Author: 5t4n5
Wake Up — Bonnie Myotai Treace
Having recently restarted my meditation practice, which is going really well, i thought it about time to give this a read.
I would firmly put this book on the shelf for anyone interested in Zen and deepening their practice: lots of little nuggets of info in here, well presented and easily read.
Also contains a good list of further resources at the back of the book.
Bonnie’s Page
#zen #bonniemyotaitreace
The Measure of a Man — Kathleen McClure
I once wrote in another book review that “maybe we could all use a dose of ‘silly’ now and again”; likewise, this is a fun short story that will certainly give you a nice little dose of said silly that you didn’t even realise you so desperately needed in this totally messed up world that you take so seriously.
A rat bites a werewolf in the subway, and yes, just like being bitten by a werewolf things also begin to change when you bite werewolves: even if you are just a tiny subway rat.
All good fun, and with the usual non-stop flowing writing that Kathleen’s so good at.
So stop reading the newspapers over breakfast and getting all depressed about things you can’t do anything about, go download this short story and read it instead, then phone in sick and have a nice, silly day off from your serious lives.
Kathleen’s Page
#fantasy #kathleenmcclure
A Man — Keiichiro Hirano
A man dies who isn’t who he claimed to be. Left behind is a wife, daughter and step son of the imposter, and also an ex-girlfriend and the family of the man who he claimed to be.
In steps Kido to figure it all out for everyone, a lawyer whose own life is a bit on the rocks. Kido becomes obsessed tracking down the real Daisuké and figuring out who the imposter really was and why he would do such a thing. And while the tracking goes on through the book Kido begins to question his own life and failing marriage.
In Kido’s searching for the real Daisuké and the imposter’s true identity we are taken on a journey about life itself: who are we really if we can just jump into someone else’s past and assume the rest of their life as our own?
Keiichiro’s Page
#japan #keiichirohirano
Broken Stars — Anthology
Standalones
Goodnight, Melancholy — Xia Jia
Moonlight — Liu Cixin
Broken Stars — Tang Fei
Submarines — Han Song
Salinger and the Koreans — Han Song
Under a Dangling Sky — Cheng Jingbo
What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear — Baoshu
The New Year Train — Hao Jingfang
The Robot Who Liked to Tell Tall Tales — Fei Dao
The Snow of Jinyang — Zhang Ran
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: Laba Porridge — Anna Wu
The First Emperor’s Games — Ma Boyong
Reflection — Gu Shi
The Brain Box — Regina Kanyu Wang
Coming of the Light — Chen Qiufan
A History of Future Illnesses — Chen Qiufan
Essays
A Brief Introduction to Chinese Science Fiction and Fandom — Regina Kanyu Wang
A New Continent for China Scholars: Chinese Science Fiction Studies — Mingwei Song
Science Fiction: Embarrassing No More — Fei Dao
#scifi #kenliu #liucixin
Atomic Habits — James Clear
This book is a must for everyone who wants to improve their lives in any way at all.
James dives deep into how our human brains work and how we’re hardwired, and gives great, sound advice as to how to use this hardwiring to our advantage instead of being mindless slaves to it. I just wish i’d read this 40 years ago, but, it’s never to late to change and i look forward to the benefits that this information can bring to my life moving forward. I would even go so far to say that his book should be essential reading at all schools: the sooner people can get this stuff into their heads the better their lives and their futures would be.
It’s definitely a keeper and a book that i know i’ll be re-reading some time in the future once i’ve done some work on it all. In the meanwhile i just have to get on with the process as i’ve got some annoying habits to be rid of and good habits to build.
I repeat, once again, this book is a must.
James’ Page
#jamesclear
The War of Art — Steven Pressfield
The Queen’s Gambit — Walter Tevis
I am at a loss as to how many 5 star reviews this book has. I can only imagine that it’s from people who never read fiction but play a lot of chess and are over-extending their enthusiasm for the game by proclaiming any book that mentions a chess game as a masterpiece of writing, regardless.
One can only imagine all the fingerless-glove wearing, train-spotters who read books about people on trains and give them 5 star reviews just because there’s a train in the book: Thomas the Tank Engine has so much to answer for.
All i can say is that i managed to finish it, but it isn’t anything to get excited about in any way: unless you have wet dreams about chess games.
The suggested drug abuse and dependency never actually materialises. Sure, Beth has her moments of alcohol exploration as most teenagers do, she even tries a bit of pot at a party — OMFG 
— and sometimes she even takes a tranquilliser or two to get to sleep; but i’d hardly call any of it drug abuse as she only manages to lose one game of chess due to having a bit too much wine — ever — and then she never drinks again for the rest of the book.
It’s like the gender/sex discrimination it reportedly deals with: i would imagine that most women would gladly be the first in the queue to have a few grumpy old men being annoyed at being beaten at chess by them instead of the real gender/sex discrimination real girls and women have to deal with every day.
And — shock and horror for middle class suburbia — there’s even the suggestion that Beth may be a lesbian, or at least bi-curious. Oh the wildness, call the morality police before it all gets too far out of control!!!
To put it all mildly, it’s all very nicely portrayed and sanitised for the middle class, chess playing, people of it’s day. Even the children’s home is positively idyllic compared to what a real one is like — and yes, i was in a children’s home.
I really don’t think this book has aged well at all.
All in all, a disappointment, but if you like listening to chess matches on Radio 4 and don’t like anything too risqué then it may just get you a little tingly where it matters.
