Review: Venice: A New History

Venice: A New History by Thomas F. Madden
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was excellent preparation for our upcoming trip to Venice. I had gone a couple times on school trips and with friends, but never really knew much about Venice per se.

Some takeaways:

Venice was never Roman. Attila sacked Aquilea, and the residents fled to various islands in the marshes, creating Venice. So from its inception is always looked more toward Byzantium than Rome, and rarely had anything to do with the mainland.

The lack of land meant no feudal lords and therefore more meritocratic and more business-like. 

So basically merchants were doing business all over the Byzantine Empire (think Marco Polo, who traveled even farther East). 

This was true until the Renaissance, when it basically embraced art (Titian, Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese, etc)

And then other stuff. The Venetian republic lasted until Napoleon. 

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Review: The Lake

The Lake by Yasunari Kawabata
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow. Is it just my impression or is this very different from every other Kawabata book?

The story is about a stalker, who can't help himself in stalking. His life is pretty much ruined, but it doesn't seem to bother him, seeing as how he is obsessed finding a woman and following her, waiting in ditches and wasting all this time and spending money in order to do so.

I can't tell if the stalking stemmed from an event (no spoilers!) having to do with a prostitute, but regardless, this was different from what I expected.

By all means read this, just know that it is not your typical Yasunari Kawabata novel.




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Review: Axolotl

Axolotl by Julio Cortázar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was such an interesting example of a story that seemed and felt real and straightforward until, without realizing it, it wasn't anymore. A fun, short story. I look forward to reading more by him.



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Review: Lake Like a Mirror

Lake Like a Mirror by Ho Sok Fong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I confess many of the stories didn't make sense, or just didn't seem to go anywhere. Having said that, I did enjoy some of them. My favorite was probably the last one (March in a small town). I'm still not sure I understood it, but the repetition, which seemed in one location but ended up being in another (I think) was excellent and thought-provoking. The first story (The Wall) was also good. These were all slightly surrealist and apparently the author (Chinese Malaysian) had a story banned in Malaysian papers, although I'm not sure why based on this collection.


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Review: A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle

A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle by Julian T. Jackson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A complicated man who was the right person at the right time for France. If not for him, there would have been no government in exile during the war, and therefore no continuity, which probably would have meant no permanent seat for France at the UN.

His prescience for certain matters was astounding, as were his misses in certain other ones.

All in all an extremely fascinating read about an extremely fascinating man.


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Review: Why the Germans Do it Better: Notes from a Grown-Up Country

Why the Germans Do it Better: Notes from a Grown-Up Country by John Kampfner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The main thought that kept coming to mind while reading this is that someone really needs to write the equivalent of this book but for Taiwan. A country boasting the best Healthcare system in world, despite not being allowed in the WHO, the highest GDP per capita in East Asia, the first country in Asia to allow gay marriage, and one of the strongest stock markets in the world, not to mention home of the modern computer chip, and all this with China breathing down its neck. That’s a pretty impressive (or grown-up) country.

In fact, it seems to have much in common with Germany. A lack of patriotism, in the classic sense, and a continuous sense of ‘duty’, for lack of a better word, to do better.

Regardless, those are just my two cents.


This book itself is unfortunately outdated at this point, but still very interesting. The progression since the war to the Germany of Merkel certainly is an interesting one. I was always enthralled by how Germany, despite having just had 2 devastating wars, seemed like the stable country in the EU when I was growing up. However, my impression is that, since Merkel, this hasn’t necessarily been true. The trains in Italy are now more reliable than Germany’s, and after Switzerland set up its cross-Gotthard train, it is one of the only countries in western Europe without High-speed rail.


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Review: Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai

Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai by Katsu Kokichi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is enlightening and enjoyable. Any idea you had of a typical samurai is both shattered and confirmed in many ways. Kokichi is by no means an admirable person. Even when he states he's been a bad person all his life it sounds like a humble-brag of sorts.

Regardless, the book is extremely interesting and it's a journey into life of a Japanese Samurai during those times.

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Review: Un cielo blu genziana

Un cielo blu genziana by Mattia Cavadini
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very nice short story about rural life on Monte Generoso. All centered around the quote:

"Sotto la nebbia sarà tutto cemento,
sopra vivranno gli animali e coloro che ad essi si adegueranno"
Tita Carloni


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