What were your 2007 reads?
Today I woke up and realized I’ve only got 3 weeks of 2007 left! Aaaaaack! I’m sure you guys hardly felt it too. But instead of succumbing to a panic attack and questioning just how productive we were in 2007, let’s measure the year in books.
What were your 2007 reads?
The City Weekend Book Club downed 11 volumes:
Summer Crossing by Truman Capote, The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman, The River at the Center of the World - A Journey Up the Yangtze and Back in Chinese Time by Simon Winchester (with a special appearance of Winchester himself at Book Club), Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, Empress Orchid by Anchee Min, A Florentine Revenge by Kristobel Kent, A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan, Suite Francaise by Irene Nimerovsky, The Emperor's Bones by Adam Williams, Passing Under Heaven by Justin Hill.
Go on, tell us what you read and in the coming weeks, we'll round up 2007’s best reads, and your suggestions for 2008.
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I have yet to read Kite Runner...I know, I know...running bit late on that trend. Movie's almost out even. Or is it out, already? I saw a preview on the Book Mooch blog. But I did read A Thousand Splendid Suns which was his second novel. Very heart-wrenching! Some people say Kite Runner is "heavier" but a couple of people say that A Thousand Splendid Suns is heavier. For women, especially because you feel their plight. I would have to agree with the latter. When I read Kite Runner then I can draw another judgment.
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Well, let me add my favourite list from last year. Well the book club recommended 'The River at the center of the world' was fascinating - an excursion into chinese history, culture and geography. One of the other interesting books was 'London is the best city in America' by Laura Dave. Nice interesting love story but unconventional and with beautiful. One of the reviewers has said 'Is it possible to have a crush on a book? If so, then I did and do for Laura Dave's fine, funny, surprising first novel'. Well, I agree with him :-) Another nice book that I read was 'A little history of the world' by E.H.Gombrich. A wonderful little history book. I didn't know that history could be so interesting. Read 'Head On' which is cricketer Ian Botham's autobiography. Not recommended if you are not a cricket fan (but definitely recommended if you are :-)) Planning to read 'In Custody' by Anita Desai - mother of last year's Booker prize winner Kiran Desai. In my opinion Anita Desai seems to be a way-way better writer than her daughter. (Sorry Kiran, but that is what I feel. But the best thing is that you have time on your side).
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Well, none of the books ros has mentioned... but 1 common book with tristamarie: "Potter 7"... :) My favorites in 2007 are: "Istanbul" by Orhan Pamuk, "When the Impossible Happens" by Stanislav Grof, "The Perfect Man" by Naeem Murr, "I Feel Bad About My Neck" by Nora Ephron, "Letter to Earth" by Elia Wise and certainly, "Potter 7" by J.K. Rowling. And some more titles by Turkish writers but none of them appeared in English yet.
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Karen here. I originally registered another user name but I didn't validate in time, so I couldn't post.
Anyway, in 2007 I read: The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai On Beauty by Zadie Smith Lolita by Vladimir whatsisname Love Life by Ray Kluun
"Love Life" and "Lolita" were very good. "The Hundred Secret Senses" was not bad, pretty entertaining. I liked Zora's character in "On Beauty" but it's not the best book. Not bad though. "The Inheritance of Loss" was just ok.
This year, I'm reading: The Lonely Planet Story The Mask of Motherhood
I'm intending to read more non-fiction this year, on whatever interests me.
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I spent a bunch of my free time digesting the Mao book by Jung Chang trying to brush up on my Chinese history before I got here. At 900+ pages, it almost got the best of me. But I did finish it after six months or so (i had to read other things while reading this...something i never do). I slogged through it and even snuck it into the country. But now I want to know if there are any books about modern China (1976-now) that are any good. And I'm not talking about China Inc. More on history
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I was able to get a hold of that Jung Chang book through bookcrossing...and I'm still "reading" it. I'm on a hiatus. I used to be a more focused reader myself until I started reading one book while reading another...so part of the 2008 resolution is to "organize" my reading. Anyway, that's a whole different story.
The Jung Chang book stirred a lot of debate, not just because it's a banned book, but also because some people felt it was too angry and overly anti-Mao. But that's an open debate.
There are a lot of books about modern China that are available now. If you check the foreign language bookstore, Chaterhouse, or www.51eng.com, youll find that there are a lot of titles to choose from.
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On China, I would suggest 'In Search of Modern China' by Jonathan Spence. Spence is an expert in Chinese history and has written many books on China. This one is on modern Chinese history starting from the end of the Ming dynasty till the beginning of the 21st century. Spence has also written other books like an autobiography of Emperor Kangxi and another one on the Taiping rebellion. He has also written a small biography of Mao Zedong. Another beautiful book is 'The Dynasties of China - A history' by Bamber Gascoigne. It is wonderful and covers not just political history but also literature and culture. Also it is aimed at the general reader. However it describes events only till the end of the Qing dynasty and doesn't talk about 20th century China after that. A combination of this and Jonathan Spence's first book would see one through most of Chinese history :-)
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Can we move onto 2008 and what we're going to read? With Shanghai Literary Festival authors as inspiration, how about Patrick Gale (Notes from an Exhibition) or Lynn Pan (Shanghai Style), the two books that generated the most buzz on the first day of the Festival?
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We have moved on! Check out April 2008's read.
And yes...we thoroughly enjoyed the Lit Fest! I am currently devouring Lynn Pan's very informative book and Basil Pao's massive book.
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Reading??? What is that? I read ... let's see. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini ... a bit sensationalist but good. Harry Potter 7 ... yes, ashamed to admit. But she's a decent story-teller and the book is entertaining (and you can read it in like 3 days which gives you a minor sense of accomplishment). Working on Freakonomics right now ... that's an interesting read for those that like to think of the workings of our world in a more abstract way.