TWI Books #26
Apr. 9th, 2007 12:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanHappy Easter, to all of you who celebrate such things. My holiday was low key but quite fun as my parents hid jelly beans about the house for me to find--for the first time in 14 years, if not longer. Good times.
Anyway, here are this week's eight books:
1)My Life As Emperor - Su Tong
This is an absolutely fabulous book. I considered buying it in Japan but set it down because the price (about $20) was too high to gamble on an unknown author. What a shame, because the paperback would have been worth that much indeed. Tong sets his narrative in a mythical kingdom in a mythical China, a device which works perfectly by allowing the characters' pathos and motivations to assume a universality of which they wouldn't otherwise be capable in true historical fiction (see: Anchee Min). The narrative is gripping and the characters fully rounded, and all of this is done with a minimum of words. Like all good books in its vein, it greatly clarified for me why people in certain positions in classical China behaved as they did, and this without being in the least didactic. My Life As Emperor also has the most solid, lucid translation into English I have ever run across, and although I still hope to read it in the original one day, I can honestly say that I was never once aware that I was reading something that hadn't originally been written in English. Read this book.
2) Charmed Life - Diana Wynne Jones
Jones' books fall into one of two categories for me: the immediately wonderful and gripping, or the grit-your-teeth-and-slog-through. Charmed Life is in the latter category, so that I manage about one successful read-through to every eight or so attempts. I'm not exactly sure why, except that its fantasy world doesn't quite sit right with me. The ending is far too rushed and leaves too many loose ends for it to truly breach decent and head into great.
3) The Lives Of Christopher Chant - Diana Wynne Jones
This second book about the Chrestomanci is much more readable than the first, precisely because the first has laid the groundwork on which the current story rests. I enjoyed the multiple worlds and the glance at a previously introduced character's development, but the plot is once again predictable and drags unnecessarily. The narrative picks up a great deal in the final third of the book, but there's precious little denoument after the climax. I rather wish Jones had written longer books with several escapades for each of the main casts, instead of spending all her time building background and then introducing one problem which, after it is solved, concludes the narrative.
4) The Magicians Of Caprona - Diana Wynne Jones
Now we're getting somewhere. Although Jones forsakes the casts of the previous two Chrestomanci novels entirely, Caprona has its share of creepy, Gaimanesque moments. Although I once again found my inner voice commenting that if the main characters weren't so hopelessly unobservant their problems would be solved, I do appreciate the fact that adults in Jones' world, far from being omniscient all-powerful archetypes often harm their causes as often as help them. I think it's this (and the puppets and Mr. Punch) that lifts this story from a YA fantasy riff on Romeo & Juliet to something good in its own right.
5) Comrade Loves Of The Samurai - E. Powys Mathers (trans)
What a delicious stinker. I'd read other translations of Ihara Saikaku for my undergrad classes, but hadn't heard of any by Mathers. Turns out there's a reason for that. Mathers translated the contents of this book (outtakes of Saikaku's novels and ryotei tunes) from French translations, and it's abundantly clear that neither Mathers or the original Frenchman had any understanding of Japanese language or culture. We're thus treated to many befuddling manglings of Japanese names and terms, obvious translator redactions where they could not make any sense of the original Japanese text, and such gems of commentary as: The idea of homosexuality is traditionally much more acceptable to Orientals than to Westerners. One reason for this may be the lesser physical diffentiation of the sexes in the Mongoloid race (Japanese women and men have relatively sparese body hair, while women's breasts and buttocks are small compared to those of average Caucasian women.) Women were excluded from important arts because they were of little social importance. In these circumstances it was fitting that men should seek men for their most intimate life. Ah, for the golden days of the 1950s, when sexuality, race relations and human psychology were so easily defined, and the Caucasian Man so obviously Superior to his exotic Eastern Counterpart!
6) Brother One Cell - Cullen Thomas
Being the autobiography of an American citizen who spent 3.5 years in South Korean prisons. I couldn't believe this kid when I first heard about him--what kind of utter dumbass mails himself two kilograms of hashish in a country with some of the most draconian narcotics laws on the planet?! And then there was the anger that this is the sort of asshole who gives American such a bad name in Asia! My initial reactions were justified: Thomas was the same shiftless, lazy, uninspired, lets party it up! personality I'd dealt with throughout university and whilst living abroad. But an amazing thing happens--he matures. In a big way. Brother One Cell is an excellent read by an obviously intelligent individual who has looked back on his past mistakes, considered them, grown up, and come out strong and balanced. Far from being an angry polemic against the system or far-fetched justification of his crime, Brother Once Cell shows how Thomas moved away from the person who did those things into someone who can take a very broad, reasoned look at his situation in life and come out on top. More intriguing yet was that he seems to have undergone so many of the same struggles longtime Asia expats deal with, only behind bars. I'm really not doing this book any justice, so let me just say that it is well worth the read, and a volume I'll definitely be holding on to.
