The first book up for discussion is Peter Hessler's Oracle Bones. Published in 2006, Hessler's account of a changing China is interwoven with personal stories from his former students in Sichuan, radio show hostesses, aging academics, and a host of other citizens of the PRC. His search for ... Read more »

Good news for aspiring scribes. A new fellowship on offer is looking to develop Asian writing talent who want to become English wordsmiths writing about the Far East. Check out the details below.

The David T. K. Wong Fellowship is a unique and generous annual award of £26,000 to ... Read more »

With the Beijing International Literary Festival coming up in March--and lots of heavy hitter intellectual-types rolling into town--it’s time to better ourselves with knowledge. And since we’re in China, it ought to be China-knowledge.

There’s no better place to start for China knowledge than The China Beat ... Read more »

We're talking about David Foster Wallace's first novel The Broom of the System. Come out to talk about the book or recommend a future read. 7:30 pm at the [Bookworm] (http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/listings/dining/cafes/has/the-bookworm/). Here's a brief synopsis from ... Read more »

In his new popular science book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell of Blink and The Tipping Point fame takes on the task of explaining Asian math test scores and ends up in China's rice paddies. Drawing on the research of University of Michigan professor Richard Nisbett, Gladwell argues that rice agriculture ... Read more »

... Read more »

Reading: Wolf Totem

We're meeting this month Wednesday, October 29th at the Bookworm and Thursday, October 30th at the Yin Yang Center in Shunyi.

Pick up your copy at the Bookworm, with 10 percent off as a Book Club member and come out for the meeting to discuss. Read more »

It has been brought to my attention that the link to the Project Gutenberg text of "A Chinese Wonder Book" was no longer working (its possible that the proxy server changed IPs). So, here is the original link to the text:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18674/18674-h/18674-h.htm ... Read more »

an age-old mystery is cleared up (or something)

I actually found this tale to be rather charming (though again, as previously warned, written in a very "old-timey" fashion). Published originally in 1919, its antiquey enough to be quaint and charming, and is obviously a direct translation from the Chinese phrasing ... Read more »

(or something)

So... after putting my life on the back burner for the past three weeks (including the book club!) due to a great gig I got choreographing the dancing girls for the new China Doll, I'm only just now getting around to sending out feelers for the text ... Read more »

So... as I discovered earlier this week, the joyo.com website (China's Amazon.com) was doing a major reinventory (is that a word?) for thw WHOLE week, and nothing would be delivered for another week, so of course the advice I gave to everyone last week was well, not ... Read more »

On Thursday the 29th, we'll be meeting at The Bookworm at 7:30 to discuss some of the short stories from this book. I've only just now ordered it from joyo.com (should get here tomorrow, usually next-day delivery, FREE).

If you'd also like to get the ... Read more »

Also... there's been a vote and we're definitely going to read Pearl S Buck's "The Good Earth" for the May Book Club meetup, so you could also go ahead and pick up a copy so that you're fully prepared for the actual book club meeting :)

For ... Read more »

Books to read for the May holiday?

Any favorites that you've read that are the epitome of eye candy? Some authors are better for certain environs/times of the year, but certainly some easy-to-get-your-hands-on titles are...

anything by Jane Austen (but particularly Pride and Prejudice)

Harry Potter / Golden Compass ... Read more »

Now that Wikipedia is (currently) not blocked by the Great Firewall of China, you can check out the link to Pearl S Buck's wiki page here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_S._Buck

Not only was she politically involved and worked hard to make a lot of socio-political changes ... Read more »

Due to popular demand (and the recent availability of the book at a couple bookstores about town) we are going to do another meetup to discuss "Mr Muo's Traveling Couch." We will meet up at the Bookworm in Sanliturn and the Bridge Cafe in Wudaokou, and we're trying ... Read more »

At the last book club meeting, we discussed the beginning of the book "Mr Muo's Traveling Couch" and quickly found ourselves distracted by a very fascinating tangent: that of dream interpretation.

When I had a Chinese flatmate, we would often sit over coffee and discuss/interpret our dreams. She ... Read more »

Hi Everyone! :)

I hope that the insane fireworks have scared off all of the bad spirits for the year and leave us all with lots of good luck.

The next book club meeting with be on Feb 21st (next Thursday night) at The Bookworm (6586-9507) at 7pm. We've pre-ordered ... Read more »

The December book, Li Cunxin''s autobiography "Mao's Last Dancer" was a great choice of reads... with the exception that there were no copies available in town ;p

So... to do a quick synopsis of the part in question:

Li Cunxin is China's best ballet student (imagine: late ... Read more »

This month (December) the Beijing Book Club will be reading Li Cunxin's autobiography "Mao's Last Dancer." Suggested by one of our members at the last meetup in November (thanks Chase!) it has definitely been a fun read for me. As there were many schedule conflicts with the original ... Read more »

BOOK UP FOR DISCUSSION: Kite Runner by Khaleed Hossini.

In The Kite Runner, Amir and Hassan grow up together in Afghanistan like brothers, although they couldn't be more different. Amir is the son of a wealthy businessman, a Sunni Muslim, a Pashtun, and he's educated and reads voraciously ... Read more »

It makes sense to read up on the country we're living in but with so many titles it's hard to know where to begin. Please, all those Sinophiles out there, help us and lend us some advice on what are the essential China reads. Read more »

What are the leading children's books out on the market and where can you go to buy them? Please post your recommendations here and also suggestions on where these can be purchased. Read more »