What are you reading?

[skylee]

While reading 林夕's preface about happiness in his work-- 原來我非不快樂, I was kind of drawn by the way he writes.

The song is 再見二丁目. I started a thread about this song years ago -> http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/398-cannibalism-in-china4

All the links in the thread are dead. You can listen to the song (if you want) here.

[clevermae]

I am reading The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan

[Lu]

Re-reading 熊貓, and now I realize why it was such a relatively easy read the first time around: thick pages, many pictures, and lots of dialogue. With some luck I'll finish it in a week, which will be the fastest I ever read a Chinese book.

Next up is 春, because I read the first few lines and got all homesick for all those characters.

[skylee]

I have finished 大江大海一九四九. A good book.

Not sure what I should read next ... I am going to Taipei again next month during the Chinese New Year holidays and I hope that Elite (or some other bookstores) will be open. I wonder what books I should buy ...

[gato]

A blog post by an upset PKU student about the effort to censor 大江大海 on douban.

http://www.fangkc.cn/news/internet/dictator-douban/

独裁者豆瓣

其实，在一向谨小慎微的豆瓣上，是不可能出现这本所谓“禁书”的条目的。豆瓣的图书条目以ISBN为识别依据，《大江大海一九四九》这本书的 ISBN早已被设定为不可添加了。但道高一尺魔高一丈，网友们总能想到办法对抗。方法之一，就是盗用另一本书的ISBN号，然后填上“大江大海”的书名。

当然，管理员也不是吃素的，发现一本打击一本，而网友又会去寻找其他的书作为篡改的目标，这样的“猫鼠游戏”无时不刻不在上演。

“老鼠”太多，而“猫”精力毕竟有限，所以总有些漏网之鱼。前几天，我看到不少友邻的广播中都出现了“读过《大江大海》”。但1月22日上午，我发现大家的广播都变成了“读过《新高考题典--数学》”。

[skylee]

禁書？？？？怎麼可能？難道在大陸沒有這書嗎？

The book is about the cruelty of wars and what happened to the common people, mainlanders who got sent to Taiwan, Taiwanese who got sent to the Mainland, Japanese, Australians, Germans ... I can't see anything wrong with the book.

[trien27]

I'm reading "開啟智慧的第一堂課"*, a Chinese translation by 陳琴富 of "The Opening of the Wisdom-eye" by The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. **

*啟 is an alternate way of writing 啓.

**His name as a Dalai Lama is actually "Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso "

* Source: I'm Chinese.

** Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_Dalai_Lama

[Daan]

Not sure what I should read next ... I am going to Taipei again next month during the Chinese New Year holidays and I hope that Elite (or some other bookstores) will be open. I wonder what books I should buy ...

Today I asked staff in the Eslite bookstore at Gongguan whether they would be open over the Chinese New Year holidays and was met with incredulous looks. Of course it would be business as usual on Saturday and Sunday, they said, seemingly genuinely surprised by the question. I found this hard to believe, but they even checked with some colleagues. This is the first time I'll be experiencing Chinese New Year celebrations in Asia, and I certainly hadn't expected bookstores would be open for business! But there you have it

Oh, and to stay on topic: I just started reading the 三字經 today. Pretty easy so far, but I figured that I should read it anyway, since all kids used to learn their classics from this work.

[skylee]

Daan, thanks for the info. I am still reading "The Time Traveller's Wife". Hope I will be able to finish it.

Books in Taiwan are cheap and plentiful. But last time I was there it occurred to me that it was silly to bring such heavy books back home, even if they were cheap. So I ended up buying the books I saw in Taipei after I had returned to HK. They were not as cheap in HK, but not expensive either.

Taiwan books are beautiful. But they are really heavy (quality paper).

Any recommendations? I might buy 村上春樹's new novel, despite bad comments of local bookstore people.

[Lu]

Daan: That is surprising. In my experience, Taipei shuts down just like Beijing. Expect restaurants and shops closed (except Eslite, apparently). A friend of mine who stayed in Taipei over New Year once even told me she'd seen a 7-11 that was closed. It's that extreme.

