China

Fun and Games Literature Reviews

Martha Gellhorn: Travels with Myself and Another

  Festive Tasks Master Update Post HERE   Festive Tasks Door 10 – Peace, Book: Read a book in which the ending of a conflict is a major theme. Gellhorn is a sharp observer and she has a way with words — I’d just wish she’d liked people and, for that matter, the places she […]

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Fun and Games Lifestyle

Festive Tasks: Door 9, Task 3 – Here Be Dragons

Festive Tasks Master Update Post HERE   Task 3: The Chinese Lunar Calendar is based on cycles of the moon and the sun. Next year’s animal sign is the Sign of the Tiger, which means that babies born in 2022 are predicted to be “brave, competitive, unpredictable and confident.” What was the animal sign of […]

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Lifestyle Literature Movies Music Reviews

February and March 2021: Reading Recap

Well, go figure.  The first quarter of 2021 is already behind us, never mind that I’m still having to remind myself on occasion to write “2021” instead of “2020” … (and we’re even a week into April already, but let that go). Anyway, since I never got around to doing a “February in review” post, […]

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Literature Reviews

S.J. Rozan: China Trade

A monumental shout-out to Hobart, aka The Irresponsible Reader, for bringing this series to my attention by reviewing some of its installments in the good old BookLikes days.  I know that I am shamefully late to the party, but now that I’m finally here, I’m here to stay. China Trade is the first book of […]

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Literature Reviews

Robert van Gulik (transl.) & Anonymous: Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (Dee Gong An)

This was “technically” a reread, but as unlike Robert van Gulik’s series of mysteries that were inspired by this book, I had not actually revisited the original novel itself in a minor eternity, almost all of it felt as fresh and new as if I had been reading it for the very first time. Although […]

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Blog Cooking - Food - Drink Lifestyle

An Alphabet of My Likes and Dislikes: “T”

This is a post belonging to a new blogging project — the title is pretty much self-explanatory, I think; the project’s introductory post can be found HERE.  Credit for the idea: BeetleyPete. As always, the only thing linking the two items mentioned in this post in my mind is that they both start with the […]

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Blog Cooking - Food - Drink Lifestyle

An Alphabet of My Likes and Dislikes: “A”

This is the first post of a new blogging project — the title is pretty much self-explanatory, I think; the project’s introductory post can be found HERE.  Credit for the idea: BeetleyPete. Today’s entries both happen to be food items, but the only thing that links them in my mind is that they both begin […]

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BookLikes Imports Fun and Games Linked Items Literature

Favorite Dragons from Fiction and Mythology

24 Festive Tasks: Door 5 – Bon Om Touk, Task 3: Dragons and dragon-like serpents (imugi) are important to Korean mythology (as they are to that of other Asian peoples).  So – which are your favorite literary dragons (fictional, mythological, whatever)?   First things first: shout-out to the resident Fierce and Friendly Dragon! And speaking […]

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BookLikes Imports Cooking - Food - Drink Fun and Games Lifestyle Linked Items

Latkes: the Chinese Sweet Water Chestnut Version

24 Festive Tasks: Door 18 – Hanukkah, Task 2: Latkes or donuts are fried in oil to remind Jews of the oil that lasted for eight days: Fry yourself up some latkes or donuts.  Share your recipe with us if they came out tasty.   My BFF (Gaby) and I had our traditional post-Christmas gift […]

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BookLikes Imports Fun and Games Linked Items Literature

An “Out of My Reach” Book Wishlist to St. Nick

24 Festive Tasks: Door 14 – St. Nicholas’ Day / Sinterklaas, Task 1: Write a book wish list to St. Nick / Santa Claus for books that you’ve been eyeing but can’t justify the expense of purchasing.  (E.g., art books? Collector’s editions? Boxed sets?)   Dear Saint Nick, it would be really nice if one […]

