charliereads

Review #7: Shadow of the Hunter

It’s always good to see more Su Tong in translation. Wives and Concubines (which I came to know thanks to a VHS of Raise the Red Lantern from the cupboard-sized local video rental shop I used to browse while waiting to pick up an Indian takeaway as a teenager) was a formative work for meContinue reading “Review #7: Shadow of the Hunter”

Review #6: Three Tigers, One Mountain

I’ve taken a short reading break recently – on top of the relentless day-after-day piling on of terrible news, I have a very small baby and returned to work, so reading for pleasure without instantly nodding off has been challenging. Whether it’s the lockdown or the lack of sleep, my brain has been drifting abroadContinue reading “Review #6: Three Tigers, One Mountain”

Review #5: A Lover’s Discourse

I wasn’t best disposed to Xiaolu Guo’s new novel A Lover’s Discourse from the outset. It opens with a quote from Roland Barthes, with whose work it shares a title. Oh God, Barthes – didn’t I read him for my Master’s? Am I really up for a book that opens with a Barthes quote? AmContinue reading “Review #5: A Lover’s Discourse”

Review #4: A Snake Lies Waiting

I have a neat little collection of tenuous claims to fame. Two people I was at school with have had number one songs. Ian McKellen once flirted with me. There’s a piece of china in the V&A made by an ancestor of mine. But possible my most tenuous claim to fame is that Jin YongContinue reading “Review #4: A Snake Lies Waiting”

Review #3: Must I Go

Does this book belong in a blog for books ‘about China’? Yiyun Li was born in Beijing but has lived in the US since 1996, now teaching at Princeton. Unlike her earlier novels, China features only in the background of Must I Go: a handful of diary entries take place in Shanghai in 1931; aContinue reading “Review #3: Must I Go”

Review #2: I Live In The Slums

The best books I own release deep emotional memories when I handle them, or see them on my shelves. Whether a pang of longing, or a pleased satisfaction of a compelling plot, they tap into something deep-seated in my emotional being. Whenever I catch a glimpse of the first Can Xue book I read –Continue reading “Review #2: I Live In The Slums”

Review #1: Braised Pork

An Yu’s debut work leaped off the shelf to me – a beguiling cover design (it’s no surprise that Harvill Secker have put its best creative support behind this considering the 7-way auction) and a fabulously intriguing title. This was one of those books I wanted to read as little as possible about beforehand. BraisedContinue reading “Review #1: Braised Pork”

From the Archive #1: Portraits From a Chinese Scroll

My main intention in starting this blog all of, oh, a few days ago was to read and focus on more new fiction and other books about China. It’s a strange time to start – I’m cooped up at home thanks to That Virus, but unlike most people (on Twitter at least) with a toddlerContinue reading “From the Archive #1: Portraits From a Chinese Scroll”

Charlie Reads.

Ah, another book blog… I’ve started a new blog. All the usual doubts which, up to now, have stopped me every time I’ve wanted to do this before. What will I write about? Why put myself out there like that? I’ll just do a few posts and forget about it, right? And who on earthContinue reading “Charlie Reads.”