Review: Chinese Eunuchs: The Structure of Intimate Politics

Chinese Eunuchs: The Structure of Intimate Politics by Taisuke Mitamura
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

As others have mentioned, this book is rather poorly written. I understand it is a book about Chinese Eunuchs, written in Japanese and then translated into English, but that has little to do with it. First of all, many things are asserted (including that genitals can grow back on eunuchs once they've been cut off) without sources or footnotes of any kind. The spelling of Chinese names and words is a hodgepodge (Guangdong, or 廣東, is spelled as Kuang tung, Kwangtung, Canton or Kwangung, although I'm pretty sure the last one was a typo. Also, T'ien An Gate rather than Tiananmen seems odd, although I guess it was written before Tiananmen became well-known). I feel like the translator should have been able to standardize these, preferably to Pinyin (most spellings are Wade-Giles, or variations thereof. none are pinyin).
And, once again as other commenters have mentioned, it jumps around, often hitting on subjects that have nothing to do with eunuchs, without ever really tying these subjects together.
Also, he claims that Japan never had eunuchs because they didn't conquer any other countries (uhm...). However, Korea had eunuchs, so there goes that argument.

2 stars, because there were some interesting tidbits interspersed throughout.

View all my reviews

Review: The Oresteian Trilogy

The Oresteian Trilogy by Aeschylus
My rating: 0 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

Review: Lady Audley's Secret

Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So I figured out what Lady Audley's Secret, guessing that maybe something that is obvious to the reader of today might have not been so to the pre-Sherlock Holmes reader of the 1860s. And then it turned out I was wrong, and what I thought was the secret was nothing but a ruse, and it seems that the reader of today (at least, this reader) can still be tricked by the writer of the 1860s.

Regardless, this has quite a few interesting aspects: murder, bigamy, detective work (not at a Sherlock Holmes level, but interesting nonetheless), insanity, etc. But I appreciated the (slight) nuance regarding the villain the most. You don't empathize per se, but, well, you'll see.

A bit slow at points, but all in all a good find.

View all my reviews

Review: Uomini e no

Uomini e no by Elio Vittorini
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's almost impossible to review this book. All in all, it is very powerful, written in a straightforward manner without nuances, but still conveying something profound. Whether you like it or not, it will certainly be unique.

This is a review of the Italian version. The style is so unique and instrumental to the book that I'm not sure how this would carry over in a translation (I see it is available in English, however).

View all my reviews

Review: The Hole

The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This reminded me a lot of the stories from "Evening Proposal", by the same author. It had the claustrophobic feeling of being trapped and stuck, with no way out. Of course, this book took it much much further, and then things started to get twisted around.

Had I known it would be this much of a thriller (some even classify it as horror), I probably would not have read it, but I'm certainly glad I did.

View all my reviews

Review: On Art and Life

On Art and Life by John Ruskin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The first essay "Nature of Gothic" was excellent. He specifies what constitutes 'Gothic' and, in doing so, discusses many other details.

Some quotes:
"Its elements are certain mental tendencies of the builders, legibly expressed in it; as fancifulness, love of variety, love of richness, and such others. Its external forms are pointed arches, vaulted roofs, etc. And unless both the elements and the forms are there, we have no right to call the style Gothic."

"Understand this clearly: You can teach a man to draw a straight line, and to cut one; to strike a curved line, and to carve it; and to copy and carve any number of given lines or forms, with admirable speed and perfect precision; and you find his work perfect of its kind: but if you ask him to think about any of those forms, to consider if he cannot find any better in his own head, he stops; his execution becomes hesitating; he thinks, and ten to one he thinks wrong; ten to one he makes a mistake in the first touch he gives to his work as a thinking being. But you have made a man of him for all that. He was only a machine before, an animated tool."

"if, as in Greek work, all the capitals are alike, and all the mouldings unvaried, then the degradation is complete; if, as in Egyptian or Ninevite work, though the manner of executing certain figures is always the same, the order of design is perpetually varied, the degradation is less total; if, as in Gothic work, there is perpetual change both in design and execution, the workman must have been altogether set free."

"A picture or poem is often little more than a feeble utterance of man’s admiration of something out of himself; but architecture approaches more to a creation of his own,..."


The second essay, however (The Work of Iron) seemed a bit odd, especially toward the end where he stopped talking about iron altogether but about how the poor are being oppressed.




View all my reviews

Review: Vita Nostra

Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Another DNF for me, so won't leave any rating.

It was probably just me, but I made it to page 307 and I don't think I can go any further.

I say it was probably just me because I don't normally like YA and I don't like any type of Sci-Fi-ish type stuff. But this had been recommended (strongly) by several people I know, and then I happened to like "An Absolutely Remarkable Thing" so much, even though it's YA, so I figured I'd give this a shot.

Anyway, it gave me the same feeling as "The Name of the Wind". The deviations from reality just seemed random, and none of them terribly original. I can't get into it too much without including spoilers, but if you like YA and/or Sci-fi, you'll probably get into it. If not, probably not.

