TPC-CultureVultures: 2012

Monday, April 9, 2012

2012 Book Reviews First Quarter

This is what the current book list (at the end of the first quarter) looks like:

*7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey
*50 Stories - Kay Boyle
130 Projects To Get You Into Filmmaking - Grove
1491 - Charles C. Mann
A Concise History of Indian Art - Roy C. Craven
A History of Democratic Kampuchea - Khamboly Dy
A History of India 1 - Romila Thapar
A History of India 2 - Percival Spear
*A House in Gross Disorder - Cynthia B. Herrup
A Journalist, A General, and An Army in Burma - U Thaung
A Lexicon of Terror - Marguerite Feitlowitz
A Nation in Waiting - Adam Schwartz
A New History of India - Stanley Wolpert
*A Spy's Revenge - Richard V. Hall
A Tale Of Millions: Bangladesh Liberation War - M. Rafiqul Islam
Adventures in the Skin Trade - Dylan Thomas
Agnes Smedley - J.R. & S.R. MacKinnon
Alexander The Great - W.W. Tarn
*Among the White Moonfaces - Shirley Lim
An Advanced History of India - Majumdar, Raychaudhari, & Datta
Angle of Repose - Wallace Stegner
Asian Dragons & Green Trade - Simon Tay & Daniel Esty
Back to Mandalay - Gerry Abbott
Bangladesh From Mujib to Ershad, an interpretive study - Lawrence Ziring
Beating the Blues - Thase & Lang
*Before Kampuchea - Milton Osborne
Being Wrong - Kathryn Schultz
*Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott
Black Dog of Fate - Peter Balakian
Cambodia Silenced: The Press Under 6 Regimes - Harish Mehta
Cambodia's Hidden Scars - Beth van Schaak, Daryn Reicherter, eds.
Captains of Consciousness - Stuart Ewen
Ceylon - S. Arasaratnam
China's Second Revolution - Harry Harding
Chinese Customs - Henri Dore
Chinese Warlord - The Career of Feng Yu Hsiang - James E. Sheridan
Cinema, Emergence, & The Films of Satyajit Roy - Keya Ganguly
Clarissa - Samuel Richardson
Colonial Masculinity - Mrinalini Sinha
Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky
Death in Venice - Thomas Mann
Death of Somoza - Claribel Alegria & Darwin Flakoll
Decolonizing the Mind - Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Desis in the House - Sunaina Maira
Dharma and Development - Joanna Macy
*Digital Filmmaking - Mike Figgis
Discos and Democracy - Orville Schell
*Don Quixote - Cervantes
Dread - The Rastafarians of Jamaica - Joseph Owens
Enemies of the People - Anne F. Thurston
Escape From Tyranny - Zulkifli Ahmed
Extraordinary Popular Delusions - Charles Mackay
Facing the Cambodian Past - David Chandler
Facets of Taoism - Holmes Welch & Anna Seidel
Fighting Spirit of East Timor - Rowena Lennox
*Finnegan's Wake - James Joyce
Fire In The Lake - Frances Fitzgerald
First Person Singular - Joyce Carol Oates
Flash of the Spirit - Robert Farris Thompson
Flashbacks - Morley Safer
Flower Of The Dragon - Richard Boyle
Folklore From Contemporary Jamaicans - Daryl C. Dance
Folklore of Tamil Nadu - S.M.L. Lakshman Chettiar
*Following Ho Chi Minh - Bui Tinh
Gandhi - Louis Fischer
Gandhi's Truth — On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence - Erik H. Erikson
Gangsters and Revolutionaries - Robert Cribb
*Getting Organized - Stephanie Winston
Gotta Have It - Spike Lee
Grasshoppers and Elephants - Wilfred Burchett
Granta on Film
Heritage of China - Contemporary Perspectives on Chinese Civilization - Ed. Paul S. Ropp
Hell In A Very Small Place - Bernard Fall
*Hero And Deity - Pham Quynh Phuong
Herzog - Saul Bellow
Hinduism - Its Historical Development - Troy Wilson Organ
*I Can Make You Thin - Paul McKenna
In One's Own Shadow - Xin Liu
Incursion: From America's Chokehold on the NVA Lifelines to the Sacking of the Cambodian Sanctuaries - J.D. Coleman
India Wins Freedom - Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
Indian Art - Philip Rawson
Indonesian Confrontation - Gabriel Tan
Into Cambodia - Keith William Nolan
IsvarChandra Vidyasagar - Subal Chandra Mitra
Khmers Stand Up! - Justin Corfield
Laogai - The Chinese Gulag - Harry Wu Hong da
*Lempriere's Dictionary - Lawrence Norfolk
Leviathan - Hobbes
Light in August - William Faulkner
Look Homeward Angel - Thomas Wolfe
Mandarins, Jews, and Missionaries - Michael Pollak
Mandate of Heaven - Orville Schell
Masters of Light - Schaefer & Salvato
Meena, Heroine of Afghanistan - Melody Ermachild Chavis
Microeconomic Theory - Gould & Ferguson
Mike Leigh on Mike Leigh - Amy Raphael, ed.
My Traitor's Heart - Rian Malan
Myths About The Ethnic Chinese "Economic Miracle" - Joaquin Sy & Go Bon Juan
Nakshi Kantha of Bengal - Sila Basak
Norodom Sihanouk: My War With The CIA - Wilfred Burchett
One Blood — The Jamaican Body - Elisa Janine Sobo
Orientalism - Edward W. Said
Our Lady of Controversy - Alma Lopez
*Outwitting the Gestapo - Lucie Aubrac
Painting Islam as the New Enemy -
Pearl S. Buck, A Cultural Biography - Peter Conn
