The Worm and the Ring by Anthony Burgess My rating: 5 of 5 stars The Worm and the Ring is remarkable not so much for Anthony Burgess taking a crack at his former colleagues at Banbury Grammar School, but rather for the author’s creativity in animating a school serving ‘drearily picturesque towns’. Burgess had already … The Worm and the Ring
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
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
River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure My rating: 5 of 5 stars This novel switches between the Chinese cities of Shanghai, Qingdao, and Dandong, and between the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. However, in my calculations, over half of the book takes place in Shanghai in 2007. This was important to me because I … River East, River West