Now reading Factory Girls. I like it. Leslie Chang does what we all think about sometimes: mingle with the 'common people' to get an idea of the 'real China'. And you got to admire the factory girls for their courage and drive. Although there really was no need to include Chang's family's story in the book. Like all those stories, it's dramatic and worth of telling, but it has nothing to do with the factory girls.

[skylee]

A friend of mine who stayed in Taipei over New Year once even told me she'd seen a 7-11 that was closed. It's that extreme.

yes I've seen a closed 7-11 too, but it was in a metro station. But big department stores, shopping malls, etc in the shopping districts were all open on the first day of the new year.

I bought Kazuo Ishiguro's "Never let me go" in Taipei and have started reading it.

[xiaocai]

禁書？？？？怎麼可能？難道在大陸沒有這書嗎？

The book is about the cruelty of wars and what happened to the common people, mainlanders who got sent to Taiwan, Taiwanese who got sent to the Mainland, Japanese, Australians, Germans ... I can't see anything wrong with the book.

唉，这就好比有人亏心事做得太多，心虚啊。

[Daan]

Daan: That is surprising. In my experience, Taipei shuts down just like Beijing. Expect restaurants and shops closed (except Eslite, apparently). A friend of mine who stayed in Taipei over New Year once even told me she'd seen a 7-11 that was closed. It's that extreme.

I was here over the entire break and most stores, including all supermarkets, were open for business, although lots of small restaurants were closed. But all Taiwanese people I've asked about this immediately confirmed this was nothing like 春節 in Taipei five years ago. The times, they are a-changin'.

I've almost finished reading the 三字經. I still have to read the introduction (yes, approached it in a rather non-linear fashion) and after that I'm going to see if I like the 孝經, which was the second textbook kids had to study.

[miss_China_so_much]

I am reading 盛世2013, fantastic fable

[carolinz]

Currently I'm learning how to read Tarot Cards, so I bought a chinese book on Tarot Reading called "你可以再塔羅一點" Quite a good read...

[c_redman]

《哈利波特和魔法石》

A little less than a third of the way through it' date=' surprised by how much I can follow. Reading a novel (esp one you already know the plot of) is a lot more forgiving than newspaper articles.

[/quote']

Also reading this. I think it's so easy to read because the translation is almost a word for word translation from the English. There is very little Chinese-specific grammar or unusual word order, which is what tends to slow down my understanding of native Chinese writing, even when I known all the words of a sentence.

Edit: Actually, I'm reading 哈利波特与魔法石, which is the official PRC version.

[bhchao]

I am reading China Between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties; the period between the end of Han and the start of Sui.

I finished reading The Song Transformation of China. It is an enjoyable read, although the author seems too flattering and overly enthusiastic in his portrayal of the Song. One aspect of the Song that I found interesting was the emphasis on meritocracy and talent in the civil service.

In contrast, social mobility during the Tang largely depended on one's family lineage and connection with aristocratic families. Officials during Song came from humbler origins compared with Tang.

Edited February 25, 2010 at 10:34 PM by bhchao

[Caidanbi]

I'm reading "The Magic Lotus Lantern and Other Tales From the Han Chinese". It's ok, but having read some of the stories before, I have to say that they have been abridged quite a bit in some cases. It's a good introduction, or maybe good for children, I think, but I'd prefer to read the full versions of the stories (and I'd rather read them in Chinese too!).

[Lu]

'Was Mao really a monster?', a collection of reviews of Jung Chang and Jon Halliday's Mao book. Oh it's fun. I never got around to reading their book, because it seemed to unreliable to read for information, and too fat to read for amusement. Most of the reviews in the book I read now tear apart Chang & Halliday's book, debunk their theories, find out their lack of references, and some more. All in all it's less fat and more amusing than the C&H book, and it appears more reliable too.

[Daan]

I read Michael Connelly's The Scarecrow and Zachary Mexico's China Underground last weekend. The latter's an interesting read, but if you've lived in China for a while, you've probably already met a lot of people like the ones he describes.