Personal Voices - Chinese Women in the '80s - Emily Honig & Gail Hershatter
Physics and Philosophy - Werner Heisenberg
Physiology of the Human Body - Guyton
Popular Songs and Ballads of Han China - Anne Birrele
Primitive Art - Frank Boas
*Prometheus Rising - Robert Anton Wilson
Punjabi Century 1857-1947 - Prakash Tandon
Rasta & Resistance - Horace Campbell
Rastafari Roots & Ideology - Barry Chevannes
Reading Lolita In Teheran - Azar Nafisi
Red China Blues - Jan Wong
Reeducating Chinese Anti-Communists - J.A. Fyfield
Resistance and Reform in Tibet -
Revolution Postponed - Margery Wolf
River of Shadows - Rebecca Solnit
Roots of Rastafari - Virginia Lee Jacobs
Rosie - Anne Lamott
Rural Development in China - Fei Hsiao Tung
Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye (The Biography Of A Master Film-Maker - Andrew Robinson
Sayles on Sayles - Gavin Smith, ed.
Screenwriting 434 - Lew Hunter
Shanghai Refuge, A Memoir of the WWII Jewish Ghetto - Ernest G. Heppner
Sherpas Through Their Rituals - Sherry B. Ortner
Shoot Me - Simonelli & Frumkes
Showdown - Jorge Amado
Singapore Women Re-presented - Constance Singam and Audrey Chin
Sisters in the Resistance - Margaret Collins Weitz
Sisters of Heaven - Gully
Son of the Revolution - Liang Heng & Judith Shapiro
Southern Africa Stands Up - Wilfred Burchett
Strangers Always A Jewish Family in Wartime Shanghai - Rena Krasno
Street Without Joy - Bernard Fall
Stress and Mental Health in Malaysian Society - Tan Chee Khuan
The Adventures of Wu - H.Y. Lowe
The Argumentative Indian - Amartya Sen
The Art of the Novel - Milan Kundera
*The Audacity of Hope - Barak Obama
The Autobiography of An Unknown Indian - Nirad C. Chaudhary
The Bedroom of The Mister's Wife - Philip Hensher
The Bengal Muslims 1871 - 1906 - Ahmed
The British Humiliation of Burma - Terence R. Blackburn
*The Canterbury Tales - Chaucer
The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence - Victor Marchetti & John D. Marks
The City & The City - China Mieville
The Declaration of Independent Filmmaking - Polish, Polish, & Sheldon
The Devil Finds Work - James Baldwin
The Discovery of India - Jawaharlal Nehru
The Dragon Empress - Marina Warner
The Emergence of Modern Turkey - Bernard Lewis
The May 13 Generation - Poh Soo Kai, ed.
The Forgotten Army (Indian Mutiny) - Peter Ward Fay
The Gate - Francois Bizot
The Gene Hunters Biotechnology and the scramble for seeds - Calestous Juma
The Gift - Lewis Hyde
The Great Hedge of India - Roy Moxham
The Idiot - Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Indonesian Revolution and The Singapore Connection - Yong Mun Cheong
The Journey to the West, Vol. 1 - Anthony Yu
*The Last Emperor - Edward Behr
The Lives of Agnes Smedley - Ruth Price
The March of Folly From Troy To Vietnam - Barbara W. Tuchman
The Men Who Ruled India Vol. I The Founders - Philip Woodruff
The Men Who Ruled India, Vol. II The Guardians - Philip Woodruff
*The Mind's I - Hofstadter & Dennett
The Mother Tongue - Bill Bryson
The New China - Alvin Rabushika
The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes - Arthur Waley
The Origins of Chinese Kongsi - Wang Tai Peng
The Political Economy of Social Control in Singapore - Christopher Tremewan
The Politics of Sri Lanka - Robert N. Kearney
The Politics of the Chinese Cultural Revolution - Lee Hong Yung
The Portable Dorothy Parker - Brendan Gill
The Rape of Bangladesh - Mascarenhas
The Rastafarians - Leonard E. Barrett, Sr.
The Remembered Village - M.N. Srinivasan
The Rig Veda - Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, transl
*The Rise & Fall of the Knights Templar - Gordon Napier
The Sinkiang Story - Jack Chen
The Soong Dynasty - Sterling Seagrave
The Spirit of Chinese Politics - Lucian Pye
The Story of Zahra - Hanan al-Shaykh
The Ugly Chinaman - Bo Yang
The Unmaking of Malaysia -
The Voice At The Backdoor - Elizabeth Spencer
The Wilting of the Hundred Flowers - Mu Fu Sheng
Third World Filmmaking -
Time Bombs in Malaysia - Lim Kit Siang
Transition to Neo-Confucianism - Anne D. Birdwhistell
Unmasking Najib -
Victims and Perpetrators - Ea Meng-try & Sorya Sim
Visionary Film - P. Adams Sitney
Viet Nam and Ho Chi Minh - Wilfred Burchet
Wanted: Equality and Justice In The Muslim Family - Zainah Anwar, ed.
War and Peace - Tolstoy
When States Kill - Nestor Rodriguez, Cecilia Menjivar, eds.
Who Killed Aung San? - Kin Oung
West Indians And Their Language - Peter A. Roberts
Western Birds - Roger Tory Peterson
Wikileaks - David Leigh & Luke Harding
Wild Swans - Jung Chang
Witness to an Era - Frank Moraes
Women Creating Indonesia: The First Fifty Years -
Women in the Holocaust - Dalia Ofer, Lenore J. Weitzman, Eds.
Writers' Workshop in a Book - Cheuse and Alvarez
Yonnondio - Tillie Olsen
Your Future, My Faith, Our Freedom - Chee Soon Juan
Your Memory: A User's Guide - Alan Baddeley

