Ern's Monthly Page Turners (July 2008)

*本に関するポストは日本語書き込みません。

You may not know this, but as of last month (or was it the month before?), I've decided to write my little book reviews shortly after reading the featured books while the contents are still fresh in my mind. I then save my reviews in a "Drafts" folder and will then present them to you with my monthly "Page Turner" essays. Which is why on occasion, you'll find me recommending a book even though I haven't finished reading it. This was true of Khaled Hosseini's "A Thousand Splendid Suns". And with my desire to be consistent, I want to be able to provide you with said reviews at the beginning of each month (give or take a day or two). Without further ado:


1. WALTER THE FARTING DOG by William Kotzwinkle - I actually read this last month but it appears that I had forgotten to include it with my June 2008 "Page Turners", so although you may not have gotten an introduction to Walter, I still shared with you Walter's adventure at the yard sale. This is the first book in the series, where Walter is chosen by the children at the dog pound only to find that he has a slight incontinence problem. Actually slight is too light a word to describe Walter's problem. He farts and farts and farts. Day in, day out, morning, noon, and night. Father wants to take him back to the pound but the children love him and say they don't mind his farts. But still, Mother and Father have the final say - tomorrow, it's back to the pound for Walter. But in the evening, two burglars slip into the house and before they could get away, Walter lets one rip, the burglars can't stand the smell and are soon caught. Walter has saved the day and is now a member of the family.

2. GREETINGS FROM BURY PARK: A MEMOIR by Sarfraz Manzoor - Last month I read about the undocumented laborers from China in Britain. This month I found myself reading about a legal immigrant family living in Britain. Manzoor emigrated to Luton, England from Pakistan when he was two years old. He writes what it was like to grow up Pakistani and Muslim in the '70s and '80s in his adopted country. He finds it difficult trying to find a balance between his traditional family and just fitting in at a regular school. It isn't until he's sixteen when his only friend, Amolak, a Sihk, introduces him to the music of Bruce Springsteen which changes his life. He finds comfort in the lyrics of Springsteen's songs, feeling that the Boss is singing his story as well. I think it's great that people can find inspiration in music no matter what their background. An enjoyable book.

3. THE ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY BUNKO: THE LAST CAREER GUIDE YOU'LL EVER NEED by Daniel H. Pink - A business book written in manga form to help you get out of a rut if you're in a nowhere job. Johnny Bunko works at an office at a job he can't stand, believing he's fulfilling his duty as a worker drone. But one day, he goes out to eat some ramen and is given magical chopsticks. When he snaps the waribashi out pops a magical girl who helps him learn the basics of how to improve one's lot from the office doldrums. Let's see if I can reiterate the six points - 1. There is no plan. 2. Think strengths, not weaknesses. 3. It's not about you. 4. Persistence trumps talent. 5. Make excellent mistakes. 6. Leave an imprint. Now, if they only made algebra and calculus books that were this easy to follow when I was still in high school, I might have found the subjects more interesting. Light reading for a serious subject. Beats the heck out of reading through any of Anthony Robbin's books, but that just my opinion.

4. S.A.S.S. (STUDENTS ACROSS THE SEVEN SEAS): NOW AND ZEN by Linda Gerber - This is a young adult series that features exchange students in different parts of the world. As you can surmise from the title, this is set in Japan. Nori Tanaka is the daughter of second generation Japanese parents. She was born and raised in Ohio. Nori is sixteen and although she looks Japanese, she can't speak a word of the language (hey, that reminds me of somebody.) But Nori has been accepted to the Global Outreach Program, where students will study the Kyoto Accords and try to solve other global problems. While in Japan, she falls for a German student and pretends to be a Japanese national - German guy think she's Japanese to begin with. I had to keep reminding myself this was a young adult novel, 'cause I thought - yeah right, she may look Japanese, but can't speak or read the language and has a total American accent. The German guy would have to be really dense if he couldn't figure that out. Oh and the other little thing that bothered me, Nori is always checking the internet for places to eat, things to see, and yet, the thing she was looking forward to the most was going to an onsen, but then has culture shock when she learns you must be undressed to enjoy it. If she did all that research for just places to eat, you would think she would do the same research for going to a hotspring (and she would have known the proper etiquette!!). I don't know, am I being too harsh? Maybe I'm a little too biased because I've been living here for so long? But still, I was entertained.

5. ROUGH WEATHER AHEAD FOR WALTER THE FARTING DOG by William Kotzwinkle - Professor Kompressor believes he has a cure for Walter's digestive problem by giving him an anti-fart treatment. However, the treatment goes awry and Walter finds the gas building inside of him causing him to float in the air. Although he tries to let go so he can come down from the air, he is unable to. It isn't until Walter finds a group of butterflies caught in a windstorm that he forces out the gas from his body once again saving the day.

