Review: Five by Endo

Five by Endo by Shūsaku Endō
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed all five stories, although I can't say any of them seemed really groundbreaking to me. 

View all my reviews

Review: Ad occhi chiusi

Ad occhi chiusi by Gianrico Carofiglio
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Slowly becoming one of my favorite mystery novel authors. Well, I guess legal thriller authors. And his books always make me want to visit Bari. 

View all my reviews

Review: You Talkin' To Me?: The Unruly History of New York English

You Talkin' To Me?: The Unruly History of New York English by E.J. White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is more a history of New York's people and names, which obviously goes hand-in-hand with New York English. I do wish, however, that it had been more of a progressive journey through how New Yorkers spoke throughout the centuries. 

Still, some very interesting tidbits. Especially the differences between how men and women talk. And how New Yorkers have stubbornly been clinging to their non-rhoticity, while it has gone away in so many other places. 

View all my reviews

Review: Il manoscritto di Brodie

Il manoscritto di Brodie by Jorge Luis Borges
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a re-read and I changed the rating from 4 to 5. 

What a pleasure it is to read Borges. Every story was a delight, so it seems useless to pick favorites. Still, the ones that seem to stick with me most after a few days are:

Juan Muraña

La signora anziana

Guayaquil

Il Vangelo secondo Marco

View all my reviews

Review: Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe

Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe by Judith Herrin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book starts off extremely well. Ravenna was the Italian successor to Rome in so many ways, and it is fascinating to learn about Galla Placidia and Theodoric, as well as the rise of Ravenna as a tri-lingual center, and the clashes between Easterners, Westerners and Goths. 

However, not everyone who had anything to do with Ravenna is necessarily worth learning about. And others, like Gregory the Great and Charlemagne, were obviously interesting, but their ties to Ravenna were tangential at best. 

Also, I was kind of hoping this would be a history of Ravenna, and not just a history of Ravenna in the early middle ages (late antiquity). I’m certain other things happened and other people were in Ravenna after these times. In fact, the author mentions how Dante is buried in Ravenna since he was there in exile when he died, but this is just mentioned briefly in the introduction and never touched upon again. The book basically ends at around 800 CE. 

This book did make me want to read more about the Goths, Longobards and Franks, however. Their advance and influence throughout Europe is fascinating. 

Also, why does she refer to Charlemagne as Charles? There are a number of other Charles’s throughout the book (including Charlemagne’s grandfather, Charles Martel), so it was a tad confusing at first. 

View all my reviews

Review: Train Dreams

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The re-read made me appreciate this book all that much more. 

A man who basically came from nowhere with no real family, leaves behind no one, so his entire life is destined to be forgotten. But he lived a full life, becoming a husband and father, and working, traveling, etc. And, as one of the final paragraphs states:

"Grainier himself lived more than eighty years, well into the 1960s. In his time he’d traveled west to within a few dozen miles of the Pacific, though he’d never seen the ocean itself, and as far east as the town of Libby, forty miles inside Montana. He’d had one lover—his wife, Gladys—owned one acre of property, two horses, and a wagon. He’d never been drunk. He’d never purchased a firearm or spoken into a telephone. He’d ridden on trains regularly, many times in automobiles, and once on an aircraft. During the last decade of his life he watched television whenever he was in town. He had no idea who his parents might have been, and he left no heirs behind him."

Changed the rating from 4 to 5. 

View all my reviews

Review: Aborigines of South Taiwan in the 1880s 1880

Aborigines of South Taiwan in the 1880s 1880 by George Taylor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The title makes this seem rather esoteric and random, but this is actually a pretty important collection of writings. 

During the Qing dynasty there was a policy of not dealing with the indigenous tribes in Taiwan, so most people avoided them, except the Hakkas. 

Because of this, we don't really have any writings, from an anthropological point of view, of any indigenous tribes before this period. 

When the Japanese invaded Taiwan, they conducted extensive studies, but times had already changed by then (as can be seen in this book), and the Japanese government itself forbade many of their customs. 

So I'm very glad this exists. I also appreciate the Chinese characters next to the proper names when needed. 

The one frustrating point is that almost none of the names (of tribes and places) coincide with places we know today. I wish there had been more notes in this regard. 

Of course, I know Takao is Kaohsiung, and Taiwan-foo is Tainan, but many other names were a mystery. 

Of course Paiwan still use the same name. 

Aimias were the Amis

I presume Botel Tobago is Orchid Island

Pepohoans are the plains indigenous people

I'm guessing the Tipun are the Puyuma. 

Apparently Pilam is Taidong?

Ones I couldn't figure out:

Koaluts (the ones that killed the foreigners in the Rover incident. I'm assuming they were Paiwan)

Diaromaks (did they really kill their young for feasts??)

Limwans

Subongs (a division of Paiwan?)

Caviangans

I'd love to know more about Tokitoki and Bunkiet!

Some interesting notes:

Sneezes were considered very bad omens, and if you heard one you raced back home. 

The Paiwan never ate poultry. 

The "witch" wouldn't remove the white person's hat, since she knew it was important for him to keep it on (times have changed). 

View all my reviews