TPC-CultureVultures

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

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.

Monday, August 29, 2011

The Last Of The Mississippi Bluesmen

David "Honeyboy" Edwards died today.

He was the last of the great old Mississippi bluesmen, and you haven't heard the Delta blues played like this, ever. Here he is, in his 90s, still giving it his all:

This is the kind of blues that sits in your belly like a hungry wolfcub, taking bites straight out of your heart. Blues like showers of rain.

Thank you, Mr. Edwards. May your memory and your music live forever.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Happy Birthday, Anne Lamott

photo from the PRX website (http://www.prx.org/pieces/19657)

From today's Writer's Almanac ...

It's the birthday of the writer Anne Lamott, born in San Francisco (1954). She had already written three novels when she got pregnant and decided to keep the baby, even though the baby's father left when she told him that. Her book Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year (1993) was about her struggles with motherhood and her Christianity. It got rave reviews.

Her book Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (1994) is often quoted and referenced by writers both beginning and seasoned. The title is from her father's advice to her 10-year-old brother, who was struggling with a report on birds that had to be completed in one evening.

She wrote, "[He] put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'"

Happy Birthday, Anne. You are a treasure ... a true treasure in this world.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Dog Photos by K. Smokey Cormier

I was invited to participate in the "Dogs on Camera" photo exhibit sponsored by the Frank Bette Center for the Arts in Alameda, Ca. We were supposed to go and photograph dogs at the specified dog parks in Alameda during the weekend of February 5 & 6. Then pick one of the photographs to submit and then see if it was selected for the show. We could submit only one photo! I showed the one that I submitted. You can see it here. But I thought I should also show you readers the other ones that I thought were good. Here they are ...

Howdy.

The Queen

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Best in Show at "Dogs on Camera"

Winning entry in the "Dogs on Camera" show sponsored by The Frank Bette Arts Center of Alameda. It was held at the satellite gallery at Urban Island Home Furnishings.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Actor to watch: Anne-Marie Duff

(April 29, 2009Photo by Tim Whitby/Getty Images Europe)

Actor to watch out for: Anne-Marie Duff. She's really really good. Just finished watching Nowhere Boy. She plays Julia, John Lennon's birth mum.

[No one ever calls Aunt Mimi John's adoptive mum ... but that's what she was.]

Friday, February 11, 2011

Egyptians, We Send Our Love and Hope

Have you seen the photos from Egypt at the New York Times web site?

No!!! Better go now.

They will make you weep for joy.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Pixar Movies in Chronological Order

A while ago my daughters and I went to the Pixar exhibit at the Oakland Museum and now we're watching all the full-length Pixar movies in chronological order. Below is the list -- if you're interested.

Tonight we watched Cars. Paul Newman is the voice of Doc in the movie. So, I went poking around on the 'net about Paul Newman and found a photo of him when he was in the Navy -- I posted it in my previous post.

now the list:

Toy Story
Bugs Life
Toy Story 2
Monsters, Inc.
Finding Nemo
The Incredibles
Cars
Ratatouille
WALL-E
Up
Toy Story 3

Someone asked me what was my favorite so far. Very hard to answer. Toy Story, methinks. But, to tell you the truth, I'm really enjoying all of them. Which doesn't mean I'm not critical of them ... you know, the usual -- too much testosterone poisoning -- fighting, weapons, explosions. Other than that stuff -- very creative, lots of humor. That's what I enjoy.

Paul Newman in the Navy

Photographer: Navy photographer, unknown

What a beautiful lad!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Book List 2011

Imagine that! A whole year gone!

2010 really flew by, and all I could manage was 60 books. This year's list is much longer. No time to waste.

This is the list for 01/01/2011:

