War Trash was only recently released on PB. If you are interested in China's involvement in the Korean War and how the prisoner's of war either ended up in Formosa/Taiwan or scorned in the mainland, it is a very important book. Extremely enlightening and different than Waiting, it's rich in details and the characters seem SO real. Highly recommended.

lliu316 wrote:Of course the "daVinci Code", if you haven't read it yet!!

The book is only par compared to ott rage and controversy it stirred last year. It is one of those marmite book;love it or hate it.

Anyway some recommended readings

Balzac and the little Chinese seamstress.
Dai Sijie is Chinese version of Paulo Coelho. Dreamy and poetic. Watch the DVD after reading the book, definitely complement elements that the book unable to show like persona and character development of the little seamstress. Breath taking landscape that unables to visualized from the book are well captured in the movie.

Dress your family in Curduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
The book has a flaw where it lacks of sparkly queery subject. None the less David is one of the best autobiography author ever alive. Naw only if I could get myself his audio box set. If there is a good excuse for Margaret Cho to retire, David is the answer.

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk,
Chuck speaks for himself, he is a great psycho drama writer. Despise its shocking value I found myself laughing on several chapters of this book. This book just get better towards the end, just buckle yourself down for the first 10 chapters

Currently reading
The Correction by Jon Frenzen
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (2 months and still haven't been able to figure thestory out)
Norwegian Woods by Haruki Murakami

Classically funny
The Queen and I by Sue Townsend
Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis

Anyone has read anything by Ellis ?

I think Chuck Palahniuk only tries to shock people. I tried to read Choke but thought it was morally disgusting.

If you like the Fantasy genre, then you can't miss reading The Wheel of Time series, by Robert Jordan. The eleventh book of the series will come out in October. The books are full of plots and subplots that constantly keep you guessing! The first book, The Eye of The World, starts out a little slow, but after about page 50 it really gets interesting.

rtvandoley wrote:If you like the Fantasy genre, then you can't miss reading The Wheel of Time series, by Robert Jordan. The eleventh book of the series will come out in October. The books are full of plots and subplots that constantly keep you guessing! The first book, The Eye of The World, starts out a little slow, but after about page 50 it really gets interesting.

I really enjoyed the first 5 or so books of this but he really should have finished at least some of the sub plots etc. I find that every time a new book comes out i've got to reread the last two and they're not short.

Try The China Dream. In interesting book about business in China that will really open your eyes. A must read for westerners doing business in China.

...

There are so many rubbish books out there on How to Do Business in China...uuuggghhh

I wouldn't call myself a voracious reader by any means and every book i read this year has basically been sitting in taxis but the most interesting books i have read in the last year are:

Women by Bukowski - man, this is just classic writing. you will be reading along and them come across sentence after sentence of brillance. this man has the ability to define the inner workings and understanding of people in way that is not that deep but very profound and enjoyable.

Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Steven Dubner - just a great read from a very creative economists who understands human emotion and incentives. trust me, this sh1t towers over any book a laymen could read on economics and econometrics. very light on theory (so don't let him being an economist scare you) but heavy on looking at very creative ways to see how your real estate agent, sumo wrestlers are corrupt as well as how the KKK used information to gain power (as well as many other organizations). great to read if you often wonder about the inner workings of china and its ppl (although he makes no correalation to them in his books).

Wild Swans by Jung Chang - its been mentioned here many times but really deserves a read by anyone living in china and looking to understand where chinese people are coming from and what they have had to endure the last 100 years.

Red China Blues by Jan Wong - not that great a book really, and kind of an annoying read, it gets more hype then it deserves because she wrote about first hand experience at Ti an an men. but that is a good reason to read it, that part is very interesting.

Carter Beats The Devil, by Glen David Gould

Pure, classic escapist fun in a 'boys own' style which will appeal to all readers. Brilliantly paced, it is very difficult to put down. Myself, Mrs Meanderer and a friend each read it one after the other, taking about three days of almost non-stop reading each.

Kuldaen, you're correct - Jordan's books are long and he has not ended many of the subplots. However, the books are great (to me anyway) and I have to see how it all ends. Perhaps a new reader might want to wait until the entire series is finished. Jordan has not given a definite number for the last book, that I know of anyway, but he has hinted at twelve. So, maybe in about three years a new reader will be able to read the entire series. It'll take you a little while, though, as each book averages about 600 pages.

lancesidecar it's not so much on how to do business in China, but more so on why not too.

yu888 wrote:Rich Dad Poor Dad - Robert Kyosaki - Good book to get a refernece point on how to look at money and how it affects our lives.

I only read part of this book, so maybe i'm not the best judge, but I found that it was at times a bit of literary and intellectual masturbation. I feel like a lot of the things he said are of the "well, that's easy for a rich person to say" category. maybe I was in a bad mood when I read it.

kuldaen wrote:

rtvandoley wrote:If you like the Fantasy genre, then you can't miss reading The Wheel of Time series, by Robert Jordan. The eleventh book of the series will come out in October. The books are full of plots and subplots that constantly keep you guessing! The first book, The Eye of The World, starts out a little slow, but after about page 50 it really gets interesting.

I really enjoyed the first 5 or so books of this but he really should have finished at least some of the sub plots etc. I find that every time a new book comes out i've got to reread the last two and they're not short.

I agree that Jordan has completely lost his ablility to tie anything up. Even in the past few books, he keeps opening up new plot lines, and introducing new characters and *groups* of character without completing anything. We STILL don't know that the **** is up with Faile. how many books has it been?

And as for wanting to know how it all ends.... I very much, do too. But I doubt we will ever see an end. There's too much to wrap up, and at the rate the books are coming out, he'll die before we seen an end

If you want a fantasy series that actually might end within a book or two, try "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R.R. Martin. It's also much less of a kids book than the WOT. **** gets *done* in those books.

Also - read the comic novel "Watchmen" by alan moore drawn by Dave Gibbons ?

an amazingly deep and accurate comment on society. viewed through a world of superheros, both successful and failures.

cool people have read "Watchmen".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen

I love to read!

Finished reading Geak Love. I had to put away "Cien a?os de soledad" in order to read this one and it was worth it!
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/disp ... 0375713347

Currently reading



This story has been written from different perspectives/characters. 4 Characters meet each other at new years eve and all 4 of them want to commit suicide. It's a really 'funny' story.

Oh, these two books are great as well!

http://slate.msn.com/id/2126570/entry/2126575/?nav=ais

Tori_Jan wrote:I love to read!

Finished reading Geak Love. I had to put away "Cien anos de soledad" in order to read this one and it was worth it!

Then you need to go back to Garcia Marquez's Cien Anos de soledad, that is a superb reading!! Very few books are worth putting this one away.

Yes, I'm back to it! I put it away because I didn't want to finish it, its such a wonderful book! But I did not regret it, you should try Geak Love!