Planet China

I finished reading Lost On Planet China last night, a book I found very entertaining. I just spent some time perusing the reviews on Amazon and wow, some people really thought this book was offensive. Many of the bad reviews came from people who have spent their own time in China. However, some others who have been to China agreed with the author's observations. So it seems the opinions are very polarized. I think the negative reviewers do make some good arguments though. The end of the book was a bit disjointed. It's like the movies really, some people thought Black Swan was amazing. For me, it was just meh. I'll just have to visit China myself someday.

I still have a good deal of interest in China though. One reviewer mentioned that a good book to read for a more truthful view of China is a book called Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler. Perhaps I'll pick this up in the future. I've been looking for a book on China for a while, and LOPC was the first to jump out at me. I guess I'm a lazy book chooser in the sense that rather than research books first, I like to just go to Borders and pick something that catches my eye. I actually picked up two books at once which is rare. I was having trouble deciding which to buy, and then which to read first. So next up is another nonfiction called Stiff: The Curious Life of Cadavers!

I was in the mood to hear some Chinese language so I put in one of the few DVDs I acutally own, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, a couple nights ago. This movie is still the awesomeness. I'm sure hardcore genre fans would yawn at this scene, but for me, it's up there. Michelle Yeoh's character in this movie blows me away.