2. Shanghai University (draft) Concentrating on his footing because the drizzle had made the paving stones slippery, Kurt glanced up only to avoid walking into the trees planted in the middle of the footpath. The trunks, white with insecticide paint, glowed in the darkness, and Kurt struggled to believe the skeletal branches would grow leaves … Sulphur Lake Chapter 2
Irish Lightning by Travis Lee My rating: 5 of 5 stars Mark tries to relive his glory days as a famous high-school jock in an American small town. Why? Because as an adult he’s a failure. The familiar plot and setting contrast with other stories I’ve read by Travis Lee which plunge the reader into … Irish Lightning
Spitting Off Tall Buildings by Dan Fante My rating: 5 of 5 stars Bruno Dante is a loner, a guy who wants to spend time in his room reading Tennesse Williams’ plays but has to venture out to earn money. He cleans windows, drives a cab, and is an usher at a theatre. He hates … Spitting Off Tall Buildings
Butterfly Stories by William T. Vollmann My rating: 4 of 5 stars Butterfly Stories is set in the early 90s when the Khmer Rouge was still causing trouble in Cambodia. Vollmann went to Cambodia to cover this trouble, and I’d have liked to know more about his journalistic mission. However, what we get is a … Butterfly Stories
The Snowman by Jörg Fauser My rating: 3 of 5 stars Blum is selling Danish porn mags in Malta, he eats a nice dinner once a week, but the rest of his time is spent in seedy hotels and bars. Fauser speaking through Blum has an expert eye for little disappointments, the shabbiness of reality. … The Snowman
Law of the Jungle by Christina Hoag My rating: 5 of 5 stars A great adventure involving scientific research, jungle survival and vengeance. In Christina Hoag’s ‘Law of the Jungle’ British scientist Rowena Aldus has been hiding away in the Venezuelan jungle studying spiders whose venom can help with – wait for it – erectile … Law of the Jungle
A novel by Anjo Bordell My rating: 4 of 5 stars Tapped out in a mouldy Shanghai apartment, the paranoiac writing in DEFAULT makes me want to tell the author to lay off the weed. But no lazy pot smoker could write such energetic sentences. Impending doom hovers over Anjo Bordell, author and protagonist of … DEFAULT
The Dragon Syndicates: The Global Phenomenon of the Triads by Martin Booth My rating: 5 of 5 stars Based on the name of one Chinese secret society, the sanhehui 三合会, triad is the term we use in English to describe them in general. In modern-day China, they are referred to as hei shehui 黑社会 or … The Dragon Syndicates
Hace poco visité una fortaleza portuguesa en la isla de Ternate, Indonesia. El fuerte se llama ‘Kastela’, y hay un monumento allá con escenas que muestran cómo los nativos de Ternate echaron a los portugueses en 1575. Al principio los isleños dieron permiso a los portugueses para construir fuertes en la isla. Luego, se pelearon … Ternate, Indonesia 2016
Chaos and Grime: A Year in the Life of a Chinese City by Jacob Acerbi My rating: 2 of 5 stars I enjoyed much of this book, and the author’s honesty in showing the less pleasant aspects of his own behaviour and personality should be applauded IMO. I don’t condone his nastier actions, but he … Chaos and Grime: A Year in the Life of a Chinese City
