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Book report
Aug. 19th, 2007 05:23 pmHere's the latest book report!
1. The Concubine’s Children by Denise Chong – I don’t know why I enjoy this type of book so much, but I do. This is just basically the non-fiction account of a family from China. The husband migrated to Canada in the early 1900’s seeking a better future for his family. He had two wives and several children – some of whom remained in China, others who went to Canada -- and this is the family’s story as told by one of the grandchildren. You could say that the family accomplished nothing noteworthy other than decency (well, most of them anyway) and hard work, but I really like reading about how average folk dealt with and survived periods of time in history. I’ve been fascinated by the 20th century upheaval in China and I liked reading about this family’s struggles. My favorite non-fiction family story of surviving China’s tumultuous recent history is “Wild Swans” by Jung Chang, but this was good too. Grade: B
2. The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse by Mabel Maney – I first read this book in the 90’s and I had remembered finding it absolutely hilarious and loving it. It’s a light-hearted spoof of both Nancy Drew books and lesbian romance novels. I brought it with me on a recent plane trip so I’d have something light and fun to read; I figured there was no harm in re-reading an enjoyable book. Well, I guess my tastes have changed a lot in 10 years. This time through I thought the book was just okay. It wasn’t half as funny as I remembered. And even though it’s just a parody, the mystery plotline was just silly and way too far-fetched. Grade: C
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1. The Concubine’s Children by Denise Chong – I don’t know why I enjoy this type of book so much, but I do. This is just basically the non-fiction account of a family from China. The husband migrated to Canada in the early 1900’s seeking a better future for his family. He had two wives and several children – some of whom remained in China, others who went to Canada -- and this is the family’s story as told by one of the grandchildren. You could say that the family accomplished nothing noteworthy other than decency (well, most of them anyway) and hard work, but I really like reading about how average folk dealt with and survived periods of time in history. I’ve been fascinated by the 20th century upheaval in China and I liked reading about this family’s struggles. My favorite non-fiction family story of surviving China’s tumultuous recent history is “Wild Swans” by Jung Chang, but this was good too. Grade: B
2. The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse by Mabel Maney – I first read this book in the 90’s and I had remembered finding it absolutely hilarious and loving it. It’s a light-hearted spoof of both Nancy Drew books and lesbian romance novels. I brought it with me on a recent plane trip so I’d have something light and fun to read; I figured there was no harm in re-reading an enjoyable book. Well, I guess my tastes have changed a lot in 10 years. This time through I thought the book was just okay. It wasn’t half as funny as I remembered. And even though it’s just a parody, the mystery plotline was just silly and way too far-fetched. Grade: C
More behind the cut!
( Read more... )
