The time has come again for me to share with you what I've read this past month. Of course almost half the titles are Japan only publishers but in this day of the internet, means its available at the disposal of your fingertips. And I've included a lot of visual titles as well for my non-reading friends. Currently, I'm in the midst of reading the collection from one of the original masters of science-fiction which one of my friends recommended to me ages and ages ago. That would be one John Wyndam Parkes Lucas Benyon Harris - John Wyndam for his books, the most popular being "The Day of the Triffids". Also "The Kraken Wakes", "The Midwich Cuckoos" (which became the film "The Village of the Damned"), "The Chrysalids", and "The Trouble with Lichen". It's my own John Wyndham revival. Also received two books from my father (my requests of course) - Jay Rayner's "The Man Who Ate the World: In Search of the Perfect Dinner" and Fuchsia Dunlop's "Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China". A couple of Japanese language books - Junsuke Mizuno's "I Want to be Curry" (my own translation of the original title) and Ayumu Takahashi's "Everyday is an Adventure" (also my own translation). And my sister has ordered for me Taras Grescoe's "The Devil's Picnic: Around the World in Pursuit of Forbidden Fruit". Yep, after I get through the Wyndham novels, it's back to travel and food! You have been warned!
THE RELUCTANT COMMUNIST: MY DESERTION, COURT-MARTIAL, AND FORTY-YEAR IMPRISONMENT IN NORTH KOREA by Charles Robert Jenkins - I read that there was a bit of controversy surrounding the publication of Jenkins book in the U.S., him being an army deserter and all. But how can you not be fascinated by someone who lived and managed to survive for forty years in the reclusive Stalinist regime of North Korea. I believe that his biggest critics are those people who already have their preconceived opinion about him and are probably ignorant but most of the facts surrounding Jenkin's story. Take for instance, the lady who says, "I don't know why he chose to come out now if he liked it there so much." This is a sure sign of an ignorant doofus - as if any normal human would like living in North Korea - unless you're high up in North Korea's military hierarchy. This is the kind of ignorant idiot who was probably against civil rights saying stupid things like - "Why don't they go back where they came from." They probably think a draft dodger is some new make of car. Enough about ignoramuses and idiots in general. This is an extraordinary story because not only does it concern Jenkin's army desertion, but it elaborates a bit on the Japanese abductees (very large and unresolved controversy between Japan and North Korea) for the simple fact that Jenkins wife, Hitomi Soga was one of them. Jenkins says he's lived a fairly ordinary life, perhaps a little better than some of North Korea's own citizens, but that doesn't mean he's had an easy time of it. He reiterates that he was young and stupid when he crossed the DMZ not realizing that he would be stuck in said country for the next forty years. Truly, a fascinating book to read. You may also want to check out Chun-Won Kang's "The Aquariums of Pyongyang". If Bush really wanted to do the world a favor, he would have toppled Kim Jong-Il's regime instead of attacking Saddam and Iraq - because we all know he was just trying to grab a piece of their oil - why won't he just admit it? And now look at the state of the world. Soaring gas and oil prices, unstoppable inflation (or so it seems), price increases in meat, vegetables, dairy products - all because of the rise in oil prices. When will it stop?
大阪万博：Ｉｎｓｔａｎｔ Ｆｕｔｕｒｅ / OSAKA EXPO 1970 by 都築響一「Ｋｙｏｉｃｈｉ Ｔｓｕｚｕｋｉ」 - This little gem caught my eye and I couldn't pass it up without looking through it. Why? For the simple fact that I was there! Okay, so I was only six or seven years old and don't remember it much except for nearly getting lost and was about to cry when good ole Mom found me. Expo 70 took place in Osaka (near my aunt and cousin's house) and started on March 13 and continued until September 14. My parents would probably find this miniature photography book very nostalgic. If memory serves me right, they went to the Expo at least three times. Aside from almost getting lost, the only thing I remember is the large "Taiyou no To" - the "Tower of the Sun". I didn't know it then, but it was designed by well-known Japanese artist Taro Okamoto. I wonder if my parents remember what the them of the Expo was. "Progress and Harmony for Mankind". Not only is the book full of wonderful pictures, it also features bits of trivia from Expo 70. Let me share with you some of the little facts noted in the book. Total visitors: 64,218,770. Total visitors from abroad: 1,703,000 (I wonder if that would include our family? But we were living in Tokyo at the time!). Lost items: 54,154 (cash - 48,924,577yen). Waste: 19,353 tons (4,838 truck loads). And the number of lost children during the Expo: 48,139 (I almost made it 48,140!). If only there were a photography book of the old army and air force bases back then - Camp Drake, Grant Heights, Green Park, that would really take me down memory lane.
