The Conversation
- “But he hit me back first!” (13)
- Siegfried: If it was a Russian or any other white man who told blacks”to go back to Africa”, it would...
- Raguel: I saw that Spike Lee film “Do the Right Thing” years ago but still can’t understand it.
- bigWOWO: Stele: “Care to qualify that statement? Even if that were true, you have to look at this case on its...
- Two podcasts that address racism in the military, and Danny Chen the person (9)
- Raguel: The origins of racism in the American military as described by loudestfuckingazns is accurate. Very recently,...
- bigWOWO: Sorry, Larry, just noticed that the spam robot junked your comment. Approved!
- bigWOWO: Agreed. It just has more weight if you include your name. Not that the ideas are any less valid, but it just...
- Facebook IPO (5)
- King: Actually WOWO, I bump into plenty of Asians up at the Art Center College of Design http://www.artcenter.edu/a...
- bigWOWO: Agree with King. This might not be a bad thing for Asian Americans to hear about. We can jump off the STEM...
- Raguel: People are too accustomed to thinking about value only in terms of money. Even artists are guilty of it. Some...
- Stop SOPA and PIPA (7)
- Raguel: Found a great website, take a look at this: https://www.cdt.org/ Why should privacy be important, in an age...
- Raguel: Following the temporary shelving of SOPA and PIPA in the long line of net neutrality battles, the feds and...
- Chr..: “Asian American men have to get more involved, not less. It’s a civic responsibility, and you have to...
- Activism is as activism does (10)
- trolldetector: Brooks also goes onto say ‘You should attach yourself to a counter-tradition and school of...
- bigWOWO: By the way, speaking of activism, there was a great David Brooks column recently. He talks about how people...
- Raguel: I have no experience whatsoever with activism. I simply do not feel safe participating in it. There is always...
- How to Win a Streetfight (18)
- bigWOWO: No worries. I feel the same way. Nothing against her, but just doubtful.
- Raguel: Hi Byron! I’ve been occupied doing a lot of reading and thinking recently. I suppose its just another...
- bigWOWO: Hey Raguel, What about your comments on ASSK?
I agree with everything you said. About #1…I think...
- What Cultures Value (19)
- UFC 117 Sonnen vs. Silva Recap (1)
- bigWOWO: I think Michael Bisping solved the Chael Sonnen puzzle today, even though he lost a controversial decision....
- 6 on 1 Beatdown of Asian Man (36)
- King: “I mean I look around me and 99% of the time there are no women that look like or dress like Adriana Lima...
- SWR: Apparently the girl in the second video was not the girl who filmed the fight. It was probably unwise of her to...
- Raguel: I mean I look around me and 99% of the time there are no women that look like or dress like Adriana Lima in...
- Selfish Reasons To Have More Kids by Bryan Caplan (Review) (6)
- bigWOWO: Jeff, You called it! They were (if I recall correctly) 7 (twins) and 2. He’s still in the honeymoon...
- jeffat8asians: “Overpaying?” With the possible exception of college tuition (and even that is arguable),...
- Hitler: Kids suck lol.
- The Asian Rock Thread (16)
- ben: I’ve been getting into Asian rock music recently so thank you all very much for uploading all these videos.
- Simple Pickup on ABC News (132)
- Tommy: I think I’m coming here more for Moro’s comments than BigWoWO’s posts.
- Moroboshi: I didn’t say that. All I said was guys who believe in HBD are the same guys who probably also follow...
- Chr..: Moro, I don’t want to argue with you anymore! You seem to think that AMs are just as popular as other...
- “Lazy” Americans and the Decline of the American Middle Class (6)
- bigWOWO: But kobu, how can we have literature and art without money to support artists and writers? About...
- kobukson: I don’t know why everyone seems to think the notion of the decline of the middle class is such a bad...
- bigWOWO: There are a lot of veterans (supposedly) on that site. I can kind of understand it–military guys are...
- Aung Sung Suu Kyi Movie with Michelle Yeoh (45)
- bigWOWO: Eurasian, Lee Kuan Yew has always been upfront about Singapore’s hybrid system. To the best of my...
- Eurasian Sensation: @ BigWowo: New governments following independence or a major power struggle often have the sort...
- N: @bww And ironically, one of the rare democratic successes in the region that is Singapore behaves much closer to a...
- Paper Pushers by the Stunt People (4)
- Andre M. Smith: I divide my year annually between New York and Shanghai. One of my common visitations in the latter...
- Raguel: Smiley tests 8 )
8( - Raguel: ROFL! Thank you for thoroughly destroying Amy Chua, Andre. WELL SAID ^_^ You know the destruction is so...
- Amy Chua: Chinese Conceit, Chinese Ignorance, and the $24,000 question (245)
- Andre M. Smith: I believe some useful purpose will be served by offering here, what the lawyers might like to call,...
- N: What’s your opinion on Yundi Li and Yoyo Ma.
- Andre M. Smith: Amy Chua has never lived in China. Her understanding of its culture, that is, the culture as it’s...
- How to Finish Life With No Regrets (9)
- trolldetector: ^ i’d agree with that. but i wouldnt call them ‘idiots’, just misguided. crazy media...
- N: Agree with Jeff that not one regret is unlikely, the key is learn from it. Another way to look at it is that...
- American Jobs and India (14)
- lingyai: I am not sure what happen there with my name, that is not my email, so just ignore.
- lingyai@hotmail.com: @bigwowo Just because the average income in India is $2 a day doesn’t make a person...
- AM/AF couple: Nottyboy, Yes, just like every place of employment, upper management needs to do a better job in terms...
- Literary Fiction vs. Realistic Fiction and the Literary Hierarchy (6)
- Sana Rose: Well, now I am confused. I still can’t classify the novel I am writing.