Book List 2010

A Concise History of Indian Art - Roy C. Craven
A History of Cambodia - David Chandler
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 New History of India - Stanley Wolpert
A Spy's Revenge - Richard V. Hall
A Tale Of Millions: Bangladesh Liberation War - M. Rafiqul Islam
Agnes Smedley - J.R. & S.R. MacKinnon
Alexander The Great - W.W. Tarn
Among the White Moonfaces - Shirley Lim Geok-lin
An Advanced History of India - Majumdar, Raychaudhuri & Dutta
Asian Dragons & Green Trade - Simon Tay & Daniel Esty
Bangladesh From Mujib to Ershad, an interpretive study - Lawrence Ziring
Beating the Blues - Thase & Lang
Before Kampuchea - Milton Osborne
Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott
Black Dog of Fate - Peter Balakian
Buddhism in Vietnam - Minh Chi, Ha Van Tan, Nguyen Tai Thu
Cambodia Silenced: The Press Under Six Regimes - Harish Mehta
Captains of Consciousness - Stuart Ewen
Ceylon - S. Arasaratnam
China's Second Revolution - Harry Harding
Chinese Carving - Craig Clunas
Chinese Customs - Henri Dore
Chinese Warlord - The Career of Feng Yu Hsiang - James E. Sheridan
Colonial Masculinity - Mrinalini Sinha
Decolonizing the Mind - Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Desis in the House - Sunaina Maira
Discos and Democracy - Orville Schell
Dread - The Rastafarians of Jamaica - Joseph Owens
Enemies of the People - Anne F. Thurston
Extraordinary Popular Delusions - Charles Mackay
Facets of Taoism - Holmes Welch & Anna Seidel
Finnegan's Wake - James Joyce
Fire in the Lake - Frances Fitzgerald
First Person Singular - Joyce Carol Oates
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
Gandhi - Louis Fischer
Gandhi's Truth — On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence - Erik H. Erikson
Gangsters and Revolutionaries - Robert Cribb
Grasshoppers & Elephants - Wilfred Burchett
Heritage of China - Contemporary Perspectives on Chinese Civilization - Ed. Paul S. Ropp
Hero And Deity - Pham Quynh Phuong
Hinduism - Its Historical Development - Troy Wilson Organ
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 -
Khmers Stand Up! - Justin Corfield
Laogai - The Chinese Gulag - Harry Wu Hong da
Leviathan - Hobbes
Life - Keith Richards
Lo t'o Hsiang Tzu (Rickshaw) - Lao She
Mandarins, Jews, and Missionaries - Michael Pollak
Mandate of Heaven - Orville Schell
May 13 - Kua Kia Soong
Meena, Heroine of Afghanistan - Melody Ermachild Chavis
Microeconomic Theory - Gould & Ferguson
Minorities of the Sino-Vietnamese Borderland - Maurice Abadie
Murder and Mayhem in 17th Century Cambodia - Alfons van der Kraan
Myths About The Ethnic Chinese "Economic Miracle" - Go Bon Juan & Joaquim Sy
Nakshi Kantha of Bengal - Sila Basak
Offerings: The Ritual Art of Bali -
On The Road - Jack Kerouac
One Blood — The Jamaican Body - Elisa Janine Sobo
Orientalism - Edward W. Said
Outwitting the Gestapo - Lucie Aubrac
Painting Islam as the New Enemy -
Pearl S. Buck, A Cultural Biography - Peter Conn
People's War, People's Army - Vo Nguyen Giap
Personal Voices - Chinese Women in the '80s - Emily Honig & Gail Hershatter
Physics and Philosophy - Werner Heisenberg
Physiology of the Human Body - Guyton
Pol Pot - Philip Short
Popular Songs and Ballads of Han China - Anne Birrele
Porcelain From The VungTao Wreck -
Primitive Art - Frank Boas
Prometheus Rising - Robert Anton Wilson
Punjabi Century 1857-1947 - Prakash Tandon
Rasta & Resistance - Horace Campbell
Rastafari Roots & Ideology - Barry Chevannes
Rastafarian Theology - Imani Nyah
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
Rickshaw Coolie: A People's History - J. Francis Warren
Roots of Rastafari - Virginia Lee Jacobs
Rosie - Anne Lamott
Rural Development in China - Fei Hsiao Tung
Sandakan: A Conspiracy of Silence - Lynette Ramsay Silver
Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye (The Biography Of A Master Film-Maker - Andrew Robinson
Screenwriting 434 - Lew Hunter
Self Censorship: Singapore's Shame - James Gomez
Sexual Behaviour of Women in Singapore - V. Aputharajah
Shanghai Refuge, A Memoir of the WWII Jewish Ghetto - Ernest G. Heppner
Sherpas Through Their Rituals - Sherry B. Ortner
Shirin Fozdar: Asia's Foremost Feminist - Rose Ong
Singapore:Journey Into Nationhood
Singapore The Air-Conditioned Nation - Cherian George