THE GLASS HOUSE by The National Trust for Historic Preservation - "The Glass House is my 50-Year Diary" -Philip Johnson. A very nice visual book featuring architecture, art and landscaping. As I am not that familiar with this structure, I shall provide you with the blurb written on the back of the book: [The Philip Johnson Glass House was built in 1949 and is one of the world's most important icons of modern architecture. Over the course of nearly five decades, Philip Johnson and David Whitney's forty-seven-acre home in New Canaan, Connecticut became a canvas for their innovation in the fields of architecture, art, and landscape design. In each decade, new structures were built, artwork acquired, and landscape sculpted. the site offered a dynamic setting for their influential conversations with friends, colleagues and guests. In 2007, the house was opened to the public as a National Trust Historic Site. The Glass House redefines the historic house museum, offering a context for the past a s source of inspiration for the future. this book serves a a virtual visit to the house, as well as a celebration of one of modern architecture's most famous creations.] There are fourteen structures on the site - the main building being the Glass House. Other structures include the Ghost House, a Library Study, Da Monster, the Lincoln Kirstein Tower, a Pavilion, the Brick House, and also includes a painting and sculpture gallery. In terms of art and architecture, it's quite beautiful, but I don't think I could comfortably live in such a place, but that's just my own opinion.
CARS edited by Valeria Manferto de Fabianis - Our shop was having a clearance sales on foreign books and I couldn't pass up this thick, large hardcover, photography book which was being sold for measly 100yen (that's about $1.00US). Beautiful pictures of awesome automobiles. My father will be proud to add this book to his collection (as I will send it to him in the near future). The book is divided into ten sections featuring the "Grand Dames" - the earliest models of cars, "Family Emblems" - Ford Mustang's horse, Maserati's trident, the Ferrari's prancing horse, and let's not forget the hood ornaments of Jaguars, Lions, and Snakes for Jaguars, Peugeots, and Alfa Romeos respectively. "Nobile and Luxurious" - the King of luxury cars - Rolls Royce. Also features Bentleys, the renewed Bugatti, Cadillacs, Mercedes, and some other lesser known makes as well. And then on to my father's favorites - "Fifties Follies". Cars with lots of chrome and big fins. Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Buick Skylark, Ford Thunderbird and such. Then a section on sports cars, little cars, race cars, art cars, and concept cars. There was even a nice picture of the front of an Edsel. The only make missing that I felt should be included was the Studebaker Avanti and I suppose my brother would be upset that no Chevy Novas were featured either. But then again, there are so many cars in the world, to fit them all into one photography book it would be like searching for last digit in pi - impossible!
世界の路地裏100 「Sekai no Roji Ura 100」published by PIE Books - As you can surmise from the title, this is a Japan only publication. PIE Books is a publisher of fine arts and photography books and I highly recommend them even if you can't read Japanese because the pictures more than make up for it. The title reads "Sekai no Roji Ura" which translates to "The World's Back Alleys". This is a beautiful photography book my wife bought me for my birthday as it combines travel, photography, and short blurbs in Japanese without the furigana so I can continue to study and improve my Japanese reading abilities. This book will take you to the back alleys of Portugal's capital - Lisbon, the small and virtually unknown islands of Greece where vehicles aren't allowed and the quickest way to get from one point to another is by donkey, the alleys of a small island group near Venice in Italy. The photogenic city of Prague in the Czech republic, a small town in Mexico, and the disappearing back alleys of Seoul, Korea as developers are breaking ground for tall apartment buildings.
ANT EGG SOUP: THE ADVENTURES OF A FOOD TOURIST IN LAOS by Natacha Du Pont de Bie - Another gem I would have been unaware of if it wasn't for my friend Janet's blog "Asia by the Book". I wish I would have know about this title as it was published a year before I went to Laos. I probably would have been adventurous enough to try the Lao delicacy of Ant Egg Soup. It's supposed to taste really good by the way. It really is difficult to find travel essays about Laos, Laos not being a country on most people's top ten places to go visit list. The only other book that springs to my mind is Irish travel writer Dervla Murphy's "One Foot in Laos" and maybe one chapter in Stan Sesser's "The Lands of Charm and Cruelty". However, unlike Murphy, who spent more time bashing Americans and somewhat praising the Pathet Lao (they were as bad as the Americans if you must know), I found Pont du Bie's book to be full of joy and merriment as not only does she travel around the country, she befriends the locals who live there and tries every Lao cuisine she's offered. Which also contrasts with Murphy's book who didn't bother trying to get to know the natives. What better way is there to get to know a country than having a meal in a local's home or being invited to a family picnic (in which I was fortunate enough to experience the pleasure of both)? This nice young Lao lady invited me and my friend to her house for Laotian cuisine in Vientiane the first time I visited the country. The second time, I was with another friend, and we were swimming near the Kuang Xi Waterfalls near Luang Phabang when a family invited us to join their picnic. Great food, warm Beer Lao, and some pretty strong lao-lao was had. And one of their relatives was going to school in Tacoma, Washington - I still think they may have been relatives to my sister's Laotian classmate in high school! Unfortunately, this book appears to have already gone out of print so you will have to find it at a used book store or on the internet. But it will be well worth the effort. Excellent, enjoyable, and you too may fall under the spell of Laos. Visit the country if you have a chance, you will not be disappointed!