7) Strange Places - Mike Mignola
Say what you will about the novelisations, I love graphic novel Hellboy. Mignola's art is so unique and evocative, and it lifts his characters up from cliche and exaggeration, fleshing them out into complex individuals. (I could, however, do without the footnotes explaining literary and mythological references to us comic book readers who are presumably not cultured enough to understand them without help.) At any rate, this was an excellent volume with some wonderful back story thrown in, an I'm excited to see where the story's headed next.
8) When Heaven And Earth Changed Places - Le Ly Hayslip
This book is the autobiography of a Vietnamese woman born during the tail end of the French occupation and who came of age during the Vietnam War. The narrative jumps back and forth between her early years and her journey back to her family in 1986, when the country was just starting to open up to America. I was both amazed by Hayslip's resilience in the face of so much horror and annoyed by the obvious whitewashing she gives her many ill-advised sexual relationships (a favor she does not extend to others). Still, it's a gritty and real look at the war from a perspective one doesn't see a lot of in America, as well as an interesting read for all of the information on prewar Vietnamese culture. This book is certainly worth reading once.
Special Bonus Supplement:
BookMooch came through for me in a big way this week, and I'm up to 69 unread books. Of course, that number would have been lower had I remembered to list several of the books I finished this week on the master list. But I didn't. Teh ironies.
That will be all.
Anyway, here are this week's eight books:
1)My Life As Emperor - Su Tong
This is an absolutely fabulous book. I considered buying it in Japan but set it down because the price (about $20) was too high to gamble on an unknown author. What a shame, because the paperback would have been worth that much indeed. Tong sets his narrative in a mythical kingdom in a mythical China, a device which works perfectly by allowing the characters' pathos and motivations to assume a universality of which they wouldn't otherwise be capable in true historical fiction (see: Anchee Min). The narrative is gripping and the characters fully rounded, and all of this is done with a minimum of words. Like all good books in its vein, it greatly clarified for me why people in certain positions in classical China behaved as they did, and this without being in the least didactic. My Life As Emperor also has the most solid, lucid translation into English I have ever run across, and although I still hope to read it in the original one day, I can honestly say that I was never once aware that I was reading something that hadn't originally been written in English. Read this book.
2) Charmed Life - Diana Wynne Jones
Jones' books fall into one of two categories for me: the immediately wonderful and gripping, or the grit-your-teeth-and-slog-through. Charmed Life is in the latter category, so that I manage about one successful read-through to every eight or so attempts. I'm not exactly sure why, except that its fantasy world doesn't quite sit right with me. The ending is far too rushed and leaves too many loose ends for it to truly breach decent and head into great.
3) The Lives Of Christopher Chant - Diana Wynne Jones
This second book about the Chrestomanci is much more readable than the first, precisely because the first has laid the groundwork on which the current story rests. I enjoyed the multiple worlds and the glance at a previously introduced character's development, but the plot is once again predictable and drags unnecessarily. The narrative picks up a great deal in the final third of the book, but there's precious little denoument after the climax. I rather wish Jones had written longer books with several escapades for each of the main casts, instead of spending all her time building background and then introducing one problem which, after it is solved, concludes the narrative.
4) The Magicians Of Caprona - Diana Wynne Jones
Now we're getting somewhere. Although Jones forsakes the casts of the previous two Chrestomanci novels entirely, Caprona has its share of creepy, Gaimanesque moments. Although I once again found my inner voice commenting that if the main characters weren't so hopelessly unobservant their problems would be solved, I do appreciate the fact that adults in Jones' world, far from being omniscient all-powerful archetypes often harm their causes as often as help them. I think it's this (and the puppets and Mr. Punch) that lifts this story from a YA fantasy riff on Romeo & Juliet to something good in its own right.