Second Quarter Reading List in Order:

*Digital Filmmaking - Mike Figgis
*Among the White Moonfaces - Shirley Lim
The May 13 Generation - Poh Soo Kai, ed.
The Political Economy of Social Control in Singapore - Christopher Tremewan
Singapore Women Re-presented - Constance Singam and Audrey Chin
Your Future, My Faith, Our Freedom - Chee Soon Juan
The Unmaking of Malaysia -
Time Bombs in Malaysia - Lim Kit Siang
Escape From Tyranny - Zulkifli Ahmed
Unmasking Najib -
Stress and Mental Health in Malaysian Society - Tan Chee Khuan
Wanted: Equality and Justice -
Gangsters and Revolutionaries - Robert Cribb
The Indonesian Revolution and The Singapore Connection - Yong Mun Cheong
Indonesian Confrontation - Gabriel Tan
A Nation in Waiting -
Women Creating Indonesia: The First Fifty Years -
Fighting Spirit of East Timor - Rowena Lennox
Asian Dragons & Green Trade - Simon Tay & Daniel Esty
Myths About The Ethnic Chinese "Economic Miracle" - Joaquin Sy & Go Bon Juan
Fire In The Lake - Frances Fitzgerald
Flower Of The Dragon - Richard Boyle
Grasshoppers and Elephants - Wilfred Burchett
Flashbacks - Morley Safer
Viet Nam and Ho Chi Minh - Wilfred Burchet
*Following Ho Chi Minh - Bui Tinh
*Hero And Deity - Pham Quynh Phuong
*Before Kampuchea - Milton Osborne
Facing the Cambodian Past - David Chandler
A History of Democratic Kampuchea - Khamboly Dy
Victims and Perpetrators - Ea Meng-try & Sorya Sim
Incursion: From America's Chokehold on the NVA Lifelines to the Sacking of the Cambodian Sanctuaries - J.D. Coleman
Into Cambodia - Keith William Nolan
Khmers Stand Up! - Justin Corfield
Cambodia Silenced: The Press Under 6 Regimes - Harish Mehta
The British Humiliation of Burma - Terence R. Blackburn
A Journalist, A General, and An Army in Burma - U Thaung
Who Killed Aung San? - Kin Oung
Back to Mandalay - Gerry Abbott
*The Canterbury Tales - Chaucer
*50 Stories - Kay Boyle
*Getting Organized - Stephanie Winston

Read:

Middlemarch - George Eliot****

Can You Forgive Her?

