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白菜August 18 Farewell speach from my hot ex-bossFarewell, Jing - inspired by the words of Abba When Cai Jing interviewed for her job she was such a supertrouper that I knew we had to hire her. I was delighted that she decided to take a chance on me as her boss.
Of course I had to explain that being good science specialists we couldn't believe in angels, although we did have a dream, and a song to sing. Jing learned quickly. She soon grasped that bidding for GOF funding meant the winner takes it all, the loser standing small.
But then, suddenly, the RCUK arrived. I knew I faced competition for Jing's affections because there was something in the air that night. They offered Jing money, money, money, to which she said gimme, gimme, gimme.
I fought back with an SOS telling Jing that in the S&I section the night is young and the mood is high. But I knew in my heart that I had met my waterloo and that knowing me, knowing you, there was nothing we could do.
So, Jing, I say -
Thank you for the music, For being my PA, Who can live without you, I ask in all honesty, What would life be, Without a song or a dream, What are we, Thank you, Jing, for the music, For being my PA December 09 booksIt's been almost a year since my last entry here. Time just flies without any notice. My space is designed only for photos and book reviews (not by msn, but by me). Don't really like the format here. Anyway......
The fact that I didn't write any book reviews doesn't mean I didn't read any books. But of course I have less time to read now. For the sake of keeping my space live, I here list and write very brief notes about some books I read within this year (2006).
An Empty Room by Talitha Stevenson: a story happened in London. A girl fell in love with a married man. They had an affair, but didn't last long because his wife found out and he left without saying anything. Quite a simple story, not much highlight. The finishing, however, was thoughtful. "I will not hate. At least I will not hate." Will I? I guess I will... So better keep my claws from married men^__^
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: hmm, weird but interesting book. It described what's going to happen if the world uses clone people as donors. This fictional world has been set in England. Maiko send me this book as my birthday gifts along with Jack Johnson's new album 'Curious George'. Well, the music tracks are more attractive to me as always:-)
Er Ma by Lao She (二马，老舍著）: a Chinese famous book written by a famous Chinese author. Though it's all Chinese, the story again happens in UK (London). It's been written in a humorous way. What they call nowadays? dark humour?
Lord of the Flies by William Golding: The book describes the horrific exploits of a group of children who make a striking transition from civilized to barbaric. It commands a pessimistic view about that man is inherently tied to society, and without it, we would likely return to savagery.
---to be continued... December 22 Book Review - SilkSilk by Alessandro Baricco
A silk worm dealer went to Japan to get the best silk worm, and falling in love with a concubine of the man whom he had been dealing with. This silk worm man has a wife back in France, he still very much enjoyed an erotic night with the Japanese lady. At the end of the story, his wife's death and her love let him realise how much his wife loved him and how much he loved her. It was very touching and haunting.
November 12 Book Review Summaries'Lost Horizon' by James Hilton
Shangri-La is the paradise from this book. It is a hidden valley somewhere in Tibet. The Shangri-La in Yun Nan Province of China is named after this book. But I still believe that it is a place in Tibet not in Yun Nan.
This book is a real page-turner. I cannot stop enjoying it until the end. Hilton had made a really beautiful ending to this wildly exciting story. It makes me wonder that there is any place I came across in Tibet this summer was like this valley. But I cannot recall. This makes me even want to go to Tibet again and search for this hidden fantasy and search for Conway!!!
Strongly recommend to you guys, you need to read the prologue and epilogue as well.
'The Joy Luck Club' by Amy Tan
I saw the movie first. It was not what I expected. Then I thought, wait, all the movies are not as good as the original books, why shouldn't I give the book a try since the reviews of this book from others are very positive?
Then I did. Well, not too bad. But not really interested me either. The story line was not very clear. I confused all the names it has mentioned. Won't put too much comments here.
Oh, btw, it was a story about the relationship between Chinese born mothers and American born Chinese daughters. Again, I heard it from Maiko who studied anthropology. It does make sense that she is interested in those kind of books.
'The Catcher in the Rye' by J.D. Salinger
It is a story about a cynical teenager who hates nearly everything. It was all about his motions and the teenage way of thinking and speak things. It was really boring until the last page of the story. Then everything is cleared that he actually loves his family, his classmates, his teacher and every stranger he met within days. He does not at all hates them. He uses his own way to love others which is a bit familiar for us whom all passed the teenage stage, doesn't it?
It worth mention that the guy who killed John Lennon said he was pretty much like this little cynical boy though.
'British Musuem Is Falling Down' by David Lodge
It is an interesting and funny piece for me. I learnt that the Catholic people cannot use contraceptive (e.g. condom) for birth control. They have to use like testing temperature of the lady everyday to find a pattern and see which day is the safe period which I think it never works. Or they could do as the Father said in the book 'practice self-restraint' which I think it is rather difficult to do in the reality. hehe~~~
Another interesting point of this book is that the last 4 pages are all words without any punctuation! It was all about Mr. Appleby's wife's thoughts. She was thinking consecutively and non-stop, so it is kind of vivid to put sentences like this. Thought it makes things difficult to read.
