I’m not sure how I heard about this book, but apparently, I wanted to read it enough that I placed a hold for it at the library for when it publishes. On a separate note, how cool is it that Overdrive will let you place holds on books before they come out? Platform is supposed… Read More Platform by Cynthia Johnson
I picked this up because, as I’ve probably mentioned before, I have a family vacation coming up (I am definitely not going to be able to shut up about this) and while part of my preparation is figuring where to go, another part is figuring how I’m going to tell stories about my trip when… Read More Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Writing by Don George
I have wanted to read this book ever since I heard of it. Although I swing back and forth between reading the Western and Asian histories of tea, that’s because I want to get a sense of the whole picture. A Social History of Tea covers the rise and impact of tea in Britain and… Read More A Social History of Tea by Jane Pettigrew & Bruce Richardson
Since I spent last year doing quite a bit of general reading about tea, I thought I’d take it a bit more in-depth this year. That means taking both a wider look at the issues surrounding tea (hopefully there’s a contemporary book or blog I can read!) and going in depth into the history of… Read More Darjeeling by Jeff Koehler
One great thing about this World of Genji research project is that it’s getting me to read all sorts of books I wouldn’t normally pick up, such as this history of Kyoto city. The Tale of Genji is set during the height of the Heian period in Heian-Kyo (premodern Kyoto). Since the World of Shining… Read More Kyoto: An Urban History of Japan’s Premodern Capital by Matthew Stavros
After reading about Nagai Takashi’s – a Japanese Christian – response to the bombing of Nagasaki, I decided to go back in time and continue reading about Christianity in Japan. This time, however, the topic is completely different. Christ’s Samurai is an account of the Shimabara rebellion, which has the dubious honour of being the… Read More Christ’s Samurai by Jonathan Clements
For Christmas, my boss gave all of us books. Specifically, he gave us Volume 5 of Sunday Em@ils from a Chairman and wrote a note recommending certain chapters to each one of us. Since he asked us immediately after Christmas if we’ve finished it (spoiler alert: no one had), I decided to move this book… Read More Sunday Emails from a Chairman (Vol. 5) by Liew Mun Leong
I requested for this book from NetGalley because the idea of language being a marker of identity was fascinating. That said, despite reading the blurb, I didn’t actually realise the title was a pun until after I finished the book. If you’re a bit quicker than me, you’ll realise that Figures of Speech is about… Read More Figures of Speech by Tim Cassedy
I heard about this book from The Indicator since it was one of their recommended ‘beach reads’ (because economics can be fun!). It sounded pretty interesting, so I found a library copy and started reading it. Divided into seven sections, the book covers fifty different inventions that Harford feels shaped our modern economy. As he… Read More Fifty Inventions that Shaped the Modern Economy by Tim Harford
After reading an abridged copy of The Tale of Genji (the unabridged, library copy is proving rather elusive), I decided to read more about Heian Japan, in the hopes of knowing more about the world and hence being able to appreciate the unabridged novel more when I finally find it. The World of the Shining… Read More The World of the Shining Prince by Ivan Morris