6. THE LATEHOMECOMER: A HMONG FAMILY MEMOIR by Kao Kalia Yang - If you've been reading my blog recently, you may have noticed some other BLOG links that I've added. It was from my friend Janet's, "Asia by the Book" blog (which you can find at　http://weblogs.thingsasian.com/tablogs/page/asiabook where I discovered this gem of a book. As I have a special fondness for Laos, having been there twice, I enjoy reading about anything related to that country. Although Janet has reviewed this on her blog, I thought I would add my own voice and share with you what I thought about it. My first thought was, here's another group of people who's lives were used and then forgotten by the U.S. government. During the Vietnam War, the CIA recruited the Hmong to help fight against the Viet Cong and Pathet Lao. But when the war was over and the Americans had left, the remaining Hmong were then hunted by the victors of said war and were quietly being eliminated without the world knowing. So typically American - use other people to do our dirty work, then forget about them when they're no longer useful. But reading this reminds you of the strength of the human spirit. Yang's parents meet and get married in the jungles of Laos when their country was in the middle of a war - another illegal war the U.S. government kept quiet for all those years. Her parents escape to a refugee camp in Thailand where Kao is born. The story then follows the family living as refugees in Thailand and then making a new life in Minnesota. Unlike Manzoor's book about being an immigrant, this is the story of refugees from war who sought asylum far from their home country. At times heartbreaking, but inspiring as they learn to become Americans and still stay Hmong while in America. Excellent read.

7. WALTER THE FARTING DOG GOES ON A CRUISE by William Kotzwinkle - More adventures of the fun-loving, cheese-cutting canine. This time we find Walter with family on a large cruise ship. But Walter's farts smell so bad, he's sent to the cargo hold. But his farts rise up through the vents, so he's then sent out a life-boat on his own and tries hard not to fart. But when the ship's engine goes out, Walter's farts once again saves the day.

8. WALTER THE FARTING DOG: BANNED FROM THE BEACH by William Kotzwinkle - We now find Walter and family enjoying a day at the beach along with a self-centered old couple named Mr. and Mrs. Crabbe. When one of Walter's farts blows away the umbrella the Crabbe's were sitting underneath, they complain to the hotel and Walter is banned from the beach. Alone in the beach house Walter eats some tropical fruit in which the box says it should be thoroughly cooked. But since Walter can't read, he eats it. When Betty and Billy go in search of treasure and when they find something, the Crabbe's force their way in as well. But the four get stranded during high tide. Can Walter save them? And what was it about that fruit?

9. RICHISTAN: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE AMERICAN WEALTH BOOM AND LIVES OF THE NEW RICH by Robert Frank - Now here's a very interesting title. Written like a travel essay into a world few of us belong to. I used to think Rolex was the brand name in watches but guess I'm behind the times as the new "in" watch are $600,000 Franck Muellers! This book isn't about millionaires (which currently are a dime a dozen), but about the top one percent of the Richistanis, the people who are worth a hundred million or more. These people buy boats so they can store their cars and helicopters on them. These people own their own Gulfstreams (a luxury jet I found out). This is what the Publisher's Weekly had to say about the original hardcover release: 「When Frank, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, began noticing that the ranks of America's wealthy had more than doubled in the last decade, and that they were beginning to cluster together in enclaves, he decided to investigate this new society, where $1 million barely gets you in the door. The Richistanis like to consider themselves ordinary people who just happen to have tons of money, but they live in a world where people buy boats just to carry their cars and helicopters behind their primary yachts, and ordering an alligator-skin toilet seat won't make even your interior designer blink. But Frank doesn't just focus on conspicuous consumption. He talks to philanthropists who apply investment principles to their charitable contributions and political fund-raisers who have used their millions to transform the Colorado state legislature. He also meets people for whom sudden wealth is an emotional burden, whose investment club meetings can feel like group therapy sessions. It's only in the final pages that Frank contemplates the widening gap between Richistan and the rest of the world—for the most part, his grand tour approach never loses its light touch. (June)」. Too bad these people won't help us peons with the rising price of oil, gas, and other consumer goods. Thanks to people like our president, it really is true that "the rich get richer while the poor get poorer". Definitely worth the read.

10. UNTANGLING MY CHOPSTICKS: A CULINARY SOJOURN IN KYOTO by Victoria Abbott Riccardi - You know, I truly love reading about other people's experience of Japan but I don't know if it was the author's writing style or my general lack of interest, but I had a hard time plodding through this book. Even if it was about one of my favorite subjects - food. The author spent a few years in Kyoto studying the culinary art of tea or cha-kaiseki. Some of you may have heard of kaiseki ryori which is itself an art form where fresh ingredients of the season are used and presented in a number of small dishes. Tea kaiseki is the meal that's served with the tea ceremony and usually includes a soup and three kinds of vegetable dishes. As I don't have the patience of a Zen monk and prefer chunks of charred flesh over vegetables and fish and would rather have my meal without ceremony, it was difficult for me to enjoy this as much as I wanted to. My Japanese culinary sojourn would take me to little yakitori stands (skewered chicken), yakiniku restaurants (Korean barbecue places), kaiten-zushi (revolving sushi restaurants), and unusual ethnic restaurants featuring the cuisines of countries like Tunisia, Peru, Romania, and Hungary just to name a few. But that's just me. If your looking for a bit of tradition, this might whet your palate.

