pickI loved this story of a fox shapeshifter, Snow, seeking revenge for the death of her daughter. Her tale intersects with that of Bao, a human, who can tell when others are lying. The writing is beautiful and clearly evokes both a particular place and a particular time. I have always been interested in fox lore from around the world, and this book was a lovely take on that lore.
Just starting for Bookclub 💚💚💚
#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii
1. My poppies I bought last year bloomed this week
2. Inspiration for art with #LitsyLove Friends
3. My Star of Bethlehem plants are blooming
4 Agility with Oakley
5 My new haircut, short for summer
I love Fridays because of this. And I love reading everybody else's
so-soThis book opens with a lot of sexual intercourse... It's graphic, light porn! It's interesting to think back and analyse that and its relationship to other themes in the book now I have finished. It's a journey novel, and the hapless protagonist is not particularly likeable. There are philosophical themes embedded within this sordid image of China; the illegal dog trade, consumerism and ethinicism are all covered. An absorbing & strange read. Odd.
pickThis book takes you on a journey on the Amur River fro@ Mongolia to Sakhalin Island!
I enjoyed this book!
pickOf the four of Shen Fu's records which have passed down to us, the first three recount his life with his adorable wife Yün, whose sweet nature was subject to anxiety & depression, sensitive to the harsh judgements of her in-laws, & prone to ill health, which we know from early on will sunder the loving couple. Shen's grief at her death is palpable & moving.
The couple live an aesthetic life, troubled by precarious employment, poverty and... 1/4⬇️
pickFast-paced, direct, breezy humor in Beijing. Dust storms, police crackdowns, pirated DVDs, migration, urban survival, economic inequality, desperation, entrepreneurialism, living by your wits. “Making it.” Wild final scene. Great trans. Eric Abrahamsen. 2014
43 “Ha, people were all too vain to withstand love.”
6 “ the sun was dropping steadily in the sandpaper sky […] looking more and more like a giant millstone weighing on Beijing‘s shoulders.”
"She prized shabby old books and tattered paintings. She would take the partial remnants of old books and separate them into sections by topic, and then have them rebound. These she called her 'Fragments of Literature'. When she found some calligraphy or a painting that had been ruined, she felt she had to search for a piece of old paper on which to remount it. If there were portions missing, she would ask me to restore them. These she named ⬇️
"I was born in the winter of the 27th year of the reign of the Emperor Chien Lung, on the second and twentieth day of the eleventh month."
#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl
pickThe story centers around Old Second, Bao Mei and Yan Hua. They have all immigrated to NY from China and we see their struggles as they acclimate to this new life.
But the main focus is how they were all connected in the past via a cinema in China where gay men cruised looking for love.
You can‘t help but feel a connection to the characters (main and secondary) due to this author‘s writing. It is a complex story that was executed beautifully.