Well, it is after all a comic book. However there are too many religion issues which bored me a little.
Ok, no more novels until the exams finished!!!
I swear~~~~~~~~
October 11 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' by Milan KunderaThe Unbearable Lightness of Being is a story of irreconcilable love and infidelities in which Milan Kundera address himself to the nature of twentieth-century 'Being', offering a wide range of brilliant and amusing philosophical speculations. Fist published in 1984, Kundera's masterly novel encompasses the extremes of comedy and tragedy and was at once hailed by critics as a contemporary classic --- originally in Czech.
Well, I did not perceive anything from the above described. Let me explain......
I read this book while I was on the plane, on the train or whenever I have nothing to do with. This book introduced by Alvin and travelled with me from the UK back to Beijing, from Beijing to Tibet, from Tibet to Rizhao, from Rizhao to Guiyang and finally from Beijing back to the UK again. I used nearly 3 months to finish reading it. Can you believe it? Three months!
To be honest, I didn't quite understand the story at all. It was more like a philosophy book with tons and tons of vocabularies which I could not understand and it would take me ages to check the dictionary for all those words. I will not recommend you to bring this book while you are on a holiday or when you want to relax and enjoy some reading. It is definitely a difficult one to read.
More information, please see Alvin's wiki about '生命中不能承受之轻', he seems have more understanding of this book than me. April 20 Book review - 'The Namesake'Gogol is named after his father's favourite author. But growing up in an Indian family in suburban America, the boy starts to hate the awkward name and itches to cast it off, long with the inherited values it represents. Determined to live a life far removed from that of his parents, Gogol sets off on his own path only to discover that the search for identity depends on much more than a name.
-------------- 'The Namesake' by Jhumpa Lahiri
I finished reading this extraordinary book while I was on the train between college and home. Well, ok, I am lying. The fact is that I did read most of the novel on my spare time but cannot control myself to know Gogol's fate when I was in the library where I supposed to do the revision for my exams.
I could imagine that if I settle down in a foreign country, my life would be similar with Gogol's and his family's. It will start from fears to curiosity and excitement, from culture shock to adaptation, then from feeling dull to feeling homesick, from struggle finally to blend myself to the community. Because of the similarity of the Asian culture, I could see some reflection of my life in this story though it is about an Indian family. The feelings of being in another totally different region is the same.
At the end, Moushumi's (Gogol's wife) betrayal shocked me. I thought they finally found the perfect one to spend the rest of their life with. On the contrary, Gogol's parents married after seeing each other only once since it was a family arranged marriage. They are taking care of each other, carefully engaging themselves in their own family, loving one another without saying the word 'love'. I start to doubt what the foundation of a marriage is. Ashoke and Ashima's (Gogol's parents) life is rather dull from my point of view. Gogol's life looks more exciting and normal, but he ended up with a divorce at the age of 32. Which life would you like to stay in?
Another thing resonated me is that the relationship with our parents from time to time. As a kid, I saw them as parents whom took care of me, took all the responsibilities and told me what to do and what not to. When I grew older, I see them as friends; I discuss things with them; I advice them what they should do; I share my different opinions about thing with them. I start to understand the words they said to me when I was a child; I begin to say the same stuff to my nephews and nieces. Is this mean I am a grown-up?
To sum up, it is a book about anthropology. I strongly recommend this novel to the friends who is/was living in a foreign country. You will love it! April 04 Girl with a pearl earringFor a long long time, I haven't read any novel, neither Chinese nor English. I need some pabulum to enrich my life. I knew the novel 'Girl with a pearl earring' by Tracy Chevalier first, but didn't intend to read it until I watched the movie. The movie 'Girl with a peal earring' was a success as an interpretation of the book. The film belongs to Scarlett Johannson who played Griet, I couldn’t take my eyes off her luminous face. I loved the book more, however. The words were more exquisite and attractive. Johannes Vermeer painted 'Girl with a pearl earring' in sixteen sixty something year. It has been 'One of the best-loved paintings in the world is a mystery.' "I will paint you as I first saw you, not a maid, you." "You looked inside me." "Don't get caught up in his world." -------------------- by Tracy Chevalier. References: http://www.tchevalier.com/gwape/ www.girlwithapearlearringmovie.com
My next novel would be 'The namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri, which strongly recommended by Maiko March 07 闲的从 souken 那里知道 MSN 也有免费 blog 了，就过来先占个坑。blogcn上不去的时候可以过来凑活凑活。 还是比较喜欢 blogcn，可以自己个性化页面，MSN 这个没有太大自己发挥的空间，不过好处是有10M的免费空间，而且速度挺快！ 本白菜还在琢么中，觉得有个新玩意儿鼓弄鼓弄挺好 大家赶快先把坑占下，不写用来放照片也行呀，呵呵～～～ |
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哦，还有这里的表情不够丰富，就是 MSN 里的一些常规表情，我这个喜欢做鬼脸的人有点不适应
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