Lost On Planet China
 

I've just begun this book by J. Maarten Troost. I was wondering whether anyone else has read it and any impressions thereof.

Haven't read it yet (it's on my list) but I absolutely loved Getting Stoned with Savages. (The book was great too.)

:)

lol, Filmwill

How funny, I am listening to this book in my car right now!
Interesting and entertaining so far.
I spend a lot of time commuting so listening to books, many of them travel related, helps pass the time.
Just finished "The Lady in the Palazzo" by Marlena de Blasi and listened to all the "Bangkok" books by John Burdett that way too.
Any recs for something Vietnam related?

Andy,

You are in for such a treat! The book is both very perceptive and hilariously written. If you are a westerner who has spent any time in China, you'll laugh aloud numerous times. I'll be surprised if you don't enjoy it. Let us know.

Kristina,
If you do a search here, you'll find a number of good recommendations. I (finally) just started SACRED WILLOW which others here have recommended.

I stand by my earlier recommendation of Anthony Grey's SAIGON, a book that was brought to our attention by an older Vietnamese gentleman who thinks that it explains his culture to westerners. It has little literary merit, but provides a very helpful tutorial -- through historical fiction -- of the Vietnamese experience from French colonial rule through the fall of Saigon and American evacuation.

My husband is in Vietnam now with a book of stories set in VN that he is enjoying tremendously. I'll check on the title and get back to you.

Mary-I'm really liking LOPC. He's got just the right touch of cynicism along with some pithy observations. I'm hoping his air quality comments and the expectoration comments don't impede our enjoyment of China in September.

I especially liked his remarks about the authenticity of Marco Polo's writings.

Loved this book!!!!! Great sense of humor!

Another one I recently read and recommend:

CHINA ROAD by Rob Gifford


http://www.amazon.com/China-Road-Jou...064&sr=8-1

"Equal parts Bill Bryson and Jonathan Spence" -- this looks sensational.

Thanks.

I also recommended some other good ones here:


http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35171332

Kristina,

You asked for reccos on Vietnam.

My husband adored a book I found browsing in Cambridge's Globe Corner Bookstore -- Robert Olen Butler's A GOOD SCENT FROM A STRANGE MOUNTAIN -- so I have begun reading it and am also charmed. It's a Pulitzer Prize winning collection of stories. Others here probably know Butler's work but he is new to us.

Andy,

I hope that you are continuing to enjoy LOST ON PLANET CHINA. It is possibly funnier after you have spent time in the country -- I don't know. I laughed uproariously at Bill Bryson's IN A SUNBURNED COUNTRY without ever visiting Australia though so I figure that past travel isn't a requirement to enjoy such a book.

Yes, I continue to enjoy this book. His political stuff is very amusing. Of course, it's not entirely clear that he's actually enjoying himself, but who really cares?

And don't forget to read the Fuchsia Dunlop book, SHARK'S FIN AND SICHUAN PEPPER!

http://www.amazon.com/Sharks-Fin-Sic.../dp/0393066576

ekscrunchy,

On your advice, I just picked up Dunlop's book and read the first twenty pages. I am hooked. Thanks for a delightful recommendation.

I am glad you are enjoying the book! I've got a new one now on China that I just started--I will post about it if it is good..a Chinese-American living in China and learning to cook..

EKS-how about a book about an American living in America and learning to finish a trip report?

Ouch! I will have to scout around for possible subjects. Right now such a book would have to be shelved with the "fantasy" titles! I WILL get on it very soon, however! You can probably imagine all too well how I was in college when the term papers were due...

If I would put down the travel books that I am always reading, I would have more time to dedicate to my saga..
but I WILL be finishing soon. I want to begin thinking about an Asian trip for next winter, and I know all (or mostly all, anyway) will turn their backs on me if I ask questions before finishing up what I started..

Meanwhile, the book I mentioned up above is SERVE THE PEOPLE by Jen Lin-Liu.

In truth, when I was in college, one of my majors was Philosophy. I never, and I do mean never, started a term paper earlier than 9:00 p.m the day before it was due. Most of the subject matter dealt with pure thought (Bob this is an area into which you have never delved) and I could just expound.I did these on an old typewriter, one finger at a time. There were several instances of me sprinting across campus in an attempt to submit the paper before 5:00 p.m.

If I really believed that EKS would perform an allegorical sprint across campus, the penbalty would be waived. My hopes are not high.

BTW, thanks for the boof recommendation.