View all my reviews

Review: A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's always fun to read a Bill Bryson book. The story itself is 100% anecdotal, interspersed with real information here and there almost as an aside. But it all works well, and makes reading about something you didn't think you had any interest in quite interesting.

I would advise people to read this book, and then read "Just Passin' Thru" to read more about the AT from the point of view of true hikers.

3.5 stars

View all my reviews

Review: Le ricette della signora Tokue

Le ricette della signora Tokue by Durian Sukegawa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All at once a cute story involving three unlikely acquaintances, as well as a profound insight into empathy, Hansen's disease, and the meaning of life (yes seriously). Oh, and you learn a lot about how to make Dorayaki!

I read the Italian version, but I see the English version is called "sweet bean paste". So I wonder if they anglicized all the food names in the English version (they didn't in the Italian one). I feel like it would be awkward that way.


4.5 stars, might revise to 5.

View all my reviews

Review: Fantasie per una fuga - Quattro racconti

Fantasie per una fuga - Quattro racconti by Edmund Cantilli
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was a mystery. Usually, even if I can't find a book on Goodreads (I had to add this one myself), I can find it on Amazon, or IBS.it, or the feltrinelli website (these last two for Italian books), or something. But I couldn't find this anywhere. I found other books by this author, but no mention of this one (hence no book cover photo).

Not only that, but all the pages at the beginning and the end of this book were torn out of my copy, leaving only the text of the stories. So I can't see any information about the year it was published, table of contents, and whatnot. For the record, I found the book in a used bookstore in Lucca and bought it on a whim (it was just 2 Euros).

Anyway, it turned out to be excellent. 4 stories. I thought the first was the weakest (I don't know the title, since that page was missing). The second (il sogno) and the fourth (il disertore) were 5 stars, while the third (Fiorenza di Sangolfo) was a solid 4. I look forward to reading more by Cantilli.

4.5 stars

View all my reviews

Review: L'ultima lettera

L'ultima lettera by Giovanni Soldati
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not a bad collection everything considered. I would rate most of them at a 3, with a couple of really good ones. A couple of depressing ones too.

My favorites
Lei (inutile cercarla ancora)
Il turbante rosso


3.5 stars


View all my reviews

Review: Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse: And Other Lessons from Modern Life

Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse: And Other Lessons from Modern Life by David Mitchell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Excellent. From time to time I need my dose of David Mitchell being grumpy and complaining about pretty much everything.

This is a collection of articles, so it's probably best to space them out, rather than read them all in one go.

View all my reviews

Review: Gli anni di Nettuno sulla terra

Gli anni di Nettuno sulla terra by Anna Ruchat
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

12 stories. One for every month of the year. Each taking place in a different year (given by the news story at the beginning of each story).

Every story hovered between a 2 and a 3 for me. I guess it was showing how even average people can have interesting backstories or interesting lives, but some of them seemed trite, and some exaggerated to me. But it was nice reading about various places in Switzerland. Maybe I expected more seeing it had won the Swiss Literature Prize in 2019.

A few too many child issues in these stories for me (stillborn, newborn almost killed, abuse).

View all my reviews

Review: After Dark

After Dark by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lately my expectations for Murakami novels have been very high, so I've sometimes been (slightly) let down. This novel did the opposite. I hadn't heard much about it, so I guess I didn't expect too much in the end, but it was great. A short read, but enough to draw you into the Murakami world (it does so pretty much from the beginning) and it has just a hint of fantasy (less than Kafka on the Shore, more than South of the Border, West of the Sun).

I also enjoyed the symbolism of the dark and light (I'm sure there was more that I missed, but I at least got that much thanks to the title).

View all my reviews

Review: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After having read another short story collection by Murakami (After the quake), and feeling quite let-down, I had decided I only liked his longer works, which gave me more time to enter into his weird worlds. Well, this wasn't true for this collection. Like with any short story collection, it was somewhat hit or miss, but there ended up being quite a few hits, and very good ones at that. Here are a list of my favorites:

birthday girl
the mirror
Chance traveler
where I'm likely to find it
the kidney shaped stone
A Shinagawa Monkey

But just skip "Crabs". That was seriously gross.


View all my reviews

Review: Marchionne lo straniero

Marchionne lo straniero by Paolo Bricco
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For a biography on Marchionne this book has relatively little on Marchionne. It is still a very interesting book, however, detailing the journey of Fiat and Chrysler during Marchionne's tenure, as well as plenty of background information (Torino, the Agnelli family, etc.) and also quite a bit of info on all the "side" deals, whether successful or not (Opel, GM, moving the head office to the Netherlands, etc.). Talks with unions are also discussed in details, including comparisons (and contrasts) between Italian and American unions.

As I mentioned, a very thorough book, with almost no biographical information on Marchionne (aside from the fact that he was born in Italy and moved to Canada in his teens).