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BookLikes Imports Cooking - Food - Drink Fun and Games Lifestyle Linked Items Literature

Books With Antonyms in Their Titles

24 Festive Tasks: Door 5 – Bon Om Touk, Task 4: The South Korean flag features images of ying / yang (the blue and red circle in the center) and four sets of three black lines each representing heaven, sun, moon and earth and, in turn, the virtues humanity, justice, intelligence and courtesy.  Compile a […]

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BookLikes Imports Linked Items Literature Reviews

My Historical Fiction Essentials

Finally getting around to this — as per Chris’s invitation, here’s my list (in no particular order, and with major reliance on Chris’s dictum that it’s “fine to list a whole author’s work or series and have it count as one entry”): Hillary Mantel’s historical fiction I’ve yet to try her contemporary writing, but both […]

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BookLikes Imports Cats Linked Items Literature Reviews

Crowdsourced: More Books with a Difference – Fiction

You asked, Moonlight Reader?  To quote from one of my additional entries below:  “As you wish …” Without any further ado: Hilary Mantel: Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies When Lillelara added A Place of Greater Safety to her list, I could have kicked myself —  because Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell books were definitely among […]

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BookLikes Imports Linked Items Literature Reviews

Xinran: The Good Women of China

Written with the Pen Grown in Her Heart Wow. Raw, sad, lyrical and candid — my first book of 2019, and already a huge winner; I’m pretty sure this will be one of my overall top reads of the year. I can see few ways how this reading experience can possibly be topped. Xinran tells […]

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BookLikes Imports Fun and Games Linked Items Literature

2019 Book Goals and Book Lottery

24 Festive Tasks: Door 22 – New Year’s Eve, Tasks 1 and 3: Your 2019 Book Goals:  what are they? And: New Year’s Book Lottery: Write the names of the first 5 books you’re planning to read in 2019 onto identical pieces of paper, fold them, place them in a bowl (or bucket, jar, box, […]

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Linked Items Literature Reblogs

11 Public Libraries Invaluable to World History | Oldest

Source: 11 Public Libraries Invaluable to World History | Oldest   11 Public Libraries Invaluable to World History Libraries around the world have long been revered as temples of human knowledge. They’ve been a part of monasteries, royal palaces, museums, universities and even hospitals. Some boast an incredibly romantic past while others, like the Library […]

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BookLikes Imports Linked Items Literature

Happy Independence Day – and, my Freedom and Future Library

Related Blog Post: Book Recs Solicited: Freedom and Future Library Reading Project: Freedom and Future Library   Could there possibly be a better day on which to finally follow up on my Freedom and Future Library post? Truth be told, I’d been hoping to compile this much faster, but RL threw a major spanner in […]

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BookLikes Imports Linked Items Literature

Book Recs Solicited: Freedom and Future Library

You’d have to be living under a rock buried somewhere halfway down to the center of the earth in order not to be aware that in recent years our beautiful world has been shaken up by a number of crises the likes of which I, at least, have not experienced in my entire lifetime — […]

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BookLikes Imports Linked Items Literature Reviews

The Dalai Lama: The Power of Compassion

16 Tasks of the Festive Season: Square 10 – World Peace Day Words of Wisdom The Dalai Lama speaks about the Four Noble Truths, maximizing your inner strength, dealing with anger and death, the power of compassion, the challenges facing humanity today (including globalization, warfare, environmental protection, overpopulation), and the great world religions’ core tenets […]

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BookLikes Imports Cooking - Food - Drink Fun and Games Lifestyle Linked Items

Two Favorite Chinese Dishes – and Sherry Cream Dessert

16 Tasks of the Festive Season: Square 11 – Dōngzhì Festival Tasks for Dōngzhì Festival: If you like Chinese food, tell us your favorite dish – otherwise, tell us your favorite dessert. Alright, I admit I haven’t made these in a while (so the pretty pics aren’t mine), but the Chinese recipes are from a […]

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