I wouldn’t say...
- Sana Rose: Well, now I am confused. I still can’t classify the novel I am writing.
- National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2012 (32)
- Raguel: http://www.occupydream.org/ ^ I heard about this from Russell Simmons. I hope that things develop well to...
- Raguel: So is that the reasoning for why you don’t need the right to due process? Are you some kind of fucking...
- N: @King The constitution gave power to the states to benefit white america or the constitution gave benefitial power...
- When Your Fan Base is Full of Crazy People (24)
- N: @American girl Too be honest, I don’t really see why this video that ‘disgusting’ –...
- Mitt Romney and the Problem of Wealth (6)
- Raguel: Where do people get their information and knowledge from, though? Media, and education, word of mouth only...
- “But he hit me back first!” (13)
Tag Archives: books
Civilization: The West and the Rest by Niall Ferguson (Review)
bigWOWO Review: Non-Fiction Bronze
Niall Ferguson is a gifted writer. The way he writes history makes it come alive. He does his research well, and he tells a great story. He’s the kind of history professor I wish I’d had in school. (And if I had made Harvard, maybe I would have had him.)And for the most part, this book was good. But then it slowly started to fall apart after the first few chapters, before completely landing in the toilet in the second-to-last chapter.
“Hooked” by John Franc (Review)
I don’t remember how I found out about Hooked, but I heard about it, ordered it from the library, forgot about it, and then received it a month later.
The book is about a group of successful, middle-aged men who, in between soccer practices and work, begin sneaking out and hiring prostitutes at high-end houses around an unnamed city. The main thrust of the narrative is the struggle between secrecy and authenticity, and between the men who hire prostitutes and their families. The book was written mostly from a first person plural point of view, reminiscent of Yiyun Li’s story from the perspective of a town. The author “John Franc” tells a good story and is skilled with language. “John Franc,” in keeping with the style of the narrative, is a pseudonym.
To E or not to E
It’s been awhile since we talked about publishing, but as we’re getting ready to publish the Thymos anthology (which has some excellent work), I’ve been talking and hearing a lot about publishing. Libby Hellman has published her seven novels both traditionally and through e-publishing. In the video above, she talks about traditional publishing vs. e-publishing, and how each has advantages. Even if you don’t have a book to publish, there’s a lot of information in the video that is good to think about. Check out her website here. (hat tip NH.)
Fear of Flying by Erica Jong (Review)
I wanted to read something different, so I decided to check out Fear of Flying by Erica Jong. Erica Jong herself isn’t a racial minority (although she’s Jewish), but she was married to a Chinese American psychologist for a while (a dude with the last name Jong), and I had heard that Fear of Flying, an autobiographical novel, was about a White woman married to a Chinese guy. I had also heard that the book was an important one for the growing feminist movement during the 70′s, and I thought it might be good for me to educate myself.
Where the Money Goes in Publishing
I’m literally years away from finding out what happens when you complete a novel and market it, but if you’re wondering exactly where the money goes when you buy a book at Barnes and Noble, click the image above or check out this informative article by Motoko Rich comparing print and E-books.
Transparency by Frances Hwang
bigWOWO Rating: Asian American Gold
Transparency is a collection of short stories written by Frances Hwang. I picked it up at the suggestion of Akrypti, who said that she loved Frances Hwang.
The short stories contained within the book often deal with immigrant issues and questions of acculturation. Many of the characters do not fit within the society in which they live, and the stories deal with their attempts to make sense of who they are. There is the mother dealing with an older Taiwanese father in the the short story The Old Gentleman, the man dealing with his lost voice in Transparency, and the woman dealing with psychological displacement in Intruders. All of Hwang’s characters seem somewhat off-center, and the narratives describe their attempt to make sense of the world.
James Patterson, Inc.
James Patterson
There’s a great article in the NY Times Magazine this week about James Patterson, the country’s biggest selling author. I had seen his name in the bookstores, but holy cannoli, I had no idea how big Patterson was. I think I have a new literary hero, even though I’ve yet to read one of his books.
There are many different ways to catalog Patterson’s staggering success. Here are just a few: Since 2006, one out of every 17 novels bought in the United States was written by James Patterson. He is listed in the latest edition of “Guinness World Records,” published last fall, as the author with the most New York Times best sellers, 45, but that number is already out of date: he now has 51 — 35 of which went to No. 1.
The New Art of Book Promotion
Most of the people on this site are either bloggers, writers, or both. I thought you all might find this Washington Post article interesting: Novice Authors Must Promote Themselves, Since Publishers Won’t. Here’s a paragraph and a half from the article:
She cobbled together a trailer for her book on her home computer, using iMovie software, downloading a free tune off the Web for background music, and stuck it on her Web site. Her agent helped get her on one network television morning show. About 20 friends hosted book parties, which she hit on a self-funded three-week blitz, selling books out of the trunk of her car. A guy shot video of her reading an essay at one of these parties, and she posted it on YouTube when the paperback came out.
Miles from Nowhere
(picture from Nami Mun’s Facebook Group)
bigWOWO Rating: Asian American Gold
Yes, the Asian girl runaway who becomes a drug addict and streetwalker has been done before. Yes, there’s no way that this novel will become a rallying cause for Asian American activists–”Another story about an Asian woman selling and shooting up her body?”
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (Review)
bigWOWO Rating: Asian American Gold
I finished Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. It was a good book, very sweet and very cute. As one interviewer said of Jamie Ford’s book, it was written about a time when love was really love, and it was refreshing to see that kind of purity in print.
There were a number of factual problems which I couldn’t help but notice. As an amateur historian, I have to point certain anachronisms, factual bloopers, and stylistic questions. These didn’t ruin the story, but fixing them could’ve improved it:
