Monthly Archives: March 2009

Global Voices Book Challenge

Global Voices Online, the leading media outfit covering the global blogosphere which I’m contributing for occasionally, has recently launched the Global Voices Book Challenge with the call to read your way around the world. I’ve never been one to subscribe

Global Voices Book Challenge

Global Voices Online, the leading media outfit covering the global blogosphere which I’m contributing for occasionally, has recently launched the Global Voices Book Challenge with the call to read your way around the world. I’ve never been one to subscribe

Ma Jian | Red Dust

Red Dust: A Path Through China

I feel I have walked onto a stage. The people around me are absorbed in their parts, putting on this great show and nothing seems real. Every object looks like a prop. Since I have no part I am reduced

Ma Jian | Red Dust

Red Dust: A Path Through China

I feel I have walked onto a stage. The people around me are absorbed in their parts, putting on this great show and nothing seems real. Every object looks like a prop. Since I have no part I am reduced

Austenbook

Pride and Prejudice As Facebook Updates

Check it out at http://www.much-ado.net/austenbook.

Austenbook

Pride and Prejudice As Facebook Updates

Check it out at http://www.much-ado.net/austenbook.

A Politico-Literary Protest

In France, three million people took to the streets in a national strike against their government’s anti-labor and anti-people policies. Along with the massive demonstrations, the French have found an amusing new way of protesting: by reading a 17th-century novel

A Politico-Literary Protest

In France, three million people took to the streets in a national strike against their government’s anti-labor and anti-people policies. Along with the massive demonstrations, the French have found an amusing new way of protesting: by reading a 17th-century novel

Nicole’s Shadowy About-Face

Why did “Nicole,” the woman said to have been raped by an US marine four years ago in Subic, “recant”*? In December 2006, her testimony in a Philippine court trial led to the conviction of Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith for

Nicole’s Shadowy About-Face

Why did “Nicole,” the woman said to have been raped by an US marine four years ago in Subic, “recant”*? In December 2006, her testimony in a Philippine court trial led to the conviction of Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith for

Doris Lessing | The Good Terrorist

Doris Lessing’s The Good Terrorist

What did she do in her room? Caroline said she was studying handbooks on how to be a good terrorist. She said this laughing, as was her way. p. 319 Do not expect gunfights, car chases, and other flashy action

Doris Lessing | The Good Terrorist

Doris Lessing’s The Good Terrorist

What did she do in her room? Caroline said she was studying handbooks on how to be a good terrorist. She said this laughing, as was her way. p. 319 Do not expect gunfights, car chases, and other flashy action

Twilight Samurai

Another film I saw recently is Japanese director Yoji Yamada’s Twilight Samurai. It is melancholy, touching, and absolutely worth watching. Unlike many other samurai films, Twilight Samurai does not rely on battle scenes and instead focuses on depicting the day-to-day

Twilight Samurai

Another film I saw recently is Japanese director Yoji Yamada’s Twilight Samurai. It is melancholy, touching, and absolutely worth watching. Unlike many other samurai films, Twilight Samurai does not rely on battle scenes and instead focuses on depicting the day-to-day

Ivan Turgenev | Virgin Soil

Virgin Soil: Turgenev’s Prophetic Final Novel

The title of Turgenev’s last novel, Virgin Soil, evokes Russia’s vast countrysides and its fertile lands, ready to receive the seed of future crops from the farmer’s hands. It also indirectly refers to the Russian peasantry, the object of propaganda

Ivan Turgenev | Virgin Soil

Virgin Soil: Turgenev’s Prophetic Final Novel

The title of Turgenev’s last novel, Virgin Soil, evokes Russia’s vast countrysides and its fertile lands, ready to receive the seed of future crops from the farmer’s hands. It also indirectly refers to the Russian peasantry, the object of propaganda

Reading Notes

1. Read Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Blue Flower over the weekend as part of my efforts to read more women authors. The novel revolved around the early life of a young German student, a contemporary of Goethe, who would later become

Reading Notes

1. Read Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Blue Flower over the weekend as part of my efforts to read more women authors. The novel revolved around the early life of a young German student, a contemporary of Goethe, who would later become

On The Eve by Turgenev

On the Eve by Ivan Turgenev is a love story, the plot of which most of us today would find commonplace. When the novel first appeared, however, this story of a young upper class Russian lady falling in love with

On The Eve by Turgenev

On the Eve by Ivan Turgenev is a love story, the plot of which most of us today would find commonplace. When the novel first appeared, however, this story of a young upper class Russian lady falling in love with

The Moon and Sixpence

Maugham’s Portrait of an Artist

I haven’t read any book by W. Somerset Maugham before. So when it came to choosing between reading his The Human Bondage or The Moon and Sixpence, I chose to read the latter solely because it was four hundred pages

The Moon and Sixpence

Maugham’s Portrait of an Artist

I haven’t read any book by W. Somerset Maugham before. So when it came to choosing between reading his The Human Bondage or The Moon and Sixpence, I chose to read the latter solely because it was four hundred pages

Three Akira Kurosawa Films

Last month I saw three classic films by the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, all were recommendations of my cinemaphile friend Dada. First was Ran, which basically looked like an oriental and apparently grislier version of King Lear. Ran reminded me

Three Akira Kurosawa Films

Last month I saw three classic films by the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, all were recommendations of my cinemaphile friend Dada. First was Ran, which basically looked like an oriental and apparently grislier version of King Lear. Ran reminded me