Singapore & The Many-Headed Monster - Joe Conceicao
Singapore Women Re-presented - Constance Singam and Audrey Chin
Singapore's People's Action Party: Its History, Organization and Leadership - Pang Cheng Lian
Sisters in the Resistance - Margaret Collins Weitz
Sisters of Heaven - Patti Gully
Son of the Revolution - Liang Heng & Judith Shapiro
Stories of Your Life - Ted Chiang
Strangers Always A Jewish Family in Wartime Shanghai - Rena Krasno
Stress and Mental Health in Malaysian Society - Tan Chee Khuan
Stuff on My Cat -
The Adventures of Wu - H.Y. Lowe
The Argumentative Indian - Amartya Sen
The Art of the Novel - Milan Kundera
The Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama
The Autobiography of An Unknown Indian - Nirad C. Chaudhary
The Bengal Muslims 1871 - 1906 - Ahmed
The Birth of Vietnam - Keith Weller Taylor
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 Devil Finds Work - James Baldwin
The Discovery of India - Jawaharlal Nehru
The Dragon Empress - Marina Warner
The Emergence of Modern Turkey - Bernard Lewis
The Fajar Generation - Poh Soo Kai, ed.
The Forgotten Army (Indian Mutiny) - Peter Ward Fay
The Gene Hunters Biotechnology and the scramble for seeds - Calestous Juma
The Gift - Lewis Hyde
The Great Hedge of India - Roy Moxham
The Hatchet Man of Singapore - J.B. Jeyaretnam
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 Penang Po Leung Kuk -
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 Rape of Bangladesh - Mascarenhas
The Rastafarians - Leonard E. Barrett, Sr.
The Remembered Village - M.N. Srinivasan
The Rice Birds: Folktales from Thailand - C. & K. Velder
The Rig Veda - Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, transl
The Rise & Fall of the Knights Templar - Gordon Napier
The Singapore Council of Women and The Women's Movement - Phyllis Ghim Lian Chew
The Singapore House - Norman Edwards
The Sinkiang Story - Jack Chen
The Soong Dynasty - Sterling Seagrave
The Spirit of Chinese Politics - Lucian Pye
The Syonan Years I - Lee Geok Boi
The Syonan Years II - Lee Geok Boi
The Tragedy of Wanit -
The Ugly Chinaman - Bo Yang
The Unmaking of Malaysia - Ahmad Mustapha Hassan
The Wha Chi -
The Wilting of the Hundred Flowers - Mu Fu Sheng
This Is Not Civilization - Robert Rosenberg
Time Bombs in Malaysia - Lim Kit Siang
Transition to Neo-Confucianism - Anne D. Birdwhistell
Unmasking Najib - Lim Kit Siang
Victims and Perpetrators - Ea Meng-try & Sorya Sim
Vietnam & America: The Most Comprehensive Documented History of the Vietnam War - Gettleman, et al
Vietnam Cultural Window
Wanted: Equality and Justice -
Warsaw of Asia: The Rape of Manila - Boni Escoda
Western Birds - Roger Tory Peterson
Wild Swans - Jung Chang
Witness to an Era - Frank Moraes
West Indians And Their Language - Peter A. Roberts
Who Killed Aung San? - Kin Oung
Women in the Holocaust - Dalia Ofer, Lenore J. Weitzman, Eds.
Writers' Workshop in a Book - Cheuse and Alvarez
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Your Memory: A User's Guide - Alan Baddeley

Welp, I really overdid it this year.

Yes, I've been reading. Book review to follow.

Friday, January 14, 2011

My LinkedIn profile photo

What do you think? Would employers go for this? Young, blond, and you can get her to say what you want?

2010 Book Review

Yes, we actually did read some of the books on that interminable fucking list. So it's not a whole lot.

Besides, the excuse is, ve haff bin ketchingk up on ze past six years' backlog of Science News.

Srsly. We're all, like, up to 2010 January or something now.

So here's the review so far.

Book List 2010

Not too shabby, eh? The ones I thought worth reading are starred. Number of stars indicates rank of book. Limit: 5. Anything over 3 stars is pretty much recommended reading, although some of it might be a bit arcane for the average reader's taste. Or as Gabriel Garcia Marquez' translators like to say, recondite.

Incidentally, we here at La Casa de Los Gatos are changing our reading policy. We're reminded, as all our loved ones and friends exit the planet, that time is not necessarily on our side, as avid readers. No more lengthy reviews. It's not like anybody's reading them anyway, right? And no more trashy reading. Only the stuff that will blow my socks off. Anything else goes out the door.