Anthony Trollope

The Butcher Boy - Patrick McCabe***
Murder Through The Looking Glass - Mike Venning Fluff.
Futureland - Walter Moseley***
Phineas Finn - Anthony Trollope**
The End of The Affair - Graham Greene**
The Eustace Diamonds - Anthony Trollope**
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce***
Dubliners - James Joyce***
May 13 - Kua Kim Soong** Good analysis.
The Mighty Wave - He Jin (Transl: Tan Jing Quee, Loh Miaw Gong, Hong Lysa)* Very interesting historically, but not well written.
Rule 34 - Charles Stross Fluff.
Designer Genes - Chee Heng Leng & Chan Chee Koon, eds.***
The Hatchet Man of Singapore - J.B. Jeyaretnam* Only for those with an interest in the political intricacies of Singapore.
Singapore The Air-Conditioned Nation - Cherian George* Tiresomely coy.
Self Censorship: Singapore's Shame - James Gomez*
Foreign Bodies - Tan Hwee HweeAWFUL
Pol Pot - Philip Short****
A History of Cambodia - David Chandler****

Not too shabby, 20 books in three months, considering I was (1) recovering from surgery (2) traveling and (3) dealing with illness all around. Trying for double the number in this quarter, but in my own defense, I've already read quite a few of these, just finishing 'em up, so. It looks like Southeast Asian history/politics is pretty much done for this year! Next for some South Asian history/art/culture/politics.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

MISSING PERSON

Monday, January 2, 2012

Book List 2012

It's the second day of the new year, you slugs. Get your books out and start reading!

Here's my list. I predict I'll make about a third of it by year's-end, if I'm lucky. Also, I hate Barack Obama because I think he reads faster than I do. That is unacceptable.

Everything marked with a * is something I'm already reading currently. Blame that crazy Canuck for teaching me bad reading habits. All book recommendations accepted. Quite a few on this year's list are from friends, old and new.

There's about 105 books left to go on the list, but I can't climb up to reach them. Soon as the knee heals, I'll update the list. Helps me keep track of what I've lent, borrowed, read, and given away. This year's heavy on fiction, so quit complaining, all you monsters. And for god's sake, I don't want to hear any whining about all the war-related and torture-related history stuff I'm reading. Especially since y'all so don't want me pointing out who gave/lent them to me, yaknow?

Year-end Book Review 2011

Photo copyright K. Smokey Cormier

It's the first day of 2012, and time for the annual Book Review and Book List.

I started off with 189 books on the list, which I thought was ridiculously high, even for a no-longer-painfully-employed person with a gimpy leg requiring lots of icing and elevation. Before the year was out, the list had swelled to 305 books. After Dad and Zingiber both died, I couldn't read for a long time. I had expected I could get through 60 books at best, what with all my own projects (none of which got off the ground this year, so I don't want to hear NOBODY bitching, OK? I started. I made the effort. It's ongoing. They'll happen. Now lea'me 'lone).

I ended reading 85. Still means I have a shitload of reading to do, but at least these books are done, read and to be returned to friends, library, etc., as applicable. Most important: there are no longer enormous piles of books everywhere. That's the goal. To read everything I find interesting and want to and can, to keep up with my interests by reading all the current stuff in teh fields various, and to get rid of anything I won't use again. I'm getting old enough that I have to think about whoever's going to have the unenviable task of shoveling my shit, just like I shoveled my parents'. When I pop my clogs, I want to go with two sets of clothing, my bed, and a few books, and not much else.

And right now, the fact that 305 books is an infinitesimal fraction of the number of books in this house is something to consider.

No more lengthy reviews. Everything's linked if you want more info, and feel free to ask if you want/need. For those who've been complaining that I read too much depressing shit, please note that I read a shitload of fluffy stuff. :P Everything marked with a florid pink star is something I'm currently reading. Blame that crazy Canuck for this bad new habit of reading a few pages here and there and then picking up something else. I won't do it no more, I promise.