妄撮 「ＭＯＵＳＡＴＳＵ」 ｂｙ Ｔｏｍｍｙ - This is a little interesting photography book. A bit risque and a trifle erotic but very tasteful. A fantasy photography book for the juveniles in men (and the women who love women). Even the kanji characters of the title gives a hint of what's to be expected. The kanji characters are taken from two separate words - "moh-soh", which means "delusion", or in this case, a "wild idea" along with the first kanji character in "satsuei" which means "photographing". Put together, "Photographing a Wild Idea". The photographer has taken pictures of the models in regular clothes and also separately in a swimsuit or lingerie in the same setting and pose. But he does not use the entire picture of the swimsuit or lingerie scenes. Instead, you first look at the picture of the models with their regular clothes and on the same opposite or next page, the photographer has superimposed both images and creates the picture as if part of the models clothes was torn off so you could see what they are wearing underneath. It gives the pictures a rather taboo image as if you're seeing something you aren't supposed to instead of just viewing the models without clothes on. Oh, no nudity in this photography book though.
THE TALE OF THE UNKNOWN ISLAND by Jose Saramago - Uh? Okay - why did I read this? Fortunately, it was only 42 pages long. It seems there are contrasting points of views from what I read on Amazon.com's customer reviews. I, for one, am in line with the "what was that all about?". Just because the author won a Nobel prize doesn't mean that all he writes is genius as some people would have you believe. I, for one, found it boring, grammatically difficult to read, and just a plain waste of time. Maybe it lost something in translation as the original story was written in Portuguese. I won't even bother to bore you with the details or tell you that it's supposedly a metaphor for life. Auugghh!, do yourself a favor and read "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" instead.
WORLD JOURNEY by 高橋歩 「Ａｙｕｍｕ Ｔａｋａｈａｓｈｉ」- As I continue to hone my skills on reading Japanese without any furigana for the kanji characters, it's also helping me to learn new words. As you can surmise from the title of the book, this book is not only a travel essay, it is also a travel guide for people who plan to go on an around-the-world tour. Takahashi had quit his salaryman job. His girlfriend Sayaka quit her OL job in Ginza. They got married and three days after their wedding they set off on an around the world tour. This book is uses their trip as a base on giving you information about preparations, costs, baggage, communicating with locals, lodgings, and a lot of other useful tools that may help you on the road. Takahashi also adds input from other travelers around-the-world experience, from a person who spent 100 days on the road and traveled to over 30 countries to a married couple who spent 1096 days on the road and covered 73 countries. One other married couple spent 1029 days on the road and covered over 100 countries!! The book is filled with pictures throughout each chapter. I think an around-the-world trip is many people's dream, and this book will help those people make it a reality. Unfortunately, this isn't published in English so my English reading friends who plan to travel around-the-world will have to find another reference book. By the way, my sister's friend had just gone on an around-the-world trip just last year (or was it two now?). If only I traveled more during my college years!!
BACKTRACKING: BY FOOT, CANOE AND SUBARU ALONG THE LEWIS AND CLARK TRAIL by Benjamin Long - I imagine my father would enjoy this as the Lewis and Clark trails goes through Nez Perce territory, not too far from my father's home town of Weippe and Pierce, Idaho. Unfortunately, Long is by no means a Tim Cahill or Bill Bryson and I found his writing style rather dull and without humor. The book is like a collection of articles for "Outside Magazine" or "American Backpacker" but its very dry and reads more like a college textbook. Anyway, the author and his wife explore the Lewis and Clark Trail in today's present. Most of the pristine wilderness of the original trail has disappeared but if your interested in nature, then this might be worth reading. You can learn about prairie dogs, grizzly bears, the American bison, beavers, wolves and coyotes, grouse, Whitebark pine and Clark's nutcracker (it's a bird), cutthroat trout, white sturgeon, and cottonwoods of the Great Plains (those would be trees). I'd rather just watch "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom".
I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson - I recently watched the newest film version of this story starring Wil Smith. What I thought could have been a great updated version of "The Omega Man" (starring Charlton Heston from 1971 and also based on this story) was a big disappointment as it became another generic zombie movie. For trivia buffs, the first movie adaptation of this story was the 1964 flick "The Last Man on Earth" starring Vincent Price. So, I thought I would read the original to see how far off the mark the movie was. Damn, was it far off. For one, the zombies (or rather infected victims of some unknown plague) did not become mindless, blood-sucking zombies. The original story is darker, more pessimistic, and doesn't have a truly happy ending, but at least it makes the title more appropriate. It's also more of a science-fiction/vampire story (which makes the Vincent Price adaptation understandable). If that hasn't sparked your interest, well, it just means you are easily led by the stereotypes of Hollywood. Do yourself a favor and read the book, which by the way, is a collection of short stories. "I am Legend" being more of a novella. The other stories are quite entertaining as well.And so I conclude this month's morsels. Hope you found it entertaining. I'm still waiting for the publication of my friend Janet's book "Tone Deaf in Thailand" - Janet, by the way, is moving back to Bangkok. Check out her blog as well (the link is listed), aslo check out her "Asia by the Book" site as well if you're interested in books about or set in Asia.
HAPPY READING!!
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