View all my reviews

Review: Carmilla

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An excellent novella. Predating Dracula, and, while often similar, is also very different in many ways. The main protagonists are all female. The vampire is by no means decrepit, decaying, ghostly or gross in any way.

Spoilers ahead(??)
I confess I was a bit confused by the 'illness' affecting random people in the village (but not the main victims). Were these other victims, just not important ones? Also, what was the 'black creature"? Was that Carmilla? Or was that just some other presence of some sort that followed her around?

View all my reviews

Review: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very pleasantly surprised. I confess, all I knew of this book was that it was YA, which I usually don't like, and I figured it would be sort of Sci-Fi, which I pretty much never like. Anyway, I ended up enjoying it quite a bit.

While reading it I realized that there was no way a satisfying ending could be written for this, so I wasn't surprised to read in the comments that a sequel is being planned. Although, the ending was pretty decent in itself.



View all my reviews

Review: 20 Racconti Ticinesi

20 Racconti Ticinesi by Various
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Quasi più interessante come documento storico che come collezione di racconti. Linguaggio un po' all'antica, raccontano storie dei primi '900.

Le mie preferite:

Silenzio, di Francesco Chiesa
Valzer di Strauss, di Piero Bianconi
Il maschio, di Angela Musso-Bocca
La Giostra, di Pericle Patocchi
Le buche delle cune, di Annina Volonterio

View all my reviews

Review: The Master and Margarita

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At points the book really seemed to drag on, but otherwise it was certainly entertaining and enlightening (given the time and place in which it was written).

I imagine I would have gotten much more out of it had I read it in the original Russian (and had I known more about the Soviet Union during that time).

View all my reviews

Review: Sankt Gallen und Italien / San gallo e L'Italia

Sankt Gallen und Italien / San gallo e L'Italia by Gian Carlo Alessio
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Una volta entrato nel bagno il (supposto) paralitico avverte che l'acqua è troppo calda: sicché si rivolge al domestico nella sua lingua dicendogli che "Cald est, cald est"; ma il primo, di lingua tedesca, traduce in "Kalt est", cioè in "è fredda" ed aggiunge ripetutamente acqua bollente sinché il paralitico non schizza fuori dal bagno..."
Una storiella scritta attorno al 1200 da Ekkeardo I.

Una collezione di testi, 3 in italiano e 3 in tedesco (ognuno con riassunto nell'altra lingua). Un po' monotona, ma anche informativa. Il libro l'ho comprato nella biblioteca abbaziale di San Gallo.

A collection of essays, 3 in Italian and 3 in German (each one with a summary in the other language at the end). A bit monotonous but also informative from time to time.

View all my reviews

Review: Class: A Guide Through the American Status System

Class: A Guide Through the American Status System by Paul Fussell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like any good satire, this has a lot of truth in it. At least it did once upon a time, and according to the author.

Unfortunately many, if not most, of the points are pretty much out of date, but it's still an entertaining read, and (somewhat) thought-provoking.
I do wish someone would write an updated version, preferably with the same satirical tone. Probably the most interesting chapter was the last one, talking about Class X people, and I imagine any update would feature these heavily, since this category seems to have grown immensely in recent years.


Higher classes tend to drive buicks and chevys, while lower (middle) ones drive BMWs and Mercedes. Proles will have speedboats in their driveway.

A lot of points seem to work on a scale, as in:
The more you weigh the lower your class
The more writing on your clothing, the lower your class
The sweeter the food you eat, the lower the class
The faster you drive, the lower your class
The smaller the balls in the sport you play, the higher your class
The more electronics you buy, the lower the class (would this still be true??)


All in all a fun read. On the other hand, if you're going to make fun of middle classes with their "peudo-latinisms", like "in Suburbia", don't carry on to say how they don't honor the accusative case and say "in Suburbiam". I'm pretty sure "in Suburbia" wouldn't call for the accusative. Possibly the Ablative?



View all my reviews

Review: Time In Gray

Time In Gray by Bae Suah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Probably the deepest novella I've read all year. The atmosphere was quite melancholic, but without going overboard. I have no idea how much it changed with the translation, but I did enjoy it and I look forward to reading more by this author.



View all my reviews

Review: The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State

The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State by Elizabeth C. Economy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm very glad this book was written. For the important person he is in this world, I'm amazed at how little there is written about Xi out there, and I'm often amazed at how little news agencies seem to know about China and Xi in general. I don't think there's anything earth shattering here, but it should probably be a go-to for anyone who needs a solid foundation for understanding more or less what's happening.



View all my reviews

Review: Villette

Villette by Charlotte Brontë
My rating: 0 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

Review: Il cielo cade

Il cielo cade by Lorenza Mazzetti
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Come faccio a lasciare un commento ad una storia del genere, che poi risulta sia la storia vera dell'autrice? Non mi rimane altro che cercare i suoi altri libri.

View all my reviews