In Pale Battalions review

My dad has all of Robert Goddard’s books and this was my first time reading one. I picked Pale Battalions because it’s highly rated online; because its name sounds like a Fischer Z song; and because when I asked my dad to suggest a Goddard title, he suggested the same one. Plus we’ve been to the […]

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Betwixt and Between review

It’s the story of Margaret Sun, who was born in Shanghai in 1935 and lived through the madness of the cultural revolution, mainly in Xinjiang — China’s new frontier. And while ordinary people in extraordinary times will have fantastic stories, this isn’t a fantastic book. And I appreciate the positive and stoic attitude held by […]

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Huitong 6 review

I’ve just finished learning ‘Mastering Chinese, Listening & Speaking 6’ (会通汉语 – 听说6). It’s an OK language-learning book, on the upside there aren’t as many idioms as the Developing Chinese series (发展汉语). The first chapters are extremely difficult, the last few are just pure propaganda: An American lady who lives in Beijing complimenting how well […]

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The Kingdom of Shadow review

It’s alright. The beginning is slow and boring, the language so exaggerated that often it’s just cringy. the story doesn’t go anywhere (and when it does, you could see it coming from chapters before), and I almost gave up reading this. But either the author got into a rhythm, or I did, or the story […]

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Cobra review

It is a book by Frederick Forsyth, but it is no ‘The Day of the Jackal’. Some parts are lecturing, some parts feel more like a summary rather than fiction, and other parts are so testostorone drenched that it feels like I’m reading a script of a Jason Stratham or Sylvester Stalone movie. That said, […]

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A Canticle for Leibowitz review

This book isn’t easy for readers for who English is a second language (especially the middle part, or the religious ramblings), but 63 years after being published, it still feels like an important and relevant book. Science-fiction nowadays is usually about some rebellious A.I., but here it’s about nuclear warfare and humanity’s inevitable quest for […]

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River Town review

Before moving to Shanghai in 2018, I went through a dozen books about China to prepare myself. Several of those books belonged to the genre of ‘Westerners in China who write a book about their friends’, such as ‘Street of Eternal Happiness’ (Rob Schmitz), ‘Wish Lanterns’ (Alec Ash), and ‘Young China’ (Zak Dychtwald). It’s an […]

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Little Aunt Crane review

A story from China in the chaotic 20th century that starts brutal, yet becomes more fragile and delicate, chapter by chapter. And when the tale is through, you’ll love Duohe, Erhai, and Xiaohuan, and you’ll love mantou and noodles, or something simple as an egg, touching the fabric of your shirt. Little Aunt Crane (It’s […]

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Geef me de ruimte! review

This book starts off extremely similar to Thea Beckman’s novel ‘Hasse Simonsdochter’, as a young girl escapes from her parents and chooses to decide for herself what to do with her life. This book for young adults is decent, alright — but suffers a fatal flaw in that it doesn’t really feel like a full […]

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