Books
Monday, 02 November 2009 02:11
Written by Isabel Janner

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Aussie author Sarah Brennan introduces Oswald Ox to children in China

Sarah Brennan’s love affair with China started 11 years ago when she moved to Hong Kong and fell for the “quirky and stimulating” effect of the island. It was this fresh start that inspired Brennan to give up her job as a lawyer and fulfil her dream of becoming a children’s writer. “It’s a place of opportunity, where anyone can become anything,” she says of her adopted home.

Books
Monday, 19 October 2009 11:10
Written by JFK Miller

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Local scribe Paul French's next book is shaping up to be a cracker. A Peking Murder: Or Murder at Fox Tower is a true crime story about the brutal murder of a 16-year-old English girl, Pamela Werner, in 1936. It was a crime that shocked the international community – already terrified by Japanese troops surrounding the city and poised to invade. French uncovers Werner's double life – by week, a happy schoolgirl, by weekend, a member of an underground swingers club and sexual cult – and seeks to solve the mystery of a 73-year-old crime lost in the turmoil of invasion and revolution that followed in its wake. The book – out next year – will be among the first of a new English language publishing program by Penguin China. We understand that talks have already begun to turn the book into a film… *cue Hollywood trailer* From the best selling book by Paul French... a story of a forbidden city, forbidden lust…

Books
Monday, 19 October 2009 09:10
Written by Isabel Janner

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“History is just nonsense. It makes me furious how the past is portrayed. It is just a pack of lies.” If it’s divisive statements you’re after, look no further than Gavin Menzies.

Books
Sunday, 18 October 2009 06:10
Written by JFK Miller

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Author Martin Jacques talks about his new book

China is going to rule the world. That should come as no surprise. What is interesting, however, as Martin Jacques' points out in his new book, When China Rules the World, is the West's total unpreparedness for this eventuality. This is an important book. Jacques, a respected political commentator and academic, has read widely, consulted widely, researched widely, including a stint at Beijing's Renmin University during 2005-2006. His is a big picture book which defies the orthodox Western mindset of looking at China's rise in strictly economic terms. Jacques argues that China cannot be regarded as a typical nation state but rather as a 'civilization state' and that as it rapidly reassumes its traditional position at the center of East Asia, its age-old sense of superiority will reassert itself. And the West, Jacques says, is blithely unprepared for it. We spoke with Martin Jacques ahead of his Glamour Bar talk in Shanghai on November 4.

Books
Monday, 28 September 2009 05:09
Written by Roxanne Mei

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Renowned Hong Kong food critic, columnist and TV host Chau Lam’s recent book title may raise a few eyebrows. Entitled Beauty or Bitch, the book takes Chau’s taste and insights from the food realm and applies them to the fairer sex. No woman escapes his judgement; from upper-class ladies to barmaids to nuns, Chau offers his analysis of all of them. In his (obvious) opinion, beauty is more than skin deep – and while bitches may be exceedingly glamorous, they remain shallow and susceptible to trends. Nevertheless, the title has attracted accusations of male chauvinism (most notably, though not maliciously, from Chau’s friend Ni Kuang, a writer for the sci-fi series Wisley and Dr. Yuen). Chau’s answer: only ‘chauvinists’ truly care about women, and he simply wants to understand women better.