Tag Archives: books

BOOKS: “HK24” by The Hong Kong Writers Circle

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HK24: Twenty-Four Hours of Hong Kong Stories (Hong Kong Writers Circle Anthology Book 13)HK24: Twenty-Four Hours of Hong Kong Stories by Stewart McKay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Hong Kong Writers Circle

This collection of twenty short stories is connected by the theme of events taking place in a single day in Hong Kong. Besides this commonality of setting, there is no other connective tissue between the stories. Tonally, the pieces range from hilarious to tragic. There are suspenseful genre fiction stories as well as realist literary fiction (i.e. telling the story of work-a-day characters engaged in events of everyday life.)

I found “Mummy, Daddy, Angry Birds” by Carsten John and “Rent” by Sharon Tang to be the best humor pieces, and “Egrets” (Paul Clinton Corrigan,) “Help Yourself” (Edmund Price,) and “Joss” (Dimple Shah) to be the most thrilling and intriguing dramatic pieces. All the stories were well-crafted, but some did stand out more than others. A few of those realist pieces that explored “mundane” expat life in Hong Kong made for engaging and distinctive reading. And Hong Kong is uniquely situated for tales of an urban shaman or a Triad shooting.

This is the thirteenth volume of a series put out by the Hong Kong Writers Circle. Each volume has a different theme (besides being Hong Kong connected.) Hong Kong is one of those places that is authentically itself, not to be confused with anywhere else, and that offers a great opportunity to build fascinating tales that could only take place there. [I found it interesting that “should I stay or should I go” was a repeated theme across multiple stories.]

I picked this book up as a piece of travel literature for an upcoming visit to Hong Kong (I make sure to read a work of literature from every country I visit — provided I can find anything translated.) I’d highly recommend this book for readers interested in short fiction with that distinctive Hong Kong flavor. I intend to look into other volumes in the series, myself.

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BOOK: “Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982” by Cho Nam-Joo

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Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Simon & Schuster / Scribner

This fictitious biography explores the tribulations of being a woman in modern-day South Korea. It tells the tale of the titular lead from birth through a middle-aged motherhood. It discusses issues ranging from disappointment at having girl children to feelings of anxiety in a world laden with horny boys to the subtle sexism of the modern workplace.


The book blurb calls this book “riveting, original, and uncompromising.” I’ll give it “uncompromising,” and I have insufficient experience with the book’s “peers” to challenge the “original” claim, but I do have to call BS on the “riveting” bit. In fairness, the point of the book seems to be to offer a brutally typical life experience — not the novel-shaped extremes of a rollercoaster existence. The fact that the book is not riveting doesn’t make it unimportant or unworthy of reading. However, this is not the book one should pick up expecting to read on the edge of one’s seat. It’s well-crafted literary fiction with an important message, but “compelling” is not an appropriate descriptor. The book suffers from a progressive increase in drag as one reads onward.

Still, I’d recommend it for readers of literary fiction interested in varied cultural experiences. It’s a quick read with fine character development.

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PROMPT: Book from Childhood

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Do you remember your favorite book from childhood?

Green Eggs and Ham is the earliest children’s book that made an impression — mostly for its catchy lyricism. Robinson Crusoe was the first story that resonated.

PROMPT: Three Books

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List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?

Steven Kotler’s The Rise of Superman changed the way I looked at mind-body development.

Water Margin [a.k.a. Outlaws of the Marsh] convinced me a sprawling epic could be worth reading if it was done well, it kicked my love of Chinese Literature into high gear, and it started me on the path of learning Chinese.

Self-Reliance and Other Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson had a major influence on my early philosophical development — especially the titular essay.

Now, I’m thinking I should’ve pushed one of these out for Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, but perhaps another time.

shamless plug: THE PENGUIN BOOK OF POEMS ON THE INDIAN CITY

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I have a piece in this new collection, out today (May 30, 2025) in the Indian market and later in the year for international markets.

GoodReads Page Amazon.in Page

BOOKS: “Violence: A Very Short Introduction” by Philip Dwyer

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Violence: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)Violence: A Very Short Introduction by Philip Dwyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Oxford University Press

This is a brief overview of various types of violence, starting with the question of what counts as violence. The book explores violent acts carried out by individuals, mobs, movements, governments, and religions. It reflects upon how the nature of violence has changed over the centuries while hinting at potential reasons for said changes (along with counterarguments.)

This book raised some provocative questions, such as: Why would people go to watch executions? Does Steven Pinker’s hypothesis that humanity is becoming less violent hold water? [Pinker made this argument in his book The Better Angels of Our Nature, but it has been refuted on number of grounds — definitional, methodological, etc. Though Dwyer only briefly touches on Pinker’s book and its critics in this book and a detailed critique will require looking elsewhere.] How (and why) do violent tendencies vary across cultures. And, when and how did governments end up with a monopoly on legitimate use of force.

I found this book interesting and informative and would recommend it for those looking for answers as to why and how our species is so violent.

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shamless plug: THE PENGUIN BOOK OF POEMS ON THE INDIAN CITY

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I have a piece in this new collection, out tomorrow (May 30, 2025) in the Indian market and later in the year for international markets.

GoodReads Page Amazon.in Page

BOOKS: 千字文 [Thousand Character Essay] by 周兴嗣 [Zhou Xingsi]

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千字文千字文 by 周兴嗣
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A version with English commentary can be found at the IFA Gallery

This short work, consisting of just one-thousand characters, is first and foremost a teaching tool for children. While it presents a thousand of the most important Chinese characters, it also delivers lessons on history, ethics, philosophy, and culture by way of short sayings.

It’s arranged into 250 4-character phrases (125 sentences) and reads as a lyric poem, though because it dates to the Sixth Century, the degree to which the rhyme scheme holds varies depending upon the which spoken language one speaks (e.g. Mandarin, Cantonese, or Hakka.)

There have been different versions of this work over the centuries.

This is a much beloved work of literature among Chinese, though its sayings do not necessarily hold up as well as works like Sunzi’s Art of War or Laozi’s Daodejing. Some do, but most are much less relevant than when written.

As someone learning Chinese, I’d highly recommend this work as a way to expose oneself to language while gaining insight into Chinese culture.

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PROMPT: Before the Internet

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Daily writing prompt
Do you remember life before the internet?
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Yes, yes. We read these things called books. They hurt much worse when you dropped one on your toe (but much less than the stone tablets of the preceding generation,) but at least you wouldn’t be out $1,200 (USD) if they took a bad bounce.

BOOKS: “A Horse’s Tale” by Mark Twain

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A Horse's TaleA Horse’s Tale by Mark Twain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Project Gutenberg Page

Among the lesser-known works of Twain, A Horse’s Tale mixes an epistolary by a military officer at a remote outpost with dialogues between animals of the post (principally the protagonist, a horse called Soldier Boy.) The principal subject of the epistolary is a precocious girl who lives at the outpost and who is adored by all as the one soft, sweet creature in a world of warfighting men and their animals. The conversations between animals offer the most amusing portion of this book, largely for the fun being poked at humanity’s expense.

In its best moments, this novella is intensely touching or hilarious. However, it does suffer from inconsistency of pacing and tone.

If you enjoy Mark Twain’s humor and storytelling, this novella is well worth reading. If you’re primarily a reader of present-day genre / commercial fiction, it probably won’t be your thing.

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