5) Comrade Loves Of The Samurai - E. Powys Mathers (trans)
What a delicious stinker. I'd read other translations of Ihara Saikaku for my undergrad classes, but hadn't heard of any by Mathers. Turns out there's a reason for that. Mathers translated the contents of this book (outtakes of Saikaku's novels and ryotei tunes) from French translations, and it's abundantly clear that neither Mathers or the original Frenchman had any understanding of Japanese language or culture. We're thus treated to many befuddling manglings of Japanese names and terms, obvious translator redactions where they could not make any sense of the original Japanese text, and such gems of commentary as: The idea of homosexuality is traditionally much more acceptable to Orientals than to Westerners. One reason for this may be the lesser physical diffentiation of the sexes in the Mongoloid race (Japanese women and men have relatively sparese body hair, while women's breasts and buttocks are small compared to those of average Caucasian women.) Women were excluded from important arts because they were of little social importance. In these circumstances it was fitting that men should seek men for their most intimate life. Ah, for the golden days of the 1950s, when sexuality, race relations and human psychology were so easily defined, and the Caucasian Man so obviously Superior to his exotic Eastern Counterpart!
6) Brother One Cell - Cullen Thomas
Being the autobiography of an American citizen who spent 3.5 years in South Korean prisons. I couldn't believe this kid when I first heard about him--what kind of utter dumbass mails himself two kilograms of hashish in a country with some of the most draconian narcotics laws on the planet?! And then there was the anger that this is the sort of asshole who gives American such a bad name in Asia! My initial reactions were justified: Thomas was the same shiftless, lazy, uninspired, lets party it up! personality I'd dealt with throughout university and whilst living abroad. But an amazing thing happens--he matures. In a big way. Brother One Cell is an excellent read by an obviously intelligent individual who has looked back on his past mistakes, considered them, grown up, and come out strong and balanced. Far from being an angry polemic against the system or far-fetched justification of his crime, Brother Once Cell shows how Thomas moved away from the person who did those things into someone who can take a very broad, reasoned look at his situation in life and come out on top. More intriguing yet was that he seems to have undergone so many of the same struggles longtime Asia expats deal with, only behind bars. I'm really not doing this book any justice, so let me just say that it is well worth the read, and a volume I'll definitely be holding on to.
7) Strange Places - Mike Mignola
Say what you will about the novelisations, I love graphic novel Hellboy. Mignola's art is so unique and evocative, and it lifts his characters up from cliche and exaggeration, fleshing them out into complex individuals. (I could, however, do without the footnotes explaining literary and mythological references to us comic book readers who are presumably not cultured enough to understand them without help.) At any rate, this was an excellent volume with some wonderful back story thrown in, an I'm excited to see where the story's headed next.
8) When Heaven And Earth Changed Places - Le Ly Hayslip
This book is the autobiography of a Vietnamese woman born during the tail end of the French occupation and who came of age during the Vietnam War. The narrative jumps back and forth between her early years and her journey back to her family in 1986, when the country was just starting to open up to America. I was both amazed by Hayslip's resilience in the face of so much horror and annoyed by the obvious whitewashing she gives her many ill-advised sexual relationships (a favor she does not extend to others). Still, it's a gritty and real look at the war from a perspective one doesn't see a lot of in America, as well as an interesting read for all of the information on prewar Vietnamese culture. This book is certainly worth reading once.
Special Bonus Supplement:
BookMooch came through for me in a big way this week, and I'm up to 69 unread books. Of course, that number would have been lower had I remembered to list several of the books I finished this week on the master list. But I didn't. Teh ironies.
That will be all.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2007-04-09 04:16 pm (UTC)That's the cutest thing I've read in a long time...
no subject
on 2007-04-11 02:19 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-04-11 02:24 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-04-10 01:51 am (UTC)Curious about bookmooch. I'll have to see if any of the book on my amazon wishlist are there. How successful are you at giving books away?
no subject
on 2007-04-11 02:22 am (UTC)AFA BookMooch goes, I am disgustingly successful at giving books away, and even moreso at getting ones I want. I've sent about 50 to new homes in the past 90 days, and have received about 69 in that time. The best thing about it is that the site seems to be populated by some real book nuts, so I'm getting worthwhile books that have been (with one or two exceptions) extremely well taken care of.
no subject
on 2007-04-12 01:32 am (UTC)I really liked Howl's Moving Castle which is why I started the Chrestomanci books. If you rec any of her other books, I'll keep an eye out. My wishlist is slowly growing with a higher percentage of books mentioned by you...^_^
no subject
on 2007-04-15 07:18 pm (UTC)Howl's Moving Castle is one of my most favorite books, which is why I found the movie so disappointing. If you're looking for another really good DWJ try Dogsbody. Year Of The Ghost and the sequel to Howl's are both good books, but nowhere near as good as the former two.
And whatever you do, stay as far away from the Dark Lord Of Derkholm books as is humanly possible.
no subject
on 2007-04-11 07:48 am (UTC)