adamcf’s last login was Sunday, June 15 2008.
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I can't explain how I ventured into my interests in far eastern culture, but I find it very interesting. I am lost now that they no longer show the NHK news late at night. It was so interesting to hear how they reported the news!Love you book shelf and helped myself to some titles for my reading list. Thanks so much.
Wow. Let me first off, apologize for this extremely late reply. Grad school is a killer, but thankfully its almost over. I wanted to become a librarian because it seemed like no matter where I went in life I always ended up at the library. When I was younger, I was the chubby kid with glasses that practically lived in the library. In high school, I was the skinny kid that hung out at the school library. And in college I worked at the library and studied there. So I figured, maybe this whole librarian thing was meant to be. Plus, I love to read. :o) Like you, I would like to work for a university library. I like that type of atmosphere. And Empress Orchid was a great book. I haven't read the "Being Madame Mao" book yet, but since you mentioned it, I have place it on my "to read" list. I'm sure it will be a great read. I will definitely keep checking your shelf, because I noticed that we both are interested in asian studies--it was my minor in undergrad. Good stuff.
I lived in Japan for 2 years almost 20 years ago and still find the culture and people very interesting. My most recent read, ":Lost Japan" has opened my eyes to a side of the culture I was not open and/or exposed to! I enjoyed the culture and people very much and look forward to returning and sharing the experience with my family.
Very interested in China, it's culture and doing business there having just come back from there. Any suggestions.
Have you read The Japanese Inn, by Oliver Statler? It is a historical fiction about 400 years of Japanese history before WWII. Written by a man in the occupational army who was stationed there after the war, it is a very good read and seemed insightful to me, though I do not have much knowledge to compare it with. It was very interesting and well written though.
I think my interest in India started with reading John Masters' adventure stories set in the Northwest Frontier during the British Raj. I graduated to Paul Scott's Raj Quartet and then began thinking about partition and the terrible consequences of just dividing a nation, in s ome way just to satisfy the egos of a few politicians - a very simplistic view, I know. Since then I have been interested in writers from and books about the sub-continent.
Hey Adam, I haven't read it yet but just came across a novel called Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, which is a novel that apparently documents in great detail women's lives in rural interior China in the 19th century, following two friends, Snow Flower & Lily. I put it on my wish list!