aficionados who don't care overly much for the lovely Harriet Vane. Sayers worked in advertising in her early years, although the stuff she talks about in this novel belongs to the early days of the industry. This is not one of her best, having become rather dated due to changing ideas about advertising, morality, and murder.
    Reread? Probably not.
    
    
    
13. Old Filth - Jane Gardam
    
    Borrowed? We're not naming the responsible party. Ever.
    Recommended? Highly. Although there's plenty there to annoy anyone who found imperialism and the raj unpalatable, there's also a great deal of charm and insight into the life of Sir Edward Feathers, otherwise known as Old Filth (Failed in London, Try Hongkong).
    Reread? Maybe.
    
    
14. Rouge of the North - Chang Ai Ling
    
    Borrowed? No.
    Recommended? Highly. I now understand why Ms. Chang commanded such a following once. In this beautiful novel, she brings to life a China now long gone, peopled with colourful characters and language and exposes the mystery of the human heart. Was the butterfly dreaming he was an Emperor, or vice versa? Beautifully written and well worth reading.
    Reread? Only ten thousand books to go.
    
    
    
15. Strong Poison - Dorothy Sayers
    
    Borrowed? No.
    Recommended? This is the first of the Lord Peter Wimsey murder mysteries in which Miss Harriet Vane appears. It's not Sayers' best work, but is still highly readable and enjoyable, and liable to fill one with appreciation for Sayers' skill in creating a romance in a murder mystery without any trace of revoltingly cloying emotion. As always, the dialogue of the Dowager Duchess of Denver is believably witty and highly entertaining. And though many accuse Sayers of having fallen in love with her own character, Lord Peter Wimsey is just the sort of feller to inspire such feelings in most female hearts.
    Reread? Probably, for the dialogue, if nothing else.
    
    
    
16. Tao Te Ching - Ursula K. LeGuin
    
    Borrowed? Yes. A different, but nevertheless unnameable, maledictor.
    Recommended? No. I really wish Western writers would not attempt to explain Eastern spiritualism. Haven't they ever heard the old saw, "That which can be explained is not the X," where X may be replaced with any spirituality of Eastern flavour that one chooses? Perhaps that's just my own prejudice, but I did not find this work particularly enlightening. Especially since Blofeld's definitive translation is probably closer to the original, though not without its detractors. In the event, I read it.
    Reread? No.
    
    
    
17. The Age of Diminished Expectations - Paul Krugman
    
    Borrowed? No.
    Recommended? For students of the economic history of the 1990s; economists; historians; and the like. Krugman is an excellent writer and possesses a clarity that is very helpful to one without a PhD in Economics.
    Reread? No.
    
    
    
18. The Burglar In The Library - Lawrence Block
    
    Borrowed? Yes.
    Recommended? Yes. It's good.
    Reread? Not likely.
    
    
    
19. The Burglar In The Rye - Lawrence Block
    
    Borrowed? I'm not telling.
    Recommended? Yes. Block is witty, funny, and his mysteries are well-constructed, with more depth and character(s?) than one expects from this genre.
    Reread? Ten thousand, we say.
    
    
    
20. The Burglar Who Liked To Quote Kipling - Lawrence Block
    
    Borrowed? She-Who-Must-Remain-Unnamed (But Obeyed).
    Recommended? Oh, yes.
    Reread? Not likely. Same odds as previous book
    
    
    
21. The Grand Guignol - Mel Gordon
    
    Borrowed? No.
    Recommended? This is an interesting little book on the history of horror theater. It's pretty niche reading, and not for the weak of stomach. That said, it's fascinating for theater buffs, horror movie fans, and, of course, the sick and twisted.
    Reread? Not likely.
    
    
    
22. The Makioka Sisters - Junichiro Tanizaki
    
    Borrowed? No.
    Recommended? Highly. This is a stately, beautifully written novel of life in pre-War Japan and the fall of a once-powerful family. Tanizaki is an observant writer. The novel flows rather like an Ozu film, slow, graceful, full of symbolism. Sad, yet enjoyable.
    Reread? Not likely.
    
    
    
23. The Marquis - A Tale of Syonan-To - E.J.H. Corner
    
    Borrowed? No.
    Recommended? For scientists, anti-war activists, historians, Japanophiles, and their ilk. Corner was a botanist living in Singapore and Malaya around the time WWII broke out. He was fortunate to encounter several Japanese scientists and the Last Lord of the Tokugawa line who saw their mission as the preservation of scientific records rather than the imposition of Japanese imperialistic ambitions. If science held sway in the world, what could we not hope for? No wonder the superstitious, ignorant, and stupid oppose it.
    Reread? For research purposes only, I promise (Bah!).
    
    
24. The Nine Tailors - Dorothy Sayers
    
    Borrowed? No.
    Recommended? This is one of Sayers' best in that it displays her astonishing knowledge of such an arcane subject as campanology (bell-ringing). The prose is rich with description of the foggy, waterlogged lands in which she spent her early life. A great read, for the interested.
    Reread? Well, yes, but not till after ten thousand more books have been des-, as it were, patched.
    
    
25. The Sins of the Fathers - Lawrence Block
    
    Borrowed? From that unnameable person who is my fondestly adored reading and writing partner.
    Recommended? Yes and yes again, although the subject is rather disturbing.
    Reread? Not likely.
    
    
26. Vietnamese Traditional Water Puppetry - Nguyen Huy Hong
    
    Borrowed? No.
    Recommended? To those interested in the arts, culture, history, drama, Vietnam, puppetry, and the like. Rather technical but a thoroughly enjoyable book. It made me want to fly to Vietnam, gimpy leg and all, just to witness a performance.
    Reread? Not likely.
    
    
27. Woman of the Inner Sea - Thomas Kenneally
    
    Borrowed? No.
    Recommended? Kenneally is an excellent writer, of that there is no doubt. This is an interesting, odd novel. For one thing, he obscures the tragedy that befell his protagonist to an incomprehensible extent. Perhaps that's for reasons of pace, but I found it a tad frustrating. Still, it's well worth reading, and richly evocative of Australian culture, history, politics, and the like, as well as the age-old themes of love and loss and pain, universal values.
    Reread? Not likely.
    
    
28. Writing Fiction - A.B. Guthrie, Jr.
    
    Borrowed? No.
    Recommended? A good starting point for writers. Concise.
    Reread? Regularly, I'm sure.