To kick off Chicago's annual Printers Row Lit Fest, I attended a fabulous reading and dinner last night with Cheryl Tan, author of A Tiger in the Kitchen (Voice, 2011) at Town House Books & Cafe.With my 12 year-old son Jake in tow, I introduced myself to Cheryl as a … [Read more...]
Book of the week–Berlin 1961
I came across Frederick Kempe's new book, Berlin 1961 (Putnam, 2011), on GoodReads.com and thought it sounded interesting. So I clicked the link to enter the raffle. A few weeks later I won a copy!After 500+ pages, I'm left wondering more than ever if the bulk of the Cold War … [Read more...]
Along the Kowloon-Canton Railway
I love train travel. One of the train systems I've frequented the most is the Kowloon-Canton Railway.The KCR, as it's known in Hong Kong, opened 101 years ago in British Hong Kong. A year later, it linked up with a line in China to the city of Canton (present day Guangzhou … [Read more...]
Book of the week–The Girl from Foreign
Last week I read a fabulous memoir titled The Girl from Foreign by Sadia Shepard (Penguin, 2009).I've read a bit of fiction set in India, but haven't found many memoirs. Shepard has such an interesting and complicated family history that India here serves more as a backdrop … [Read more...]
Remembering the Kowloon Walled City
Weeks ago I gave my son Martin Booth's memoir, Gweilo (Bantam, 2005) about growing up in Hong Kong in the 1950s. He just reached the part when Booth ventures into the Kowloon Walled City. When he asked about the Walled City, I rushed over to my bookshelf and plucked out a … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 178
- 179
- 180
- 181
- 182
- …
- 244
- Next Page »