The boof? The boof? And here I was getting ready to sprint.....but a referee who says "boof" might not even be able to read a stopwatch!!!

A mere oversight "boof", even though it does have a certain charm. One would never want to use a "boof" without a recommendation. One could choose an inappropriate "boof". Unthinkable.

BTW, I will not allow myself to be belittled by accepting that I am a referee. Properly assessing the penalties takes a lot more than merely administering a set of rules. Many factors have to be considered. The quality of mercy will not be strained, nor will it be improperly granted. The burden is enormous.

The Fuchsia Dunlop book recommended by ekscrunchy above -- SHARK'S FIN SOUP AND SICHUAN PEPPER: A SWEET-SOUR MEMOIR OF EATING IN CHINA -- is a treasure-trove of information about Chinese culture and cuisine. I wish that it had been available before my first trip to China.

Dunlop manages to write with that perfect balance of affection and insightfulness that allows you to appreciate both our own western and Chinese culinary idiosyncracies.

The book is great fun to read. I will now look up her earlier cookbooks. Thanks, ekscrunchy.

Andy, if you are continuing to enjoy Troost, you might find this an absolutely delightful next read.

MaryA-I will give it a try.

Harumph!!!!!!

Ekscrunchy recommends the boof and Panda takes no notice. It is only after said boof is recommended by Marya does the black-and-white furry one deign to take the suggestion!

I don't want to distract EKS from her holy mission. You should have been there in my third grade class when I gave a boof report.

UMMM, Senor Panda--If you take your nose away from your boof, you will notice a new addition to an old thread on this board.

Duly noted. The end appears nearly upon us. Break out the calculator. I hope you can think exponentially.

What does exponentially mean???

I'm not explaining the difference between an arithmetic and an exponential progression. I will merely say that the penaly will need several commas and no decimal points.

Well, I hope that I can bring this thread back to a semblance of not being hijacked. Andy, do read Gifford's China Road. It's a quick read and gives great insight into the country and it's future. I would say it's a must for anyone planning on going there.

Thanks Craig. I've diverted so many threads in the past that it would small of me (an oxymoron for a giant panda) to mind if any thread of mine is diverted (a much nicer term than hijacked).

I'm usually travelling or writing so don't read as much as I'd like. I also kind of avoid reading certain books so as to write originally.

My recommendation is my book from Tibet, Dialogues Tibetan Dialogues Han.

http://www.amazon.com/Dialogues-Tibe.../dp/9889799936

I can't resist throwing another title into the mix for those preparing to get lost on planet China.

If you are someone who appreciates slow travel or, better yet, staying put long enough to consider a faraway land a second home, have a look at Michael Meyer's book: THE LAST DAYS OF OLD BEIJING: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed.

Meyer, an American who originally spent time in China as a Peace Corps volunteer and then studied Mandarin at Tsinghua, lived in a Beijing hutong and volunteer-taught English in a local elementary school for two years. His story is both a charmingly intimate portrait of the relationships he developed and a tutorial on Beijing hutong life over the ages and cataclysmic changes brought by dynastic changes, revolution, liberation and so forth, leading up to the massive -- and massively destructive -- urban "renewal" efforts linked to the 2008 Olympics. More than that, the book is a tribute or even a love song, an effort to preserve in written form that which may not survive in architectural form except as cultural relic.

I obviously recommend this book as a Westerner with limited knowledge about China and a lot of questions triggered by the experiences I had in Beijing a few years ago. It is a pleasure to read and helps me to understand some of the bewildering things about Beijing. I wish that someone with deeper knowledge of the city could weigh in on such a title and make other recommendations. (Peter N-H, are you out there?)

Tis a shame for the interest in such a crappy country imo.

Yes, but, as you suggest the key word is "interest." I don't see how we can fail to be interested in them...And aren't our fortunes intertwined at this point?

"Interest" isn't tantamount to rapture... or even approval.

Gifford's and Meyer's books do a creditable job in identifying and exploring some of the difficult issues that concern people observing China's rise. I'd like to find more such sources.

OK, my Amazon order just arrived. Let the reading begin. The faithful posters had better hope that I like these books. hell hath no fury like a Panda bored.

If you are stirred to wrath, just don't bite any of the tourists to your PRC (if anyone still calls it the People's Republic of Cambridge).

We expect boof reports, or at least a thumbs up/thumbs down.

I just picked up Shanghainese's recommendation -- Cecilia' Chiang's THE SEVENTH DAUGHTER.