Adam Bede - George Eliot Very very so worth the reading.
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks Eh. Novel.
Blackwater - Kerstin Ekman Weird, interesting murder mystery (?), skilled writer, complex situation.
Buddhism in Vietnam - Minh Chi, Ha Van Tan, Nguyen Tai Thu Interesting mainly to students of one or the other of the title topics.
Chinese Carving - Craig Clunas Beautiful, fascinating, informative.
Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay Fluff.
Deadheads - Reginald Hill Very well-written semi-fluffy fluff.
Dearly Devoted Dexter - Jeff Lindsay So the fluff.
Dexter by Design - Jeff Lindsay I had a thing for Dexter, momentarily.
Dexter in the Dark - Jeff Lindsay Also.
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant - Anne Tyler Powerful writer. Makes it look easy.
Fables in Slang - George Ade Landmark work in the field.
Foreign Correspondence - Geraldine Brooks Interesting, worth reading, not a keeper.
From Bush to Bush - Don Novello He's still hilarious.
From Caligari to Hitler - Siegfried Kracauer Seminal work on early German film.
From Colony to Nation - Singapore History Museum Primer, only of interest to those with an interest in the history of the country.
Ho Chi Minh: A Journey - Lady Borton Interesting. Very interesting.
Ho Chi Minh On Revolution - Bernard Fall, ed. In Nguyen Ai Quoc's own words.
In Pursuit of Mountain Rats - Anthony Short Outdated, incorrect in parts, doctrinaire, an apologist for colonialism, mostly.
Justice Hall - Laurie King Not worth reading.
Life - Keith Richards Fan of Keef's music, but his life, not so much.
Lo t'o Hsiang Tzu (Rickshaw) - Lao She Not sure I liked the translation so much, but it's one of the first Chinese literary works that revolves around a poor peasant character.
MacArthur Strikes Back - Harry A. Gailey Military history. Interesting look at the war in those parts.
Midnight Fugue - Reginald Hill I can't find enough words of praise for Reginald Hill, even when he's writing fluff.
Minorities of the Sino-Vietnamese Borderland - Maurice Abadie Fascinating snapshot in time of the border tribes living in/between Vietnam and China.
Murder and Mayhem in 17th Century Cambodia - Alfons van der Kraan Not for the tender of heart or mind. Most annoying, van der Kraan talks about how important it was for the Dutch to "punish" the "savage" monarchs of various nations whose wealth the Dutch desired. Ugh. The blood boils.
Offerings: The Ritual Art of Bali - Francine Brinkgreve Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.
On Beulah Heights - Reginald Hill OK, it was fluff, but rather depressing fluff.
On The Road - Jack Kerouac Greatly overrated.
People's War, People's Army - Vo Nguyen Giap Giap's notes for speeches he gave and articles he wrote. Interesting, but limited.
Porcelain From The VungTao Wreck - Sverker Hallstrom Fascinating/mixed description of an excavation of a shipwreck revealing the nature and aspects of trade between China and VN.
Pump Six - Paolo Bacigalupi Fluff.
Random Acts of Senseless Violence - Jack Womak Er ... bloody fluff.
Rastafarian Theology - Imani Nyah No. Just no.
Rickshaw Coolie: A People's History - J. Francis Warren Interesting look at the historical facts of life for poor working people in colonial Singapore.
Sandakan: A Conspiracy of Silence - Lynette Ramsay Silver Yet another senseless tragedy of WW II
Selves/Jati Diri - Kwok Kian Woon, T. Sasitharan, Arun Mahizhnan, eds. Interesting
Sexual Behaviour of Women in Singapore - V. Aputharajah Dated. Informational. Useful.
Shakespeare Wrote For Money - Nick Hornby Another delightful writer.
Shirin Fozdar, Asia's Foremost Feminist - Rose Ong Why is so little known about this fascinating woman?
Shit My Dad Says - Justin Halperin Fluff. Brian ought to know.
Silas Marner - George Eliot Good. Great. What a writer.
Signal to Noise - Sinclair Fluff.
Singapore:Journey Into Nationhood Limited interest.
Singapore & The Many-Headed Monster - Joe Conceicao Memoirs, really. Of dubious interest.
Singapore's People's Action Party: Its History, Organization and Leadership - Pang Cheng Lian Reads like a poli sci major's thesis. And inadequate, at that.
Start-up - Jerry Kaplan Very interesting.
Stories of Your Life - Ted Chiang Interesting.
Stuff on My Cat Total fluff, but enjoyable.