11. THE FOREIGNER by Francie Lin - Lately, I've been finding myself reading a lot of Asian authors and books based in Asia. This was a compelling but somewhat dark story that mainly takes place in the underbelly of Taiwan. Emerson is a 40year old virgin living with his Taiwanese mother who owns and runs a motel. When Emerson's mother dies, she states in her will that she wants her ashes to be taken to her homeland of Taiwan and that she has willed the motel to Emerson's younger brother Little P who has been estranged from the family for the past ten years. His mother has left Emerson some property that she owns in Taiwan to him. Emerson goes to Taiwan in search of his brother and meets with his relatives although he cannot speak a word of Chinese and becomes entangled with the seedier side of life as Little P is involved with some shady business dealings. I had a hard time putting this book down although it was depressing the hell out of me. I couldn't help but hope that Emerson would grow a spine after being free from the control of his mother. You may be surprised to find that this is Lin's debut novel. Very intense.

12. FOUR PAIRS OF BOOTS by Craig McLachlan – I found this to be more entertaining the reading about learning tea kaiseki. Yep, I think it was just the subject matter. In this book, New Zealander McLachlan is inspired by Alan Booth’s “The Roads to Sata” in which Booth walks the length of Japan from Cape Soya in Hokkaido to Cape Sata in Kyushu. In 1993, McLachlan walks the length of Japan from the opposite direction keeping towards the coast of the Sea of Japan, as he says, “to go in search of the real Japan”. Fortunately for him, he can speak the language and has no trouble communicating with the locals even though he suffers his share of animosity and outright prejudice. However, the kindness of the Japanese people in the country outweigh the negatives. Even I can remember living on a military base in Tokyo in the early ‘70s. Once you step into the real Japan, you would see people staring at you, or see kids pointing at you yelling, “Gaijin da! Gaijin da!”. “A foreigner! A foreigner!” And it really does help to know the language because you can yell back at those people too. All the busy urban centers in Japan are full of foreigners so most of the Japanese living in the city are used to resident aliens. However, I do want to explore parts of the country I’ve never been to. Japan may be a small country, but there really is so much to see!!

13. THE GREAT RAILWAY BAZAAR: BY TRAIN THROUGH ASIA by Paul Theroux - Can you believe an avid armchair traveler such as myself haven't read Theroux's most popular travel essays such as this particular gem. I also have yet to read "Riding the Iron Rooster" and "The Old Patagonian Express". Not only are these books about travel, they're travel by train books. Reading this book, I don't know if I would really want to experience rail travel in a third world country. Although the book was originally published in 1975 after Theroux's four months of travels through Asia, it's still entertaining to read. You may recognize some of the names of the trains from literature or movies - The Orient Express, the Khyber Pass Local, the Golden Arrow, the Grand Trunk Express, the Kodama and Hikari Super Express, and of course the Trans-Siberian Express. Theroux rides them all. I'm not sure if the Hatsukari is still running from Ueno to Aomori as you can now take the Hayate Super Express from Tokyo to Hachinohe, and then transfer to the Tsugaru Limited Express to continue on to Aomori (a four hour journey). Better still, in two years time, you will be able to take the Bullet train from Tokyo directly to Aomori (We're looking forward to that.) You might feel like you time-slipped as well as Theroux writes about riding trains through Iran (The Teheran Express) when the Shah was still in power, through Pakistan and India to reach Ceylon (currently Sri Lanka). As there were no railways through Afghanistan, Theroux had to take a bus through that country. The reunification of Vietnam was still a year away (spring of 1976 if you didn't know), so Theroux could not take train from Saigon (currently Ho Chi Minh) to Hanoi. Oh, Myanmar was still called Burma and SLORC (the State Law and Order Restoration Council) wasn't in power. And the Trans-Siberian Express traversed the Soviet Union (which we all know collapsed in 1991). So not only a travel essay, but a bit of a history lesson as well. Can't wait to read his other travel books. I also recommend his "Dark Star Safari" in which he travels overland from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa.

14. A SHORT HISTORY OF TRACTORS IN UKRAINIAN by Marina Lewycka – This is Lewycka’s debut novel and I found it entertaining at times and quite frustrating at times. When a book evokes emotions out of me, I tend to regard those stories as done quite well. But as to recommending this book to friends and readers, I cannot decide. You will have to read it yourself and form your own opinion. The story. An eighty-four year old recently widowed Ukrainian immigrant to the U.K. has decided to get remarried to a 36 year old Ukrainian gold-digger which his two daughters are totally against. The daughters, Vera and Nadezhda, who haven’t spoken to each other in two years have decided to set aside their familial feud to try to stop their father from pursuing this marriage. It’s the story of an immigrant family who seems to have become dysfunctional after the death of their mother. The grandfather does remarry and it’s the start of whole new set of problems that the daughter try to help solve. The Japanese have a great word for the trouble the grandfather has gotten himself into – jigoujitoku, which means the grandfather only has himself to blame.

And so ends another month of what I read. I hope you enjoyed the reviews.

HAPPY READING