Sunset Limited - James Lee Burke Fluff. Interesting.
Suspicious Death Scene Investigation - Anthony Busuttii, Peter Vanezes, eds. If this book weren't so expensive, I'd want it. It's a professional manual for people who actually do this shit for a living. Fascinating.
The Birth of Vietnam - Keith Weller Taylor For students of VN history. Really excellent, too.
The Book of Salt - Monique Truong A very impressive first work.
~~The Clock Winder~~ - Anne Tyler She's a damn good writer.
The Death of the Heart - Elizabeth BowenHow ignorant I am, to only just have discovered this writer!
The End of The Affair - Graham Greene Way overrated.
The Golden Gate and The Silver Screen - Geoffrey Bell The SF Bay Area and the movie industry. Fascinating.
The Gone-Away World - Nick Harkaway Fluff.
The Haunted Screen - Lotte Eisner A classic of film history and German Expressionism.
The Ho Chi Minh Trail - Hoang Khoi Interesting. Wish I'd kept my copy, now.
The Illustrated Communist Manifesto - Delightful.
The Imp - Yes.
The Japanese Occupation:Singapore 1942-1945 - Singapore Archives & Oral History Dept Depressing.
The Jews of Singapore - Joan Bieder Fascinating.
The Life Cycle of Software Objects - Ted Chiang Fluff.
The Penang Po Leung Kuk - Neil Khor Jin Kiong Limited interest: Chinese women in Southeast Asia, prostitution, social ailments and response.
The Peranakan - Fascinating snippets of Peranakan history and culture
The Rice Birds: Folktales from Thailand - C. & K. Velder Very interesting
The Seed Finder - John Jeavons & Robin Leler For serious gardeners. Getting dated, though.
The Singapore Council of Women and The Women's Movement - Phyllis Ghim Lian Chew Limited interest.
The Singapore House - Edwards Limited interest.
The Syonan Years I - Lee Geok Boi Japanese occupation of Singapore. Extremely depressing.
The Syonan Years II - Lee Geok Boi See above.
The Tragedy of Wanit - Benjamin Batson & Shimizu Hajime Thailand in WW II
The Violent Bear It Away - Flannery O'Connor Not fluff. Very depressing.
The Warden - Anthony Trollope Not fluff, but not depressing, either.
The Wha Chi Memoirs - Liang Shang Wan, Jian Hua Resistance guerillas in the Philippines.
The Wood Beyond - Reginald Hill Priceless.
This Is Not Civilization - Robert Rosenberg Interesting, if sometimes cynical and dreary.
Vietnam & America: The Most Comprehensive Documented History of the Vietnam War - Gettleman, et al For historians and scholars.
VietNam Cultural Window - A contemporary magazine about VN culture and modern VN
Warsaw of Asia: The Rape of Manila - Boni Escoda Interesting, but in desperate need of an editor.
We The Animals - Justin Torres What an excellent opus!
When Elephants Dance - Tess Uriza Holthe Just watch the movie, it'll hurt less.
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte I'm still amazed at the power of this young girl's book.
*7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey I'm reading this because my time management skills suck ass, OK? Ditto for the others in this vein.
*50 Stories - Kay Boyle Been meaning to read her forever, and I'm glad I finally did.
*A House in Gross Disorder - Cynthia B. Herrup Fascinating but complex and now I can't remember what it's about. Law and power. I know that much.
*A Spy's Revenge - Richard V. Hall Urgh. A spy scandal, but I don't remember when.
*Among the White Moonfaces - Shirley Lim Peranakan feminist's memoirs
*Don Quixote - Cervantes
*Dubliners - James Joyce
*Finnegan's Wake - James Joyce
*Getting Organized - Stephanie Winston
*Hero And Deity - Pham Quynh Phuong Fascinating, but I put it down to go read more VN history.
*Lempriere's Dictionary - Lawrence Norfolk It's good, I don't know why I put it down.
*Middlemarch - George Eliot It's nearly a thousand pages, but I already know I'm going to love it.
*Outwitting the Gestapo - Lucie Aubrac Fascinating.
*Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
*Prometheus Rising - Robert Anton Wilson Not sure I want to read this.
*The Canterbury Tales - Chaucer It's always good to reread things you once enjoyed.
*The Last Emperor - Edward Behr Re-reading this now that I'm filling in gaps in Chinese history
*The Rise & Fall of the Knights Templar - Gordon Napier Much more interesting than Dan Brown.

TPC-CultureVultures